This story was inspired by true events that occurred in Iraq
Image Source: PixBay
Al-Basra - 1934
"Are you now my master?", said five years old Ryadh to Mikhail as they stood awaiting the train. The sadness overwhelmed Ryadh's tone as flashbacks of the night before. Riyadh had watched armed men murder his parents as he hid in the storage room.
"No", Mikhail said as he fought the tears "I am not your master or anything, son. I am just going to take you to your new home in Baghdad"
Ryadh went back to his silence after that. A silence continued throughout the train ride to Mikhail's home. Mikhail's wife looks surprised as she finds him coming home with a child, but Mikhail was quick to gesture that he will explain later. Riyadh is put into bed as the look of shock and despair is all over him.
"Who is that child, Mikhail?", Mikhail's wife asked, "You told me you were going to Basra to import some stuff for the shops"
"I was, Ela", Mikhail started explaining "Imad, the guy I dealt with turned out to be the head of a criminal group of a sort. They were trying to force the purchase of land on this kid's parents. The man refused so they killed him, and his pregnant wife, and was about to kill this kid after he was found hiding. Luckily for him, he was found later and was brought to the boss around the same time I arrived there."
"Poor kid", Ela "So, what are you going to do with him?"
"I don't know yet", Mikhail said as he looked at the closed door of the room where Ryadh went.
Inside the room lay Ryadh in silence as he remembered hiding in the shadows as he heard his parents screaming into eventual deadly silence. The memories kept flashing before his eyes as exhaustion slowly got a hold of him, sending him into a long sleep, riddled with nightmares.
In a dark basement somewhere in Iraq, a conversation started.
"We've brought you over fifty people", said Rashid Ali al-Gaylani "And you're still as useless and old. And I am no longer the prime minister of Iraq. I have already wasted so many resources on you. Can you explain to me what is wrong? What is making the soul sacrifice not working?"
"Your method of threats doesn't work", replied a very old man in black cloth "The people need to submit their souls willingly. And they need to do it out of hatred, not fear"
"We've brought you over twenty people who were willing to do it, Khalid", Ali said in anger.
"With threats that you would kill their families if they don't", explained Khalid "We only need one hatred-filled soul for this to work. We need the soul to be submitted without threats"
"So, is it not going to work?", said Ali "I am no longer the prime minister of Iraq. I have barely lasted a few months. Should we give up trying to obtain power?"
"It will take some time", answered Khalid "I just need to be patient and continue your speeches to instigate as much hatred as possible. And I will find a way to work out something"
Back in the house a few weeks later, Ryadh is having breakfast with Mikhail, Ela, and their nine-year-old Asa.
"So, Ryadh", Ela said with a smile "We've been thinking that you should stay with us. Mikhail will find a way to have you join the local school"
"Does this mean I finally have a brother now?", Asa asked with excitement.
"Depends", Mikhail found relief in Asa's reaction and turned to Ryadh "Would Ryadh mind joining our family?"
"I don't mind", Ryadh said with a shy smile.
Years gone by, Ryadh found a home. He had a neighborhood where he belonged. Everything seemed peaceful except for the looming shadow of an old man wearing a black cloth he senses now and then. The presence of the old man was sensed every time he would have the reoccurring nightmare of watching his parents killed.
Baghdad - June the 11th 1940
Ryadh stands in the middle of a burning field, beneath his feet lie the dead bodies of his parents.
"Would you give your soul for your parents' death?", asked the man in black cloth who appeared out of nowhere "Just say the word and all will be made right"
Ryadh wakes up from his nightmare panicking.
"Oh, you're finally awake", Asa said to his Ryadh "You need to get up and help us bring out the food to celebrate Shavuot in the neighborhood"
"Okay, brother", replied Ryadh as he got up from bed and helped his family prepare food ahead of that night's celebration.
The night came and the street was lit up with candles as people gathered around a long table sharing food. Riyadh was sitting next to his family when he overheard Mikhail's friend talking to him.
"I am telling you, Mikhail", he said "We will need to leave this country now"
"Why would I, Cohen?", Mikhail replied calmly "This is my country, my land, my house. My family and Ela's have been here for generations"
"Mine too, Mikhail", Cohen explained "But have you heard what Rashid Ali al-Gaylani has been saying in his speeches lately?"
"That guy is just another nationalist", Mikhail said.
"A nationalist with a pro-Nazi agenda who became a prime minister twice already", Cohen replied with a temper.
"For a few months", Mikhail elaborated "He's not going to be in charge long enough to cause a change in the temper"
"The temper has already changed", Cohen said as he turned his sight to Ryadh "You go to pray at the mosque every Friday, right? What have they been saying about people like us?"
"They didn't mention Jewish people a lot", Ryadh said as he looked at Mikhail with a concerned look "But, when they did, it wasn't in a good light"
"That doesn't mean anything", Mikhail said calmly "We deal with Muslims all the time, few are celebrating with us tonight. We love each other"
"Yeah, everyone loves the Jews here", Cohen said sarcastically "Listen, I am taking my family to America within the next few months. I suggest you come with me"
"I am not leaving my land, Cohen", Mikhail said "And that's the end of that. And I am not leaving my son"
"Asa will come with you and Ela", Cohen was baffled.
"Not him, I am talking about my other son", Mikhail said as he looked at Ryadh with a smile.
"Suit yourself", Cohen said before he walked away.
Mikhail put his arm around Ryadh to his right before Asa moved to his left for the other arm as they gleefully stared at the people around them as they stayed up all night celebrating Shavuot.
Baghdad - May 31st
Walking home at night holding dairy products in preparation for the next day's Shavuot, Ryadh comes across the man in black cloth once more.
"What do you want from me?", Ryadh asked.
"I want to do the same thing you want", the man replied "Revenge"
"What do you want to avenge so bad?", Ryadh wondered loudly.
"Not my revenge", the man explained "Yours"
"I do not want revenge", Ryadh confirmed.
"Yeah?", the man had a baffled look on his face "What about all those dreams you have been having?"
"Those were just nightmares", Ryadh answered.
"Those were dreams", the man explained as Ryadh stood with a scared look on his face "Those were dreams, your entire life you have dreamt of exacting revenge for what happened to your parents. In exchange for you giving me your soul, I guarantee you that they all will be punished"
"I don't know what you're talking about", Ryadh goes his way home.
The next morning, Ryadh is awoken by Ela and Mikhail amongst a loud commotion outside, they take him and Asa to hide them in a closet.
"No matter what happens, don't make a sound", Ela said in a scared tone while attempting to be assuring as she puts a pile of clothes over them.
"What do you think is happening?", Ryadh whispered to Asa.
"Uncle Cohen told me this would happen", Asa said to Ryadh before he saw a scared look on his face "But don't worry. Your older brother is here for you"
In a matter of seconds, Ryadh and Asa started hearing screaming outside.
"Do you think you could betray this country and get away with it?", screamed a man as a group of other men dragged Mikhail and Ela and threw them on the floor "Tonight, justice is served"
Ryadh watched through the closet keyhole in the shadows of the closet as both his parents are gruesomely stabbed to death.
"Mom, dad", Ryadh squealed before Asa put his hand on Riyadh's mouth.
"Who was that?", the screaming turned his attention to the closet "Someone is hiding in the closet. Who is it?"
Seconds of silence ensued as the man approached the closet slowly. Thinking fast, Asa put more clothes on top of Ryadh before stepping out of the closet. Asa was quickly dragged out of the house as Ryadh remained in the closet for hours as he heard the sounds of screaming and explosions outside while watching his parents laying dead on the floor for the second time in his life.
Ryadh stepped outside into the neighborhood, standing in the shadows of the remains of what would have been a joyful evening filled with lights and laughter.
"This is what this country is always going to be", the man in black cloth stepped behind him "I watched it happen for hundreds of years, maybe thousands, I lost count because it was always the same. The weak always perish. It is why I dedicated my life to becoming stronger than the strong and eliminating them to create a just world"
"I need your help to do that", the man continued "Are you willing to give your soul to make things right"
Ryadh stood for minutes in silence as the man behind him waited for an answer. Remembering all the time he had spent with his family, Ela preparing him for school, Mikhail bringing him his first bike, and Asa playing football with him.
"Not yet", Ryadh "I need to clean the house for when my brother returns"
"He is not going to return", the man replied "Even if the men who took him won't kill him, they will give him to the government who in their turn will make sure he is executed as a stunt to gain the anger crowds. It is over for the Jews in this country"
"I have to clean the house for when my brother returns", Ryadh kept repeating to himself as he walked toward the house.
Two days later
Commanded by soldiers, Ryadh joined a long line of people carrying the dead bodies of the victims killed two days prior. Riyadh had his parents carried in a cart as well as other hundreds of people carried by random workers. Stopped by a mass hole in the ground, everyone started dumping the bodies into the big hole creating a mass grave.
"There is no sign to mark this place", Ryadh told a soldier behind him "How will their families find this place?"
"Who cares?", replied the soldier as he kicked the cart causing the bodies to fall into the hole "These Jewish pigs are just dirty traitors"
The place was empty as Ryadh stood behind breaking the cart into blocks of wood, he stuck the pieces into the sand and walked away.
Six years later
After hearing the news that all teenagers and children were captured during what later became known as the night of the Farhoud, Ryadh renovated the house in anticipation of his brother. The neighborhood has changed since the last Shavuot, most of the Jews were either put in isolated areas or immigrated outside the country. Few remained after changing their names.
Ryadh remained focused on cleaning the house despite all the commission outside, Ryadh kept imagining families celebrating their returning children. Ryadh stood in suspicion as calm sinisterly clouded its presence. He walked outside to see the streets once decorated with lamps and lights now decorated by the bodies of those who were captured six years before, Ryadh's sight was quickly drawn to one body in specific.
"Brother", Ryadh was quickly overwhelmed by suffocating tears. He fell to his knees as his suffocated tears became fiery breaths of fury. In a distance behind stood the man in the black cloth, watching as Ryadh takes down the body of Asa and carries it on his back while walking. The man silently followed them.
After hours of walking, Ryadh arrived at a spot in an abandoned area, searching around until he the blocks of wood planted in the sand. He used one and started digging until he came across the first body, buried for years, and among hundreds of other bodies, Ryadh could recognize his mother when he sees her. He then lays down the body of his brother to rest. He then buried his brother before his sight moved toward the old man in black cloth and started walking toward him.
"Are you ready now?", the man asks Riyadh.
"Not yet, I still have one thing left to do", replied Ryadh with a look of pure anger.
Al-Basra - 1947
In the darkness of the night, the man in black cloth entered a house where a group of men were having alcohol in a big living room. Preceded by another man, he enters the living room where everyone is.
"So you're the man who wants to talk to me about my lands", an old man said.
"Yes, I am", the man in the black cloth replied "You're Imad, right?"
"Yes, I am", Imad replied.
"Do you mind if we talk business outside?", the man in black cloth suggested.
"So, you're a shy person", Imad says "Sure"
The two walk outside.
"It will cost you a lot", Imad says "I have done a lot to acquire these lands"
"I am quite aware of the things you have done to acquire these lands", the man in black cloth said "However I am not interested in acquiring your lands"
"Then what the hell are you here for?", Imad gets angry.
"I am here to acquire something much more valuable", the man in cloth replies as he points at different spots in the far distance "Do you see that over there? The smoke and fires you see are coming from everything you own. Every factory, shop, farm, and stable will burn to the ground before anyone even manages to put out the fire in your house that will eat your entire family"
"What do you mean before...", before Imad finished his sentence the house behind them caught on fire as everyone inside started screaming.
Finally stepping out of the shadows, Ryadh walks in from behind Imad and wraps a rope around Imad's throat, and brings him to the floor before he could react to the fire.
Memories and flashbacks flood Ryadh's mind as he suffocates Imad while crying. Among the angry tears, squeals of satisfied laughter started to find their way into Riyadh. Imad falls dead to the floor as Ryadh laughs while breathing sighs of relief.
Silence ensued as Imad stared into the fire eating the house in front of him.
"I am ready", Ryadh said as the screaming inside the house disappear "Just promise me one thing"
"Whatever you need", the man in black cloth replied.
"Promise me that when this is all over", Ryadh said as he turned to the man "This whole country will be burnt to the ground"
"You didn't even need to ask", the man in black cloth said as he extended his arm for a handshake Ryadh met it with his hand.
Ryadh fell to the floor soulless as the man in black cloth stood while the wrinkles all over his face started to fade, his arched back standing straight turning him into a youthful man. The man left behind the bodies of Imad and Ryadh as flames caught onto them and disappeared into the night with a wide smile on his face.