Tag: Fiction
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Adnan, Unredacted: The View from This Table
A green hat, a black fur coat, long black boots. She sits by the window, stirring her coffee without drinking it. A man in a puffy red jacket sits next to her. A third joins them a moment later, tugging off a gray scarf and carrying a large gift bag. The man in the scarf…
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Adnan, Unredacted: On Sounding Normal in Public
Theory about voice changing.Can a person speak in different voices?Is it normal to talk in two different voices? This was my search history for the day. I only noticed it later, when I got home and sat on my bed, tapping through Instagram, then WhatsApp, then a half-open browser tab I didn’t remember opening, while…
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Six-Hour Guard Shift on the Northeastern Point of the Emile Helou Security Complex
There’s always something different at the start of a new day; the air shifts and time resets. The stubborn illusion of change replays the same tune with a slight difference in the arrangement onstage. I got the good, isolated guarding point – the north-eastern corner of the complex, next to the intersection on the inner…
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Adnan, Unredacted: A year in Reviews, From the Basement Office
Today, dear reader, I think it’s time to lift the curtain a little and let you in on a part of my life I usually keep to myself. You’re probably wondering: “What does Adnan even do all day?” Well, today’s your lucky day, because it’s the most hectic time of the year – the one…
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لحظة معلّقة على حافة الزمن
كانت نفحات الشتاء قد بدأت تلامس أيام دبي الدافئة. وصلَت قبل الميعاد ومشت إلى جانب النادل الذي رافقها إلى الطاولة المحجوزة لذلك اللقاء. كانت طاولةً مطلةً على الحديقة الخارجية للمطعم. أما هي فكانت في خضم الرسائل التي تروح وتجيء بين الأصدقاء الذين تأخروا عن الموعد وفيما هي منهمكة بهاتفها، التفتت يمينًا. رأتهما يجلسان تحت تلك…
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Adnan, Unredacted: Adnan’s Guide to Overhearing a Breakdown, Politely
I swear I didn’t mean to be this curious. But here I am, muting my TV so I can listen to someone’s sobbing. It started innocently, I swear. I was just about to take my after-work nap when I heard someone’s voice crack into tears. You know that sound? The one that comes right before…
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Adnan, Unredacted: Local Man Finds Sock, Feels Nothing
“Breaking news!!! I just lost a sock.” My mind kept repeating as I searched the whole house – under the bed, behind the washing machine. Even in places that made no sense: the freezer, the cabinet under the sink, the bookshelf in the living room. Instead of the sock, all I managed to find was…
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A Visit To Bjerrin
Kamil had just arrived at Bjerrin, a 100-year-old abandoned village in the Jbeil district of Lebanon, nestled in a rugged valley surrounded by the majestic Mount Lebanon. An old local man named Jalal, who had agreed to help him discover Bjerrin and its ruins, was waiting at the entrance. After they greeted each other, they…
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Book Review: Mornings in Jenin
There are no words that can do this book justice, especially not at a time when the people of Gaza are being brutally bombed, starved and deprived of their most basic of rights; not when there’s a colonial entity conducting raids and random acts of violence in the West Bank, nor when there’s increased settler…
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Adnan, Unredacted: The Idiot Behind This
I’ve been trying to write lists to control my thoughts: 1. Drink water. 2. Pay rent. 3. Make enough money to pay rent? 4. Do not collapse. But these lists collapse before I do. I’ve been writing for two hours, hoping you’ll read till the very last word without getting bored or wondering who the…