Finding Muna: A Palestinian Novel

Chapter Forty-six

Adjusting to life in Boston only after two months after arriving from Qatar and three months after leaving Gaza, April seemed to have it under her control. She didn't need to do much as her body immediately adapted to how things were going on in Boston, it was almost as if she never left Boston in the first place.

Surprisingly, she was quick to recover from what had happened and had immediately put the past behind her, and only a month and half after she got back from Qatar, she went to meet Mr. Jamal and told him she wanted to resume her work again, despite being allowed to take as much time as they need off work to get themselves back together without the risk of not being paid.

Jamal instantly refused and spoke to her at length, trying to make her understand why that would be bad for her and why the company wouldn't allow he to resume that soon, including what the general public would say regarding the company. She bobbed her head the entire time he was talking as if she would take heed to what he was saying and she kept coming back to the company every single day of the week for two weeks before they got tired and asked her to resume, with the agreement that she would be handling minimal jobs.

April was delighted; she also went to get fittings for a prosthetic leg so it would be easier for her to walk around with it. And while she was lucky enough not to have nightmares from what happened, she still remembered the people who were suffering and constantly send as much as she could to them, participating in sharing relief aid campaigns, sharing videos about what is going on over there.

She just knew she couldn't forget them even if she wanted to, Gaza was a part of her at that point, no memories were etched onto her mind like she ones she made at Gaza, because it was only in Gaza she recalled every single thing that ever befell them, and she would spew it as if she were reciting from the chapters of a novel. After all, it was in that same place she lost her friend, and other people she met to be her friends.

She never really expected that she would heal from what happened that quickly and adjust to the new life immediately considering all what she witnessed in Gaza and the cruelty she went through herself, if anything, it made her more thankful and appreciative of the littlest things she overlooked before. She was grateful in fact that she had lost one of her limbs, only when she lost it had she realized how essential it was in her life, and although she was getting a prosthetic, it still wouldn't be or feel the same.

The feeling of gratitude made her remember Reem, the girl that always had the brightest smile on her face despite losing all her family members except her father, the girl whose leg was rotting away in excruciating pain but smiling her way through it.

April let out a small smile as she remembered her friends and looked up to the bright sky of Boston in hope, looking to see if she would catch a glimpse of her friends but quickly looked away when she heard the horn of someone behind her. Assuming she wasn't atheist, she would definitely say God bless the soul of her friends.

Lamees on the other hand was finding it a lot more harder than April was. Anything and everything triggered her, nightmares had become her best buddy, and hallucinations wouldn't let her be, she became extremely sleep deprived and barely ate anything which didn't help her already malnourished figure.

She would spend hours on end at the therapist office and get back home feeling a lot worse than before, screaming and panicking at every sound of airplane she heard flying by. To Lamees, everything felt and looked like she was still in Rafah, enduring the pain and suffering just like her neighbours were doing as well. The hallucinations were doing a great job at presenting believable scenes to her, repeating Muna's scream in Lamees's mind and bringing back the same bloodied bread she and April had digested.

Lamees was tired of living life the way she was and had been caught attempting suicide too many times, and within the short time she had gotten to Boston, she had visited the mental asylum almost four times.