Squawking birds in the sky, Tamara looks to the window of her room and is amazed by the sunrise and know its going to be an amazing time to draw a masterpiece so she wakes up and gets out of her room quietly and heads to her balcony, opens the door trying not to wake up her family, gets her equipment ready, gets set, and starts drawing a piece of a self-story-expressing art of the sunrise. This is Tamaras favorite hobby, drawing portraits that express themselves by their selves, which she well does for sure. Tamara draws and draws until it's all sunlight and the sunrise is done long ago. Tamara is an 11-year-old and is the middle child for a family of five, her father Mohammed and her mother Jamilah, she got her 17-year-old and 10-year-old brothers, Faris and Joud, and they live in Gaza. Tamara's father Mohammed wakes up to get ready for work, then he hears a slight of a sound saying "oh yeah , that’s what I'm talking about!" , he immediately knows it's his daughter , he goes to the balcony and says "My daughter, how are you awake drawing while you are on the weekend! , go to sleep honey , so you can have some energy for the day", Tamara is done with her drawing and shows it to her dad , and sure enough the father shows expressions of impression, he looks at the masterpiece his daughter has just created and how the vibrant the colors are , the birds feel like they are singing out of the frame , the sunrise giving of the cold-warm weather vibe , the father is feeling comfort and cold wind blows although its burning hot outside .This is what you would call Tamara's magic, magic that makes you feel out of the real world , magic that lets you experience and live a whole new scenario ,magic that takes you to a different kind of adventure. Tamara's hobby develops day after day, her magic becomes more like reality, her teachers, parents, siblings, classmates and friends are impressed of this talent. For sure Tamara is the top girl in her art class in school, you won't believe but she draws better that her art teacher herself, so fascinating right? that an 11-year-old can draw talented drawings in a that age, every adult that saw her drawing knew that Tamara will have an extravagant bright future, just by looking at her. They knew that this girl will make her parents so proud, that this girl will exceed anyone thoughts when they are told that Tamara is a professional artist at 11-years-old, I can't blame them this generation is always on social media and iPads, but Tamara is clearly different. Tamara gets the highest marks on her grade, she also plays basketball and always competing and winning in competitions, which are worldwide or competing on the Gaza strip, she has a dream , she wants to a well-known artist just like Leonardo da Vinci . After drawing a masterpiece of the sunset Tamara went to sleep, she woke up by the sound of her house bell, she immediately knew it's her best friend Sara, Sara is the same age as Tamara, they have been best friends for life and they haven't separated once. Sara and Tamra always meet in the same time, they go outside to play basketball, a hobby they both share. Tamara rushes to open the door so she can welcome Sara with smiles, it’s a rule between them, whenever life is hard, only smiles and positivity is allowed around them, no negativity is allowed, I think we should all take by the Positive duo, yes this is their shared nickname. When Tamara opens the door, the smiles fulfill both of their faces looking at each other, they are girls so obviously they hug each other so hard, as if they didn’t see each other in ages, it's only been a couple of hours. Sara asks Tamara to show her the new drawing Tamara has done, because sara knows it's impossible to reach a day without Tamara drawing a new masterpiece, Tamara rushes to her room so she could bring her new drawing and Sara was sure getting ready for Tamaras magic, she knew she will be impressed and fascinated, she knew she will put her in another world. Tamara comes with her drawing and Sara gets ready to see it, they both count down as they always do when it comes to seeing tamaras drawing, they counted togather " three, two, one…" Sara sees the drawing and she is immediately put into Tamaras magic, she felt as if she was watching the sunrise live , hearing the chirping birds , feeling the crisp cold weather vibe , although its boiling outside, Sara says "Oh girl , I knew this would happen , bestie I am really impressed with your magic" Tamara smiles . Jamilah Tamara's mother sees them and Smiles in hospitality to Sara and tells her that Tamara will go wash her face, pray, and eat breakfast then she will go out so she can be in full energy, Sara agrees and she shares goodbyes with Tamara and her mother. Tamara gets ready and does what her mom told her to and rushes to Sara's house, rings the door bell, and then Sara wears her shoes and they both flee out to the backyard of sara's house, where they always play, and she brings the basketball from her room and in no time, they start playing. Sara's mother sees them in mid-game and she is surprised of how they are sweating but still playing without any excuses she tells them to come and get some rest and they sure do, they drink some water, eat some snacks, wash their faces, and then immediately back to the game. Sara and Tamara are super talented in this game, there height helps a lot. Tamara finishes the game with Sara , oh sorry I meant games , she heads back home after a couple of hours, she meets her brother Frais , Faris is senior boy , which means he is in his last year of school, and what is called in Palestine Tawjihi , tawjihi is a stressful stage because it's not like any stage of school , you have to study hard and do difficult exams in the end of the school year , and Faris wants to make his family proud and he wants to be a doctor so he studies whenever he cans, Faris tells Tamara that he haven't seen her in a while , and tamara's feeling cannot lie so she tells him that she misses him , and she pleases him to take small breaks to play with her , before he dies , and she says it as a joke but this time maybe not… 6 October 2023 , the last day that Tamara will see the life like she normally does. That day was so nice, Tamara and her family went out to a family dinner and they shared laughs, jokes, and smiles, when they headed back home, they went back to sleep because they were sure tired. 7 October 2023, they wake up to magnificent news, they are getting victory and they are fighting for their rights, Tamara sees them from the window of her room and rushes to the balcony, gets her equipment ready, gets set, and starts drawing a unique masterpiece of the jets and the happy people that were, are, and will always fight for their justice. Justice is a word every Palestinian is willing to say they got; Justice is the dreams of millions in this world, some people are willing to fight as hard as they can just so they can experience the word "Justice". Tamara starts drawing in tears of happiness, she knows this time it's real, this time its shining in hope, this time the magic will make people feel what they couldn’t, however the conditions were. The war continuous and sadly the enemy cuts of water, fuel, electricity and food supplies from the Gaza strip, and they force Tamara and her family to flee from the north of Gaza to the south. Tamara grabs the drawing she drew on the 7th of October and brings all of her supplements, and she brings some clothes. Tamara and her family flee from their home and they settle in a tent in Rafah, what the enemy said it was a safe zone. Tamara and her best friend Sara where still togather under all of the circumstances, and they still did not forget the rule they created and promised on, no negativity allowed, they will go through all of this with smile and hugs, no matter how hard it could get. Tamaras brother Faris could not complete his senior year sadly because of the war, but he did not give up and brought his books and pens to study through all of this mess. Joud also bought his soccer ball; his dream is to be a famous soccer player. Tamara always looks up to her family, she respects them a lot, the bond she has with her sibling is unbreakable, it is very rare for them to fight or get into arguments, they had the perfect relationship, which stayed and got stronger through all of the circumstances that they are going through in this war. Living in a tent is not easy, the smell of the air, the sounds of the bombing and the crying children, the insects, and the illnesses that have spread through all of this tragic, Tamaras family stayed strong and the bond keeps getting stronger through all of this and more. It is very hard for them to find something to eat or drink, even the helps that they get from the other countries is being on sale, nothing is free and everything is expensive. Tamara supports her family by cleaning up other people tent for some money, she sets up the tent and repairs and cleans it, she kills any insects if there is, on the other side Joud helps some store owners to sell their product by promoting it or helping in the store, and Faris uses his family car and turns it into a taxi. Tamara does 2-3 tents a day, which take her about 2 hours to make each , she spends the rest of her time drawing, but not drawing anything , now Tamara's art has developed and now she can draw peoples stories , she has made a couple of friends out of her tent neighbors , every one of them has suffered in these conditions and they indeed lost their loved ones , Tamara decides to draw a story of one of her friends , this friend has lost her dad Infront of her eye , they where under the rubble and she was beside her father , he was alive but could not stand the smoke and the limited air and space they were experiencing, he said his last words and then he could not breath anymore , she tried so hard to get him to wake up or get a response from him at least , but sadly their where no responses . Tamara starts drawing her masterpiece of the day, she did not know how her friend will react, Tamara was put into her own magic while drawing this time, but she was not fascinated, she was in tears. She finished her drawing and nervously showed it to her friend, she was super gloomy but at the same time she was happy for her dad because he died and now in heavens, not having to suffer through all of what they are going through. Jamilah ordered her Faris to get them a pile of bread, she gave him the money and off he went, he walked hours and miles , when he reached there , he heard a harsh noise, he realized its bombing , Faris could not react quick because of the noise of people shouting ,the smell and the sound of the bombs , so he went a hide in a nearby building from where the bomb was hit , but sadly and suddenly , all Faris could see is black he sees people gathered around him and he was saying his last words and inhaling his last breaths…On the other side Jamilah and Mohammed start to get worried , but they don’t tell Tamara or Joud. Hours has passed and Faris should have been home long time ago, now it’s the next day, Faris's Parents are now sure that he died, but they don’t lose hope. They keep telling their kids that he is out to work and he comes when they are asleep, but Tamara knows he doesn't, she likes her brother Faris so much that she stays awake until he comes, but he never did, so she hasn’t slept in days. On the morning of the next day , someone comes to them , and tells them that they have found the body of Faris in one of the hospitals , and they can come and take the last look at him before is buried , Jamillah starts bursting in tears , she is devastated , her biggest son has died , she knew he was dead before but just could not let herself accept the truth , she had hope although her thoughts where true. Unfortunately they had to inform his sibling , Tamara and Joud , about his death , they were so sad , he was always so kind to them , and would always buy them snakes and games on his way home from school , Tamara remembered the day she pleased him to take some breaks to play with her before he is gone , as a joke , but now maybe it turned into a reality , Joud and Tamara of course were sad but they also were smiling and happy , now he is in a safe place. Tamara tells Sara the sad news, she is of course sad but there is a rule between them that cannot be broken, so they thought about the positive side of it and share smiled and gratefulness. Sara told Tamara she wants to sell some juice on another land that is 10 mins far away from them, they share some hugs and smiles, and then Sara goes. After one hour, some tragic news come in, the same land that Sara has went to to sell the juice got targeted by a plenty of bombs, sadly couple of people made it out, but Sara could not. Tamara was the saddest person she thinks is alive, she lost her brother and her best friend that was always her unpaid therapist, she was in tears and could not sleep for days, but although Sara is dead, she did not forget the rule that they made, only smiles and hugs, no negativity allowed, so she smiled and was happy, that Sara is now in a safer place. She drew a picture of her and sara playing basketball while sharing. Tamara and her family had to flee again from their tent, but now they are in a school building. They settle there for some days, but one day Tara wakes up sound of bombs that are targeting the place she and her family are settling in and suddenly its all smokey and black , but then Tamara starts dreaming , she dreams that she is seeing Sara and her brother Faris in a safe place , a magnificent place , she hugs them very tight and she is already in tears because she misses them so much , even though it’s a dream , word can't express the how she is healed and excited to wake up so she can tell her family , but she cannot wakeup , she tries hard but she then realized, she is now a bird in the heavens.
