Door step

Pain has a threshold. Madness has a threshold. Love and homelands have a threshold. Happiness has a threshold. Don't Egyptians believe in "changing the threshold" to get rid of bad luck and unhappiness? The threshold... vast is that barrier separating two worlds, and heavy is the step necessary to cross it. Lore gathers her steps, bites the pain, and stands upright like a spear, as she has done for the past four years. One step and it's all over. Life here has become impossible... what will she carry with her? That paper on which Manya wrote her name for the first time? All the times Karim laughed? Will she hide the scent of Damascus jasmine between the pores of her skin? And the taste of bread that she can't get enough of? How will she preserve it? She will inevitably leave behind her recent quarrels with Anas and the disgusting medications she started taking some time ago. She will leave behind images of sleeping children who will not wake up, and houses in which not a stone remains standing. She will leave behind the desolation of a life that is no longer the same, and she will move on. All she has to do is cross the threshold. Just pass the threshold. For pain, there is a threshold. For madness, there is a threshold. For love and homelands, too, there is a threshold. And for happiness, there is a threshold. Do Egyptians not believe in the power of “changing the threshold” to free themselves from misfortune and misery? The threshold is like a vast barrier that separates two worlds, and it requires a heavy step to traverse it.

Lour gathers her resolve, clenches her jaw against the pain, and stands as resolute as a spear, just as she has for the past four years. With one step, it will all come to an end. Life in this place has become unendurable. What will she take with her? That piece of paper where Mania first penned her name? The echoes of Karim's laughter? Will she tuck away the fragrance of Damascus jasmine within the very pores of her skin? And how can she hold onto the taste of bread that satisfies like no other? Certainly, she'll leave behind her last arguments with Anas and the bitter medicines she's been ending. She will bid farewell to the images of slumbering children who will never awaken and houses where not a single stone stands upon another. She will leave behind a solitude of life that is no longer as it once was, and she will move forward. She simply needs to cross that threshold. Just cross the threshold.