Grow Old Without You (A Camren Story)

Israel

Grow Old Without You (Chapter 61)

Camila

There was an explosion, and my instinct was to run out as soon as I heard it. But I forgot my sweater, and my backpack, which had all the things I need in case of emergencies like these. So I ran back. I heard Keana screaming at me, but I had to grab our bags. There was another explosion, and then I lost her after that.

I ran, and came across a family on the street. The mother was severely hurt, leaving a 2 year old kid carrying a newborn baby, wailing beside their almost lifeless mother. She looked like death, but ofcourse I can't say that out loud. I walked to them, checking their mother as the little boy looked at me scared, seeing that I was a foreigner.

"No!" He cried, hiding the baby from me.

"I'm helping." I said calmly, raising my arms. I showed the patch on my jacket, but ofcourse, this child would not understand what that would mean. I walked to the mom, felt her faint pulse, and checked some signs of blood. But there were none. She opened her eyes, looking at me scared as she saw the patch I was showing her son. "Fuck. Internal bleeding." I whispered to my self, grabbing some water from my bag to give to the toddler.

"No!" The little boy cried again, covering the baby as I sighed and didn't know what to do. Then I remembered some Syrians teaching me basic Arabic.

"Ana Asaeid." I said slowly as he looked at me with tears in his eyes. I gave him a bottle of water that he accepted immediately. I grabbed a blanket in my backpack as the little boy passed me his sibling. He tended to his mother, trying to give her water. The mother was not moving. What touched my heart was the little boy trying to give her mom water.

I checked the baby for cuts or bruises, opening up the little onesie. It's a girl.

"Hi baby girl." I whispered to the baby, checking everything. She's cold. I improvised a sling for the baby so she would be in my chest the whole time. "Let's go to the other base. We need to bring you to the other base so we could be safe." I talked to the mother as she tried nodding her head. She looked like she was in pain.

"Thank you." She said faintly as I tried to smile at her. "Abia." She smiled, pointing to her self. "Amin." She points at the little boy. "Asha." She points at the newborn baby on my chest.

"Camila." I smiled at her.

--

We hid in a messed up house for weeks. There was food, and water, and everything we needed, which was more than I prayed for. She's knows English, which made everything easier. We taught Amin English too.

For those weeks, Abia looked much worse. She was blurring some words, and we both know that she isn't doing well.

"Abia, I need to bring you to the hospital." I said, gathering all our things. I was already panicking when I didn't hear her speak for the rest of the day yesterday. "I know the hospital isn't far away, we haven't had an attack in 2 weeks. Come on. Before it's too late." I could feel the tears flowing down my face. "I can't lose you too." I whispered as she looked at me sadly. She just nodded her head. She knows her head's messed up. She knows she wouldn't have that much time left with her kids.

It was a long journey to the hospital. Thankfully, along the way, we saw a broken down carriage. I hoisted up Abia and the kids, as I pulled them all the way to our destination. Abia said it was just after the church. But the church wasn't there anymore. They bombed the church too. I checked my site map, where they initially plotted the UNICEF headquarters, incase these things happen, and the headquarters was after the church. Oh goodness.