SHADOWS OF BEIRUT

Chapter 6 The Day the Sky Shattered

It was August 4, 2020, a day that would forever be etched into the heart of Beirut and in Johny's memory and all Lebanese. The sun had been setting over the Mediterranean, casting a golden glow over the city, when the first explosion shook the ground. At first, it seemed like a distant rumble, the kind Beirut is had grown accustomed to during times of instability. But what followed next was beyond anything anyone could have imagined. A second, far more devastating blast erupted from the Port of Beirut, sending shockwaves across the entire city. Glass shattered, buildings crumbled, and a mushroom cloud of smoke and fire rose into the air. In an instant, Beirut, Johnny's beloved city, was transformed into a warzone.

Johny was at his Aunt when it happened, just a few kilometers from the blast site. The explosion knocked him off his feet, and the apartment windows shattered, sending shards of glass raining down on him. Dazed and bleeding, he stumbled to his balcony, his ears ringing from the deafening sound. What he saw was utter destruction, smoke billowing over the city, cars overturned, and people running through the streets, disoriented and terrified. He struggled to make sense of the chaos, his heart pounding as he realized the magnitude of what had just occurred. The Beirut he had known was in ruins.

As the dust settled in the following hours, news began to spread of the tragedy at the port. Over 2,700 tons of ammonium nitrate, stored unsafely for years, had ignited, causing one of the most powerful non-nuclear explosions in history. Among the first responders who had rushed to the scene were ten brave firefighters, unaware of the danger they faced. They had arrived at the port to extinguish a fire that had broken out before the massive blast, but none of them survived the explosion. Johny, like the rest of the country, was devastated when he learned their names — heroes who had perished while trying to protect others: Najib Hitti, Charbel Karam, Joe Noun, Ralf Mallah, Sahar Fares, Elie Khoury, Michel El-Murr, Charbel Haj, Charbel Karam, and Mohammed Khalil. God rest their souls.

For days, Johny wandered the streets of a broken city, helping where he could, but feeling utterly helpless in the face of such devastation. His hearing, already fragile due to his earlier struggles with cancer, had been further damaged by the explosion, leaving him in a state of near silence as he tried to comprehend the loss. The Beirut Port Explosion wasn't just a physical catastrophe; it was a wound to the soul of the nation. Homes, livelihoods, and lives were lost in a split second, and the people were left to pick up the pieces of a country that had been betrayed by neglect and corruption. Johny prayed for those who had fallen, especially the firefighters who gave their lives, and for Lebanon itself, which once again found itself on the brink of collapse.