The scene opens in a dimly lit basement. Omar, his uncle, and Abu Bilal stand tensely.
Omar's uncle, sweating profusely said "I told you, Omar, this is impossible! I won't relinquish my fortune to anyone!"
Abu Bilal, a hulking figure, stepped closer, his voice a low growl. "Then you'll rot in this cell. No one will ever find you."
Omar's uncle sputtered, "The police will find me! They'll arrest all of you…especially my treacherous nephew, the boy I raised after his parents died! And he repays me like this?"
Omar entered, his face grim. "You were the reason we lost everything, Uncle. You stole our parents' fortune! That small house we lived in…it's the only thing you couldn't steal, so you left it for us. And then you abandoned us for years!"
"Maram had to work as a baker to support me while I finished university," Omar continued, his voice laced with bitterness. "She suffered because of you! You only remembered your nephews when you could use us. You made a mistake bringing me close – I uncovered all your dirty dealings, your crimes against us and countless others."
Omar's uncle roared, his voice cracking with denial. "That's not true! I was cooperating with the government! They know what I did!"
Abu Bilal scoffed. "You and the government? You're both equally corrupt, rotten to the core!"
.""Leave me alone! I'll give you what you want, just don't lock me up!" the uncle pleaded, his voice trembling. Abu Bilal shook his head. "If we let you go, you'll expose us."
Omar's uncle turned to Omar, desperation etched on his face. "Omar, I'm your uncle! You can't do this to me! I was forced to cooperate with the government. If I hadn't, they would have done to me what they did to your parents."
Omar's eyes narrowed. "That's exactly what I want to know. What happened to my parents? Were they behind their deaths?"
His uncle hesitated, his gaze falling to the floor. "I…I wasn't directly involved in their deaths," he stammered. "Your mother and father…they were part of a diplomatic delegation going to a UN Security Council meeting with an opposition presidential candidate who planned on exposing government corruption and human rights abuses on a global scale. Their plane crashed…they never made it to the meeting."
"The government…they sabotaged their plane," Omar's uncle whispered, his voice barely audible. "The current president…he won because the opposition candidate and everyone else on that flight died."
A wave of anger washed over Omar. He felt a surge of grief and betrayal, his body shaking with fury. "And you…you continued working with the people who murdered my parents? You hurt so many others for your own personal gain, for your money!"
His uncle's voice rose in a desperate plea. "What else could I do? Would you have preferred that I joined the opposition and died too, leaving you and Maram alone?"
Omar's voice was tight with emotion. "We were alone! You never helped us, never cared for us during our childhood. You abandoned us!"
A beat of silence hung in the air before Abu Bilal stepped forward, his voice low and smooth.
"Abu Bilal, ever the pragmatist, intervened. "It's settled. We'll convince your uncle to relinquish his remaining assets. You take your sister and leave for another city. Disappear until we tell you it's safe to return."
Omar rushed home, finding his sister Maram. He embraced her tightly, announcing a surprise: a two-day vacation; everything was arranged already.
Maram was skeptical but went along with him only because of her brother's insistence on not revealing any details yet about this sudden trip.
As they drove away in the car, Maram pressed him for answers about what happened earlier that day in the basement.. "Tell me! What really happened?" she demanded, her voice laced with suspicion.
Omar remained tight-lipped until Maram confessed that she'd long suspected something was amiss; it would be better if he confessed instead of letting her imagination run wild with the worst possibilities.
"I finally got revenge on our uncle," Omar revealed.
Maram gasped, "Stop the car!" she shrieked. She jumped out of the moving vehicle, forcing Omar to pull over and chase after her.
"Don't lie to me! Tell me what you did!" she yelled.
Omar confessed everything. When he finished, Maram began to cry. "I never asked you to do that! I was happy! I wasn't suffering. Raising you and providing for our needs was enough. Losing our parents was hard, but having you was more than enough. I never wanted you to grow up filled with so much anger and hatred. I sensed it all those years, this silent rage inside of you."
Omar held her close as they wept together, the weight of years of resentment and unspoken pain finally released in a torrent of tears. "I've been angry for so long… I just couldn't…" he choked out, unable to finish his sentence.
"
"Omar, still breathing heavily, confessed, "Even then, I won't rest until I avenge our parents' deaths."
Maram voiced her concern. "What you're doing is dangerous, Omar. If you're determined to continue, I have to be with you."
"Of course not ," Omar replied instantly. "its too dangerous,"
Maram changed the subject, her voice low. "Why? Aren't there any women involved with you and Abu Bilal?"
Omar hesitated before answering, "That's a story for another time. Let's go home.""