Desert Love - Qasim and Soraya

 The wind was blowing sand into Qasim's eyes and he adjusted his turban so that it would collect into the creases of the cloth instead of his eyelids. He didn't know if they were heading the right way, but they were walking on what seemed to be a path and that reassured Qasim.

He tilted his head slightly upward to check on Soraya, and saw that she seemed comfortable, in an almost serene way. She was looking into the distance, and he knew she was thinking about their future.

They had decided to pack up their belongings and leave the home they had resided in their entire lives. It was time to start over, it was time to start fresh. They had only taken a meager amount of belongings, as well as their donkey, who they'd named 'janaabe khar', the farsi word for donkey sir, as a joke. But Qasim knew how attached Soraya was to their donkey, and had refused to sell it before their journey.

Qasim had heard of a village across the desert, a place with fertile lands where the dangers of the city did not exist. Where the invaders could not reach nor wanted to. A place where he and Soraya could build their new life, away from the losses, the pain, the fear they had lived in before.

Walking through the desert was a beautiful experience. The wind created a blurry red curtain of sand before them, as though holding a veil in front of what they would come to face. It was almost hypnotic, walking up and down the dunes, a repetitive patterns of ups and downs. As though it was symbolic of life.

And Qasim had shared enough downs with Soraya. Today they would journey into the unknown, hoping that the destination would be a place for them to root themselves into a world of new beginnings.

Their footsteps was kicking up the sand behind them, which then blew into the wind, scattering into the air. Qasim looked back, seeing the city growing distant behind them. For a moment, he felt fear start to creep up. But he turned back towards Soraya and continued to walk into the unknown path of the desert, knowing that as long as he and Soraya had one another, they could build a home anywhere.

Story and illustration by @rasmorawaj ©