Humble Realizations

I have been suffering from insomnia when I started college in 2015. I had to wake up at 6:00 everyday to catch the bus and then get back home at 20:00 the earliest. Dine, play some videogames, do some homework or whatever, and it is already midnight. I try to sleep and I only close my eyes around 1:00. Sleep for 5 hours and then wake up the next day. It was a living hell, but I survived with damages. The damage being not being able to sleep for more than 5 hours, and most importantly, unable to go to sleep easily. I have been frustrated with it a lot, and I tried everything you could think of, from sleeping pills, to meditation, to developing a sleeping routine, and so on, but nothing worked. Some even backfired. I remember I started abusing sleeping pills at some point and it was a very bad experience, to say the least. And so, I started regarding the whole thing from a different angle. I experimented with my body A LOT and I finally came to understand the REAL variables t...

June 14, 1940. Paris, France. "What are you waiting for? Come on!" Whispered Pierre as his voice echoed in the long empty halls of the museum. "I think we're being followed," replied Alphonse while looking over his shoulder. "No, you're just being paranoid. Come on let's get going!" said Pierre. As both walked at the tip of their toes to the room where the Monalisa was exhibited, they heard some footsteps and someone shouting in German in the distance. They quickly realized they were the Nazi infantry raiding the Louvre and hurried inside the room. There was the larger-than-life painting of the Last Supper hanged on the big wall right next to the entrance of the Monalisa room, and an old person right in the opposite direction trying to take off the Monalisa off its place. Alphonse stayed by the door and watched over for the Nazi soldiers, and Pierre said in a low voice to the thief, "Psst! Hey! What the fuck do you think you're d...

Yahya had a pretty long day at work that stretched from 6am till 7pm during which he ate a lot of food (an important detail to keep in mind for later) and caught himself a fever. He didn't see the latter coming, and he was literally gasping for life, but he had an appointment with his friends to see a movie at the cinema he didn't want to miss, so he bit on his lips, gathered what he had left of energy, and attended the movie. He saw the movie and he ate a medium-sized popcorn basket, a medium pepsi cup and half a Pringles tube which he followed by a long loud BURRRRRP. As nature postulates, he felt some strange reactions happening in his stomach and he had to hold their consequences until he leaves the movie in respect to those who're watching; otherwise, he'd be waging an undesired chemical war on their noses.  So he finished with the movie and went to the toilet for a piss. He released- let's say- half of what he had of gases in his stomach. The reaction...

Entrance of IPELSHT (Institue Préparatoire aux Études Littéraires et Sciences Humaines de Tunisz) Looking back at the two years I’ve spent in the Preparaotory Literary Institute of Tunis, a tsunami of ambivalent emotions hits me hard and then drowns me in its bottomless depths. The lessons and morals that I’ve learnt from that dark/exhilrating experience will remain as a part of my personality for the rest of my life. The main yard So this blog post is sort of a tribute to that institute and those inside of it. Kenek mel prep wta9ra fel blog, a3ref rani n7ebek ya 5ra. As I mentioned earlier, when I was knee deep in the literary academia, I was kind of blind to what literature really is. All I saw was novels or plays to be critically read and then alayzed and its themes delianeted. Now that I’ve graduated from the said institute, I stopped seeing literary works as such and started rather “feeling” or appreciating them more. And after reflecting on the subject a li...

While the cops were filtering the passengers, the old man sitting next to me started waving at them in a brisk manner.  He threw his right arm up and down, pointing at the boy who shouted before they came in. This gangster clearly had connections with the ones who stole Sister 2’s phone, as he was communicating with them before they committed the crime. I would go as far as assuming that he was the leader of the team because of his later behaviour, and his strutting among his friends after the train arrived at the final station. Therefore, I’m not sure whether the old man tried to call the police to arrest him because of the snatch, or for that hysterical cry he uttered a few minutes before. But it doesn't matter at this point. The old man used to be just another unfrotunate passenger on the wagon, but now he's the center of attention of the gang leader. The boy acted ordinarily, but when he saw the old man trying to communicate with the police, he held his breath ...

“SOMEONE STOLE HER PHONE!" declared Sister 1 from the back of the wagon. The Brother snapped out of his daydreaming and turned around to find his sister frozen in amazement. Without giving it much thought, he stood up and rushed towards the door in hopes to catch the thief. Unfortunately, a large man was standing in the doorway, and when the Brother tried to make his way out of the train, he bumped into him with his shoulder and said, “He’s gone, my friend. It’s impossible for you to catch him, now.” Then with an air of fake sympathy, he added, “What was the brand of the phone, though? Maybe you should contact its seller and do something with the guarantee thing.” The Brother backed off a step or two and looked onto the man. The latter was threateningly glaring at him. After that, he tilted his head to the side to have a glimpse at the thief and found him still casually walking out of the station with the first boy who descended. So he understood that the man wh...

This is a short story about an incident on the train that took a turn to the worse. The Where: TGM line from Sidi Bou Said to Tunis Marine. The When: July 2, 2017. ============================================================= What you’re about to read could be labeled as anything but fiction. It is still green in my mind as it was shocking and has recently happened. Just to warn you: the amount of cringe you will be experiencing through this little piece of writing could reach an unbearable level. So before proceeding, be sure you really want to do this. The whole thing has been pretty nasty from the beginning. As my friend and I were approaching the Sidi Bou Said train station on foot, we heard a muffled train rumble and we couldn’t tell wherefrom it was coming. A few seconds later, the cockpit of the train slowly emerged from behind the turn, and we realized that it was heading to Tunis. Not the other way around.  A fat faceless sunburnt bored-to-death ...

How I lost 10kg in 5 months, and why you can, too. Until a few months ago, everytime I woke up from sleep and contemplated myself in the mirror, I distasted the way I looked. I hated the double chin that was hanging under my jaw. I loathed the roundness of my face resulting from the fluffy cheeks, and most and foremost, I abhorred the hanging belly and the dangling man boobs that bounced off every time I took the shirt off. I had stretch marks all over the place, on by biceps near my shoulder, under my belly, my ass, my thighs, everywhere. It was a mess. I felt hungry and lethargic the whole time. Had no gusto for life and was unmotivated to do anything worth value. Every shirt I wore looked grotesque on me... Long story short, I had never came in terms with the way I look and I hated myself for it. So naturally, I had 0 confidence and was aimlessly existing in this fast-growing world with no purpose or desire. Many people neglect this but what you eat, how you look, and your ...