“Did you find my teddy bear, big bro?”nagged a mischievous little girl as she climbed onto her dusty older brother.

“Did you find my teddy bear, big bro?” she cried.

“Yes…I found it,” replied the young man with tears streaming down his rosy cheeks.

“Brother, when will you return him to me…I miss him?” pleaded the little girl as tears filled her glistening emerald eyes. The young man stood in silence, his immense sobbing wouldn’t allow a single word to echo past his clenched lips. He eventually summoned up the courage and replied,” Meet me beneath the olive tree and I will return it to you.”The little girl’s eyes filled with joy as she slowly ran towards her brother to give him one big hug but before she could reach him… Suddenly, a blinding light appeared from the sky and landed behind the little girl, in their home. A loud explosion deafened their hearing, while the immense force of separated the pair.“

Reeeeeeem!!!!” called out the young man as tried to make his way to his little sister. He tried digging under the rubble to remove her, but his vision darkened, and ultimately, failed him. His head and scrawny body collapsed to the ground as he slowly started to nod off.

“Brother, brother, brother!” yelled the little girl

“Where are you?? Help me!,” echoed her voice during his entire lifetime.

“Mr. Hadid, It’s time,” said the young nurse. Startled, The old man lifted his head confused as he digested his inevitable reality. The nurse wheeled the elderly to his final destination. The old man gradually opened his eyes, bit by bit, as the harsh sun blinded his strained vision. His eyes became widened by the view as the air carried a familiar scent. With every step closer to his destination, his childhood memories came flooding back to him. The nurse proceeded to push the old man until they reached a lush olive tree, packed with fresh green olives protruding from its luscious green leaves. The old man proceeded to answer, “I’m ready.” As he desperately clung to a dingy and dusty teddy bear. As they made their way up the hill. The old man’s stood up from his wheelchair, slowly began to move his aged legs as he tried to make his way beneath the olive tree with every step he took, his body and mind quickly regressed back to his youth.

“Big brother?” cried a young female voice from the other side of the tree. Before Ahmed turned around to face the individual, his eyes welled up with streams and his throat housed a knot, a knot of pain and heartache, one that he couldn’t untie until this moment. He turned his rosy cheeks to face the individual. It was a familiar face indeed, a face he loved deeply before, a face that remained the same within the depths of stolen time.

“Reeem.” He called out as he grabbed a hold of the little girl, as time stood still and the pain of war and years of unjust separation swiftly dissolved.

“I found your teddy bear,” he said while handing her the dusty teddy bear. The little girl was elated as she grabbed the bear eagerly. The pair were finally reunited beneath the olive tree as they walked hand in hand towards the sun’s blinding light.

The nurse watched the rising of the sun, from the view of the olive tree, as she noticed Mr. Hadid’s abrupt silence. His face fell down as if he fell into a deep slumber. She mournfully stared at his resting appearance and noticed, a youthful glow overtook his wrinkly, tired and worrisome face as the shadow of the rising sun kissed his lifetime of memories goodbye. She stood and looked around for a while as her gaze fell onto the mass graves of many forgotten names. Furthermore, she remembered the sound of his grisly voice:

“My sister, my family, they are all buried there…at home, there. Right beneath the olive tree.” Then silence suffocated his voice for the next few days until his mind was flooded with memories again, and he would say:

“I buried their bodies with my hands,”

“You have lived a long, tortured life. You can finally rest now,” whispered the nurse as she wiped away a solemn tear from her dampened eyes.