Paradise Chapter 8:

Hey! I'm finally done from university, I know I pissed a lot of readers off for not posting for three weeks but to be honest, it's worth it because my grades are AMAZING el7emdellah! Plus my birthday is next week, July 24th, so I'm super excited in general. :D I hope everyone's enjoying their summer and Ramadhan.

I'm back now and I have a new LONG chapter for everyone. Hope you enjoy it, most likely if I post it will be super late because the ideas come during this time of day for me, so don't wait up, I'll keep everyone updated on my twitter. @vieblogue

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Previously in Chapter 7:

“You look perfect, mafeech shay Jawaa,” Mi7sen interrupted our conversation. I blushed slightly but ignored it.

“Mr Romance,” Hamdan teased Mi7sen but his tone wasn’t as playful, he sounded slightly mad for some reason.

“Thanks Mi7sen,” I gave him a genuine smile.

“Just being honest,” he shrugged in reply.

“Waai Mi7sen, etghazil wayed! W el mshkela, you have the worst timing in the world!” Muneera exclaimed, laughing at Mi7sen’s embarrassed shy face. Muneera was 14 and rather young but she had the bravery of a lion sometimes, she would throw the most ridiculous phrases and words in people’s faces without a care in the world.

“I totally agree,” Hamdan joined in, enjoying Muneera’s words.

“You guys!” I laughed, once again ignoring the pain.

“I was just trying to make Jawaa feel better, okay? Just admit that you guys are jealous that I’m not trying to do the same for you guys,” Mi7sen huffed.

“Yeah and I wonder why it’s only Jawaa you’re trying to cheer up, w e7na?! Haa Mi7sen?!” Muneera teased some more.

“Hey, save the best for last, right Manour?” He gave Muneera a seductive wink and I could have sworn I saw her blush for a second, becoming tongue tied before she said the following words:

“Waiii, 9ej Mr Romance. You’re too much of a flirt!” Muneera shot back at him, laughing again.

“You guys,” I suddenly said.

“Halla?” They all replied at the same time.

“Tara ye3t,” I sighed.

“Offhh, 3ad elyoum ghadana mchbous!” Hamdan excitedly exclaimed but his smile vanished after a second, once he realized that he wasn’t on his way home any time soon and he wouldn’t be able to get a taste of his mother’s cooking.

Silence.

“We need to get out of here,” I finally said.

“How?” Muneera asked.

“I think I have a plan.”

-

“Hey hey, are you guys ready?” I hissed to Muneera, Mi7sen and Hamdan after two days have passed with us planning to incorporate our theoretical plan into a realistic one. The kidnappers haven’t fed us anything, we’re all starving and we’re at a loss of energy so it was perfect timing to put our plan into action.

“Eee yalla, I can hear them outside the door, they’re awake,” Mi7sen hissed.

“Okay, on the count of three you guys,” I whispered. Their faces turned to stare at mine as I mouthed the numbers.

One.

Two.

…

THREE!

I screamed as loud as I could and they all joined in, screaming at the top of their lungs. Muneera’s scream was oddly the strongest since her voice was the highest and the most feminine.

“HATHOLA SHEMSAWEEN AL7EEN?!” I heard an angry shout outside the room; it was Deep Voice’s frustrated tone of voice. My heart was hammering inside of my chest, I was dead terrified of what he was going to do and I had no idea if the plan we made up would even work.

Hamdan was right besides the door, ready to attack Deep Voice once he walked in, Muneera was at the other side of the door, ready to escape the room once everyone else was preoccupied. I was in the middle so Deep Voice would look at me first as soon as he walked in, Mi7sen sat right next to Hamdan to help with attacking incase any of other the kidnappers walked in too.

“Offh male khelghom, enta rou7!” I heard Mu6lag, or whatever his real name was, tell Deep Voice.

Phew, that only meant that we had to attack Deep Voice for now, having two guys at the same time was harder.

The knob turned and we slowly waited for him to push the door open, his dragon mask ready to glare at us. Once the door was shot open, the dragon mask glared right at me and I could feel my own heart squeeze in terror.

“You, always causing the trouble!” Deep Voice snapped at me but before he could reach out for me, Hamdan attacked him from behind. I was signaling Muneera to escape now but the plan was already beginning to become destroyed because instead of Muneera escaping, Mi7sen was the one to escape. Muneera looked at me with her eyes wide, in shock.

“Go!” I hissed. “Follow him!”

Muneera stood up to escape but at the right exact moment, Mu6lag walked in, trapping the door for Muneera to run away. He grabbed her by her arm and she squealed in pain.

“Manour!” I screamed. “GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HER!” I stood up and started punching Mu6lags’ back in frustration. He chuckled, ignoring me entirely. Hamdan was still throwing punches at Deep Voice but he was losing, Deep Voice had already pinned Hamdan up against the wall, stopping him from hurting Deep Voice any futher.

The plan was not supposed to end this way or even start of this way at all.

“Ekl*b, walla ekl*b,” I heard Deep Voice hiss under his breath before lunging his fist back into Hamdan’s jaw. Hamdan yelped out in pain but he gritted his teeth, he stared back at Deep Voice, not letting his strong facial expression surrender.

“Get off of me you stupid brat!” Mu6lag pushed me down to the floor, my elbow hitting the hard concrete floor. I didn’t give Mu6lag the luxury of hearing me cry out in pain, I forced myself to take the hit in silence.

Soon enough, Muneera and Hamdan were let go and were pushed down to the floor besides me.

“You’re going to regret doing this,” Deep Voice spat at us, Mu6lag remained behind him with a grin on his face. “I was just going to give you a meal after starving you but guess what? No meals at all or water. T7melaw.”

And with that, he shut the door behind him, locking it.

“A777,” finally, Hamdan let out a cry of pain that he was holding back for so long.

“Hamdan, shfeek?!” I sat up and looked at him, he was laying back on the floor, his face wincing in pain.

“Wela shay, khala9, entow t3rwtaw?” Hamdan ignored the pain and looked at Muneera and I, his eyes checking over us to look for any cuts or any drops of blood but we were both clean, I just had a bad bruise on my elbow. Just another bruise to add to the list of bruises I already had, but they were nothing compared to Hamdan’s injuries. His face was full of blood and his shirt was ripped a part, I could see the hints of his sun tanned skin that were painted over with hues of purple and blue to show the growing bruises.

“You’re the one hurt, not us,” I sighed. “Just let me help out.” I reached forward but he inched away from me.

“La2.”

I felt embarrassed, I quickly inched backwards too. Muneera remained silent, watching us. “Okay.”

“Khathaw Mi7sen, that’s if he wasn’t lucky enough to escape. Kan fe wa7d thane wyahum, akeed khatha Mi7sen,” Hamdan groaned in frustration.

“Ey wa7ed? Young Voice?” I asked, remembering that I haven’t seen Young Voice in a while.

“Etsameena Young Voice? Elmohem, kan fee wa7d a9ghar men hatha el7m*r bas yeshbeha.”

“Eee, hatha ohwa, Young Voice.”

“Hatha shfeeh el athwal kharab kelshay! Mafrouth Manour ten7ash, mu ohwa!” Hamdan yelled at no one specific.

“Even if Manour did, she wouldn’t have been able to do it anyway. Mu6lag was in the way,” I sighed.

“Mu6lag? Mnu hatha?” Hamdan’s eyes shot up to meet mine.

“Oh,” I just realized that I didn’t explain anything to them. I began to tell them about the incident when I was in the bathroom with Mu6lag’s sister and how she slipped his name.

“Laish ma gilteely?!” Hamdan’s eyes fired up with anger. I felt Muneera inch backwards with me due to his terrifying expression.

“N-neseit,” I stuttered.

“Ugh, that could have helped us,” he groaned. “Now that idiot is probably getting a beating from either one of the kidnappers because he tried to escape.” Hamdan’s eyes weren’t so angry anymore; they were full of worry for Mi7sen.

“He can barely defend himself as it is,” Hamdan continued.

“But Mi7sen’s a good talker, I’m sure he’ll try to find a way out of it,” I reassured him.

“Eee, la t7aty,” Muneera tried to join in.

“Etha 3ade 3nda yi6ig bent then I’m sure he’ll also be willing to murder Mi7sen,” Hamdan didn’t buy our fake positivity.

We stayed quiet, staring off at the distance. Hamdan wouldn’t look at me or speak to me, I felt guilty for being the one thinking up the whole idea. I felt absolutely horrible; I wouldn’t blame Hamdan if he were truly angry with me.

-

“Hey, Jawaa? Goumay.” A hiss in the dark startled me. I squinted for a few seconds and I realized that I must have fallen asleep. I looked behind me and saw Muneera asleep as well on the floor. I looked in front of me and Hamdan was kneeling besides me with a soft expression on his face.

“Yeah?” I asked, surprised.

“You okay?” Hamdan’s question startled me even more. Wasn’t I the one who should be asking him that? The blood one his face was gone and was replaced with purple bruises that only made his face even more handsome to look at. I didn’t even think that was possible to do.

“Eee laish? Sh9ayer?” I pulled myself up from my position, ignoring the pain that hit me every part of my body.

“La2 wela shay bas sema3tch uhm, khala9 never mind go back to sleep,” Hamdan was about to stand back up to walk, well more like limp, back to his corner.

“La2 la2,” I put a hand over his arm. “What happened?”

“You kept tossing and turning, screaming in your sleep. Well not really screaming, more like, calling someone for help. It must have been a nightmare bas I just wanted it to end by waking you up.”

“Thanks,” I whispered.

“Don’t mention it, tabeen shay?”

“Hamdan?”

“Halla?”

“Are you mad at me?”

“Why would I be?” Hamdan seemed confused, his dark eyes frowning.

“The plan was my idea, ana el sebab 7ag kelshay and it’s my fault that Mi7sen was taken.”

“We don’t know yet if he was taken or not, he could be on his way to Mcdonalds for all I know ordering a large meal since we’ve been starving for so long,” Hamdan’s eyes had a glint of hope.

“I could really use a cheese burger right now.”

“I could really use a big mac, chicken nuggets, French fries and a Mcflurry right now,” Hamdan chuckled.

“Mmm, that sounds so good right now,” I sighed. “I’m sorry I caused the whole starving thing to last longer too.”

“Hey, if you apologize one more time I’ll be forced to really act mad at you. You were just trying to get us out of here and I don’t want you to stop trying either or else we’ll die of malnutrition soon.”

“Thanks,” I smiled.

“No problem and hey Jawaa?”

“Yeah?”

“If you start screaming again, do you want me to wake you up?”

“Laish, ma ra7 etnam?”

“La2 ma atwaqa3, ga3da afaker eb Mi7sen.”

“Wow.”

“Shnu?”

“You really care about him,” I stared at Hamdan in surprise.

“Ee sh3abalch?” Hamdan looked at me strangely.

“Ee it’s just that you fight a lot so madre…”

“He’s an idiot but he’s like a brother to me. Al7een ee wela la2? Aga3dch?”

“La2.”

“3la ra7tch,” Hamdan seemed a bit surprised and for some reason, disappointed. I couldn’t really put my finger on why he seemed disappointed since he hurried off to his corner, not letting me see his face again to really know if he was truly disappointed or not.

And honestly, I’d rather have a nightmare than wake up to my actual nightmare of a life right now. At least the nightmare didn’t exist, unlike this kidnapping trauma.

I tried going back to sleep but it didn’t work. I counted a hundred and thirty one sheep yet my eyes were still wide open. I tried focusing on the way Muneera slightly snored behind me yet it still didn’t bore me to sleep.

And every few minutes, I’d hear Hamdan groan in pain in the dark when he thought we were both asleep. He wouldn’t show us how much in pain he was in front of us. I ended up giving up on sleep entirely; I sat up and looked towards Hamdan. He was strangely standing, even though his leg was badly hurt and he had his head back up against the wall, his eyes tightly shut.

“Psssttt,” I hissed. Hamdan quickly opened his eyes and met mine; he gave me a half smile.

“Shfeech ga3da? Another nightmare?” Hamdan seemed a bit pleased that I was awake.

“Ma gedert anam.”

“Oh fa kentay ga3da 6oul hal wakt?”

“Eee.”

I knew he was in terrible pain and every step he took towards me would mean he had to act all strong once again, masking the pain so before he could take a step towards me, I forced my pained body off of the ground and walked towards him until I was standing besides him.

“You know, you don’t have to act like you’re not hurt around me,” I whispered, meeting his dark gaze.

“And who says I’m acting?” Hamdan replied calmly.

“Okay Mr Tough Guy, at least let me help you? For once?”

“Okay fine,” Hamdan sighed.

“Can I rip your pants?” I asked, kneeling down.

“W-what!?” Hamdan’s eyes widened in horror.

“Calm down calm down, I meant the ends of it just so I can use it as a bandage. I’d use my skirt but it’s already at a decent length, I’m not trying to get it to get any shorter.” I rolled my eyes at him. God, boys and their dirty minds.

“I knew that,” Hamdan seemed embarrassed and I enjoyed seeing him that way for once.

“I’ll take that as I can rip your pants?” I asked.

“Eee okay bas I’ll do it, la et3abeen nafsch,” he tried bending forward to do it but he kept wincing in pain whenever he moved.

“HAMDAN,” I groaned, stopping him.

“Shnu shfeech?!”

“For once, let me help! Just stay as you are, I need you to not do anything.”

“Bas…”

“Ush w bas,” I snapped at him, pulling at the ends of his pants to rip a part of fabric. Once I was done, I stood back up and wrapped some of the fabric around his bruises on his arms. It reminded me of when Mi7sen tried to do the same thing for me but he failed at it, I smiled to myself.

“Shfeech ti’97keen?” Hamdan asked. I didn’t realize that he was watching me.

“Oh, wela shay,” the smile vanished and I concentrated back on wrapping the fabric around his arm. He winced slightly when I put more pressure on the slight wound.

“Okay now use this for your nose, there’s still a lot of blood on it,” I handed him the last of the fabric.

“You know, you should be the nurse at our school,” Hamdan joked, taking the fabric from me, our fingers brushing against each other momentarily before he used the fabric for his nose.

“Laish?”

“You know Nurse Jane right? All she does is give you panadol for whatever’s the wrong with you. Bleeding nose? Panadol. Your knee hurts from a bad fall? Panadol. Feeling dizzy? Panadol.” Hamdan laughed and I laughed along, remembering the nurse.

“Offhhh eee, maleeqa! I swear mara ri7tleha w giltleha ena rasy ga3d yidour w bas 3a6etny panadol, wela galetly shay bas lema radeit elbait, re7t el mustaw9if w galoly ena feene 7arara. Bas the nurse doesn’t do anything, seriously!”

“Yeah, you’d be good at doing her job,” Hamdan laughed again.

“I’d rather be a doctor,” I sighed.

“So that’s why you’re taking so many advanced classes on biology,” Hamdan looked at me, seeming amused.

“Shdarak?” I asked.

“Offh, you’re the nerd dude.”

“Aaa7, nerd mara wa7da?! Well sorry for caring about my grades and wanting a good fu-“

“Yup, see? Proves my point on you being a total nerd, already katbetlch graduation speech men al7een?”

“Hey, you’re seriously mean. You jock.”

“Jock? Really?”

“Eee come on, you’re on like every freaking sports team!” I laughed.

“It’s not a bad thing to be athletic,” Hamdan seemed defensive.

“It’s not a bad thing either to study.”

“Studying sucks.”

“Exercising sucks.”

“A lazy nerd b3ad?” Hamdan chuckled.

“I’m not a nerd!”

“Yeah yeah, keep trying to convince yourself that.”

“There’s more to me than being a nerd, okay?” I huffed.

“Like what? Akeed bas etjableen kutubch everyday, I bet you do nothing else.”

“Jad enta maleeq, enzain? Yalla barid anam, bye.” I stopped leaning up against the wall next to him, ready to walk off but this time, he put his hand over my shoulder.

“Laa laa ne6ray, bas ga3d at7arash feech, shd3wa z3ltay?” Hamdan smiled but I wouldn’t meet his gaze, I ignored him.

“Asfeen asfeen, yalla 3ad la tz3leen,” Hamdan begged.

“Nope, you have to try harder than that you jock.”

“Okay fine, how about I tell you a bad secret?”

“A bad secret? Nafs shnu?” I finally looked at him.

“Haa lema seme3tay secret, you got interested again?” Hamdan cocked an eyebrow at me; he was clearly enjoying this whole conversation. And honestly, I was enjoying it too; it felt good to smile again.

“Ana bent, sh3abalk? Yalla 3ad goul!”

“Okay okay!” Hamdan laughed. “I’m kind of, well…”

“Shnuuuu?”

“Haday shway, ma7ad yadre!”

“I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”

“I well. I’m very claustrophobic bas sometimes, instead of fainting, I just laugh. A lot. It looks creepily weird, very weird.” Hamdan began to itch the back of his head, looking embarrassed.

“That’s it?” Disappointment washed over my face.

“Are you serious? It’s not something very cool about a guy, a girl could pull it off bas ma yiloug 3lay.”

“Shd3wa that’s nothing! I have worst secrets than that.”

“Yalla goulay,” Hamdan grinned.

“I’m not going to tell you, of all people.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Yalla 3ad nerd.”

“Maku, you jock.”

“Just one? I told you one.”

“That’s not a secret.”

“Embala, gltlch ma7ad yadre w el7mdellah no one saw it happen yet.”

“Fine, I’ll tell you an embarrassing secret to make you feel better.”

“Yalla.”

“I still watch Disney movies.”

“Seriously? Bas?”

“Ma khale9t. Disney movies and Barbie movies, okay?”

Hamdan began to laugh and I felt my face flush in embarrassment.

“Yeah okay, I feel better now,” Hamdan kept laughing.

“You jerk!”

“Hey hey, I’m joking, wall bas ga3d at7arash, shfeech tz3leen bsr3a?” Hamdan grinned.

“Ma z3lt.”

“Oh come on, you’re frowning and doing that thing again.”

“Doing what?”

“That thing when you jut your lip out and your cheeks become a whole lot bigger, like those cute little babies and your eyes go all sad.”

“I d-don’t do that,” I seemed surprised and instantly Hamdan seemed to regret to have said that.

“Never mind,” Hamdan murmured.

“You noticed that?”

“Laa ensay, wela shay khala9.”

Before I could ask again, the door next to us was pushed open and instead of Deep Voice or anyone else barging in, a girl was pushed into the room before the door was locked back up again.

She had deep dark black hair, her curls framed her bruised face and her uniform was half torn, half dirty. Before I could look at her face properly, Hamdan’s eyes were wide and alert; he quickly ran to her and kneeled down, instantly holding her to check if she was okay.

“Dalal!?” He exclaimed in horror.

I simply watched them both, clearly confused.

Dalal? Huh?

 -

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