After a quiet walk through a deserted neighborhood, Ummi tells me that the dried bloodstain I\u2019d seen bejewelled across the bullet-scarred walls came from the bodies I\u2019d run kites with over these lands. By this she means the lives of my friends had drifted from them like the windblown kites we had chased. I closed my eyes, and began\u00a0 recounting the spirits of those who\u2019ll never again see the sky. Somewhere in the distance, underneath the bony glow of a half-moon in a sky riddled with stars like ice crystals, flashing and flickering, the muezzin calls for prayer.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Homecoming After a quiet walk through a deserted neighborhood, Ummi tells me that the dried bloodstain I\u2019d seen bejewelled across the bullet-scarred walls came from the bodies I\u2019d run kites <\/p>\n