Vision in Red by Sajjad Rasool - HTML preview

Vision in Red

Huda moved to the corner, where a small kanun stove was burning. She poured tea from a battered silver pot. The smell of sage filled the room, strong and pungent.

"You smell of the checkpoint," Huda said, placing the tray on the table. She didn't look at them, but her movements were precise. "You smell of ozone and fear. You went to Qalandia."

"We did," Yasmin said. "We saw..."

"I know what you saw," Huda cut her off. She sat down opposite them, her milky eyes fixed on a point somewhere over Amal's shoulder. "The Giant. The Bone Eater."

Amal leaned forward. "You know it?"

Huda let out a dry, rattling laugh. "Know it? I named it. Before you were born, before your mother was born, I named it."

She took a sip of tea, the steam curling around her face.

"You think this is new," she said. "Because you are young. Because you only look at today. You see the wall, you see the soldiers, and you think this is where it started."

She leaned in closer, and the lamplight reflected in her blind eyes.

"The Wall is just the skin, child. The Watchers are the parasites."

"Yasmin says you know the Old Rules," Amal said. "We need to know how to fight them. We broke one of them today. We used a voice—"

"You broke?" Huda slammed her cup down. The tea sloshed over the rim. "You foolish girl. You didn't break anything. You just cracked the shell."

"Omar screamed," Yasmin defended. "He destroyed a Watcher."

"He swatted a fly," Huda spat. "And in doing so, he rang the dinner bell."

She reached out and grabbed Amal's wrist. Her grip was surprisingly strong, iron-hard.

"You want to know the truth?" Huda hissed. "You want to know what you really saw?"

"Yes," Amal whispered.

"Then listen. And do not interrupt. For the story I am going to tell you has not been spoken aloud since the Year of the Catastrophe."

Huda closed her eyes. The room seemed to darken further. The shadows in the corners stretched out, listening.

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