Ashes of Al-Rawdha

The car was small, so he sat in the back seat. But as soon as he sat there, I was haunted by many thoughts, implications, and questions. I said to myself, "Does he have a gun? Will he force us, on the way back, to stop in front of a station for Iraqi soldiers?" And there, dark thoughts and nightmares kept rushing through my imagination, and perhaps Nawal's imagination as well. Despite that dark feeling brewing in my heart, I composed myself and drove the car towards the house. However, I could not overcome the thought of assault on me or Nawal throughout the drive. I fully expected that, at one moment or the other, he would suddenly extend his hand to my throat or hers to strangle us, or to do something to harm us. As soon as the residential area houses appeared to us, we breathed a sigh of relief and felt some kind of comfort, which we expressed by the smiles that appeared on our faces after a long period of glooming.