Immortal Hope

  I remember, one day, I was sitting next to the window of my room, looking at the blue sky and deeply thinking about the places I need to visit before I go back home.

In fact, I had no problem with the people from this town, they are peaceful and nice, even though I am a « stranger » but no, they welcomed me with the best way and helped me to get to learn more about their traditions. So, I planned to ask the woman who sells flowers with her 7-year-old daughter. Such a poor family! The husband died, they hardly have any money to buy food.

I prepared myself and went outside, I went next to the mosque looking for the woman but in vain. She wasn’t there. Meanwhile, the caretaker at the mosque came towards me and with a sad tone said : »Salamu Alaikum, You must be looking for « Amu Amal » (the woman’s name) . »

I said : « Yes! where’s she? »

He said while looking away : « They killed her.. »

I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it.. She has been killed? HOW??

 » Who killed her? »

 » Sahayina.. yahoud! Israel killed her and 23 other palestinian. »

« Where’s Amal? (the daughter’s name) « 

 » Inside the mosque.. She’s holding the flowers.. I will call her. »

She came, hugged me and soughed :

« They killed mommy, too! I have no mother and no father now.. nobody to protect me! »

I kissed her forehead as my eyes where full of tears. I was thinking how she is going to live now. She already lost her parents, she lost safety and protection! Why would people kill other people?

The caretaker broke the silence, sighed and explained : « All the children lost their families, lost their childhood and their innocent smile. »

Amal:  » I am not scared, I am used to this war! I shouldn’t cry because.. now.. nobody will wipe away my tears! Children and I.. are fighting against time! »

« How can a 7-year-old girl say such a touching speech! » I inquired.

 » War! even if they don’t attend school, our kids are intelligent and they totally understand what’s going on! » the caretaker affirmed.

Then, I heard a scary noise.. a bomb!!! I run anxiously as I was screaming loudly.. I made a fool of myself looking for a place to protect me from this deadly bomb! I felt a heat all over my body as my heart was beating so fast that I even supposed it unrelentingly escaped my chest like a bird trying to extricat a cage made of wood. I thought that I am dying and for seconds all my family members and friends’ faces appeared infront of me!

Although, I am a 34-year-old woman I was aghast while Amal didn’t even cry.

 » FIRE!!!  » we heard a man screaming while placing two babies’ corpses outside the destroyed building.

The movement was uncanny, I was hearing people dying just infront of me, others crying, some screaming.. In a blink of an eye, everything went down. It was hard seeing them or even hearing them. The situation made me literally petrified. I looked at Amal who was looking at the sky, the grey sky and she revealed :

 » This is our daily lives, we don’t know when the bomb blows, everyday.. everysecond, more than 40 palestinians die!! I am sorry.. because you are here, maybe it’s the worst place to visit. We have only darkness, dirty air, grey sky covered by smoky haze and scary news.. I wonder how they tried to kill you even though you are one of them.. because they just kill everyone, children, women, babies, oldmen with no mercy. They don’t care. They are heartless. I know the way you think is different but if you died here they would say that we killed you! We are bad. This is what people think but No! We are so much better than them, we feel the value of the little things we have, we are strong and we are not afraid of death. Even though they stole my dreams, they destroyed my house and took away everyone dear to my heart, I am still standing in here, facing the enemy.. Having hope! I keep my head high because I believe that now or tomorrow, Palestine is alive, Palestine will survive, Palestine is above! »

     I knew things would get worse and I was terrified that I planned to leave. The next morning, I woke up early or should I say that I couldn’t even sleep that night because of bombs, rockets, the shoots.. They told me that the caretaker at the mosque died yesterday night. He left his two kids alone. Amal refused to come with me, she said that she wants to die where her family died, she doesn’t want to run away, she doesn’t want to leave her home, she wants to be the child she has to be. She wants to face her destiny and even though everyone will die, they are in a better place, their souls are standing to protect her, she can feel them, she said, she will never leave Palestine. Her free town.

That was the last meeting between Amal and I, maybe I don’t have her strong willed personnality and her hopeful look of the furute, but all I learnt is people nowadays lost their consciousness.. their humanity!!

I learnt from this experience that Palestine is worried about nothing because it already has nothing to worry about.. Palestine doesn’t have anymore tears to snake out of her eyes. Her voice vanished.. that’s why we cannot hear her screams. Palestine gave up on us, gave up on the world.. « She » doesn’t need selfish people like us.. Palestine is fighting alone, bleeding, painfully struggling yet keeps hardly protecting herself. Palestine knows that they want to steal her because.. she knows.. she is above them.

I took the decision to go back to meet Amal, after two years, but unfortunately, her village.. has been razed.. that innocent child died.. Palestine and the world lost another smart kid! She had a meaningful existance.. because

« Amal » means faith. « Amal » means love. « Amal » means hope!

Author's Note

I wrote this short story 2 years ago ( when I was 17years old)! Hope you like it and please share your thoughts about "Immortal Hope" , rate^^
Thank You~~