"Despite you being considered a national terrorist and being wanted throughout the country, the honourable one asked me for two things but told me to choose one that would please me. The first option was to capture you and keep you in prison until you die, and the second was to kill you. I find the option of keeping you difficult because I might develop compassion for my young man, whom I raised myself, so I chose to kill you. Today, I don't have much to say to you, but I want to warn you that wherever you go if you see a problem somewhere and the authorities of that area are silent, don't act like you know everything. You should first politely ask those people what the problem is. They will guide you. Now your arrogance has cost your family and yourself dearly. We will talk properly when we meet in the afterlife." He stood as I cried, tears streaming down my face, and I couldn't even sit.
"If we meet in another life, you, your leaders, and this entire country will pay a very high price for what you have done to me today," I spoke with great pain and emphasis, without any hope, because I knew that, no matter what, I was going to die. In my heart, I was filled with intense hatred, but he didn't care about anything. He turned to one of the men and said,
"Go and bury him," then he walked out.
The man didn't hesitate; he dragged me forcefully to the back of my house. It turns out that while we were inside, there were men digging my grave, the grave where they were going to bury me. I was buried alive, still conscious. I remember seeing a few shovels of soil, and after that, I saw darkness. I didn't get the chance to breathe; I could only faintly hear the sounds of people.
I was in another world altogether; I knew nothing of this ordinary world anymore. I think my journey had ended. I was buried behind my house, without even having the chance to bury the people I loved so much in my life."
"I was no longer in this world that people live in every day; I was far, very far away from the earth because I didn't know anything that was happening or ongoing. I woke up from that sleep of death two years later. You might wonder how it's possible to be buried and then say I woke up from that sleep in the grave. It may seem impossible with ordinary logic, but for me, it happened, and that's why I'm here today, continuing to live again."
"The day I woke up from that sleep, to be honest, I didn't have the ability to do anything meaningful. I was not someone who could even walk. The beating I received on that last day before being buried caused some parts of my body to completely lose their ability to function; in short, my body was paralyzed. I was in a very modest little hut, roofed with grass, but it was the place that kept me safe."
"I wanted to stand up, at least to remember who I was, because I was like a mad person who didn't know where I came from or where I was supposed to go. My mind was no longer mine; I was far from the journey of life. But how could I have stood up from that sleep of death? I didn't have that ability, so I remained there, struggling on that bed made of leather, tied with ropes. It didn't take long before an old woman, who was quite aged and used a stick to walk all the time, entered. She came in and gave me medicine, then uncovered my side and nodded her head as a sign of accepting something that I personally did not understand."
"‘Grandmother, where am I?’ I found myself asking a question that made her smile widely and laugh.
She didn't respond to me at all, except for coughing very strongly. She then gave me the herbal medicine to drink, and we would talk later. Her English wasn't very good, but if you listened carefully, you could understand her perfectly well."
"The days passed until a week had gone by since that incident. By then, my memories had returned to my head, though I didn't know if it was the herbal medicine that helped or something else. I wasn't able to leave the house; up until that time, I had never stepped outside. I am very thankful to that grandmother; she did everything for me right where I was lying. I don't even think my own wife would have been able to endure me in the state I was in."
"That was the night I cried a lot, all night long, after remembering my loved ones, whom I didn't even get the chance to know where they were buried or by whom. I didn't understand where I was or how much time had passed since I arrived in that place, so I had to ask that grandmother, but she told me that she didn't know anything except that I should wait for her grandson, who would arrive the day after tomorrow. He was the one who had brought me there and knew everything about me. He would even help me walk by guiding me through some light exercises to restore my body's strength. That day after tomorrow felt like a century to me because I was so eager to see that person, and countless questions were running through my mind."
"Time doesn’t stop or freeze; I believed that to be true. The day I eagerly awaited finally arrived, just as promised. But as evening came and I hadn’t seen the person I was expecting, I began to lose hope. I thought perhaps the old woman was just comforting me, and that there was nothing more to it. Besides, not knowing the fate of my child and wife weighed heavily on me, and I had so many questions I wanted to ask this person.
How did I survive that day? I remember clearly being buried—so how am I still alive? Or is it like those theories that say you can die and end up in another place? But no, I never believed in superstitions, so how could I have come back to life? The question left me utterly confused, and I could only comfort myself and pray that the person would come.
In the early hours of the night, as I lay there with my eyes closed, lost in thoughts of all that had happened to me—a mere mortal in an unjust world—my ears caught the sound of someone approaching. The movements were steady and strong, unlike those of the old woman, whose bones were frail. This was someone whose body was as solid and strong as mine once was.
Fear crept over me, and I quickly opened my eyes, ready to face whatever danger might come, for I was powerless to do anything else. When I opened my eyes, by the dim light of the oil lamp in the room, I saw the shadow of a muscular figure entering. The man, clearly built and well-trained, stood before me with his face hidden by a hood. When he removed the hood, what I saw made me blink in disbelief.