Paradise, Chapter 1:

Hey guys! It's time for a brand new story. I know I've said before I had the idea of using true characters, I'm still keeping that idea but if I go along with it, it would take so much time to simply write one chapter because nothing of the characters will be fiction, plus I don't know the people so I have to constantly DM them on twitter. Having a summer course is depressing, I basically go in the morning and come back home by 5:30 pm and I'm too tired to do anything else so I really wanted a story I could control easily.

For the first time. I'm not planning anything. I basically have 0 ideas, 0 idea on what I'm going to write but I will write and the ideas will come along as I do so. I'm going back to my old ways and the title's back to English instead of french. I have no idea how Paradise is going to be relevant to this story yet but it will be once I'm done with it.

Hope you enjoy this story that's about to come out of nowhere really haha! c:

Feedback's much appreciated. Hope you're all having a blast during your summer vacations or doing well in your exams. xo

Please leave comments and tell me what you guys think! Do you want the story to continue or not? And KEEP READING UNTIL THE END, 9adgouny you won't regret it. Thank you! :D

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“What do you guys wish for?” I asked the two medium heighted girls seated next to me who were both my friends for five years now. They were both transfixed into their blackberries; they had them hidden under the desk, out of our geography teacher’s sight.

“I wish this class would end already and a cheese burger won’t hurt,” Maha rolled her eyes sarcastically, she quickly hid her blackberry into the pocket of her pencil skirt, acting like she was busy writing down the notes on the board once Miss Maria’s blue sparkling eyes landed on Maha’s dark mocha ones.

“Abe atkharaj, 3shan aftak men Miss Maria w weyiha el ze-“ Thajbah began to hiss but she couldn’t continue speaking, her thin lips were pursed tightly once Miss Maria’s eyes shifted from Maha’s face to hers.

“Banat, la2 I meant-“ I began to say, wanting to explain. I wanted to tell them my wish but I didn’t get the chance.

“Umbayy!” Maha screeched suddenly as soon as she looked at the board. Everyone’s head in class turned around to look at her, including the teacher’s.

“Is there something wrong Maha?” Miss Maria annoyingly asked, her hands rubbing over her perfectly ironed skirt, her hair gelled back into a boring bun but only her eyes spoke of beauty and colour in contrast to the rest of her clothes and minimum make up.

“Uhm, no no!” Maha gulped. “I thought I saw a spider, sorry Miss.”

“Shfeech entay?” I hissed, looking at Maha once the teacher had her back to us.

“Twne at’thakar!” Maha’s eyes widened. Even Thajbah whipped her head to the right, intently listening.

“Shnu shnu?” I asked, soon forgetting about my question.

“Ana w 3ziz 9arlena sentain m3a b3a’9!” Maha gushed, her face lighting up.

“Weeh, 3bale 3ndech salfa!” I sighed.

“Waiii etshawgoun!” Thajbah gushed also, her almond shaped eyes staring intently into Maha’s. I drowned out their voices, clearly not interested in Maha’s love life. I soon got bored of it, at first when she told me, two years ago when we were in tenth grade, I laughed and told her it wouldn’t last, warning her about losing her family’s trust if they found out she was dating her cousin, but soon it became months, then a year and now two years, we just got used to it and Maha’s conversations being always revolved around Aziz.

“3afya 3afya, Jawa khan ne6la3 elyoum!” Maha grabbed my arm, slicing into my thoughts, causing them to whisk away.

“Maha, tara it’s Sunday, twna badeen medrisa. Omy ma ra7 tir’9a,” I sighed once again, running my fingers through my chestnut coloured hair. I had dyed it for the first time, chosen the perfect summer colour for my last year in high school but it was drying out my hair, especially when I kept straightening it everyday, wanting to look my best during my last year before I graduate.

“Juju, it’s important, 3afya! Bring your sister Joury 3shan omch tir’9a,” Maha’s eyes lit up. “Thajbah entay b3ad!”

“Men 9ijich? 3ugb ma dashet el jam3a, gamet etgoul ehya ma te6la3 wyaa yahal, yahal as in us Maha, did you forget that or something?” I rolled my eyes, remembering my big sister’s words when the last time I excitedly invited her along with us to a an all seniors slumber party.

“Weeh, yallaa beg your mom, Khalte 3alyaa2 is so kind, tell her it’s my birthday or something,” Maha tried to transform her eyes into large puppie dog ones that I was so weak to. Maha was a few months older than I was but she had a complete baby face and she was far shorter than I was so she looked way younger than us. Aziz was the complete opposite, being tall and rugged, he looked like he was truly in university.

“Maha I-“ I couldn’t complete my sentence, Miss Maria’s eyes bled into ours, glaring angrily. I was startled, I shut my mouth and went back to writing in my notepad, hoping for this boring class to be over already.

A small note was thrown at me from the table. I looked up and saw Maha’s eyes, staring into mine. I sighed before pulling the note open, the rusty paper tickling my fingers slightly.

“Today, me you Thajbah and Manour at avenues at 6! RVSP us please after asking your mom and we don’t take no as an answer yal 7lwaa. IT’S IMPORTANT THAT WE GO THERE.”

I wrote back on the note, ready to send it back to Maha. My fingers traced and penciled in the following words:

“W laish super important? Shm3na y3ne?-.-“

Maha was quick to reply, she wrote back:

“2 YEARS OF LOVE JAWAA. 1289372984729 DAYS OF LOVE JAWAA. 892409124898230483294 SECONDS OF LOVE JAWAAA. SHOULD I ADD MORE NUMBERS WELA RA7 TIFHIMEEN? LAZEM ASHOUFA! P.S: a7bch please come with me wela ra7 akteblch essay 3an love w 3an my Aziz.L”

“Maleit 3laich, fine fine I’ll go just spare me the essay, walla mu kafe kelyoum etsolfeen 3ana!” I laughed, whispering to Maha.

“Jawaa, I see you’re busy having fun chit chatting with your friends, how about you do something more productive and actually answer this question about waterfalls on the board?” Miss Maria’s words startled us; I pushed the note into my pocket and quickly walked up to the board, ignoring the eyes of the other students that burnt right through my back.

I took the marker from the teacher’s hand, ready to answer the question. I was too smart for this class, I messed around but I had already finished the whole studying process weeks ago so this was a piece of cake. I was about to prove the teacher wrong and embarrass her with my skills but a sudden sound scared the whole class to silence.

The door was pushed open and before I could actually see who had walked in so loudly, I felt a pair of hands grab me, pushing my body up against a chest and a hard cold metal be grinded up against my left cheek.

“JAWAA!” Maha’s scream managed to cause my heart to bolt out of its ribcage.

“W-what-“ I stuttered, my skin tingled, my eyes were on where I was standing a few seconds ago before a person had pulled me away. Miss Maria’s sparkling blue eyes, usually full of sparks and ice, ready to torment a student had melted away into a sea of fear.

“P-please d-don’t hurt us,” Miss Maria held up her hands slowly, backing away. The students were frozen into their seats and I still couldn’t understand what was going on. All I could feel was a gun right up against my ear; it was caressing it with the bare metal exterior, whispering of death and pain.

“SHUT UP!” The voice behind me screamed, the spit from the mouth had landed onto my neck and I began to shake uncontrollably. “DON’T MOVE OR THIS GIRL WILL GET HER HEAD BLOWN OFF, UNDERSTAND?”

“P-please d-don’t-“ Miss Maria stuttered, the rest remained quiet. So quiet that I could hear the traffic outside the high school building, that for a second, I imagined that my driver was waiting outside for me, ready to pick me up from school, one of his daily routines. I was wondering if he was waiting too long once the bell rang but no one left the class room in excitement of going back home, no one smiled, no one tried to pack up their things, they all remained as statues, their eyes a cloud of fear and my heart was thundering from fright.

“YOU, T3AL!” An arm pointed at another student, it was the Indian student named Jerry. He loved Algebra and he loved to eat too much of M&Ms in class. I know this because I sit next to him in Maths three times a week. The hand in front of me was tanned, lean and muscled, a large ring was on his pinky finger, it was silver and had small trails of golden patterns. I focused on the ring, not on the gun against my ear, slithering closer and closer every few seconds, nor the faces of my friends that began to cry, or even Miss Maria’s strangely scared eyes. My eyes became distracted once my ears heard Jerry create a sound.

Jerry whimpered, unable to get up from his seat.

“ENTA SHFEEK? GHABE? ANA GILTLK GOUM! MA TEFHAM?” The voice poured out in anger. He didn’t understand that poor Jerry didn’t understand Arabic. He looked Kuwaiti, not Indian but once he spoke, you could hear the Indian in his voice.

“I-I,” Jerry began to stutter, trying to explain he doesn’t understand.

Before he could continue, a sound caused my body to grow weak.

BANG!

My eyes were shut tightly; I heard the screams of the students and a thump of a body, falling down to the ground.

“Anyone else want to be stupid? I won’t mind killing you,” the voice smirked. Hearing his words confirmed what had just happened. My eyes were open again; they saw a big blob of red, lots and lots of red. I quickly tried to look at something else once my chest began to tighten, I couldn’t breathe but I had to calm myself back down.

The ring Jawaa, keep looking at the guys’ ring. Focus on that. There isn’t a dead body in front of you. It doesn’t smell like blood. Calm down, the police will get here. Jerry’s fine, he’s alive. He’s still going to eat M&Ms in class and blab about Algebra to you three times a week. You’ll be back home soon with Joury, you two will fight over who gets to wear the Cartier bracelet to 3ame Abdulateef’s wedding next month and your mom will argue on how you’re not drinking enough orange juice for your vitamin intake. Everything will be back to normal, Dad will be watching his usual Madrid match and will be shouting at the TV, you’ll be doing homework for your next boring class and this gun up against your ear will seem like a dream by then.

But I couldn’t imagine or even believe that, reality was too close. Especially when his deep hoarse voice shouted into my ear once again, his venomous feeling spit touching my skin.

“No. One. Talk. Got it? Everyone on their backs and count to 1000, IN LOUD VOICES. NOW!” He ordered. Each person in class kneeled down to the floor, listening to his orders and all of them began to count to a 1000.

“1… 2…. 3…”

Their voices bore of fear, many were saying the numbers too quickly, others too slowly, unable to say the numbers whilst crying. But I stood frozen, not a tear had escaped, listening intently to the beat of my heart, hearing how frantic it is, how bad it wants to escape from my body, not wanting to be kidnapped or killed off along with me. Not even my organ wants to be with me right now.

“Emshay,” the voice hissed into my ear. “If you do anything, ANYTHING, your head will be blown off, fahma?”

I didn’t reply. I was staring at the ground, catching glimpses of Maha and Thajbah, both sobbing against the ground. Maha kept sneaking glances at me, her eyes not wanting me to leave.

“FAHMA?” The voice didn’t hiss anymore, it screamed into my ear, knifing my eardrums to pain.

“Eee ee f-fahma,” I finally spoke and along with my words, a cry left my mouth. I began to sob, I couldn’t control the streams of tears, and they finally came. Soon enough, the strong stranger forced me to walk with him; he placed me in front of him, not letting me see him. He had the gun placed on my back as we walked down the hallways of the high school I always loathed. As of today, I loved it, I would do anything to stay another five hours in it rather than be taken by this stranger.

Anything.

I looked at the classes I was passing; they were empty except another one. A figure dressed in black with a mask of a dragon over his head was holding a gun to a student’s head.

“STOP,” the voice commanded me. We stopped right in front of the class that was held hostage too and my body was in his command, it didn’t dare try to escape or anything else. He snickered behind me, enjoying the show as he watched his accomplice order the students in class to count to a thousand. In merely a few minutes, the second man left the classroom, holding against him was another student.

“P-please don’t k-kill me,” the young girl sobbed. I didn’t notice who it was until my eyes focused on her. It was Muneera, Maha’s younger sister. It felt like someone squeezed my heart ever so tightly once I saw her. Her hair was put up in a bun but that bun was now messy, falling apart and those beautiful big eyes of hers were full of tears, red veins rimming her pupils as she stared back at me, pleading me to help.

“Jawaa!” Muneera exclaimed, looking a bit relieved but the man behind her pushed the gun into her neck, causing Muneera to wince out in pain. Her dimple, the same dimple Maha has on her left cheek, popped out but this time, it didn’t appear because of a smile. My own dimples were engraved into my cheeks, not even bothering to show any life, too scared to even tell anyone they exists as my whole body felt the shape of the gun being caressed over me.

“Aaa7!”

“SEKTAY!” The second man ordered, his voice wasn’t as deep but he was so overpoweringly tall. The dragon mask he had one was painted in black, it had a giant nose that gave the mask an evil expression. Muneera whimpered, staying quiet.

“Wein el bajee?” The voice behind me demanded.

“Na6reena bara, 3ndehum b3ad.”

“Shkither 3ndehum?”

“Yemken 3 more aw shay, ma cheyekt,” the second man answered, a hint of a smile in his voice. I wished I didn’t understand them, I wished that I was the fainting type so I didn’t have to watch the whole thing play out in front of, I wished they didn’t mean students when they were asking on how many they’ve captured.

I wished so many things.

I wished I were fighting with Joury over a dress.

I wished I were back with Maha, telling her how her boyfriend was so annoying.

I wished I were with Thajbah, discussing politics.

I wished I were with my parents, hugging them.

But the wish I really needed and wanted right now was one thing and one thing precisely.

A black cloth was pulled over my head painfully, turning my vision to the image of the hallways of my high school to pitch black. I stared into the blackness intently, my body moving, being commanded by the two kidnappers whenever the gun burned deeper into my back.

“What do you guys wish for?” My own voice echoed into my head, remembering the conversation I had with the girls fifteen minutes ago in class.

To be back in Miss Maria’s boring class, as if none of this had ever happened.

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P.S: it's just the start of the story so more characters and names will be added later on. (Incase anyone's sad or disappointed cus some of their names weren't in this chapter).