Sami Hani Khawaja

Author's name: Laura Maqdisi

From under the rubble of his home in Achrafieh, Sami wondered how a person could remain loyal to themselves in the afterlife. He tried to remember whether he had come across this phrase in his father's books, Hani Khawaja, or in other books that filled his sister Hanadi's library.
In the darkness, he found himself immersed in silence and contemplation, and discovered that his short life had been nothing but one of his many dreams. It had been a tremendous preparation for life to come. It had been, in all its details, a temporary life.
He felt a terrible headache and numbness in his extremities. He closed his tired eyes. Suddenly, he was overcome by an overwhelming desire to shout, "I'm Sami Hani Khawaja. Get me out of here!"