Anisha Moran

May 2, 2019
Experimental Typography
HHHP

It All Comes Down to the Cause

 

The chair is cold against my thighs, and the cuffs are tight against my wrists. I stare at the ground and 

notice the drain. It’s just under my feet and around it are plain white tiles that coat the ground. The walls are 

cement blocks forming the square, dimly lit room I sit in. He comes in alone, straight out of Casino Royale,1 in his 

khaki cargo pants, black v-neck t-shirt, Timberland boots, and a gun that’s strapped to his waist. His black hair is in 

an army style buzzcut that reflects the light with blue undertones filling the room; when he looks like he is 

beginning to speak I look up; he may as well be a priest telling me I’m a sinner based on the way he is looking at 

me.2 

I enter the room to see her sitting there motionless; the cuffs hug her wrists tight,

keeping them against the back legs of the chair.3 Her eyes are laser focused on the ground.

Her long blonde hair hangs down the side of her head in a messy French braid, pulling her

head down with it. She lifts her head as she sees me walking toward her.

“​Help me understand something. Help me understand how somebody like you, a

smart, standout high school athlete from Seattle, born in the greatest nation on earth, turns

against her own people​” 

“You are not my people” 

“Who are your people?”

1
Allusion
2
Metaphor
3
​Personification
 “Allah has cursed the unbelievers, and proposed for them a blazing hell!” 

And then his face changed. He looked disappointed, not that I expected any less. He then realized how this was 

going to go, realized who he was dealing with.  

Oh no, they got to her. They have poisoned her brain and fed her lies. Another one

lost to the lies and manipulation of the the people overseas. This isn’t her, it can’t be. There

has to be something I can do to save her before is too late.

“You had enough hardware in that house for 3 bombs, Dawn. What was your plan?

detonate one bomb leading into the Air Force base, wipe out some innocent soldiers, then

shred up the first responders with the other bombs—that sound about right to you?”

“Innocent soldiers?They drop bombs. Thousands of feet in the air. Killing innocent women and children like 

cowards!” 

“COWARDS? You wanna talk about cowards… why didn’t you say so? Let's talk about

cowards. Why don’t we start with your boy Nazaria? Where is he, he’s hiding… out in the

mountains of Yemen. You think that traitor cares about you? You think that piece of garbage

gives a damn that your friends are dead and that you’re gonna spend the rest of your

god-forsaken-life rotting in a government institution?”

How dare he disrespect him. He is a warrior, he is my leader, and I will fight for him as I fight for God. 

“Mohammed Nazaria is a warrior, he is a soldier of god, A PURSUER OF THE TRUTH AND THE LIGHT. HE 

IS A LEADER!” 

“Leaders lead from the front. Where is he? Do you see him? Don’t you get it, Dawn…

they found you because they look for people like you. They look for people who are

vulnerable. Who are emotionally fragile. Who have a big wound on the inside. Who are
trying to get back at somebody for something.4 And they make you feel like you’re a part of

something—a cause. A cause bigger than you. So big, in fact, that it’s worth giving your life

for.”

I am pleading at this point. I will get down on my hands and knees if means that this

isn’t happening to her, to this country. I stand here in the room where many have given me

something, but not her. She sits there with that smirk on her face and glares into my eyes

with a cold expression that won’t break for anything. Her eyes pierce through mine and are

blank. Maybe it's her father…  

“I am a soldier of Allah… and we must fight you as you fight us. THOSE OF US THAT BELIEVE MUST FIGHT 

IN THE CAUSE OF GOD!” 

“What are you talking about? These words that are coming out of your mouth, they’re

not even your words!They’re phrases that have been cherry-picked from a holy book, and

tailored to fit the lies they’ve told you! Listen to me, alright, I get that it was rough growing

up. Your mom was an alcoholic, your old man, he was never around—I get it. How old were

you when he died? like eight or nine? ”

Maybe if I tell her about what happened with my dad she will be able to see. THERE

HAS TO BE SOMETHING THAT I CAN SAY TO HER TO MAKE HER WAKE UP!

“I lost my old man too, okay I know what it’s like to lose a parent.”5

“ I didn’t lose him—he died fighting your imperialistic war against the peaceful Children of Allah!” 

4
​Anaphora
5
​Euphemism
 “You’re wrong. Your dad was a hero. He was a patriot, a soldier fighting for his

country, Dawn. you gotta remember him… You gotta know…….. Somewhere inside of you……….

That this is wrong…...”

He thinks that it is going to be that easy. I am loyal; does he not see that? I would sit here for the rest of my life 

and I will never back down. Allah is my savior and I will, forever and always, be loyal to the cause. I stare into his 

brown eyes that are doing nothing but looking for the innocent teenager inside me. He is desperate at this point. 

Kneeling before me with a distraught look on his face, thinking that this is going to work. I will not break. I have 

been taught to be loyal.—and that is what I will be, no matter what.  

“My only regret is that you stopped me” 

And that is when he knew I was a lost cause. There was nothing more he could do and it took him much too long to 

realize. There was nothing he could say or do to change me.  

“Well, you think about that in a cell.”

She is a lost cause. She is gone. The brainwash must have been way too easy for them. She

lets the weight of the braid once again weigh her head down to the same position as when I

entered the room before. I walk out and head towards the elevator. I get a text that the men

she was working with on this side have been captured.

Danny is standing in my office with his hands in his pockets, as he usually does,

letting that weigh down his shoulders in a slight slouch. He paces and when he sees me, he

opens the door and starts to tell me about the two men.

“How is she?”  
 “Broken. It’s like she didn’t even care, Danny. She didn’t even care that she just

betrayed her country. Her people. Everything that her father did, it's like she didn’t even

care.”

“Well…maybe she wasn’t ours in the first place.” 

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m just saying that usually when we run into these types of people, they tend to 

budge but only because their cause deep down is us and they just need to be reminded. 

Maybe for her, it was the opposite?” 

“​You’re saying that her ‘cause’ is them.”

“Well I didn’t wanna put it that way, but yeah, I do. Come on, we are late for 

dinner.” 

“I'll catch up with you.”

“See you in the car.” 

Maybe he’s right (for a change). Maybe she never was ours. Never was. Never will be.

And maybe that’s alright, She will be loyal to her cause and I will be loyal to mine—this

country and its values. At the end of the day that’s what everyone is doing anyway-—being

loyal to their cause. Whether it be school, work, the country, family. Every person has a

different cause, and it’s up to us to decide what lengths we are willing to go to see them

through.