This Is It!

The ruins and victims

Haytham
Boss lady looked tired when i ran into her at the lobby. For the first time since i met her I saw her without make up on. She sighed when she saw me.

"Whoaaah!" Jem exclaimed. "You look pale. What is wrong?"

"Nothing Jem. I am okay." She replied angrily. "And please no one should ask me that again."

"Wow! Even the Frost Queen doesn't use that tone." Alexis said playfully. I know Ariana has looked at me with a horrible look on her face so many times but the one she gave Alexis was beyond horrible.

It was on a weekend and I had nothing to do. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I decided to take a walk around Aaliya's old home. Jem insisted on coming along, i agreed under one condition; that he shouldn't ask me anything. Of course he didn't deliver. He kept on asking question after question. I couldn't even recognise the place. Most of the buildings were destroyed.

I couldn't  believe what i saw when i walked into Aaliya's old home. The foundation was still there but the roof was blown away and half of the house was destroyed. I felt the lump in my throat. How could they do this?

"Looks like they had a nice home." Jem declared as we walk into the ruins.

"This is where I first met her." I said unconsciously. "She was so innocent."

"Dude! She eint dead. She is just married." He punched me on my arm. "You need to stop to talking about her in the past tense."

I smiled at him. He is the best friend any guy could ever ask for. Despite of all the danger he decided to come all the way here with me.

"Why did you do that?"

"Do what?" I asked puzzled.

"You totally ignored her at the reception. You actually pretended that you didn't know her."

I didn't know what to say so i simply shrugged my shoulder.

"I guess I was not ready to see her. I hate to admit this but I think I love her." I finally said and picked a stone from the wreck and threw it with all my might. Jem smirked I know he wanted to shout 'i told you so!'

"It's gonna be alright." Jem said reassuringly.

"That night when we arrived and I saw her, i was so sure I could have her. Then all my hopes were shattered overnight."

"If you really love her then you can always fight for your love."

"I can't. She is married to Tamim so I have to respect that."

Jem pat me on the shoulder. Suddenly my phone rung. It was Boss lady. She wanted us back at the hotel.

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Boss Lady made us go to a hospital and of course she did not bother to give us a heads up. We visited some of the victims of the invasion as Alexis took their pictures. One little boy captured our attention. He was hardly even ten but he had no arms and feet. He told us he stepped on a landmine as he was walking from home to school. The kid smiled at us and I felt my heart crushing. What did this little kid do to deserve this?

Hassan was the kid's name. He kept on smiling and my heart kept turning. Alexis could not take it anymore so Jem had to take the camera from her. Sadly, even he starred crying as the kid narrated to us how two of his friends were completely blown to pieces. I looked at Boss Lady and she looked surprisingly alright taking down her notes. I was doing the translation so i had to keep my cool.

Later on that evening, none of us spoke to each other. Jem's eyes went all red and he had a running nose. Boss Lady looked so pale you would think she was a zombie. I knew this was hard for her even though she was pretending it wasn't.

I saw Aaliya on my way in. I think she said hy but i couldn't respond. I just needed my bed and a nice cup of latte; which i know i can't get now. The day has been Long for all of us.