Upside Down Slipper- Saad Owdah- based on true events

Extract

Anarchy is the perfect word to describe what had happened to the place; it was hard for anyone to make it to the second floor. One had to push through many items that lay strewn about,

fire extinguishers, broken chairs and a table moved from its place, which blocked access to the staircase after the policeman had pushed it aside. The second floor was still on fire, its black walls adorned with torment. The floorboards, a cryptic picture of the charred fabric and extinguisher powder, warped the corridor so that its shape appeared abnormal.

The policeman turned to the director of the orphanage and said, “take me to the room.”

She pointed down the middle of the corridor. The iron door of the room had been removed and placed aside so that one could see a full view of the horrifying scene before entering. They froze, speechless. The blackened walls and wide windows made the perfect background for the odd circle of six calcified bodies that knelt in a symmetrical shape.

He looked at the director and asked, “were they six? The girls who were striking?”

“No, seven.”

“Where is she? The seventh girl?”

“She is around.”

“Can I see her?”

The director left and soon returned, accompanied by a young, dark-skinned lady who was around twenty years old. She had a strange look in her eyes, despite her attempts to put on an innocent face, as she covered her body with a black cloak.

The policeman moved closer to the girl and asked her what her name was.

“Marwa.”

“Were you present in the room when the fire broke out?”

“Yes.”

“How did you manage to get out?”

“The guards somehow opened the door and dragged me out of the room.”

“Without catching fire?”

“Yes.”

“All right. And how come your friends are sitting in this position?”

“I don’t know.”

“Marwa, how is it possible for any person to stay put in a spot whilst he or she is burning?”

“I don’t know.”

It was obvious to him that she knew much more than she was revealing. He tried once more to make sense of the scene, turning his head and looking again at the circle of bodies and noticed a strange-looking black and blue substance spread over the room’s floor that was shaped like an open mouth screaming into space. He pulled out his pen and crossed over to the charred bodies. With the tip of his pen, he picked up a small amount of melted plastic. He then turned to Marwa and with a sharp voice, which indicated that ‘I don’t know’ would not be accepted as an answer for his question, he asked, “Marwa—what is this?”

She tried to hide her face with the cloak’s hem, but when she realised that he wasn’t going to let her manoeuvre her way out of the situation, she glanced at him from the corner of her eye and with a cunning smile, uttered, “it’s only a slipper turned upside down.”