Dominos

Dmoinos

Heavy rain in Chicago, one of the rainiest cities in the summer, unlike Baghdad, which has a burning atmosphere, he picked the phone to write to his best friend about the rain, which makes the other get angry who said "just like the oven which live in"

Despite a 13-year separation this was not a big deal for old friends Zyad and Hamza, Zyad was the saddest and did not find in the estrangement of his concerns, the phone had the main role to convey his feelings to his friend on the other side to relieve his grief with some jokes and situations that they went through together. They were communicating through text messages most of the time and rarely used voice calls even Haider could not remember the last time he heard Hamza's voice.

Minutes were like hours and hours like days, all the news on social media related to Iraq, which makes Zyad's heart like a wet sponge in the hands of a wife who just fought with her husband and went to wash dishes.

"Why don't you come back, my friend, we're always waiting for you and since you left, I couldn't find a partner in dominoes. You don't have much left to live, you can't buy more years than you already lived, come back and the rest live your life here"

Haider was shocked because of these words, but his response did not exceed one click on the letter "h" to end that conversation that exhausted his mind. For the following weeks he couldn't sleep well, thinking of the last message from his friend.

November, 2019
A young man, graduated with a bachelor degree in computer science. Ali couldn't find a job allows him to use his expertise so he worked in Al-Mutanbi Street carrying goods. In his free time, he was trying to invent a device that uses electric strikes to increase Adrenaline and motivate the brain in order to retrieve all memories in details. Which will allow a person to remember what happened 10 years ago associated with each detail. One rainy day while he was working on his project, the device worked in a freaking way. He tried to stop it but in vain. Dry wires caught him. Waking up in a while, the same place with a different time.

October, 2019
Zyad decided to return after two months of the date of the conversation but did not tell anyone even his best friends to make it a surprise and do not lose the look on his friend's face after 13 years apart.

Zyad got out of Baghdad airport, (exhausted) took a taxi from the airport to get him to his brother's (Saad) house, where he would rest there and see his family, but he was only thinking of one thing: the look on his friend's face. The next morning, he got out of the house and rented a taxi, asked him to take him to al-Karkh side of Baghdad, where he used to live, next to his friend's Hamza house. Knocking the door waiting for no one to come out, knocked hard for the second time so a woman came out in a cloak that he did not recognize, asking her about Hamza and she said "no one by that name lives here, my husband bought this house three years ago I think you are wrong."

He came back trying to find any of his friends to find out where Hamza lives, blaming himself for not asking his friend if they had moved or not. His felt that he is in Chicago, the same feeling no one he knows, faces are changed like the houses.
He rented a taxi but did not return to his brother's house, he heard about October demonstrations and wanted to see what was happening there. In the end of Al-Saadon Street, he entered Al- Tahrir squire where he felt amazingly happy. He saw Iraqi people united against unjust for the first time since years. Two hours later a smoke grenade landed into his chest like a bullet, the paramedics ran to take him to the nearest hospital, but he died on the way there. His brother Saad came to take his body and bury him in Wadi Al-Salam cemetery where he wanted to rest after his death.

The strange thing is that he didn't feel as weird there at all as he did in Chicago or in his neighborhood after 13 years... He found three of his friends sitting on wooden chairs around an iron and wood table, He immediately identified Asaad, who was waving at him and smiling Karrar, but did not recognize the third, who only saw his back. He approached them and sat in his chair to be surprised to see his friend Hamza, who said to him, "I waited for you a long time to play dominoes together" He was shocked and asked "How long have you been here?" Hamza answered with a smile, "Since the explosion you were injured and left to Chicago after, but I couldn't get out, my body was not responding to my orders and they brought me here waiting for you to come."

November, 1982
Ali woke up in Al-Mutanbi Street but everything changed. None of the people who he worked with are there, the shops and people are dressing in an old way. Wondering to find anyone he knows. It took him 2 hours to remember what happened while he was trying his device. He rushed into Al-Shabander café trying to find a calendar. Suddenly he saw someone he knew, trying to figure out who he was, approached their table and listened to his conversation with his friend. His eyes popped out when he realizes its was his father, his own father who he lost when he was a young child. Ali tried to hug him, talk to him about what he went through but couldn't. Rushed out of the café, walked and walked till he felt so tired. Slept on a sideway chair.

June, 2007
Woke up on the same chair he slept but the time again changed. The shock damaged his brain so each time he sleeps he will wake up in a different time. The first he did is to check the date. He asked a stranger who replayed "23rd of June 2007" This was the hardest thing to hear in his life. It was the date of his father's death. Two hours before the explosion he went to the same place waiting for his father to warn him. A brilliant idea came to his mind, once his father and his friends showed up, he approached them and said "Mr. Hamza your wife is waiting for you in the house, she is having a baby"

November, 2019
Ali woke up again in the same place and time. He felt that it all was just a dream. But he wanted to make sure of it. He went back home like a jaguar. The only thing was in his mind is the scene of his father home. He saw his mother in black like always, asked her "Where is my father?" she couldn't understand him "what's wrong son?", "your father died can't you remember?" everything he wanted faded, then he asked again "how he died?" she answered again "he was killed on his way home, his friend said that someone told him that I was so sick, that bastared was the reason of your father's death"