Bloody Hands

Bloody Hands

It has been said, “the earth remembers what we forget.” This sentence is racing on repeat through our protagonists head as he cleans his dirt-covered, bloody hands beneath a faucet. “Damnit, damnit, damnit!” cries Yuval. He has just murdered his best friend, Naim, and buried his body down by the river. Yuval turns off the faucet, dries his hands, and tries to recall the past’s most recent events.

It had been early in the morning, around 7:00 antemeridian, when he and Naim met. At first everything was friendly, cordial, lighthearted even. It didn’t last long, though. Yuval could just sense that Naim knew about his affair with Naim’s pregnant wife of three years. It wasn’t so much what was said, but the expression on his friend’s face and the pressurized, forced way in which he was speaking that made this fact glaringly clear and evident.

Naim stared at the ground in silence for what felt like a very long time. Then, finally, he spoke. Naim’s tone of voice was menacing, it was almost as if he were snarling, when he asked Yuval: “So, my friend, when is the last time you saw my wife, Antonella?” Yuval didn’t even answer. For he knew that Naim already knew that Antonella and him had spent the previous night together beneath the stars down by the river.

They had passionately made love on the cool earth’s floor, then they both had fallen asleep accidentally. In fact, Yuval had only returned home an hour or so before Naim had come to visit him. Yuval’s face hardened and his face became rigid as he whispered tensely, “Is she okay?” Naim looked straight into Yuval’s eyes without saying a thing.

This time Yuval raised his voice, as he once again inquired, “IS SHE OKAY?” Naim broke eye contact and laughed. A sick, sadistic laugh before replying “Oh, cause you care about my wife so much all of a sudden? She’s fine. But, you my friend, you are not.”

It was at this precise moment in time that the two men left the hut they had been in and began walking the path that leads down to the river. They were silent the entire journey. Naim, was uncomfortably walking very closely behind Yuval. As if guiding him. “Or leading me to the gallows. Escorting me to my death,” thought Yuval.

As soon as Yuval finished this thought, Naim seemingly at lightening speed, lunged at him, wrapping his hands around Yuval’s throat and neck. Choking, in desperate need of oxygen, Yuval struggled against his friend’s grip. Naim’s hands did not loosen their vice-like pressure on his throat a bit. So, in desperation, without hesitation, and without even thinking, Yuval kicked his foot back as hard as he could, hoping to connect with the sensitive organ between Naim’s legs. The kick was a success. He had connected with his target and just as rapidly as Naim had lunged at, and began asphyxiating Yuval, he let out a howl and fell to the ground. Yuval, gasping for air, knew he had to act quickly and efficiently if he didn’t want to be attacked by his friend again. So, looking about, frantically, his eyes landed upon a medium-sized rock. Yuval picked it up and began striking the other man in the head with it. Over and over and over again. It was as if he were in some sort of frenzy. Once the adrenaline had worn off, Yuval dropped the rock in disgust and horror. Stumbling backwards.

Blood was all over. All over Naim’s face and chest, and deep crimson red covered Yuval’s hands. “What have I done? Oh Allah, what have I done?” Yuval sobbed. Truly remorseful. He collapsed to the earth’s sandy floor and stared blankly at Naim. Yuval’s stare penetrated the air. He was staring but not really seeing. It was as if he were in a trance. Then, he heard the laughter of children in the distance and snapped out of it.

Methodically, and arguably mechanically, Yuval began digging a shallow grave. Aided by the bark he had savagely ripped from the nearest tree, he dug and dug and dug. His hands were now both bloody and covered in dirt. Tears were escaping through his sweaty eyelids. He was, indeed crying, but he realized, simultaneously, that he was relived. No, not simply relieved- he was happy. Crying but smiling.

He stayed like this, that is until the sound of children laughing could be heard even closer to where he now stood, with his hands on his knees. “I have got to get out of here. Nobody can know I was here. Nobody can see me leave,” Yuval said under his breath, very softly. He crossed the bridge over the river then proceeded to walk the long way back to his hut. He entered and began washing his hands furiously, attempting to remove all the dirt and dried blood.

Yuval’s head was spinning, trying to recollect the day’s events. “It was self-defense. I had no other choice,” he tells himself quietly but audibly. Then, the image of Naim’s beaten-in face and mutilated head, flashed vividly in front of his eyes. It was so realistic that for a moment he thought he was back in the place by the river looking at his dead friend. That couldn’t be, though. “It can’t be. I buried his body. Nobody will find him, I did a thorough job,” Yuval thought. Trying to comfort himself.

He was interrupted by the call to prayer. It was time for Maghrib, the second to last prayer of the day. Yuval changed his dirty, bloody clothes then proceeded to make Wudu. As he prayed he felt a peace wash over him. As soon as the prayer ended, fear struck him again. Not fear of repercussion. For, he wasn’t afraid of being found out. No, the fear he was experiencing was solely connected with the fact that he had felt happy after murdering Naim. “What kind of beast am I?” Yuval asked aloud. He was abruptly thrown off the topic by an alarming thought. He had no time to ponder his brutality when he remembered that he had no idea how his lover was.

“Antonella!” Cried Yuval. His thoughts turning quickly to his lover and her well-being. He had totally forgotten to check on her in the chaos of the day’s occurrences. He hurriedly slipped on his sandals, mounted his pedal bike, and begin riding in the direction of Naim’s place. It was a much nicer place than his modest hut. It was two stories, spacious, and painted colorfully. Upon arriving, Yuval threw down his bike, wheels still spinning, and ran up the stairs all the while his eyes glancing from side to side, scanning for any sign of his beloved Antonella.

It wasn’t until he landed on the second floor that he saw her. She was curled up in a ball on the uncarpeted floor, rocking back and forth. “My darling,” croaked Yuval, throat tight and dry. As if a magnet attracted Antonella’s gaze to Yuval’s face, she turned and looked directly at him. When she did so, Yuval could see that her face was bruised and enflamed. It hurt Yuval to look at her battered face. He crawled over to where she laid, and began kissing her face gently as if his lips could somehow erase the bruises.

“We can be together now, my love,” Yuval cooed into Antonella’s ears. “We can finally be together. I will raise the child in your belly as if it were my own flesh and blood.” Antonella sat up, a confused and frightened look painting her face the shade apprehensive. “I’ll explain everything,” Yuval promised in a soothing voice. And, that is exactly what he did. Antonella yelped when she heard about what had happened to Naim. Her eyes, initially soft and compassionate, turned hard, cold, and incensed. “How could you? How could you Yuval.” He tried to explain he had no other choice, it was either kill or be killed. “You will not- I forbade you to come around me or my child ever again. You are a monster. Leave. Leave at once. I command you!” Antonella spat out with vitriol, and with a finality so powerful, so perceptible that Yuval understood their love affair was over.

He got up, turned towards the staircase, slowly descending to the ground floor. He got on his bike and left. It was on his ride back to his hut, the cool breeze washing over him, that Yuval once again began repeating: “The earth remembers what we forget.” Knowing that even if in this life he got away with what he did to his friend, the earth would testify on his behalf on the day of judgment, recounting, in incredibly accurate detail, to Allah the sin he had committed.