The grocer looked up at his neighbor's screams and glanced at his son, who had come out of the building, while some people came out of the street to help.
He called out to Wael.
"Wael, come here. What's wrong?"
Wael looked up, leaning towards the grocer's shop, clutching his arm.
"What's wrong, son? Why are you holding your arm?"
Wael looked at his father. "I don't know, Dad. The man looked really sick and scratched me.
His bathroom was covered in blood, so I got scared and came down."
"Show me your arm, boy." He looked at the scratch and yelled at him, "May God burn you! I hope it's not some plague or something!"
He yelled at the owner of a shop next door, "Uncle Saeed, keep an eye on the shop until I get back!"
He grabbed his son's arm. "Come on, boy, let's go to the hospital." The boy stopped him, trying to delay him and not make a big deal out of it.
"Dad, be patient. It's just a scratch."
Suddenly, they heard screams from the top of the building, voices saying, "The boy is dead. He was so young."
The man was terrified. He rushed his son to the hospital.
As soon as he arrived, a few minutes later, he asked about their relative's doctor.
By chance, the doctor was right in front of them. He looked at them and asked, "What's wrong, Haj? Is everything alright?"
He pointed to Wael's hand and told him what was going on. The doctor looked at Wael's hand. "Look, Haj, he doesn't seem to have anything wrong with him, but I can do a blood test and see what's going on."
He asked them to follow him to a room so he could take a blood sample.
Wael's father looked at him and said, "Please, I need to know what's happening now. Is it an epidemic or something? We need to deal with it quickly."
They said, "Try to see if I can find out right now."
As soon as the doctor left, Wael's father looked at him. "Don't worry, your friend studied in America and stayed here because his family is taking care of them. He's a genius. He was one of the people who worked on the coronavirus cases and was very famous there in America."
Wael looked at him. "I'm not scared at all. You're the one who's scared.
And I don't think there's anything wrong. He looked tired, but it's nothing serious."
Wael looked at his phone. It was The girl was checking on him after several videos went viral online, garnering millions of views, showing the horrific death of soldier Nasser.
"Are you okay? I think this is the building across from your shop, right?"
Wael was silent for a moment, looking at his hand. A voice rose, questioning the doctor and cursing the hospital. After a few seconds, she asked him, "Are you in the hospital? Are you really okay?"
Wael hung up.