The Red Line Read Online Free PDF Page A

Christian side on your way back. I'll be waiting for you with some guys I know on the Muslim side. It's safer to walk the distance. You’ll be able to hide behind a wall in case a sniper takes aim at you, at least."
    "Oh Tamer, don't do it!" said Mona, very disturbed by the awakening of old memories. "Please don't do it! It will be so traumatic for you."
    Tamer looked at her angrily. "I'll do whatever it takes to keep Nora safe. Do you understand? I don't care about the past anymore!"
    Nora, who felt like she wasn’t a part of what was happening, thanked Tamer with her eyes and a smile. They resumed their dinner in silence, lost in their own thoughts.

XI.
                 
    Lately, the whole Christian area was under heavy bombing from the Syrian army. After the first fights between Muslims on one side and Christians on the other, leaders on both sides asked their neighbor Syria to intervene for the sake of peace. A heavily armed Syrian army got inside the country and took over all the strategic points, which allowed them to domina te the capital and all major cities.
     
    That was twelve years ago. Despite how the Syrians had entered primarily to protect the Christians, they ended up siding with the other party. In the end, the Christians were left to fend for themselves; their only support was Israel, which secretly gave them arms and training. They ended up in a sort of ghetto, surrounded by enemies from the old ones at the front lines to the Syrians all over the mountains around the city.
     
    The west side of Beirut, the Muslim side, was still in relatively good shape. Despite Israeli bombings and Muslims fighting against each other and Palestinian refugees, West Beirut was still in better shape than East Beirut.
     
    Civilians caught between the fighting parties were the unwilling players in this game and its first victims. They lost everything: parents, kids, jobs, and homes. Sometimes they even had to beg for bread and water. All the basic necessities had disappeared. People were used to living and studying by candlelight, taking bucket baths, and rationing their water. Nora had gotten used to living this way when she was eleven years old.
     
    War had taken everything from her. It had taken her dad first, and after that, nothing really mattered anymore. If it wasn't for her mom, she wouldn't have worked so hard to get her medical degree. Her only wish was to get out of this inferno, which meant leaving the country. Other people could afford to do better; they could bribe the militia to get them more food and water. Many tried to live normal lives by using generators for power and even selling some lines to a neighbor...But for Nora, the only way out was not to adapt, but to leave—just leave without looking back at this huge mess of a country…

XII.
     
    Four months had passed…
     
    Nora couldn’t believe what was happening in her life. She left her mom, letting her think that she was going back to the hospital even though she was actually heading for the Monzem residence. Where was the dutiful Nora, obsessed with her medical studies, straitlaced, and traditional? Nothing remained of her old self. She felt like she'd been replaced by another person.
    Since she’d met Tamer, her whole life had changed. She’d never thought she could be so passionate about someone, passionate to a point where nothing counted anymore, not the war, not tradition, not religion. She was riding a blazing wave that erased everything in its path. She knew she was walking a tightrope and might fall at any moment. How could she let go of everything? She'd been crossing the line like a crazy, back and forth through bombs and snipers. She’d been lying to her mom about where she was staying, and she’d been involving her best friend in this web of intrigue and lies, all for a guy—but a guy who meant th e world to her. How had she let herself go so far?
    The weekend she had spent with Tamer and Mona at the mountain resort