Nilufar slightly adjusted the heavy curtains of her room's window. Outside in the courtyard, there were now olive-colored armored vehicles and the heavy sound of boots. Four years ago, one morning, they had woken up to find that their free city had fallen into the hands of soldiers from another country. Overnight, all the rules had changed. Instead of the morning birds' chirping, now mornings woke up to the sound of sirens.
Nilufar's father, Professor Amjad, was a history professor at the university. The first thing the soldiers did upon arrival was to close down the libraries and distort history. They wanted the new generation of the city to forget that they were once free. But Amjad did not want that to happen. At the risk of his life, he had retrieved centuries-old maps and documents from the university's basement, which were now imprisoned in the secret chamber beneath their home.
One night, Nilufar's younger brother Shayan suddenly started shivering with a high fever. His body was burning, and he was frothing at the mouth. According to the new rules imposed by the occupiers, there was a strict curfew across the city after eight in the evening. Shooting was ordered on sight. But seeing Shayan’s condition, Amjad could not remain calm. There were no medicines in the house, and waiting until dawn would mean there was no hope of saving the boy.
Amjad looked at Nilufar and said, "Nilu, we have to save Shayan. Doctor Kalam's house is just three lanes away from here. I will go out through the front door and try to distract the soldiers; they will follow me. Meanwhile, you run through the broken wall at the back to the doctor's house."
Nilufar was trembling with fear, but looking at her brother's pale face, she nodded. Amjad opened the front door and urgently ran out into the darkness, shouting to attract the soldiers' attention. In an instant, the sound of boots and shouts turned towards him. Nilufar did not waste another moment. She stealthily sprinted through the dark alley like a cat. Her hand got cut on the barbed wire, and blood was flowing, but the pull of saving her brother's life was much stronger than the pain.
When she reached Doctor Kalam's house and returned with the medicine, dawn was beginning to break. Entering the house, she saw that Shayan's fever was somewhat subsiding, but everything in the living room was shattered. Their mother was sitting in a corner, silently crying. The soldiers had taken Amjad away, and perhaps they would never find him again.
A few weeks later, Shayan fully recovered. Standing by the window, he looked at the unfamiliar flag waving beyond the barbed wire and asked Nilufar, "Apu, where's Baba? Will Baba not come back?"
Nilufar took Shayan's small hands in her own. There was no fear in her eyes now; instead, a firm determination burned within them. Gripping the key to the secret chamber beneath the ground tightly, she said to Shayan, "Wherever Baba is, he has left us a huge responsibility. These soldiers have taken our land, taken our skies, but they cannot touch our inner freedom. As long as we do not forget our true history, as long as we do not bow our heads, they will never be able to fully claim this city. We will keep fighting, Shayan."
