War Story

These are the videos I have watched twice and since then have been unable to watch again. They are recordings of happy moments dancing in the crowd, moments of joy in the parking lot, and moments of horror that followed. I'm not sure writing everything down is a good idea since we haven't completely processed everything, but perhaps it is a good way to unburden myself. The happiness that turned into terror and the three decisions that saved our lives. "I hope there will be a lot of beautiful people at the party" We have been waiting for this for several months. A feeling of liberation, freedom, and love describes exactly what existed in the first hours of the party. As soon as the music stopped playing, I thought it was a power outage. When we learned that it was because of rocket fire we were a little dismissive. We didn't believe that because of a rocket or two they were really going to close down our party. After all, we were southerners from birth, so what does a few rockets mean to us? We started walking towards the bungalow area to start packing while joking about the situation and already thinking where we would continue dancing. Despite our utter indifference, we walked to the parking lot and even sat down for a moment to "calm the panic" in order to figure out how we should proceed. This was the first decision that saved our lives. Those who left first encountered a squad of terrorists. To lift the atmosphere, we sang with beautiful people we didn't know in honor of my partner's birthday and to lighten the atmosphere. We were so unaware of what was going on that we got in the car only for fear of getting stuck in traffic jams due to all the people hurrying home. This was the second decision that saved our lives; what happened to the other people who stayed in the parking lot is unknown. If you recognize the people in the video we would appreciate if you could let us know what happened how they are doing. This is where the nightmare begins. We see people suddenly driving in the opposite direction, people suddenly get out of the vehicles and starting to run, complete chaos. We heard someone shout "terrorists infiltration!". Yahav shouted at us to get out of the car and get down. Needless to say, this is the third decision. After we started hearing the whistles of gunfire we understood that we shouldn't return to that area. We left the car running and ran like crazy, still not comprehending the magnitude of the situation. We were running, I began to realize that no one was directing us, there were no police, no army, and no one security personnel who even know if the place we are running to is safe. Does anybody even know we're here? Does anyone even know we're running from terrorists? My partner Yahav tried to contact the police while we were running but no one answered. I called the Situation Room at Meitar Crossing where I work and asked my co-worker to help in trying to contact the police and inform them that we needed help. Every time we stopped for a breath and thought the gunfire had stopped, the shooting resumed again. We ran like we had never run before. We stopped to wet our lips every time we saw a dripping pipe or hose, because we did not have water. We even ate unripe fruits from the fields to keep our energy. At some point we saw a policeman who explained that we had to run in the direction of the moshav of Patish and that a bus was waiting for us there. The policeman then added "and may God by with us". We ran towards the moshav, and met some amazing people who drove us to the center of the moshav where we accidently ran into my friend Gil, who we had momentarily forgot lived in this moshav. We were hosted by Gil and her amazing family overnight, until it was safe to return home. Even though we haven't finished processing what we've been through, we only know that we should be thankful. I am grateful that I am here writing this to you. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Gil and her family for their sensitive and homey hospitality. I am also thankful for those close to me who contacted us during this complex event and helped spread the word about our location to anyone who could help, as well as for those who haven't stop writing and calling me since. The audience was full of beautiful people, and I wish I had discovered it in a different way. My heart is with the families of the murdered and kidnapped who have not yet returned. May we see better days.