On July 12, 2006, I woke up ready to spend the day with my friends. After having lunch, I called up some friends and asked them if they wanted to do something. All of them said they weren’t allowed to leave the house. I got so bored because my mom and brother were each doing there own thing, so I decided to go online and chat with my cousin in America. As we were chatting, I started to nag about having to stay home that day. Then all of a sudden she replied, “Are you dumb, you don’t know what's going on in the COUNTRY YOU ARE LIVING IN!" I replied to her with a simple “No”. She replied, “There is a big problem that may lead to war!” That explained the actions of my friends. I straight way shut down the computer and went to watch the news.
All I saw on LBC and Future were big headings that said, “This is the end of the world. Hezbollah and Israel are combating.” All I could think of was my dad and my brother. They were both out of the country. I was petrified at the thought that I would never see them again. I dashed to my mom and other brother in the next room to tell them what was happening.
A few days later, the news got worse, and I started worrying more and more. Israel was bombing the airport. I looked out my window because the airport was near by and saw smoke and fire. I opened the window. The sounds of the bombs were similar to the sounds when you cannon-ball in to a pool. Pieces of rock scattered everywhere like when one is splashing water, and it starts flying in all directions. The smell of the smoke in the air made me shiver. Skies of Lebanon began to darken. A few minutes later, I heard planes on top of my building. Suddenly the building shook. I personally thought there was an earthquake. We all started crying because my dad wasn’t with us, so we didn’t know how to act. My brother and I then started to ask my mom if they would bomb our street. My mom sensed that we were scared, so we spent the night at a hotel.
When we arrived at the hotel, it was packed with people. We went to our room and went to bed. I finally felt a bit safer. Time pasted until it was four in the morning. The building shook. We all swiftly woke up. We heard bombs and planes right next to us. We even heard people screaming especially children. I felt anxious again. We turned on the television and heard the news. They were hitting the street right beside us. The bombs were so loud and so near that some glass broke. Fortunately, no one was near the glass. After an hour, the war planes left, and we went back to bed.
The next morning we woke up at 7:00 am and packed up hastily, because we were worried that the bombing would continue. Luckily, we arrived home in time before they hit our hotel's street. I thanked God so much that day. Then we heard another bomb. I thought that this would never end; like a run-on sentence. Israel hit Dahieh. Dahieh (southern suburbs of Beirut) wasn’t far from our house. You can see it at the far end from my window. I started to miss my dad and brother more and more.
We couldn't take it any more, so we decided to leave the country, passing through Syria and stopping in Jordan. On the day of our departure we were on the road by 9am. We were going to the border crossing Tripoli. When we arrived to Tripoli, I saw broken down buildings with people surrounding them. At that moment I realized that Lebanon was weeping, because death and danger crept in all of a sudden. The trip to Jordan took about 10 hours.
We spent three days in Jordan, and then flew to Bahrain where all my family members met. Staying in Bahrain for about 2 months wasn’t that exciting, but at least I was safe with my family. One day while listening to the news, we heard that the airport reopened and that the war was over. We were so happy we even went out for dinner. Three days later we were on the plane coming back to Lebanon. I am so happy that the war ended, but I am feeling sad, because many people lost their families and friends. The country is still a bit depressed, but grey skies are going clear up.
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