Chapter 33

I couldn't sleep, so I thought, why not post 3 chapters in one day? I hope you enjoy!:*

This chapter is dedicated to @mk_alkhalifa : you're beautiful.

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"Shoug! Obouy w Omii mu mawjoudeen, la trou7een 3nd darhum!" Reem lectured me but I still ran off towards my parent's bedroom. To me, my parent's bedroom was like a jungle for me to explore. I loved going in there whenever Mom and Dad weren't home, I always looked for hidden treasure. 


I looked for chocolates hidden in my Dad's drawers, looked for my Mom's flower-y smelling fragrances and trace my fingers over my Mom's glittering jewellery. 


There was always this grey safe in their wardrobe room, right next to their grand master bedroom. I always tried looking for the key, wanting to open that safe. I remembered my Mom would hide our jewellery in there, the most expensive ones that she would always try to keep away from anyone's reach.


Reem ignored me and went back to listening to her boy band music. I hurried to my parent's wardrobe room and my eyes lit up once I saw the grey metal safe in the middle of the room.


I'd always try opening it, even though I tried so many keys and non of them seemed to have worked. I still went back to check if my parents have forgotten to lock it. I wrapped my fingers around the metal knob, trying to pull the safe door open.


"Arrgh." I groaned. The safe door won't open. However, I noticed a new object in the room. There was a tall beige object that had drawers in them. They didn't have a keyhole so I figured I could easily pull open one of the drawers.


I snickered evilly before grabbing a hold one of the drawers, pulling them open. It was heavy to pull open, but once they were open, I gasped in wonder.


I saw long bottles that had words I didn't understand. The liquid inside the bottles were in different colours.


Orange. White. Deep purple. Beige. And what looked something like a bloody red colour. 




I was about to try one of the bottles, maybe take a sip. They looked like fun juices to try but I heard Reem call my name.


"SHOUG! Ome w Obouyy bara, ridaay al7een gabl ma yishoufonich!" I heard Reem's voice echo through the hallway.


I pushed the drawer back in, closing it.


The next day, when my parents were gone again. I went to explore into their bedroom once more, to get to taste those colourful looking juices. But once I got there and had the drawers open; I couldn't find the bottles anymore.


They were gone.

I gasped in bed, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness of my room. I wiped off the sweat that had formed on my forehead. I looked at my hands and they were shaking.

That dream. It didn't feel like a dream though..

I checked my blackberry for the time.

5:55 am.

I checked bbm to keep my mind off of the dream.

 It was just a dream, forget about it. Don't over think everything.

But then I thought I was over thinking of seeing Faisal act strangely the other day. My gut feeling was right about Faisal. Did it also mean that my gut was telling me that my dream was real? I tried to remember going into my parent's bedroom when I was younger, but my memory was fuzzy. I couldn't remember what I did last week, so how could I remember what I did years ago?

I saw S3ood update his status 2 minutes ago, from "Sleeping*yawn*" to his original status.  

He's awake.

Shoug Al-X:
Ma nemt?

S3ood Al-X:
I couldn't sleep;( laish ga3da embachr?

Shoug Al-X:
I couldn't sleep either.

S3ood Al-X:
You okay?

Was I okay? I didn't know anymore. 

Shoug Al-X:
Yes. :*

S3ood Al-X:
It took you 4 minutes to reply to that message. I'm calling.

After a few seconds, my ringtone startled me.

Sara is calling.

*I put S3ood as Sara so my brothers wouldn't think I had a guy's number saved.

I was still pretty tired, so I wasn't hesitant on answering the phone. My brain didn't work as much when it was tired.

"Aloo?" S3ood's deep voice sent a shiver down my spine.

"Uhm. Hi." I awkwardly spoke into the phone. I had the sudden urge to stuff my face into my pillow and smack myself 21392423 times for being so awkward.

"So, are you okay?" S3ood sounded worried, I could hear him move around on his bed through the phone.

"Mhm-hm." I had a hard time lying to S3ood, especially when it was face to face or through the phone.

"7elfay," He challenged.

"Ma7ib a7lif. A9lan mu zain kela t7lif, the meaning of the word is strong and we're using it on a daily basis as if it's just another word." Well, it wasn't a lie.

"Then promise me." Argh, why was he so clever? -.- 

"Oh look, a bird." I said randomly. I heard S3ood laugh through the phone, I loved his laug, so naturally, I began to smile as soon as I heard his famous chuckle.

"Shoug, et7ebeeny?" S3ood suddenly asked.

"E7m, uhm." I felt my cheeks become hot in the darkness of my room.

"Do you love me?" S3ood asked again.

"Tara 3la fekra afham 3arabi." I teased.

"Then you don't have an excuse for not answering my question. Et7ebeeny wla la2?" S3ood's voice kept challenging me.

"Ee, a7ibek S3ood.." I whispered shyly.

"Ma sima3tiiiich! Shnu giltayy?!" S3ood became excited.

"Don't push it!" I giggled.

"Fiiiine. Okay okay, if you love me then tell me what's wrong. I know for a fact that you're not okay."

I moved around on my bed, trying to get comfortable. I used my free ear to listen to any footsteps or doors opening. I always did this whenever S3ood called, I was always on alert mode.

 I wanted to make sure no one would be able to listen to me through the thin walls of my bedroom and I wanted to know when to hang up on S3ood so I'd be able to get away with the phone call.

"Hmm. I had a bad dream." I pouted.

"Okay.. that's not helping. What happened in the dream?" S3ood turned into therapist-mode.

"Stuff." I tried avoiding his questions.

"Tara ba7in 3leich. Yaa etgouleenly wla ma ra7 as2al Wahab if your brothers ever tried drinking alcohol when they traveled with Faisal." I could hear S3ood's evil smile through his voice.

"Arrrghhh!" I groaned into the phone.

"You're so cute when you're angry." S3ood chuckled.

"Chuuuub." I whimpered.

"9irtay 6oma6a?" S3ood laughed even harder.

"Malet 3leik, okay?! Khala9 ma7ebek!"

"Afaaa. Ma t7ebeeny?" S3ood asked in a very cute voice. It made my insides melt.

"Embala. A7ibek mout." I sighed, feeling defeated.

"W ana a7ibech akthar beautiful." S3ood whispered back. "Now really. Tell me about your dream."

There was no avoiding this guy's questions! 

"Fine.. well, I had a dream about.." I started to tell him everything. From the beginning of the dream, to describing the room I was in and to how the dream ended.

"Shoug, mit2akda ena kan 7ilm bas?" S3ood started to sound worried again.

"Madrii S3ood! Ena chithe I need you to ask Wahab tomorrow, please." I begged.

"7a'9er."

We remained on the phone for a couple of hours. I heard a door open at around 9 am and I quickly said my goodbyes to S3ood before hanging up on him.

I closed my eyes and tried to act asleep. I heard someone open my bedroom door and I caught a whiff of girly perfume. Was it Mom?

I mastered the act of sleeping at around the age of 11, when I finally could act asleep without smiling or laughing midway in my act. I tried to listen closely, I heard drawers open and close. Was someone looking into my things?

After long dreadful minutes, the door was finally closed. I acted asleep for a few more minutes before opening my eyes to stare into the darkness.

What was my Mom doing, opening my drawers and looking into my things?

I waited in bed for another 15 minutes before hearing a car's engine outside our house. I quickly got out of bed and went over to my window. My window had the view of the back of our house, with the large parking space and the line of cars parked.

I caught the view of my Mom's Porsche car. My mom rarely drives anymore, she kept complaining that it was a nuisance to drive and why would one drive if they had a driver to do it for them?

But she drives alone from time to time if she was in the mood to be alone, or, if something big came up. Once Mom took a turn, I saw something strange. My Dad was sitting right next to her in the car with his head resting on his lap.

 Before I could try to see what was causing him to rest his head on his lap, my Mom drove out of the parking space of our house and was on the road.

I left my room and tip-toed to my parent's bedroom. I needed answers.

Sami7ny ya rab.

I started opening drawers, trying to find something. Anything!

The grey safe was still in the middle of my parent's wardrobe room. I didn't find anything in my parent's bedroom but I always had a feeling the secrets were kept in the wardrobe room.

I approached the wardrobe room and looked at the wardrobes lined up against the walls. I approached my Mom's shelves, where she had her make up and perfume. I found a piece of paper, laying there. Pleading me to pick it up and read what it had written.

Before I could grab the paper, I got another call from S3ood. I answered it quickly.

"S3ood I'm-"

"Shoug. M7md and Khalid never drank alcohol with Faisal and the other guys when they travelled. But you need to know something.." S3ood spoke really fast into the phone, cutting me off.

I kept staring at the paper in front of me, I couldn't stop my eyes from reading the words on the piece of paper.

The paper had a title and a stamp. I caught a few words from afar.

"Hospital X

Patient X Al X

Age: 61

Extra: Heavy smoker

Patient digests alcohol regularly. *estimation: digests alcohol around 3 times a week. "

I skipped the rest of the information. My eyes were stuck on one particular word.

"Patient digests alcohol regularly."

"Shoug, your Dad traveled with them last month. He was with Faisal that night.. Shoug, are you there?"