Ammar Habib - The Heart of Aleppo - A Story of the Syrian Civil War

The rest of the group is behind me. They’re cowering behind the wall, their gazes aimed at the ground. I don’t know what makes me do it: courage or stupidity. But no matter what it is, I find myself again looking over the wall, unable to tear my eyes away as the scene unfolds.

The voracious shooting doesn’t end. It intensifies. But now it’s lopsided in the rebel’s favor. A handful of them step into view, continuing to pull their triggers. Their clothes are dirty, and their faces are merciless. Endless streams of bullets rip through the smoke, and there are just as many screams. Some aren’t the cries of men… but of women.

My eyes widen. Where is that group? The one I saw before the shooting? I crouch down behind the barrier. Looking through a crack in the wall, I find them. They’re right where I last saw them, but now they’re lying in the middle of the street… and they’re not moving. They’re resting there, just like Jari was. Their clothing holds dark stains… it’s blood. For a moment, everything becomes inaudible as I stare at the victims of the battle’s crossfire.

The rebels advance. Heavy boots beating against the ground, their weapons stay raised as they keep shooting. Are they firing at the retreating soldiers? I can’t see from my angle behind the wall. Why… why is this happening?

The shooting begins to slow down. I hear some footsteps chase after the soldiers. Then the gunfire disappears into the fog, along with the pursuing footsteps. The remaining rebels scatter across the road. One of the rebels stops and towers over one of the people caught in the crossfire. He aims his gun down at the body. What’s he doing? There’s a moment of peace. Then his gun goes off and the body jumps with a jolt.

I clench my chest. As I horrifically stare at the scene, I can’t feel my heartbeat. He… he just shot a body, a corpse. I hear one of their sharp voices cut through the air. “That should be the last of them here.”

“We need to get indoors before they start shelling this area.” That’s one of the men who was chasing us. I recognize his vile, arrogant voice. Keeping my gaze on the defaced corpse, I know where I’ve heard that voice before. It sounds just like the man who beckoned Jari to his demise.

“I thought you were looking for supplies?”

“We were, but then we found a group. We were trying to catch them.”

“Are they here?”

“We chased them up until we saw you battling the soldiers.”

“Search for them. We don’t know what they saw or know.”

Is that why they’re after us? They’re afraid we know something that can help the military? And based on a hunch, they’d just—just… this can’t be happening.

My eyes are wide with horror as I keep staring at the bodies through the crack. My heart is shivering. I feel it. The rebel’s footsteps are all around us. Any moment, one of them will step out of the black fog and find us.

I catch sight of something. There’s somebody on the opposite side of the road. It’s not a soldier… or a rebel. It’s a boy. He’s no older than me and is hiding behind some wooden crates. I can barely see his eyes and the top of his head as he looks out from between two boxes, but he catches my gaze. His expression is just as terrified as mine. Was he a part of that group? Did he see what happened to his friends?

“Search the buildings too.” The arrogant voice speaks above everything else. “They could not have gotten far.”

I sense the fear radiating off of everyone behind me. There’s no way out. We’re trapped here. If we step out, they’ll see us. And if we don’t, they’ll find us sooner or later. Salman quietly pulls out his gun as if preparing to make a final stand. Is… is it really going to end like this?

My gaze again meets the boy’s. He’s trembling just as much as anybody. Just like me, he witnessed the madness and massacre unfold.

The heavy footsteps are everywhere. They violently kick down doors, call out to one another, and fire into buildings. I almost wince with each sound. There’s nothing I can do. Nothing any of us can do. With every step, I start to quiver harder and faster. Because with every step, they’re closer to finding us.

This is it. After everything, it will all end like this.

Without thinking, I glance up at the heavens. I can’t even see the skies through the smog. Suffocating from the smoke and drenched in my own sweat, I feel tears forming in my eyes. But I offer the prayer of any condemned man or woman… the prayer for salvation.

You didn’t answer my prayers for Jari. B—but please… please don’t condemn us here.

I lower my head and again lock gazes with the boy. He’s whispering something to himself. For a long moment, everything becomes peaceful. It’s as if time has stopped. There’s a sudden change in his eyes and he does something—something I hardly fathom.

…he smiles.

“Over there! I see one of them!” the arrogant voice cries out.

The boy is on his feet, attracting the attention of every rebel. He’s not trembling anymore. He stands there long enough for them to see him.

Without hesitating, he takes off into the thick smoke. Deafening gunfire surrounds us as they try to shoot him down… but they can’t. Their bullets strike everything but him.

“After him!”

All the rebels charge and stumble out of the buildings and shops. They dart right past us. In the next instant, they’re all pursuing him, blindly firing into the smog as they disappear.

And within moments, we are alone.

I don’t know how long we hide behind the wall. But I can’t tear my gaze away from where that boy hid. The scene replays in my head again and again. Just when it all seemed lost, he rescued us. They chased that boy into the smog; they chased him until their gunfire became faint and distant … and we were saved.

Nothing is spoken. I don’t think any of the others saw what happened. They must know I witnessed what the men chased after, but they don’t ask me about it. Maybe they can see it on my face, or maybe they’re just thankful that the men are gone.

Squeezing the top of the wall with one hand, I can’t forget the look in the boy’s eyes. It all happened so fast. He knew what would happen. They were looking for us, not him. But he still did it.

My gaze becomes downcast. Was that boy the answer to my desperate prayer? I didn’t even know his name—never said a word to him. Yet he risked his life for us. For all I know, he may have given his life for us.

Shutting my eyes, I say the prayer I was taught to say whenever we hear of a death. It’s the same one I spoke over Jari. The identical gut-wrenching feeling I felt when I recited it beside him again washes over me.

“To God we belong, and to Him we all return.”

Feeling a hand on my shoulder, I look back at Salman. He’s ready to move on and so are the others. I’m not, but I don’t argue. The sun is long gone by the time we leave the wall. If it wasn’t for the smoke, I’m sure I would witness the stars popping up in the heavens. The idea of a starry night seems as distant as the thought of my mother’s warm arms.

We start making our way down the desolated street. The bottoms of my shoes feel a little thinner and worn out. I don’t know if it is the hot ground or all the walking. Either way, I don’t take the time to examine them. I hardly even notice the difference, unable to fully bring my mind into the present.

The boy’s eyes… I know where I’ve seen them before. They reminded me of Jari’s. They looked just like Jari’s before he stepped out of the shop and faced those vile men.

Are those the eyes of courage?

The odor of burnt wood is mixed in with the same foul stench of death—the same stench that was everywhere last night. It’s worse than before. Just the thought of how much death must be surrounding us causes me to shudder.