This Is It!

Stuck in

Three hours after calling him, there was a knock at our door. Soldiers, that was the first thing that went through my mind. No it can't be them. They would never knock the door. They would blast it open. I said to myself with fear.

Mama was the one who opened the door.

"Ahsad!" She shouted and i ran to the door. He was so bloody and his hands were tied together. I looked at Haytham who stared back at me and bit his lips. "What have they done to my son?" She reached out to touch his bloody face but he angrily turned away.

"Help me put him on the couch." Haytham said and I dutifully followed his instructions. We half dragged him to the living room as he straggled. Haytham breathed out loudly and looked at Ahsad as he avoided my eyes. Mama carefully untied his hands and kissed them. She leaned on the couch and cried softly thanking Allah for bringing him home.

"What did they do to him?" I asked while looking at him. His face looked like it was smeared with blood.

"It wasn't them. It was me," he said and turned to look at me. "I had to use force. Your brother is quite strong." I looked at him in disdain.

"You did what now?"

"I hit him with my camera to knock him out. I hope I haven't broken his skull."

My mouth dropped wide open. Is he crazy. Knocking my brother out and then talking to me about it as if it's nothing.

"I told you to bring him home not kill him." I shouted angrily. Mama had already started cleaning his would and was praising Allah at the same time.

"Am sorry but if I hadn't knocked him out, those people would have killed us both. Besides, I promised I -" There were gunshots and I felt my ears buzzing again. "We would be the ones receiving those bullets right now if i hadn't hit him."

Ahsad who seemed to be half conscious spat blood on the carpet.

"FREEDOM!" He shouted angrily and Mama struggled to hold him back. Haytham and I joined her.

"We have to take him to the hospital." Mama shouted above the sound of gunshots.

"We can't. There is a curfew, we'll probably get killed." Haytham said subconsciously.
Ahsad stopped kicking and went to sleep after a few minutes. Mama and I dressed his head wound and washed his bloody hair as he slept like a baby.

Haytham had got stuck with us since he could not leave because of the curfew. He stood near the window and stared outside. The fire has seized and everything was abnormally silent.

"You didn't break his skull. It was just a small bump." I handed him a cup of ginger tea and forced a smile on my face. He smiled back and it looked genuine. His smile left me wondering whether mine looked real. I snapped back to reality and saw him brushing his fingers through his hair, and was that a blush i noticed. I must have been staring at him all this time, i thought and quickly turned away.

"I am sorry again, I shouldn't have done that." He said breaking the awkward silence.

"It's OK." I said smiling and again my heart crushed at the betrayal of my face.

"You really are interesting." He put his cup down and looked right into my eyes, then it was my turn to feel awkward.

"And why is that?"

"How can you smile so beautifully after all that has been happening around you?" I pulled my scarf at my neck and hugged myself, feeling cold all of a sudden.

"I don't know. I guess I am just a big fat liar." I stood up and looked past him through the window. "It's late, you can have my room for the night. I will move my stuff tomorrow. Goodnight." I said and managed again another fake smile. It wasn't hard, after all i could not help but smile at him.

That night I am almost sure no one slept. We were all waiting for something terrible to happen. Those heartless men stop at nothing. Killing more than a hundred people in one day is not enough for them. We all expected them to burn us all down in our houses but they didn't, we were alive. Mama was alive, Ahsad Was alive and now I was glad that Haytham was here. At least their is someone I can talk to.

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Yeah! Things are about to get scarier and more interesting.
Will she be able to survive everything horrible that has been happening to her? Stick with me to find out.