May 10, 2021
We must leave. The neighborhood is no longer safe; the clashes are in the street behind ours. Pack your bags quickly, and take only what you need. We’ll be back home in a few days, when the situation calms down.
My father’s words that day were decisive, and we left. Later we learned that our house, our furniture, our possessions, our memories had all been destroyed. I was 13 years old.
We left our house in eastern Aleppo and moved to a safer town in the countryside, but it did not take very long for the war to find us. Within 2 months we were fleeing again, as gunshots rained down and the terrifying sounds of bombs and rockets shook the town.