He was kidnapped ... part 1.

I didn't publish my diary for such a long time (since 2/10/2010 ) , many things happened and I couldn't have time or concentrate to write a post, thanks for everyone E-mailed me to see how am I doing ..
In the first week 9-16/10 ..
On Friday , we had a family meeting in our house for lunch, we prepared many delicious Iraqi dishes, and we spent lovely time with our relatives ..
then on Saturday I was invited to my friend's wedding party and I spent a great time, and had so much fun, it was the greatest wedding I've ever attended, everything was perfect , they took care of the smallest details, and she looked like an angel, and I love her optimistic spirit and joy, it's such a great beginning to a new section of her life. I wish her and her husband all the happiness.
In the same week my family and I were invited to another party as our friend's son graduated from high school, we had so much fun, their son and I used to play musical keyboard together when we were kids,we share great memories, we don't visit them often because of the closed roads, and war made people busy with their lives, and many forgot about their social life such as visiting friends and doing something out of the daily routine.
I went to two parties and was invited to another two !! I thought four parties in one week, unbelievable, how lucky I am !!
The second week 16-23/10
I was planning to do some shopping on Wednesday preparing for my relatives' wedding.
I was in college talking with my friends about the parties, and how busy I feel as I have to study and go shopping !! I as I was talking I got an sms from my mom saying that my relative k was kidnapped and the kidnapers are asking for an imaginary ransom which he and all of the family can't cover (750000$)!! I had to read the message three times to realize what's she saying , I paused and needed time to realize the problem we're facing…
k is 60 years old with serious heart problem, and was very sick the day he got kidnapped ..
We had a freighting time, I couldn't concentrate in everything, I'd catch a book and realize after half an hour or so that I am reading another subject!
Whenever I find my grandma I see her praying and crying, and whenever I look for grandpa I see him in his room also crying, I tried to stay around grandpa and watch him, because his health wasn't well, he couldn't even walk alone ..
The situation in k's house was horrible, his 5 daughters were just weeping and crying, we thought we'll never see him, we don't own that much of money to release him . my dad and grandpa stayed with them every day, we were all praying at day and night.
Third week 23-30/10
The kidnapers at first gave us three days to prepare the money, or they'll kill him..
K's brother in law was the negotiator , as someone need to talk with kidnapers and try to lessen the money they ask for, and ask to extend the time we have.
Negotiating with outlaws is very difficult specially if they were savage and rapacious , they used to call and say how they're going to hurt him , or ask us to search for his dead body in a certain place, and such things.
One day left, and the negotiations didn't lead to any deal .. K's son asked us to collect as much money as we can, my dad and mom started to call our relatives even the far ones, and call our friends, and I started to E-mail our relatives abroad, and my mission during the kidnapping time was to talk with our relatives abroad who were so worried.
My grandpa knew "they" were asking for a lot of money, but he didn't understand how much does that equal in Iraqi dinars, well , I had to lie (white lie), I used to catch the calculator and pretend to use it and say that we are close to the money they want to make him feel better, and he believed that , but the truth is we weren't even close to less than quarter of the amount.
Each second pass maked our heart beat faster and faster, and the chance of losing uncle was getting higher, we were praying for a miracle..
Sometimes, the kidnapers would call, and other times they wouldn't , leaving everyone in tension, leaving the whole family sitting quietly waiting for a ring tone , and no one knew if uncle was still alive, or we're negotiating over a dead man (like my mom's uncle M, the negotiations lasted for 3 days, but he was dead, we found his body in the morgue)..
I was worried , I can't deny, but I had so much faith in god, he can save uncle from the hands of those killers , but it was hard not to be emotional .
I'd put my head on the pillow at night, and start to wonder, is k hungry? Are they beating him ? is he even alive ? will I hear his loud laugh again ? the whole family is standing with each other, supporting and comforting each other , but who's comforting him? And a lot of wonderings and tears , then I start to say "No" , this is not the faith I should have in such time, god is by his side, grading and protecting him .. it is like a battle between my heart and my mind, my heart wants me to cry and be weak, while my mind orders me to be strong and believe that god is going to protect us all.
When they called, the negotiator "N", told them we don't have that much of money, the kidnapers told him that they're going to kill K, N replied "may god bless his soul" , and ended the conversation , they didn't call for hours, what a long hours they were for us ..
It was a miracle when they accepted to lessen the amount of money, they had two choices either to kill K and get nothing, or release him and take whatever we have .. the amount still huge, but we could afford it , everyone participated even far relatives gave a lot of their saving ..
We paid the money, and The kidnappers said K will be released at noon..
My grandpa felt really glad, the family decided that it's better if k and his family come and spend few days in our house..
my mom, grandma, and I started to cook for lunch, we made many dishes feeling excited and anxious to see K, then we started to wait in the garage, the lunch time came and nothing happened, and we waited for hours and hours, at 5 pm we went inside the house , we didn't have desire to have lunch, grandpa went out and kept waiting in the garage.. the sun started to set, and it started to get darker, and night fall..
grandpa went to our neighbor they talked something , then grandpa came to the house took a blanket and torch with him and left, without saying a word, we knew he was going to search for him..
we've heard stories, kidnapers would take the money and kill the person, grandpa started to look for his brother's body in the streets, and garbage containers with his heart full of sorrow and feeling terrified that he may find the body of the brother he raised like his son , a series of old memories came to grandpa's mind, when his brother started to walk and grow up, get marry and have kids, grandpa was heartbroken, I'd never seen him in such misery .. my mom called Doctors she know but they assured her that they didn't receive a body with those descriptions in the morgue ..
the time was passing slowly this time, I sat on the stairs in our garage looking at my watch and feeling a strange shake in my legs , with every second our hearts were filling with more fear of what's going to happen next, is like we were in a horror movie and we want to reach the end quickly , will k come back safe? Or … I didn't want to think about another option, I was praying for god to give us and my grandpa strength to tolerate ..
To Be continued …
Sunshine