The Summer Snowflake

The Language of Humanity

The cold and musty wind swallowed the warmth that once lived within the green adorned land. The sky howled with anger, bearing the weight of certain tragedies that were yet to be spoken, yet to be brought up and yet to be justified.

For after all, it lamented for the woman whose life lay as a shattered mess. A woman whose world had been played like a game. A woman whose dignity was snatched by her protectors. None fought the evil; not even her family. Her brother, her sister, her mother and father. No one.

The society's mindset had narrowed down ruthlessly, leaving barbarians to a peaceful slumber while battering the innocent.

She walked aimlessly down the stone path, getting slammed every so often by random people taking the same path as her. The public park was filled with joy and delightful tranquility, yet she remained unaffected. Tightening her hold on an old school bag in her arms, she quickened her pace to occupy the farthest bench visible. Her feet dipped into the tall plush grass as she hurried over to settle down for she felt her chest hurt.

Groups of people threw her disgusted glances and she dropped her gaze to the ground, unable to tolerate any attention. In her canvas of life, perhaps the colours never existed. What colours were or how they seemed to influence anyone, she didn't know. All she ever attracted were blacks and greys and colours were a fantasy; a fairytale.

Plopping down onto the bench, she held her bag tight against her chest. Her abaya swirled around gently, reminding her of incidents that only became the distant part of her memory. Her Hijaab lay disheveled, yet secure over her head keeping her covered modestly. The veil across her face served as a barrier to hide her bloodied lips, bruised nose and slit cheek.

Her small black eyes stung as she involuntarily blinked. Her heart had been squeezed out of every possible pain one could shed, her eyes numb with the result of it. Resting a hand against her bulging bump, she smiled painfully. Atleast she still had someone growing within her. Someone of her own.

None cared about the smile she had forgotten somewhere along the journey. No one bothered to care about the complainants she made against a hypocrite residing in her vicinity. It wasn't needed to assess what she had claimed for six months in a row. Her painful screams went muffled, her begging went unheard and her life blackened.

She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment. The haunting memories of the past weighing down upon her with anguish, disgust and hate.

As she opened them back, her bump came into vision and she managed a soft smile.

Countless times she had been killed. Innumerable times she carried the sin of assault. A heavy load it was. It was miraculous how a human heart could be torn piece by piece and it would still manage to live on.

All because it would find one speck of joy, a morsel of delightment, a meaning of life.

She had decided to not abort a life she had unknowingly accepted in her womb. Life may have been unfair to her, but she had not lost the humanity.

"Hey you!"

A rock slashed against her forehead, barely escaping her eye. She took a moment to inspect what happened before looking up slowly. A man — short and bulky — stood glaring at her, his hands fisted by his sides.

"You terrorist. How dare you step foot in this country."

Her mind — rather used to such scenarios — remained numb. Living in the city of Gaza — her country, she seldom enjoyed humanity or mercy. Bullets would go about anytime, bombs could blow apart any household, a religious war would overlook the rules of humanity. Lives were lost and lives were found. Some persisted while others perished.

"What do you think you're doing? GET LOST!"

He yelled, accusingly pointing a finger at her. People walking around either stopped for entertainment or just to catch the end of it. Cameras recorded and mocking smiles were exchanged but no helping hand was extended. As always.

She lay buried in a pool of life where the water never stood still. The ripples continued to emerge and the depth continued to grow. But there was never any hope of upliftment.

~~~

He jolted awake from his sleep, the brown fringes of his hair stuck to his forehead. Dripping with sweat, he attempted to steady his breathing. His heart racing mercilessly in his chest, it's pain increasing with every second. It had been years since those bullying incidents had taken place but uptil this day, nothing changed.

The windows to his small room lay wide open, cold wind gushing in. He threw the blanket away from his legs and swung his feet to the floor. The past haunted him while the future brought the courage fight it. And in an unseen battle of the natural forces, one often forgot about the present that's lost.

He pulled a shirt over his bare chest and smoothed it down. Unknowingly he observed the weird words on his shirt with neon colours. It was quite peculiar to him how the fashion industry introduced bizzare trends but no one could accept the peculiar truth of life that decorated each human uniquely.

Same like his eye. The only thing that struck everyone as demonic and unwanted. What good lay within him didn't matter when the only thing that surfaced as an answer to every query was his eye. Born with the raren"Tilted Disc Syndrome" left him with a bulged out eye that creeped out every single person.

The little defect largely governed every detail, every answer, every relationship. It was so much so that his mother had gradiated away from him over the course of time, posing excuses that never even existed. What he had imagined to be his strength, his armour and power against any wrong turned it's back on him. Ruining his hope for life and love.

It was not long before he would lose the little sparks of life, the glimmer of hope, the fog of love.

Jumping down from the window of his room, he landed heroically over his knees. He stood up abruptly, dusted his hands and brushed off the dust from his clothes.

It was a gloomy night and unlike other days, he wasn't ready to embrace the reality. The weather was raging and there was the high possibility of a storm, but he was fiercer that day. Some power in the nature had left his emotions swirled in a pool of uncertainty. He felt weak ; yet bolder than ever.

People scurried past in a rush, hoping to get their work completed on time. The roads lay slightly jammed up with traffic and he shook his head at the loud roaring of the horns. He leisurely breathed in the misty air whilst taking each step.

It was a five minute walk to the park he visited anytime he awoke from devastating nightmares. Within the natural beauty of Earth, he never failed to find a piece of his heart buried.

A beaming smile crept over his lips as he hopped down the path, his hands thrusted deep into his pockets.

The trees still remained the same. The grass still tickled his feet. The flowers still brightened up his smile. The park lived unchanged, yet people didn't.

Dancing around the very path that he had been following for the past five years brought back memories that had developed into his body as signs of growth and accomplishment. Perhaps that explained his deep and heartfelt love for it.

"Why won't you get up? Don't you understand?"

A man yelled so furiously that he felt the ground she beneath him. He stopped in his track, taking cautious step towards the crowd. What was it that was turning someone's world upside down? It took him a few minutes to finally get around the havoc being created.

What lay before him made him stumble backwards, surprised. It was a Muslim woman, short and pretty healthy in her shape. She was covered up in Hijaab which he could say since he grew up around a lot of them. Her head was hung low, her hands interwined on her lap and her eyes remained fixed over her stomach that bulged a little.

"Just get out of here."

The man continued to shout. Helplessly, he averted his gaze around the crowd to notice any signs of assistance. When things just happened to get more violent — with the man shoving and pushing the lady, he jumped in and ended up taking a stand right by the lady's feet.

"Stop it. Why're you troubling her?"

The man chuckled dryly and eyed him a little.

"She's a terrorist!"

His gaze fell from over his shoulder at the woman, fiddling with her fingers now.

"She's not! How can you even regard her as one?"

"You are crazy. Don't you see? She's a Muslim!"

He sighed. This was not new to him. It was so familiar — as a matter of fact — that he was puzzled over how common it was and nobody bothered to help out. It was his ill fate that even if he did try to help someone they'd blatantly refuse, his eye scaring them.

"Don't you see? She's a woman just like your mother and sister. She's minding her business there, hardly even looking up. What is your problem? Learn to respect a woman. Why are you targeting her as a Muslim? Do us all a favour here and get going."

The man glared hard at him. His eyes were red and full of hatred. Nonetheless that didn't make this young man back down. He kept staring right back at him until he huffed, turned around and stomped away.

Steadily the crowd started to diminish, leaving behind just the two of them. Once he watched everyone leave, he slowly turned around and stepped a little away to not stand too near to her.

"Um, are you okay miss?"

She regarded him curiously, her eyes puffy and dull. Yet they crinkled gently, exposing a subtle amount of appreciation.

"Thank you so much."

His heart skipped a beat. Her voice was raspy, raw, thick with emotions. But it was still soft enough to make his mouth drop open. The longer she looked at him with her eyes boring into his, the more uncomfortable it felt until eventually she turned away.

"I'm so sorry, it's.... just your voice. It's beautiful."

She nodded, her gaze fixed on the ground.

"Thank you so much. You've been very kind sir."

She softly said and he rocked a foot back and forth.

"It's my pleasure. But ma'am, please don't sit here. This settlement is largely occupied by Jews so you might face quite some ordeals."

She nodded and a small smile quirked on his lips. He waited for another few minutes partly to keep an eye out while somewhere deep in his heart, he longed to hear her voice again. But more than ever, he was dumbfounded over how she was different. Her searing gaze examined him anticipatingly but she didn't move an inch away from him. She didn't scream. She didn't shut her eyes to prevent being cursed.

She only smiled back genuinely.

"Er, I'll get going then?"

She tilted her head up briefly and nodded.

"Please go ahead. Thank you so much once again."

He smiled back, a truly heartfelt smile. Something he hadn't done in a long time.