Raqqa Short Stories

Near Raqqa, there used to live a girl who was the most popular girl in school. Her grandmother, especially, spoiled her immensely. Her latest birthday present for the girl before the war had been a red Bluetooth speaker. The girl always wore it, and this made people call the girl 'Aḥmar (Red).

One day, 'Aḥmar's mother gave 'Aḥmar a box of pills and told her, "Here, take these to your grandmother; she is ill and unhappy, and these will help make her healthy again. Go straight there and don't go off the road, or you might lose the pills, and they are very expensive."

"I'll be fine," said 'Aḥmar and went off.

The grandmother lived in Raqqa, for she had refused to move when the war came. "Here's my home and here I'll stay!" she would say in

The door opened a centimeter and he whispered, "All is in order." A voice answered, "Good. I will tell Yusuf. Now leave."

***

Yusuf was woken up from his nap, in a very bad temper, by a buzzer next to his bed. He attempted to hit it, just missed, and grumpily got out of bed. "What's it this time?" he groused into the telephone. "Why am I always the one who has to get up? And that at this hour! It's only eleven o'clock! Why me?" he complained.

"Stop whining and perk up," was the answer from the other side. "You should have been up at six. Next time I'll come with buckets of ice water! Anyway, it's time for you to do your work. The girl fell for the stones and the granny's alone! So up you get, and don't go back to bed, or you'll never hear the last of it."

Yusuf was strongly tempted to tap the microphone on the desk, but thought better of it. Instead, he disconnected with a loud click.

He looked around his room, wondering which of his many guns to take. After vetoing the sawn-off shotgun in favor of the pocket revolver, he gently lifted the revolver off the hook and tucked it into his pocket. After a quick check in the mirror, he put a comb into his other

The neighbor was happy to have proven his value to the grandmother and to have obtained a new gun, 'Aḥmar was happy to be let free, and the grandmother was happy to have her jewels back and be given the pills. The only unhappy people were the Grey Wolves, who kept buzzing Yusuf in vain, and greatly feared for his safety.

When 'Aḥmar was home again, she told her father what had happened, and her father told her, "Now you know why we have always told you not to leave the path. Listen to your parents, and things won't go wrong."

Sometimes we make mistakes, and thing go wrong. But as long as we do our best, things should end well. 'Aḥmar went off the path when she should have gone straight on, but she did her best to correct her mistake, and all went