Paradise Chapter 3:

Heyyyy! Today I had a FANTASTIC day with my beautiful loved ones and I just wanted to spread the happiness by sharing another new post. What do you all think of me now, posting more frequently? It reminds me of summer and summer makes me happy. Hope everyone else had a great start to their long weekend.

There's more evilness in Paradise to come, keep your eyes opened for hints.

MABROOK TO MARIAM FOR FINISHING HER IGCSES! This one's dedicated to you gorgeous! Allah yiwafgchhh. xo

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Previously in Chapter 2:

Light hit me everywhere. It attacked my eyes, blinding them momentarily before my eyes were transfixed on four men. Three of them had a dragon mask on but the fourth one, the one with the accent, the one standing behind the camera, was in his bloody uniform, a grin on his face.

“They’re ready,” Deep Voice said, standing next to the other men in their masks. The camera in front of us began to blink in red, telling us that it started recording.

“Smile for the camera girls,” The new man said, his accent pure of Indian, he had a dragon's mask over his face but he pulled it off of his face to bare a huge smile at us behind the recording camera.

Behind that mask was one guy who ate too much of M&Ms and spoke too much of Algebra three times a week in Maths class.

It was Jerry.

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“Jerry?!” I exclaimed out of horror, thinking my eyes were playing tricks on me. I couldn’t believe it; he was in front of me, in daylight, in his own flesh.

Was I hallucinating?

“It’s Rashed actually,” Jerry said, his usual Indian accent faded away like magic and I could hear the Kuwaiti one behind his English. My eyes wanted to pop out of it’s sockets, Muneera, knowing Jerry’s face but not much of his personality, was just as evenly shocked as I was but she remained quiet.

“Can we cut the high school reunion thing and go back to business already!?” Deep Voice commanded, cutting us off.

“But b-but, Jerry was dead! You killed him!” I pointed at Deep Voice, his dragon mask bore no expression, and it’s boggle eyes stared back at me, as if it was hypnotizing me.

“Sektay wela awareech what real death looks like, fahma?” Deep Voice became a whole lot more frightening, I gulped and stayed quiet, staring at Jerry-I mean Rashed, in disbelief. He wasn’t just alive; he was basically a package of lies. He wasn’t Indian, that’s why we always commented on how he looked so Kuwaiti but his well-faked accent usually proved our doubts wrong.

“Get them ready already, we have to leave this place before they trace our IP Address,” Deep Voice ordered and Rashed clicked on the camera, clearly deleting the recorded footage of us talking to reset the memory.

“You two, if you want to stay alive, you’ll do as we say, got it?” Deep Voice’s mask was aimed at Muneera and I. We both nodded frantically.

“Think of your lovely parents, siblings and friends listening, order them help you but if you ever mention any of our names or where we are, we’ll blow your head off.”

“W-what do you want us to do?” I had the courage to speak up, even though my words were stuttered and all over the place.

“Help Mom, umbayy sa3doune, whatever floats your boat,” Deep Voice imitated a girl’s voice in ridicule and I heard him smirk.

“Yalla Rashed, press record.”

“Action!” Rashed grinned behind the camera and all I wanted to do was to punch his smug face and order him to explain what had just happened today but all I had was this camera staring right at me. The images of Joury, my dad and mother flooded into my head and the tears immediately hit me.

Muneera and I were silent, we couldn’t speak and I could see Deep Voice’s feet begin to tap impatiently. He grabbed his gun out of it’s holster and hurried over to my side, pushing the gun against my ear once again. I began to shake, I couldn’t stop and the tears were flooding.

“P-please no, no!” I cried out, feeling the cold hard metal caressing my skin.

“TALK,” he hissed through clenched teeth.

“PLEASE DON’T HURT HER!” Muneera suddenly screamed, surprising all of us. She had been quiet for a while and finally, she spoke.

“HELP US!” She screamed at the camera, her words beginning to become muffled from all the sobbing. Her young face seemed terrified as she continued to scream. “PLEASE HELP US!”

“CUT, that’s a rap!” Rashed clicked on the camera, grinning widely. “You two should do this for a living, Jawaa’s face was priceless and that screaming! Woah, you’ve got a pair of lungs on you little girl.”

“You’re f*cking sick,” I spat at him once I felt the gun edge away from me, not finding any of this funny.

“Woah woah, someone’s mad,” Rashed smirked.

“Next time, you two will listen to me, or else I won’t be so nice with your heads. I’ll make sure your parents will have something real good to watch then,” Deep Voice shook his head in disappointment. “Get the video uploaded, send it to everyone and get them out of here once you’re done.”

“Mashe,” Bu Salem and Rashed said in sync. Our faces were covered once again, blackness welcoming us back in as we heard the footsteps and shuffles of the bodies moving around us. The darkness invited me in, taking me off to another world for a few minutes, a world of my past.

“Joury, 3a6eeny el bracelet!” I snapped at my older sister. We were both in my mother’s closet room where she had all of her clothes and jewelry placed.

“W entay shtabeen feeh? Emkawad darich eb Cartier bracelets, khala9 3ad!” Joury’s eyes were furious with me. My mother had received the bracelet as a gift from one of her friends but she didn’t want it so she’d said one of us could have it and we had to sort it out ourselves.

“La2 ma 3nde bedoun diamonds,” I tried grabbing the Cartier box out of her hands but she was too fast for me. “W entay 3ndech methla be’9ab6, shtabeen feeh balah?”

“Bas kaife abeeh, entay shaku?” Joury snapped back at me.

“Shnu kel digeega bas ta36een your friends stupid gifts for no reason? W ana ma ta36eeny shay?” I grew jealous, I couldn’t help it but I was furious.

“Shfeech na7eesa? Goulay el7mdellah 3la kel khair!” Joury’s eyes widened and her expression formed into disappointment.

“Hatha el9ij! Lema dakheltaw el jam3a, bas gemtay tg3deen wyahum w men meta bedaitay tehtahmain eb hal ashya2? The Joury I knew wore sweat pants and didn’t care what brand they were, now every week you’re off shopping for a new bag.”

“W entay shaku feene? 7aram astanes? Ana t7echait whenever you went out shopping for useless things just to impress your friends or to follow the new habba? Shfeech 3lay? Tadreen etha geltay 7ag umy tabeen hal eswar chan sharetlch yaah wela galetlch shay! Sh7aga al7een mayta 3laih cause I’m taking it? I’m Joury Al-X, sh3abalch, tabeene a6la3 eb my pajamas?” Joury’s tone turned cold.

“W men meta gemtay tehtamain bel esm w bel 3ayla? Tara ana ektch, mu w7da men refejatich!” I argued back. “We’re all human, the money fades, the title, everything fades away when God’s going to judge us y’know wela neseitay hal shay?”

“Offh offh, kel hatha 3la eswar? Shfeech maytaa 3leeh ley hal deraja, w faj2a 9ertay daynaa? Are you jealous of me or something?” Joury cocked an eyebrow at me suspiciously.

“Aghar mench? Mu men 9ijich 9a7?” I smirked. “Agoul, take the bracelet, ma abeeh.” I stalked out of the room, ignoring my sister when she called my name, trying to stop me.

Inside, I was truly jealous. I couldn’t care less about the bracelet but I was truly jealous that my own sister would give it to one of her friends over me, her own sister. Her actions, her looks, everything changed about her when she went to university. It was like I didn’t know her anymore and I missed the sister I used to play football with every Tuesday, get our clothes messed up and not care about how we looked to others or their expectations of us. We didn’t even care about names or social circles. I missed everything about the old us. Society changed us. But I still held on the old part of me, I clung to it but she easily said goodbye to to it, embracing her new image.

After that day, we barely spoke properly again; it was always arguments or silent treatments between us.

“Hey, shfeeha hathee? Namat? Hey entay, goumay!” I felt a finger poke at my right shoulder, waking me out of my daydream. The memories faded away but what still remained were the regret and the pain. I wanted so badly to go back to that day and make it right with my sister.

“S-shnu?!” I asked, startled by the person bothering me.

“GOUMAY!” Deep Voice screamed into my ear, causing me to jump.

“9arlena sa3a na6reench! Yalla goumay, we’re leaving,” Deep Voice said, I was still under the cloth so I couldn’t see a thing but I felt this weird feeling in my bladder; an urge to pee.

“Uhm, I-I…” I felt embarrassed, I wished my bladder would have been stronger but it wasn’t.

“Shnu?! Yallaa khal9eeny!” He snapped at me and finally, I spat it out.

“Lazem astakhdem el 7amam,” I shyly said.

“Weeehhh!” He groaned out in frustration. “Do you have to?”

“If I didn’t have to then I wouldn’t have said it,” I snapped at him in an annoyed tone, squeezing my legs shut, trying to not cause an accident.

“Okay dgeega ne6ray,” he said before I heard his footsteps walk off. I heard the whispers of his voice; he was far too loud for his whispers to remain quiet.

“Bu Salem, nad ekhtk Haya, el bent tabe etrou7 el7mam w ma negder enkhaleeha brou7ha,” I heard him hiss.

“Mu men 9ijik?! W shagoul 7ag ekhty b3dain lema etshouf el bent?” Bu Salem huffed.

“Daber omourik!”

After a few minutes, the cloth was taken off of my head and light had blinded me momentarily once again. Deep Voice grabbed my hand, clenching it tightly to pull me off of the ground. I hadn’t noticed that he tied my hands together, he probably did it when I spaced out. He untied my hands and let them free.

“Haya betsa3dch w sem3ay 3adl, if you do anything to let her believe that we kidnapped you or try anything stupid, I swear Jawaa Al-X, I will f*cking kill you, fahma?” Deep Voice’s words made my heart beat faster and no, not in that good lovey dove-y way. It felt as if I was about to have a heart attack from the scare.

“Okay,” I nodded, looking at the strange dragon mask, feeling weird that I can’t see his face. I imagined it to be as ugly as his personality.

“Emshay yalla,” he pushed me out of the room and closed the door behind me. I saw a large hallway in front of me and a young girl stood in front of me. She hadn’t seen Deep Voice or any of the other guys in their masks; she stood innocently with her large eyes looking up at me.

“I think it’s dumb that a girl like you can’t use the bathroom without someone helping you. I’m seven and I can pee by myself already,” the girl shook her head in annoyance, she took my hand and ushered me to the closest bathroom. I didn’t have a chance to get a good look at the house I was in; she had come inside with me and I felt awkward already.

The bathroom was decorated with turquoise coloured tiles; it had toothbrushes on the white sink but no other hints or clues to who owned this house.

“Uhm, tegdereen etlifeen aw shay?” I stared back at the girl, whom I guessed was “Haya”.

“Lazem asa3dch, shfeech?” She snapped at me, even the kidnapper’s sister was annoying and evil.

“Uhm, tara mu lazem. I can pee by myself.”

“Okay,” she rolled her eyes at me and turned around. I got a good view of her shirt; it had a Mickey Mouse head on it, staring back at me, which made peeing a whole lot more awkward. The Disney character kept staring back at me during the whole bathroom process.

“Entay 7beebat okhouy, mu 9a7? He always has a thing for girls who can’t dress properly,” she began talking and her words didn’t match her age at all. I scowled when she assumed that I was that jerk’s girlfriend.

“Wai3, in his freaking dreams,” I snapped, taking my fury out on her.

“Shnu, your uniform is the same as his, don’t you go to the same high school as Mu6lag?” She finally turned around once she heard me flush, indicating that I was done.

“Mnu Mu6lag?” I asked, confused.

“Okhouy, duhhhhhhhhh!”

So his name’s Mu6lag and he’s in the same school as me? There are 5 Mu6lags in our year, I couldn’t remember how many there were in the actual school but her words shocked me to silence.

One of the kidnappers, or another one of them was another student?

“YALLA! Shfeekom 6aweltaw?!” Bu Salem shouted into the bathroom, scaring both of us.

“Offh, 3a9ab Mu6lag, yalla khal9ayy bsr3a. 3ad madre shfeeh elyoum emnafes 7ail,” Haya huffed, running her fingers through her naturally curly hair.

Next, I was forced outside of the bathroom but not at the same time as Haya. Haya was called outside and I was trapped inside. I had a feeling that Bu Salem or as his real name was, Mu6lag, had to take off his mask to act like nothing was out of the ordinary in front of his sister. He obviously couldn’t show me his face but why so sensitive about it? Could it be that if I saw his face, I'd recognise it?

Which only meant…

This Mu6lag, wasn’t only a student.

He was probably one of my classmates.

Or even one of my friends.

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