The Nightmare Begins--MS

Howling in the dark, I woke up to a loud noise which I then realized was a bomb. It was the loudest and closest bomb I ever heard! I ran to my mom screaming, “Shu am be seir? (What is happening?)” She informed me that a war was breaking out between Israel and Lebanon because Hassan Nasrallah had kidnapped two Israeli soldiers. I asked my mom what they had bombed. She said that they bombed the South and many bridges, and they are announcing it on TV. I felt really puzzled! Fear took me over. It was a risk staying in the country, for anyone could have gotten hurt. On the other hand, my country was almost falling apart, and I couldn’t just leave my life, my memories, my friends, and most importantly, my family! They lived all their lives here in Lebanon and they didn’t want to leave to another country.

Israeli attacks struck randomly all through out Lebanon, and one of these attempts was on a near-by bridge in Sawfar. My building shook and the windows shattered. It was quite close, for I saw black smoke rising in the distance. The sky was filled with dazzling black, as a stormy day in mid January.

I asked my mom, “Ha yfajro hon? (Are they going to bomb here?)”.

My mom answered, “Nshala laa! (Hopefully not)”

We all went to the hallway because it was the safest place in the whole house. After a couple of minutes, we heard another bomb that was very close, even closer than the first one. The sound was so loud like an angry lion in the forest. The threatening sounds of the bombs echoed through out the country. I hollered as I covered my head, for I didn’t want to face what was happening, and I wanted everything to end on the spot! I went out on my balcony to see military aircrafts swoosh over the region.

The sky was dark, covering the sun as if it was too shy to show. I was nervous because my mom said that we had to go to Beirut to get our passports and to get some money because we might leave the country. She told me to stay with her because if she gets trapped, she wouldn’t have to worry about me. On our way, we could hear the aircraft as if it were on top of us. I could see my mom nervous and angry, but I didn’t say a word and hoped that we would go and come back just fine. We arrived home at last. I ran out of the car and up to my house. I got my clothes and some money I had and helped my mom get the passports.

I asked, “Mom, are we really going to travel?”

“Ma baaref! Yalla seaadine dob! (I don’t know! Come on help me pack!)". After we finished packing up, we went back up to the mountains. When we got there, I noticed that the wind in Sawfar was taking all its anger out!

This experience was very valuable to me. It was the first time I discovered the true meaning of fear. I learned that the war had a big affect on people’s mental health. Some people couldn’t stand being afraid of bombs and had the thought that they might die any second. Families tried fleeing the South, but most roads were bombed. Some people didn’t have cars and even if they did, the amount of gasoline was minimal through out the country and not everyone could afford it for such high prices. People lost great amounts of money. Most importantly, some people lost their kids and members of their family. At last the war is over, and we survived and came out safely. I hope everyone’s lives will go back to normal. It is an incident that taught me how to deal with such tribulations that might occur anytime and anywhere.