Part 14

The sun was blazing, master of the burning noon. The air clung to the throat, and the heat of the sky poured down like molten gold across the ground.

The back door of the food hotel creaked open.
In the doorway stood Usuf.

His face carried a quiet stillness, beneath which drifted countless bright questions and unfinished dreams. In his left hand he held tightly a firecracker of gunpowder—a hard, black canister, inside which slept an invisible flame.

Usuf’s eyes were deep, glowing with a light that knew this moment was more than just the opening of a door. It was a meeting with an unknown dawn. The canister in his hand was not just an object, but a symbol—a silent message waiting to be revealed.

At that moment, Salih stepped forward from inside. His bearing was like that of a prince—tall, proud, dignified. His eyes shone with the weight of history’s struggles. His clothes were simple yet carried an air of strength. He moved through the crowd slowly, each step carrying calm authority.

Usuf saw the crush inside the hotel—so crowded at noon that there was not space for even a grain of sand. A secret smile touched his lips, though it was more shadow than laughter.

A swarm of people stood, faces lit with hope, eyes heavy with hunger, their bodies pressing against each other, fighting gently for a place to sit.

Salih shook his head and said,
“In this crowd, where will we find space?”

His words were calm, but they carried something strange—an echo of trouble yet to come.

Usuf turned back. His eyes burned with silent resolve—a vow without sound. The canister in his hand was no longer just gunpowder. It was a question, a challenge, a mark upon the future of these people.

He whispered to himself:
“In this crowd, where is true courage hidden? Where is the fire—not painted like a tiger’s skin, but burning with real bravery?”

Salih looked at him, and he understood—this moment was about to cross its boundaries, to begin a new journey.

Together they stood in the doorway, like two princes preparing for battle, awaiting the path ahead. Usuf’s eyes gleamed with a strange, quiet determination.

With strong hands he pushed the four “tiger-dogs” inside the door. Behind them, slowly, he placed the gunpowder canister in the corner. Then he stepped back and stood at Salih’s side.

His breath trembled. His heart burned like a furnace.
Both of them pressed their hands to their ears.

And then—

In a single instant, the canister exploded!

The sound was sky-splitting, earth-shaking—a thunderous blast that fell like a storm inside the hotel. The explosion was not just a crack of noise; it was the beginning of destruction.

Inside, everyone froze. For a few moments—only silence.

Then came the chaos. Someone roared, another screamed, another cried out in fear—voices clashed in unbearable confusion. Faces twisted—some wide-eyed in shock, some hidden behind frantic hands, others pressing fingers into their ears in desperation.

Through the smoke rose the smell of fear. Flames of disorder leapt into the crowd.

The sound of the blast tore the air apart, and even the trees outside seemed to shudder. Birds burst into the sky in a great flock, and the heavens above fell silent, drained of life.

The veil of peace was shattered. What remained was only a vast mixture—
A battlefield.

The dogs, shaken by the thunder of the blast, froze in fear. Then, though they crouched low to the ground, they were no longer timid. At once they darted into the hotel, racing this way and that—not like tigers of the wild, but like strange puppets of some hidden mystery.

The shock of the explosion had not yet faded, and on top of that, everyone inside mistook the dogs for tigers. That illusion spread through the crowd like a wildfire.

Panic and confusion filled the people’s eyes. Someone screamed, “Tiger! A tiger is here!” Another tried to run, while others stretched out their hands to save whoever was nearest.

Chaos broke loose.
Screams, shouts, the sound of roaring and crashing, the thunder of footsteps—all blended into a wild painting of colours: a terrifying confusion where human and animal, fear and bravery, all became one blazing image. A storm of darkness and light, of doubt and clarity, ground together into dust.

Inside Usuf’s chest surged an unbreakable thrill, a fierce current of courage urging him to embrace the unknown. On Salih’s lips rose a smile—warm, like the ripple of true friendship.

The two young men, standing side by side, burst into wild laughter. They laughed so hard their eyes filled with tears.

The burning rays of the sun suddenly seemed to fade, and the air grew cold and eerie. Smoke from the explosion thickened, coiling upward inside the hotel, carrying a chilling touch that brushed against the nerves.

The dogs were running wildly inside, drunk on a sudden, bewildering freedom, while the echo of the gunpowder blast still lingered in the air.

The people were terrified. Some dashed to one side, others to the other. Someone flung a food plate to the floor. Some bent low, some struggled desperately to escape through the door. Every heart beat like crashing waves—on one side, the bottomless pit of fear; on the other, a storm of fiery excitement.