Yemeni writer wins BBC story prize

Yemeni writer Zahra Rahmat Allah, who is also working as a journalist in the Yemeni News Agency, Saba, has won a short story contest held by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The winning stories are to be broadcast on air from the Arabic section of the BBC every Thursday, as part of the BBC Extra program. Rahmat Allah’s story, titled al-Serr, (The Secret), was chosen from among hundreds of other stories as one of the best ones in this competition. The judges found it impressive in its focus on the feelings of awe and fear. Three other short stories from women authors in Egypt, Palestine, and Algeria were also winners in the competition. 

As part of the cooperation and coordination between the BBC and the al-Arabi magazine issued by the Ministry of Information in Kuwait, al-Arabi republished the four winning stories in its issue No. 582 issued in the last May.    Most of the stories focused on life in the home countries of their authors. The writers used the stories to express their thoughts on their nation and the world. Those who did not win often made the mistake of writing opinion pieces instead of fiction stories, said the BBC editors. A Day in the Life of Saber is the title of the story written by Buthaina Mahmoud of Egypt, which addresses human issues and humanity’s weaknesses. Rahmat Allah’s story discussed vanishing and fear. Here is her winning story: 

The Secret
By Zahra Rahmat Allah
The blood had frozen in my veins when I saw a fountain of blood on his scared face and a wide area of his body covered with dust. He was very tired, trying to find his way between the trees with difficulty. I stood before him and asked him:  What’s wrong Abdu? Speak.   He seemed dumbfounded and looked at me. His lips moved and his fingers loosened. A neck of a smashed bottle fell from his hand and dove into sands. There were traces of blood, sweat and sand on his clothes and hands. I told him:  There is a deep wound in your face.   I extended my hand towards him, but he took my hand away violently. He took a look of horror behind him and dragged his feet quickly. I looked forward to the orange trees; I also came forward at enormous speed. Then, I stood on the beach while I was panting from fatigue and I was dumbfounded with surprise. The abandoned villa, which was always submerged in darkness and was inhabited by silence and gloominess, now smoldered with lights and movement.  

I saw some creatures in human bodies carrying strange faces, and large buttons on their bodies flashing in colors and shapes. They were walking on a bridge expanded from them to the sea, carrying shining metal sheets.   They went across the bridge to a space ship resembling a huge oyster, kneeling down on the sea and releasing a sharp whistling. I closed my ears using my hands strongly. Some seconds passed, the vehicle returned from whence it came, shed its body and freed itself from gravity, producing a sharp cry. The earth moved under my feet and my body collapsed on the sand.   The ship was rising, I could not control myself, and I ran strongly behind the thin light escaping towards the sky, while it faded and became as a far star.  

My neck tightened, my eyes were lacking in space, my body was drowned in the fatigue, and my soul was scattered between dream and reality. A long time passed while I was in this state until I felt calm.  I remembered the first contact in the police station where I worked, a woman called Umm Sami contacted me and told me that she saw a strange thing in the neighboring villa.   She told me that she saw a package of lights sneaking out from a window, but it disappeared quickly.  On another day, there was a communication about a group of boys who were playing football in the side area of the neighboring villa when a ball flew over the fence of the villa and one of them sneaked across to retrieve it but he did not return.  

On another day, a woman was taken from the quarter to the center when she was in a severe agitation, pulling her hair and tearing her clothes.   She was living with her daughter, but her addiction to tranquilizers and other objects transformed custodianship of the child to her father.  One day, she was leading her daughter to father’s house, but her friend stopped her in the road and talked about something. The daughter crept towards the villa and entered through the iron door, and her mother felt her leaving. She started looking for her in the villa, but she found the silence that was in everywhere, so she started crying. After several days, I entered the villa and I walked inside rooms. In one room, I found myself sliding into cramped tunnel, and the sound of water was full of the place, and there were black ghosts of fishes roaming ferociously under my feet.   I sat on the beach and considered the villa. There was washing by the darkness, silence and concerns, as one of the far planets. The sea was breathing quietly and a cool breeze was greeting me.  What do they want from us and from our children?   I gathered myself and I went walk in the dark. I did not how much I walked, and I believed that I carried a terrible secret in my heart but I did not find anyone to believe me. 

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