Volume 1: AFAR

Chapter 1: NO MATTER WHAT ... SURVIVE

"I trusted her so much..."

Some people laughed immediately.

"I told her my secret water hiding place. My scrap location. My future plans..."

I lowered my voice dramatically.

"Even where I hide food from my brother."

That got a louder laugh from the crowd.

I shook my head slowly like a broken man.

"Next day I saw her..."

I paused and pointed into the distance.

"...with my enemy."

People burst out laughing.

"And you know what hurt the most?"

I acted like I was about to cry.

"She was helping HIM hide water too."

The crowd whistled and shouted.

Then I raised my hand like I was becoming the girl.

I softened my voice and said:

'What do you want me to do? I also need to survive.'"

For a second even I almost believed her.

The crowd slowly became quiet after hearing the word survive.

For a moment, nobody laughed.

Only the crying of a baby echoed through the crowd.

I thought maybe the act failed.

Then someone started clapping.

And the other one by one after another echo spread surrounding me.

I felt the joy of flowing of water in me.

Soon one by one,

people started to pour small cups of water in my water sachet as reward for the act.

Hearing that sound always made me feel heavier and joy in me.

But the baby was still crying

I looked toward the sound of the crying baby for a moment before tightening my grip around the sachet again.

Then I returned to the queue at the Saraner.

Perfectly i got more cup of water than i expected, probably with scraps i will get enough for my family for next 3 days.

Now my turn has come.

"KAEL - MASKHALI - EL - NADORAFAR."

I heard my name echo from the Saraf mouth,

I hadn't expected the queue at the Saraner to move this fast.

Maybe I got too carried away because of the voice of the baby or thinking about the water i gained through the act.