Ryaan's pov

She’s finally asleep.

Her hand is still bleeding a little, and her doll’s head is missing. But she didn’t cry. She’s stronger than I am.

I keep staring at the wall.

There’s a crack shaped like a tree.

Funny how even broken things try to look like life.

It’s quiet now. The bombing stopped. Or maybe I just stopped hearing it.

I’m afraid to close my eyes.

Because if I do… I’ll go back to yesterday.

---

Just yesterday…

I was in school.

We had a math test. I cheated a little by hiding the answer under my sleeve. Sami caught me and gave me that “I’m telling the teacher” face.

I threw my eraser at him and he missed the whole period because he was searching for it under the bench.

We laughed so hard.

At lunch, we shared bread and juice boxes. Nour told a joke about Mr. Khan bald spot. I almost choked.

Our biggest worry was whether there’d be power at night to watch cartoons.

After school, I ran home.

Maryam was on the roof feeding birds.

She always makes this weird clicking sound with her tongue and tells me they’re her “sky friends.”

I pulled her braid and she screamed,

“RYAAN! I’m gonna tell Mama!”

I said, “Only if you catch me!”

We ran up and down the stairs until Mama made us stop or she’d “throw both of us in the room. "

---

Baba came home later.

His hands smelled like engine oil and soap.

He lifted Maryam and spun her around like she weighed nothing.

He winked at me. I still don’t know how he was never tired.

Dinner was lentils and warm bread.

Baba played the radio. Mama hummed while washing dishes.

Maryam sat in my lap and fell asleep before the news ended.

We were safe.

We were whole.

I was just a boy. Just a brother. Just a student.

Not a fighter. Not a protector. Not a survivor.

---

I don’t want to forget that day.

Even if everything else disappears, I want to keep it somewhere inside me.

The jokes. The braids. The smell of Mama’s cooking. The sound of Baba’s laugh.

The sky before it turned red.

The house before it fell.

Because that was the last day the world felt normal.

The last day I was Ryaan,

and not whatever this version of me is now.