The Fear of Death in Mosul

My brothers and I would see atrocities on the way to school, massacres in the street. There was one street which just became known as Death Street. One time my father picked up a severed head and it had the word traitor written on it. Some of our Kurdish friends started getting death threats - telling them to get out of Mosul or their house would get a grenade. We were locked in a new kind of fear. It's like I can't hear anything. I can't see anything. I'm wearing this religious outfit and any words I say I make sure are in line with the religious fanatics. And all I remember is being scared all the time.