Guiltless
By Sameer Al-Shareef
Translated from the Arabic by Essam M. Al-Jassim
He adamantly denied the charges. Bruises covered his face and most of his body—his chest was scarred from multiple rounds of electric shocks. He was transferred to a solitary cell, where he swayed between life and death. The guards wondered who was worth this intolerable torment.
He wrapped his arms around his chest and gazed with vacant eyes at the soiled ground. The stench of urine crept up his nostrils. He remained silent for a while, then uttered a series of grunts while blood-laced spittle formed around his mouth.
At midnight, the lights went out and a chill ran down his spine, causing his broken body to shake with terror.
The squeak of his iron cell door promised release. The prison officers wrapped him in a blanket full of holes and carried him to a truck. In the cavernous, steel entrance of the prison, he caught a glimpse of a guard casting a quick, military salute.
In the truck, another inmate moaned and groaned, but he couldn’t determine his identity.
Soon after the burial, the prison officers exchanged faint smiles, dusted off the remnants of soil from their hands, and cursed a profession that was not bound by time or space.
In the morning, while sipping coffee at the café, the officers skimmed through newspapers, and pointed to the large letters detailing last night’s victim. Paying little attention to what was around them, they continued slurping with delight, arousing the curiosity of customers in the coffee shop.
The op-ed page asked its loyal readers and all honorable citizens to cooperate in apprehending the fugitive criminal. They urged them not to hesitate when contacting the nearest police station with relevant information. The officers exchanged glances; their faces obscured by the smoke rising from the lit ends of their cigarettes.
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Sameer A. Al-Shareef is an award-winning Jordanian translator and short-story writer. He's a member of the Jordanian Writers Association and the Arab Writers Union. His fiction has appeared in many anthologies and journals. Some of Sameer's stories have been translated into more than one language. He also contributes regularly to several literary magazines and many Arabic media platforms.
Essam M. Al-Jassim is a writer and translator based in Hofuf, Saudi Arabia. He taught English for many years at Royal Commission schools in Jubail. Mr. Al-Jassim received his bachelor's degree in foreign languages and education from King Faisal University, Hofuf. His translations have appeared in a variety of print and online literary Arabic and English-language journals.