Vision in Red by Sajjad Rasool - HTML preview

Children of Olive

"They're building the settlements," Amal realized. "The Watchers. They aren't just guarding the occupation. They are the occupation. They're building the cage."

"Why?"

"Because concrete stops the sound," Amal said. "Every new house is a silencer. Every new wall is a mute button."

The bus turned a corner, and the view opened up.

Jerusalem.

The Golden Dome of the Rock caught the first rays of the sun, burning like a dropped coin in the valley. The stone walls of the Old City rose around it, ancient and golden.

It was breathtaking.

But even from here, Amal could see the Shadow.

It wasn't a cloud. It was a haze, a gray filter that hung over the eastern part of the city. While West Jerusalem sparkled with glass and steel, East Jerusalem seemed... dimmer. Muted.

It was the same effect she had seen in the mirror. The "Fading."

"We're going into the center of it," Amal said. "The Archive is in West Jerusalem. Near Jaffa Street."

"Into the lion's den," Yasmin said.

"No," Amal touched the key. "Into the lion's memory."

The bus slowed, pulling into the chaotic station near Damascus Gate. The driver opened the doors.

"End of the line," he announced.

Amal stood up. She felt a strange buzzing in her ears. The noise of the city —the car horns, the shopkeepers shouting, the church bells—was loud. Brutally loud.

But underneath it, there was a Silence. A waiting, hungry Silence.

"Ready?" she asked Yasmin.

Yasmin took a deep breath. She pulled a small pair of metal scissors from her purse and held them in her sleeve.

"Ready."

They stepped off the bus and into the City of Stone.

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