Finding Muna: A Palestinian Novel

Chapter Eighteen

"Muna!" Muna jerked slightly at Lamees's voice and she closed the Quran immediately and set it aside, wondering why her friend had called her in a frightening manner. Hopefully it wasn't another bad news.

Lamees stuck her head inside the tent and peered at Muna who was still seated on the ground with a fearful look on her face.

"I think Reem's death has finally gotten to Mr. Ahmad, I'm worried about him, come and see what he's up to!" Lamees urged in urgency as she tried to blink away the tears that were stinging her eyes, Muna was quickly jumped up and hurried out of the tent.

"He's sharing sweets! And when I asked him why, he said it's because Reem is martyred..." Muna's mind went black as Lamees continued to speak with tears in her eyes, telling Muna she wouldn't move on if anything happened to Mr. Ahmad.

Muna watched with her shoulders slumped as Mr. Ahmad distributed a packet of sweet amongst the kids with a bright smile on his face, as if he'd been given the ticket to paradise. And all he kept chanting was, "Binti istash hadat, heya wa ummaha wa akhawatiha ahl al jannah! Alhamdulillah, Reem istash hadat!"
(My daughter was martyred, she and her mother and her sisters are inhabitants of paradise! Praise be to Allah, Reem is martyred!)

It was almost like he was rejoicing in celebration of his daughter's death, and even though it left Muna confused, she somehow understood why he was happy. Allah has promised the people who were oppressed justice, He has said the people who were killed in His weren't really dead and He promised the people who died as Muslims who did good paradise. How wouldn't he be rejoiceful, especially when there was nothing else to look forward to except this?

But what if all this was just one big lie? – Muna thought.

She wasn't one to be carried away by promises; she was a very logical person even in the face of death. And unless there were some proofs the Quran was truly from God, she was sure she wouldn't believe in the book.

She was cut brought out of her thoughts by Lamees's cry sounds which was increasing as the seconds went by, Muna bit her lower lip and wondered how to explain to Lamees why Ahmad was sharing the sweet, she knew Lamees wouldn't stop questioning if she attempted to explain so instead she swallowed her words and raised her hand to pat Lamees on her back gently.

"I don't want anything to happen to him Muna; do you think he's fine?" Lamees asked teary eyed and Muna nodded slowly.

"I hope so Lamees, this isn't the first time he's gone through this, Mr. Ahmad is a strong man and he'll overcome this too," Muna said mostly to herself as her gaze travelled towards Mr. Ahmad who had finished sharing the sweets and threw the carton on the ground, he bent down to a small boy's level who was asking him for some sweets. He smiled widely at the boy and patted his head gently before shoving his hand in his pocket to bring out some money.

He handed the money to the boy and whispered something into his head; the little innocent boy's eyes widened and he grinned before he nodded hurriedly and scurried off to his friends with the money clutched tightly in both of his hands.

He'll be fine hopefully – Muna said in her mind as she watched Mr. Ahmad's smile fall while he rose to his feet, he stood in his spot for a while until one of the guys noticed he was deep in thought and invited him over to stay with them to get his mind off the loss of his daughter.

What a huge loss.

Ahmad didn't only lose his daughter, he lost his only remaining generation, he lost his only family, the only person he knew was his kind, and the only gift left out of the gifts Allah blessed him through his wife.

He didn't only lose Reem.

He lost a lot of things the day Reem died.

'Reem, oh my dead Reem,' – he thought as his eyes stung with hot tears threatening to spill, he looked around the camp not once, not twice just to catch a glimpse of his daughter once more. She loved to play hide and seek, perhaps that was what she was doing.