By Sumaiya Akbar
We don’t know what’s coming up next but one thing for certain is that we can’t hold onto this for long. I just wish it was another quarantine, it’s a virus outside aiming to vanish mankind. It might be then less horrific and tragic than this.
My brother was always an anti-patriotic person— using every excuse to badmouth our country and praise the Westerns. How ironic! How he left me flabbergasted when the time arrived. He is there, positioned, covering his back with the greens and reds, ready to jump in whenever the work calls.
Then there is my younger sister, the baby whom I carried in my lap— changed her lock screen with her contact details— what if she is not able to make it home…..
Thursday, August 1, 2024
We are under curfew, forced to stay at home, not even allowed to go to the terrace, forces are ordered to shoot anyone at a glance, have no internet, not even have any basic human rights. How are we supposed to live like this? Not gonna lie, we are in a much better position than most of the people out there. At rock bottom, we have each other. Amy and Oshim are most of the time fighting—somehow trying to burn the fuel inside them and I’m just here, breathing, reading weird books, and staring at the ceiling—searching for hope to be able to bear it a little longer.
The tension and anxiety are always there, within us and those always peak once, twice, or several times a day. We are in the middle of a war. It is a war and nothing less than a war. We are uncertain what is going to happen next as our communication system has been sabotaged except for the phone calls. Exactly! we are in a worse situation than Palestine. At the very least their own people aren’t attacking them, unlike us.
Friday, August 2, 2024
“Did you hear the gunshot?”, Amy screams.
“I did, I did”, I’m panting.
“It came from our main road, something is happening here”, my brother cries.
“Close all the windows and sit together in the living room”, my mom whines.
How cruel, how shameful………..