The night in the tunnel was heavier than any night Daniel had ever known.
No stars, no moon, only silence pierced by distant moans like the echoes of souls buried
underground.
He lay on his side, staring at the dirt ceiling from which small particles fell every few minutes.
He whispered to himself in English, his voice hoarse from dehydration:
"Why am I here? What's the point? No one cares if I live or die..."
He did not expect an answer.
But suddenly, a rough voice with a strange accent pierced the darkness:
"Point? ... You're here because your army is killing us."
Daniel froze.
He raised his head quickly, his eyes widening as if he had heard a ghost.
Yusuf was sitting in the opposite corner, half his face illuminated by the dim light of the lamp.
He wasn't staring at him, but at the empty space in front of him.
Daniel muttered in surprise:
"You... do you speak English?"
Yusuf did not reply.
He turned his face away, as if what he had said a moment ago had not come from him.
He returned to his silence, clasping his hands together on his knees, his eyes sunken into an
endless inner darkness.
Long minutes passed, during which Daniel heard nothing but the beating of his own heart.
He tried to break the silence again:
"I didn't choose this... I was sent here."
But Yusuf remained silent, as if he hadn't heard.
Nevertheless, what had happened was enough:
the wall that had stood firm for days began to crack.
That night, Daniel did not sleep.
He kept remembering Yusuf's tone as he said, "Because your army is killing us."
a simple sentence that struck him like a stone thrown into a still lake.
He realised that the man he had ignored for almost a month was watching and listening to him...
and perhaps knew more about him than he imagined.