https://youtu.be/ITcaEbpJqao

It was about 1:00 AM in the morning - only two hours after everyone had settled down. Latif and Andreas were sleeping on the couches in the lobby while Zakir stood outside the entrance. Suddenly, Elena heard clamor downstairs and laid Iesha on the bed who was initially sleeping in her lap. All the girls were sleeping in the room, huddled together. Ruheena also awoke from the commotion and looked at Elena, fear in her eyes. Elena smiled at her and told her she would be right back. As Elena hurried downstairs, she could hear the whirring of a car. Her heart was beating faster with every second. Someone else was here. Aziza also came out of her room and joined Elena downstairs. They had kept all the lights off for precautionary purposes and used flashlights instead. Two headlights emerged outside the motel. They frowned. The motel was temporarily shut down, so it didn't make any sense for a visitor or tourist to come by.

Andreas and Zakir ran to the door and waited for the person to step out of the vehicle. Elena and Aziza hid behind the lobby's sofa and anxiously waited. The vehicle looked like it was a police car with its logo faintly visible in the moonlight. Elena's heart began to beat quickly again and adrenaline pumped through her body. For the first couple of minutes, no one stepped out of the car but left the engine running. They all sat in the dark, awaiting what was next. Then, Elena saw a man with a thick beard and a friendly smile walk in.

"Salaam," He said into the dark.

The man looked as if he had a limp and walked with an irregular gait. Zakir nodded at Latif who turned one of the main lights on. Zakir greeted the serious man, whose hands were trembling by his side subtly. Elena knew right away that he was under the influence.

"Why are you all sitting in the dark?" The man forcefully laughed.

"To be safe," Zakir directly replied. "What brings you here?"

"You guys are carrying kids with you?" The man asked gruffly in Arabic.

"Why do you ask?" Zakir asked him, scrutinizing his unusual behaviour.

The man shifted in place and had beads of sweat rolling down his temple.

"I'm here to take the kids," The man said. "There's a children's shelter nearby and we'll take care of them. In fact, a plane is going to escort the children to Turkey where they'll be safer."

Aziza and Elena frowned. Elena picked up what he was saying in Arabic. It was enough to hear his jumpy and slurred words to know that he was intoxicated.

"I have no idea who this is!" Aziza whispered to Elena. "I take care of my own kids."

"They're sleeping," Zakir said sternly. "We appreciate it, but they're staying with us."

"It's not safe here for them; I'm going to take them to a safer place. Get them up," The man said seriously to Andreas. He held a badge up. "That's an order."

He had his hand on a gun and they realized they had no choice at the moment. He smiled warmly at them, but it looked forced. Elena noticed he said the last sentence a bit too aggressively. Elena watched as his eyes wildly looked around. This man had nothing to do with Aziza's privately run orphanage. How did he know they even had orphan children with them? Were they being followed? Zakir reluctantly went to the kids' rooms knocking on their doors to wake them up. The children, half asleep, hurriedly put their shoes on and were led out of the hallway by a panic-stricken Aziza. Andreas looked back at Elena and frowned. She pointed to the man with her eyes and Andreas immediately understood what she was saying.

"Let's go, kids!" The man said grinning from ear to ear, his yellow teeth showing through and his left hand wrapped around a gun. "You'll be safer with us."

The children exchanged confused glances. Aziza nodded at them to follow the man out.

"We've never seen him before," Ruheena leaned over and said to Elena.

The man noticed this quick exchange between them and reached into his back pocket to pull something out. Suddenly, he had his gun pointed at Ruheena ready to shoot when another bullet hit his arm holding the gun. He yelped in pain as the children screamed. Elena didn't know Zakir had a gun on him. He fell to the floor wincing and growling in pain. The gun dropped and slid across the floor while the children began shouting. Zakir pounced on the man and held him down.

"Go! Go!" Zakir said, ushering them out of the motel with his hand.

Latif grabbed a crying Amal from Aziza's room and bolted outside behind the kids. Elena ushered the children back into the van, but Ruheena remained frozen in place inside the building, traumatized.

"Ruheena!!" Zainab ran back to her and pulled on her arm.

She snapped out of her horror and watched the man squirm on the floor as Zakir held him down. Elena looked back to see the girl trying to get a horrified Ruheena out of the building.

"Zainab, go!" Elena said, rushing back to them. "Take Iesha!"

She handed the little girl to Zainab as she ran back to get Ruheena. She aggressively grabbed the girl by the wrist and led her out. Andreas knocked the man out to give them enough time to escape. If one man had found them, he probably had a whole group waiting to ambush them. Elena brought a petrified Ruheena into the large van and sat her down. She grabbed a bottle of water and unscrewed the cap for her. Suddenly, Ruheena burst into tears and crumbled into Elena.

"I'm sorry!" She cried out. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault. Shh. It's okay," Elena said, holding onto her hands. "That man was going to harm all of us anyways."

Ruheena cried some more. Elena let the girl whimper and take in the situation. It was better for her to let her emotions out than to be petrified. The other kids stared at her in terror and disbelief. The twins, Faizan and Faisal, had curled up around Mustafa who acted like their older brother trying to comfort their tears and telling them to be brave. Iesha rested her head against Aziza's shoulder and Amal's wide eyes darted around her unfamiliar surroundings. Adam looked out the window and didn't say a word. Zainab, Mariam, and Fatima whispered to each other at the back of the van while huddling up close to one another. Suddenly, Ruheena ran out of the van and headed towards the back. Elena ran out after her to see what was going on. The girl was throwing up onto the grass beside the road.

 Elena panicked again when she realized one child was missing. Where was Amir?

"Amir!" Elena said as she and Ruheena stepped back on the bus.

Aziza's eyes widened as she, as well, realized he was missing. Suddenly, another gunshot was heard. Elena felt like she would vomit too.

"I'll go get him," Aziza said, gulping down her fear.

"No," Elena said. "I'll go. You take care of Amal and the others."

Andreas was running back as Elena got up to head out.

"One of the children is missing," Elena said between short breaths.

"Okay, we'll find him," Andreas assured her.

Elena and Andreas headed out of the van while Zakir stayed behind. Elena frantically looked around in the darkness.

"Amir!" Elena shouted, her voice shaking with terror.

Her breathing got quicker. She thought of all the things that could've happened to the cheerful little boy and felt lightheaded. Andreas flashed his light around trying to make out a figure in the dark.

"Amir!" Andreas yelled.

Elena hoped their shouting wouldn't draw the attention of someone unwelcome. They entered the motel quietly and looked around. The man that had entered earlier lay dead on the floor. Andreas explained the man was drugged and tried to strangle Zakir, then he pulled the trigger on himself. Elena looked at him and slowly nodded, trying to keep calm even though she felt like curling up in a ball and screaming. They heard a noise from the concierge desk and Andreas whipped his flashlight around. Its light pointed at a worried-looking Amir grabbing flowers from the vase. When the flashlight hit his face, he looked like a deer in headlights. Elena rushed towards him and scooped him up.

"Amir! Are you hurt?" Elena asked him.

The boy shook his head and peacefully smiled.

"What are you doing?!" Elena exclaimed.

"I wanted to get these flowers," Amir innocently replied with the white roses in his right hand. "So, I went back."

"I'm going to grab some things," Andreas said. "Be right back."

Elena nodded.

She hugged the little boy tighter and sighed. "This is not the time for flowers, okay?! You can't leave without getting permission from Ms. Aziza or me."

The boy nodded his head and bowed his head in shame. "I'm sorry, Ms. Elena."

His sweet, grey eyes looked up at her.

"It's okay Amir. Let's go back," Elena put the boy down and firmly grabbed his hand.

He held the flowers tightly and kept them close to his body in a protective gesture. Andreas came back with some blankets from the hotel and bags of food he had found at an abandoned shop. They jogged back to the van and climbed on.

"Oh, thank God!" Aziza said when she saw them coming back up the bus. Elena and Aziza draped the children with warm blankets and were met with petrified faces.

"Try to get some sleep," Aziza told them.

This was hard to do when everyone's adrenaline was at its peak. Elena finally sat down and took a deep breath. She was exhausted and shocked at the same time. Did that just happen? She looked at Aziza who looked too ashamed to even look her in the eyes.

Aziza smiled up at Elena and then furrowed her eyebrows. "My husband and I had been planning to leave Syria and get into Turkey for some time now. He traveled a lot for work and at the beginning of Al Assad's reign, we decided to leave. We had our suitcases ready to go for a long time."

Elena squeezed her hand again in comfort.

"I wish we had left then," Aziza said, her determined grey eyes looking up at her. "And for you Elena, you could have been in a safer place too."

"It's okay, Aziza," Elena calmly replied. "And I can't leave these children without knowing if they're going to be okay. Besides, even if I wanted to, there's no way I could leave."

"Elena, you have to save yourself first."

"I won't be able to live with myself not knowing if these kids are okay. And Aziza, I can't leave without knowing you and your family are in good hands. You're one of my best friends."

"Bless you, habibti. I just want you to be safe."

"And so do I for you," Elena said, smiling at her fatigued, long face.

"You're stubborn," Aziza said, raising an eyebrow and chuckling. "But, so am I."

Elena And Aziza laughed together nervously realizing they were laughing in such a serious situation. Andreas took a seat beside Elena in the van.

"Sorry to interrupt," He said, looking away sadly. "There have been a lot of casualties and deaths. I've tried to get one of the rescue organizations to find a way to bring all of us to safety. They said they'll try to locate us and get the children to a safer spot. We left at the right time."

Elena and Aziza looked at Andreas with both terrified and confused expressions.

"So, do we stay here until morning?" Elena asked.

"That's what they said to do," Andreas said. "You two should try and get some sleep. Latif said we're going to head over to his grandmother's home. She lives in the countryside and the place is untouched by the government or the rebels... At least for now. This place has one of the highest crime rates in Syria and with the political uprising, the crime is worse. The man that we just encountered was unstable due to that. People are angry and frustrated."

Aziza laid her head back against the seat. Andreas watched Elena's worried and tired eyes look at him and smile. Andreas admired her bravery.

"But we can't take our chances waiting for someone to save us," Andreas said. "I think we're on our own."

Elena and Aziza nodded.

"I can't sleep," Elena said to Andreas after Aiza had dozed off.

She wrapped the scarf around herself and pulled her knees against her chest on the seat. Andreas wanted to hug her tight and pull her closer. He grabbed a blanket from the overhead compartment and handed it to her.

"Thank you," She said.

Seeing her soft smile and crinkled eyes brought back a familiar comfort for Andreas. Elena grabbed her arm which had begun to ache a bit. However, the pain was nothing compared to the fear inside of her. She closed her eyes and tried to get some shut-eye.

The van suddenly stopped after an hour. Latif got out of his seat and exited the van. They had arrived at his grandmother's home in the countryside. Zakir, who had been driving behind them, also exited the vehicle and met Andreas outside. Elena walked out with them as they waited for Latif. His grandmother, a kind-hearted lady, came outside to greet them. She was a short and stout lady with a hunchback and a cane to support herself. Her sun-kissed face held striking, pale green eyes and her white, frizzy hair was tied in a bun.

"We're so sorry for meeting you at this odd hour," Zakir apologized.

"No worries, children," She said in a warm, raspy voice, raising her cane. "Latif has told me everything. Where are the children?"

Aziza walked out of the van carrying Amal. Some children were carried inside while the older ones were woken up from their sleepless naps. The woman had made arrangements so that the boys could sleep in one of the rooms. The girls slept in the other one. There was some space in the living room and some charpai beds were arranged in the courtyard outside.

"I'm sorry," The woman said. "I live alone so there isn't much space."

"This is more than we could ask for," Aziza exclaimed. "Thank you so much."

Aziza gave the woman a hug as she, Amal, the old woman, and Elena slept in the main living room. The old lady immediately dozed off in her rocking chair. Amal obediently fell asleep in Aziza's lap without whining. The three of them slept on the rug and used the cushions of the couch as some support. Latif, Andreas, and Zakir slept outside on the charpai beds.

"So, this is the Andreas?" Aziza whispered to Elena.

Elena smiled.

Aziza silently squealed and squeezed Elena's hand making her laugh. Then, her excitement quickly faded.

"I wish you two had reunited in better circumstances," She gave her a sad smile and squeezed her hand again. "Love you, habibti."

"Love you too, Aziza," Elena sadly smiled at her.

Elena watched adorable, little Amal sleep soundly in between them. Elena stared up at the ceiling and after a while,  slipped outside quietly to get some cool air. She was surprised when she saw Zakir still awake. He was sitting on his charpai, watching the darkness of the deserted farm hills ahead of him. All the farm animals were quiet and there was pin-drop silence aside from the crickets chirping. Elena looked at Andreas who had fallen asleep with his shoes on. She smiled looking at his content expression.

"You're up, huh?" Zakir whispered, startling her.

"Yeah, can't sleep," Elena said.

Zakir smiled.

"Here," Zakir said, handing her a caramel toffee. "It's candy."

Elena chuckled.

"Thanks," She said, slipping the delicious caramel into her mouth.

"My father used to carry around caramels. When things were going bad, he used to say 'we can have some fun even in times like this,'" Zakir smiled. "Can't we?"

Zakir had dark brown, straight hair that was cut short. He was much older than both Andreas and Elena. His skin was burnt in many places on his face and small scars were marked all over his arms. He had brown eyes, much like Tarence's, and spoke in a way that made Elena feel like she was going to be okay. For a couple of moments, they sat in the quiet, listening to the grasshoppers and the stillness of the hills. Andreas had told her Zakir had been in the army.

"How's your arm?" He asked.

"It's better," Elena said quietly. "Honestly, I'm not really paying attention to it."

Zakir nodded. He looked off into the distance. 

Elena could see he was remembering someone.

"You must be missing home," Elena said to him.

"Yeah," He sighed. "I've got a beautiful wife waiting for me at home. And a cat."

Elena chuckled.

"I miss her," Zakir said. "I mean my wife; not the cat. We barely get to see each other. But, when we do meet, it's like meeting all over again."

He spoke of his wife in such a loving manner.

"We're a team," Zakir said. "This year is our fifteen-year anniversary."

"She must miss you a lot too."

"She does. She's a teacher like you are."

"She loves her students too," Zakir continued. "Like her own children."

"Do you have children?" Elena asked.

"No. We're not able to."

"Oh," Elena regretted asking. "I'm sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about," Zakir said. "Seeing the way she cares for each student tells me she would have been a wonderful mother. But, it is God's will for us."

Elena noticed the contentment in his voice. He loved his wife unconditionally.

"Are you married, Elena?" He asked. "Sorry, it's a bit of an offensive question."

"No," She said, a bit taken aback by the question. "It's fine. No, I'm not married. Haven't... Really thought about it. I've been focusing on my career."

"I see," Zakir said.

Elena looked beside herself to see a peaceful Andreas sleeping soundly. The moon lit up his calm face. Zakir chuckled.

"What is it?" Elena asked.

"You know he really likes you," Zakir said, smirking and raising an eyebrow.

Elena blushed in the darkness, thankful he couldn't see her face. She did not expect Zakir to say something like that. He seemed like a serious man.

"When Andreas talks about you, he does it with the utmost respect," Zakir said.

Elena's heart fluttered but she didn't show it. She changed the subject instead. 

"Where does your family live?" Elena asked quickly.

"Ahh, so you do like him," Zakir jokingly said, making Elena nervously chuckle. "Forgive me. I'm just teasing you."

Elena was glad he couldn't see her turning red in the dark.

"In Turkey," He continued. "Specifically in Antalya."

"I've heard that place is beautiful."

"It is," Zakir appreciated the fact that she knew about the city. "It's a popular tourist destination. I live in comfort knowing my family is far from any sort of violence or conflict or war."

"Yeah, it must be relieving."

"What about you, Elena? Where do you live?"

"In Canada," She replied.

"Why'd you come all the way here to teach?" He asked.

"They asked if I could do it and I said yes. I guess it may seem stupid, but I couldn't live with myself if I said no."

"It was the way they asked, wasn't it?"

Elena laughed. "I guess so."

"Your family's okay with it?"

"Not my mom," Elena chuckled.

"And your dad?" Zakir asked.

"He passed away thirteen years ago."

"My condolences," Zakir said softly.

"Thank you."

Elena frowned. "I don't understand why that man tried to attack us back there?"

Zakir turned towards her. "A lot of the people here, they're prescribed these pain medications and then they get hooked. Many of them who have been injured take these pills and get addicted. That's why some of them start behaving viciously when they experience withdrawal symptoms. I bet that man had someone he knew killed in a recent shelling. It's easy to find these drugs and with hospitals welcoming everyone, it's not difficult to start abusing medicine."

"Don't they educate people about addiction?"

Zakir shook his head and laughed. "There aren't many mental health specialists around here. And even if there were, people make fun of shrinks here. Stigma, you know? If you go to a psychologist, you do it secretly, so no one thinks you're crazy. Might as well not go at all and suffer in silence."

"That's terrible," Elena said with complete surprise.

Any mention of drugs and Elena was immediately reminded of her haunting past. It always lurked in the shadows like a predator ready to pounce on her. She had always taken her sessions with Jennette for granted. Here, she wouldn't even have the liberty to go to a therapist even if there was one. Sometimes, Elena forgot about the cultural difference.

"Well, I guess I'm going to go to sleep now," Elena said, standing up and feeling tired. "You should too."

"You're right," Zakir said, smiling at her. "Good night, Elena."

"Good night, Zakir," Elena said as she quietly entered the house.

She slipped into the blanket beside Amal and winced in pain as her wounded arm pressed against the hard floor. She turned so her arm would be elevated, but it still throbbed. Fatigue finally took over her body and she fell asleep praying she would live to see the sun tomorrow.