Beheaded

It was my last duty before my first annual vacation, I was excited to end the day so I can finish packing my bags and fly home

My team Fahd the driver, Tariq an EMT and me (nurse) played “keram” the whole morning until after their noon prayers when our OIC yelled “Alif wahd” (A-1) go! We were the A-1 team, in a split second we were rushing to the ambulance. As we rolled out of the station the usual piercing sound of siren hovered on top of us, then the radio screamed “no siren, don’t rush”. We looked at each other as Tariq hinted that it might be another boring 3 hour escort on bikers but it couldn’t be, our “location call” was a mosque.

On our way to the mosque a barricade of fully armed soldiers blocked our path and inspected the ambulance, in a while they allowed us to pass through. It was then that we became aware that people was rushing towards the mosque, I said to myself that this might be something worth to see. I was about to ask Tariq but I was taken aback by their giggling while motioning their hands chopping on their nape Fahd looked at me and said, “fi gus el ras”. (somebody’s head will be cut) Suddenly I became silent and nervous.

The crowd suddenly turned heavy as we approached the mosque, people was everywhere until we reached a clearing. At the center of the clearing were police cars Fahd slowly rolled the ambulance aside. We stayed inside the ambulance as everybody was still cooling themselves inside the air conditioned vehicles.

After awhile a white pick-up truck emerged and stopped just in front of the police cars, as if a general turned up everyone stepped out of and stood to welcome the man. Next a huge man with dark skin alighted from the pick-up truck, he was clearly more than six feet tall. The man then approached the policeman beside me, as if two are good friends they shook hands and exchanged greetings then after, he also offered his hand to all of us. It was only then that I notice his left hand carrying something that appeared to be a sword in a casing. That was the time I realized that I actually shook hands with an executioner.

Suddenly a gray van stopped in front of us, the back door swung open and policemen stepped out as they slowly guided out a blindfolded man. His arms and hands securely tied from the back, his body appeared rigid and frail he looked pale and sick. I wanted to walk out of the place but I knew I shouldn’t, it was like I felt that I could only hide behind my Ray Ban. While the gray van drove out they steered the blindfolded man and made him kneel just 20 feet in front of us. After that a loud voice from a megaphone spoke, as I couldn’t understand what he was saying I looked around and noticed that people was everywhere around us, from the building windows, on the fence, on the roof, they surrounded us from afar. It felt like we were in a roman arena, the blindfolded man waiting for the lions to be released.

The executioner pulled out his heavy sword and keenly inspected the blades then he grasped the handle and paced himself back and forth beside his truck, his face wore an eerie grin that exposed his yellowish teeth, from his looks he enjoyed what he do. Then he walked towards the kneeling man, the megaphone continued but spoke on a different tune, obviously it was some verses. As the man reached the kneeling man I knew it was the time and didn’t want to see it, I closed my eyes and waited for the death blow, sensing that nothing happened I slowly opened my eyes and saw him circling the kneeling man his sword pointing downward swinging it with every stride, his eyes was nailed to the mans neck, like an eagle circling his prey.

Suddenly the executioner lifted his sword then swished his heavy blade down through the side of the frail mans nape, in one motion the body fell on its side, his head dropped and rolled a couple of times until it stopped facing me. Suddenly my body trembled as I felt the ground beneath me shook, I felt numbed I couldn’t even close my eyes, beside me I overheard Fahd yell “Aiwa !”(Yes!) in my heart I cried No! It was the sound of the cheering crowd that brought my senses back, it was then that I noticed that blood was slowly creeping under the decapitated body.

The crowd was still loud when a man wearing a hospital gown moved towards the headless body, he slowly grasped its wrist, to find pulse obviously there was none so he stood up and rose his hands signaling that the man was dead.

Then the grey van drove in again, five men stepped out and laid the headless body on a stretcher one of them picked up its head and dumped it between the mans legs, they then drove away with the body. The crowd was already silent and thinning when two men pushing a wheelbarrow filled with yellow desert sand approached the pool of blood, they then quickly covered the pool of blood with dessert sand, after that one of them lit a cigarette and waited. He was just half his cigarette when he flicked it on the sand, then the other man swept the sand into a stainless dust pan, no trace of blood was left on the asphalt, the thirsty desert sand absorbed the still fresh blood. Then the executioner walked towards us, I didn’t want to shake hands with him again so I quickly turned back to the ambulance and grabbed my bottled water.

After a day I flew home not knowing that what I saw would take away half the joy of my vacation.