“Omar felt so scared. In his head, he thought, What if the guy at the bank says no? Then he’d die for nothing. He agreed to the deal, because he didn’t think he has a choice. Then, Omar ran away.”
There once was a seven-year-old boy named Omar Winerib. He lived in Lebanon with his dad, his mom, his teenager sister, and his two adult brothers. He went to a school called Barnesjan, which is a special school that teaches students how to not fight and live peacefully. He loved science and sports but most of all he loved to invent things. His goal was to one day invent a machine that made virtual reality real. Omar was a hard worker and he always thought about science and his inventions, even when he was walking home from school late at night in the dark by himself.
One night Omar was at his computer doing research and he came across a website that said, “Syria is dying! Syria is dying!” It made him feel very sad. Many of his friends and his dad’s friends were in Syria and he was very concerned for their safety. He did some more research about what was going on in Syria and he learned that there was a group called Fikke (which meant “powerful” in Arabic) who were killing the Syrian people.
This made him really really upset so he went to his father and said, “Dad! Dad, can we take your plane and go to Syria to try to save the people from Fikke?”
“Okay,” his dad said. “But just this once.”
“Thank you so much!” Omar said. “Let’s go!”
They went to bed early that night because the plan was to wake up at three in the morning to leave for Syria. Omar’s dad’s plane was named The Cross of the Swords. It was parked in a gigantic garage behind their house. Omar’s dad climbed into the cockpit and Omar strapped himself into the co-pilot’s seat.
Then Omar’s dad said, “Syria, here we go!”
They left Lebanon and went to Syria. The plane ride was very, very, very scary because people tried to shoot them and the engine almost got shot, but they had a safe landing.
“Let’s go see why Fikke is bad,” said Omar’s dad.
Omar said, “How do you know where they are?”
“I went to school with many of them. Most times when I hear about Syria, Fikke is shooting at the president of Syria’s home and trying to kill the president,” Omar’s dad said.
“Where is the president?” Omar asked.
“It’s two miles away from here, so we better take a break.” Omar’s dad said.
So Omar and Omar’s dad stopped to eat two bananas, one jar of cookies, milk, and sausages. Then they walked and finally they found the leader of Fikke. His name was Patrick. He had brown eyes and black hair. He wore army clothes and a machine gun across his chest. He had three small bombs in his pocket.
Omar felt scared but he spoke to Patrick anyway, “Why are you bombing all the buildings and killing the people?”
“They have too much money and they aren’t sharing it with anyone,” Patrick said in a grumpy voice.
“Ask them and maybe they’ll share. If they say no, go to the bank,” Omar said.
“Why should I? What if the banks say ‘no’?” Patrick yelled. “I’ll make you a deal. If the person at the bank says I can have money, I will fix all the buildings with my team. If he says ‘no’ I will kill you, too.”
Omar felt so scared. In his head, he thought, What if the guy at the bank says no? Then he’d die for nothing. He agreed to the deal because he didn’t think he had a choice. Then, Omar ran away.
Omar told his dad: “What if the person at the bank says no?” But his dad reassured him the person at the bank wouldn’t say no.
“I know this place,” his dad said. “I lived here until I was 11, and the people at the bank are very nice.”
“Okay, okay, I get it,” Omar said.
The next day Omar went to the bank and saw Patrick walk in.
He heard the person at the bank say, “Of course you can have money. You can have all the money here! People save their money here for people who don’t have money.”
Patrick took his money and found Omar. He told him he wouldn’t kill him. “I’m going to help rebuild all the buildings,” he said. “I’m going to throw my guns away and throw my bombs away and never do this again. I’ll tell the rest of my team to do that, too.”
With Patrick’s help, Fikke helped to rebuild all of the walls and buildings. They put their weapons in a big chest underground and buried it. Omar and his dad jumped back on their plane and flew home safely. He was happy to be home and back with his family
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