Splinters of Allah

 

 

Sand skimmed the flat, bleached roofs of Baghdad.

Suhaymuh pushed deeper through the boisterous crowds of the Ghazil Pet Market. Bent under the heavy backpack, taut straps dragged at her; she stepped on shadows. She ignored the chattering masses.

“Daddy, I want a snake. Please.”

“No snakes in the house, son, there are enough snakes outside. Find something else.”

In flashes, between streaming heads, she saw her partner, Wafa, across the street. Wafa smiled. Sunlight touched rich, tea-colored skin. Wafa leaned under the weight of her backpack.

“The frog, get me the frog.”

“Let me look; I like frogs.”

Sweating, jostled by the throng, an image of her father's ancient Koran flickered in her mind. Suhaymah looked at Wafa and smelled boundless, caged animals and imagined her mothers voice: “Sing everyday, Suhaymuh.”

“Yes, mother.” Suhaymuh relaxed her grip on the trigger. “Today I sing fire.”

Flames engulfed the crowd as twin explosions flared; ballistic swarms of nails filled the air. Scorched, steel splinters, and molten, hypersonic wind shredded bodies.

Screams shimmied on ageless dust.

Reviews

[Hedra Helix]

beautifully made.
at first I was like son? I thoght it was a girl...? but then at the end I say the way it had been constructed. It's lovely. The only thing I'd say if if you didn't intend it to confuse us into thinking it was one pair of ppl talking until the aha! close to the end then it needs a bit of tweak toward the top.
Otherwise I really liked this. Strong visuals. Concrete moment. Very you.

your other two posts have underscores showing where I think you wanted italics, you may want to check them out. ;)