His body moved a step forward, then a step back, until the sound of her crying reached him again, prompting him to look through the peephole. He found Mary sitting with her back to the door, while his other neighbor watched her, trying to comfort her and swearing he wasn't hurt and wouldn't harm her.
Walid grabbed a piece of iron that was by the door. He was supposed to fix it and put it back in its place by the balcony so he could open and close it, but it seemed the best decision was to be lazy and leave it by the door. He picked it up and opened the door, holding it out to his neighbor, who shocked everyone the moment he did.
He was known for being withdrawn and not very sociable, to the point that some people thought he might have autism.
Mary screamed as soon as the door opened, pleading with him to let her in and to keep the neighbor away from her because he was hurt.
Amir looked at the neighbor and saw some blood on his arm. He threatened him to move away, and then Mary followed him in and ordered him to close the door.
At this point, the neighbor began to cry and swore he wasn't hurt. Amir looked at his arm. "Then what's all this blood?"
The neighbor, sobbing, looked at him. "It's my friend's blood. We were in the street when we saw everyone running. Someone was injured, and his blood covered the ground and my arm. I ran to lock the building, but Uncle Hani downstairs refused because his daughter was outside. He went up to look for her and died. I locked the door, and as I was going up, I saw Mrs. Mary coming up in front of me, screaming when she saw my arm." Mary swore he was lying and that Amir had to lock the door.
Then they saw something even more terrifying. One of the neighbors fell from two floors and landed in front of them. But the scary part was that he moved and was about to attack Amir, but his neighbor saved him at the last moment by throwing a garbage bag at his face and pushing him down the stairs, as he was closer to the stairs than Amir was.
At this point, Amir looked at him after... The blood was wiped from his hand, revealing his skin, which was unharmed, just as he had said.
Then they entered and closed the door. Silence fell for a few moments, everyone staring at the ground, lost in thought that felt like an eternity.
Afterwards, Mary put her hand to her mouth, feeling extremely nauseous and making vomit noises. Amir quickly led her to the bathroom and left her at the sink. She began to vomit.
He looked fearfully at his neighbor, who understood him.
"Don't worry, she's just vomiting because of the fear and shock. There's nothing wrong. Or what you heard, that you have to be dragged and then your eye will bleed?"
Amir looked at him. "No, I know for sure."
Everyone heard another loud knock at the door.
Amir rushed to the peephole.
It was an old man pleading with him to open it. His children had attacked him and dragged him out of the house.
He looked at his neighbor, who remained silent. As soon as he opened the door, he heard the man say,
"Please, son, let me in with you. I'm scared." "He's old, and I don't know what will happen to me if I leave the building."
Amir looked at him silently, and his neighbor followed him, staring intently at every inch of the man.
"Hang up now."
"I'm old." Everyone stared at him in shock, and he continued,
"His leg is injured and bleeding." Everyone looked at his leg, which was bleeding and had some bruises. He stopped any thoughts of the man when he shouted,
"It's because I fell down the stairs. I swear I'm fine. Son, let me in, I'm old enough to be your father!"
Amir looked at his shoes and found some small pieces of flesh, as if he had stepped on a corpse or something. He tried to close the door quietly without telling the man. The man put his hand on the door, trying to open it. It was very strong for a man in his seventies, for example. His neighbor helped him while shouting at them, "I don't want to die! Open up!"
They couldn't close it, even though they were two men against an old man. The man cried out, "Oh God, why? Open the door!" His voice changed, and blood began to flow from his eyes.
Then, with great difficulty, he closed the door after Mary joined them, screaming. "Lock it!"
The man outside screamed. "For God's sake, open it!" His breath became ragged, as if he were choking on blood in his throat. He screamed, "Open it! Help me, people! I'm dying! I swear to God, I don't want to die!"
Silence fell after he repeated the words, his voice slowing. But his face turned blue, as if he had suffocated. Then his eyes turned white. Amir and his companions moved away from the door in silence and sat for several minutes. The silence was broken by Mary, who surprised them.
"We have to go upstairs," she said. They both looked at her, and Omar asked, "Upstairs where?"
"To my house," she replied.
He looked at her. "Why?"
"Because there's a weapon upstairs belonging to my brother, and a lot of bullets and money if we want to escape from here."