The Attack

Amin awakes in great pain, the sound of his own name being repeated. A man leans over him, telling him that he is unwell and has been in the hotel room for two days. The man is the hotel manager. Amin insists that he is fine and the embarrassed man ducks out of the room. Amin remembers checking into a hotel, unable to return to the home and all of its memories of Sihem. Amin showers and tries to unpack his thoughts; he goes out to eat and sleeps on a park bench. He wakes up in the dark, feeling alone. He returns to the hotel and thinks about calling someone. Amin is then back in the street with no memory of how he got there. He calls Yasser from a payphone and asks for Adel’s location. After some hesitation, Yasser reveals that Adel is in Jenin. Amin has to ask for help getting back into the hotel as he has forgotten his security code. Eventually, he arrives back in his room and collapses on the bed. 

By the fifth day in the hotel, Amin believes that it is “apparent that my wits are leaving me” (123). He has been thinking of selling his house, of moving abroad.