Community of the Drowned, by: Wissam Al-Khatib

Why did what happened happen?! All that is in the matter is that he could not interpret her look, he thought that this is the real problem, he always believed he knew everything, since childhood it was not difficult for him to understand any detail in life no matter how trivial it seemed; but suddenly he became unable to analyze, he felt defeat for the first time in his life, it was madness that her look could defeat him, he had fought and roamed in the fiercest battlefields, and never lost, so how could he not realize what she was aiming at? Her look was not of humiliation nor worry nor terror nor brokenness nor panic nor helplessness nor surrender, it was not a look of mockery or contempt, nor a look of hatred or anger or pain nor even sadness or despair, and it was not a look of faith or joy or hope or reassurance or salvation or love or desire... simply, he could not read her eyes, for they were like an unsolvable puzzle, and because she died, and because he closed her eyes with his hands; perhaps it became impossible for him afterward to reach a decisive answer.