Paradise Chapter 16

Oh my god I am so happy I didn't erase this chapter by mistake, it got erased and I didn't know how to find it again so I had to click on undo a thousand times to UNDO all of my typing of chapter 17 to retrace and find chapter 16. SOOOO relieved!!!

I really do need to sleep!!

Enjoy the two new chapters, sorry for the mess up.

-

Previously in Chapter 15:

“Jawaa? Shfeech tena7tay?” Eissa broke my thoughts.

“Why would you do this to me?” Suddenly my eyes filled with tears, I remembered the good memories with him and I couldn’t believe such a kind cousin would have so much cruelty in him.

“Jawaa.. allah yekhaleech, it isn’t what it looks like-“

“THIS is what it looks like,” I pointed to the bruises all over me because of him.

“9adgeeny, I can explain..”

“THEN EXPLAIN,” I yelled out of nowhere and his eyes widened in surprise.

“Jawaa..” he seemed tongue-tied but the next few words that escaped his mouth only began to shock me more..

-

“Jawaa.., I only did all of those cruel things to you so the others wouldn’t know I loved you, or else they would have taken you away from me.” Eissa sighed.

“That’s no excuse to hurt me!” I cried out in protest.

“I know but I thought if I acted like I didn’t know you they wouldn’t think we were related, only one of the others know and I had to prove myself to him that I wouldn’t let the relationship between us mess up our plan…”

“Why the hell would you even do all of this?!” I looked at him with pure disgust.

“You just don’t understand and I can’t tell you…”

“Why can’t you?”

“I just can’t Jawaa, you’re not even supposed to have found out about me.”

“Ee wow, tabene a7bk through an ugly mask after you beat me up and were so cruel to me?!” My voice began to shake.

“I thought I was over you, mu shayfch wla emkalmch menzaman! La etlomeeny-“

“Ma aloumk?! Enta ely 7a6aitne eb hal mawqif!”

“I didn’t choose to kidnap you, the plan wasn’t supposed to happen this way! It was all his fault,” Eissa looked away hiding the pure hatred for “him” in his eyes.

“Him? Him who?”

“Ma agder, bas gltch wayed, khala9,” his deep voice wasn’t so frightening anymore, he was Eissa again. Funny how hard it is to see someone properly again once their mask is off, you never know which one is the real them, the show they put on or the person that hid underneath it.

“Eissa, khayef men a7ad?” I suddenly asked as soon as the idea popped up in my head.

“La2 shaku!” Eissa suddenly built a barrier between us.

“Who’s him then?!” I asked in frustration, unable to understand a thing since he wouldn’t explain it properly to me.

“Bas khala9 wela shay, etha gltay shay 7ag a7ad I swear I’ll-“ suddenly it wasn’t Eissa anymore speaking, it was Deep Voice.

“You’ll kill me?” I said, my voice sounding hurt since now I knew who it was saying those words to me.

“Yes,” he sighed, seeming sad all of a sudden.

“Why are you doing this to me? This isn’t love…”

“It was never supposed to be this way.”

“Well it is this way and you can change it now.”

“I can’t,” he looked pained.

“Why can’t you?”

“Stop asking so many questions, I’ve told you too much.”

“Are you going to put on that mask and start acting like the jerk you truly turned out to be? And act like we’re not even family to each other?” I kept my voice calm but I let him hear how I hurt I was through my voice, I didn’t cloak it.

“It’s not really me.”

“It is. This was you all this time.”

“Jawaa don’t say such things when you don’t even know anything about any of this!” He began to get angry, I could see it in his eyes now, the mask didn’t hold up a wall between us anymore.

“It’s not like you’re helping me understand here!” I pointed out frustratingly.

“Promise me you won’t tell anyone when we go back,” Eissa turned to look at me, his eyes boring into me.

“Why would I?” I asked him with a look of disbelief. Why the hell would I help him?

“I won’t kill you.”

“You wouldn’t even if you wanted to,” I knew that for sure. He looked at me and he gave me a half smile out of nowhere, I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from smiling or even giving him the slightest sign of me growing close to him.

“Then you do believe me,” his smile grew.

“I don’t believe a word you say anymore.”

“You believe that I love you.”

“No. No I don’t,” I muttered, looking away from his genuinely kind gaze, I didn’t want to be sucked into the warmth embrace of his light eyes.

“You do, or else you wouldn’t know that I would never have the heart to kill you.”

“Well to be honest I wouldn’t know anymore because you sure as hell have the heart to hurt me…” I looked down to my bruises and stared hard at them, remembering each time his hand touched me cruelly and I felt my gaze turn icy cold, al of the warmth in me for him gone all over again.

“It hurt me to hurt you, I only did it because he needed evidence that I didn’t love you, he wouldn’t believe my word, he forced me into doing that to you, he said if I didn’t then he would do it himself and I know that he would have killed you, he wouldn’t have spared you like I did, he would have hurt you way more,” Eissa grabbed my arm gently and turned it around a bit to look at one of the bruises he planted on me. I looked up at him and saw the pain in his eyes that the mask never let me get a glance of.

I snatched my arm away from him. “And still, you won’t tell me who’s him.”

“Just please, don’t speak of this or else I swear you will die. All of you will.”

Suddenly I remembered the others and felt a squeeze in my chest.

“Maybe telling them would help me save us…”

“It won’t, Jawaa walla bas sm3ay kalami.”

“You can’t expect me to trust you after all of this!” I looked back to him and he grabbed both of my hands, forcing my eyes to stare into his for a longer time than before.

“If you keep quiet, I will save you.”

“How can I trust your word?” I started to shake my head.

“It wasn’t my choice to do any of this, just please believe that part.”

“Then why the hell did you?”

“I had no choice, I honestly didn’t and I will explain it all to you, I promise but not now. I can’t now.” Eissa’s grip on my wrists felt safe, he didn’t feel like the bad guy anymore, my gut began to warm up to him but my mind still couldn’t process his innocence in any of this.

“If you don’t help us in any way to escape then I’ll be the one to kill you,” I said sternly but he broke in a fit of laughter once I said it.

“I’ll even let you kill me if you want.”

“I don’t need your help or permission in killing you.”

“I’m sure you don’t, after seeing you kill all those zombies when we played those video games, I should be the one terrified of you, ha?” Suddenly it was the old Eissa I knew and I couldn’t help but smile.

“Yeah,” I quickly bit my lip to stop the smile.

“Too late, you already smiled you know,” he suddenly said, obviously noticing and his smile only grew bigger. “You know, you’ve got a beautiful one.”

“What?”

“A beautiful smile. There’s one thing I’m not surprised from the others from doing.”

“And that is?” I asked with confusion, not understanding where this was going.

“I’m not surprised that they kidnapped you. If anyone had to steal one beautiful thing from this world, it would have to be you,” Eissa said earnestly, looking me dead in the eye with pure seriousness.

I looked away.

“Jawaa, shfeech?”

“Wela shay,” I hid my flushed cheeks, I hated that body reacted this way to him but I didn’t control my emotions. I still hated him but a part of me didn’t and that part was starting to grow.

I heard a familiar ringtone. It was the generic ringtone of an iPhone. I saw Eissa fumble into his pockets and take his iPhone. He answered it quickly and I watched him eagerly.

“Aloo?”  Eissa’s face seemed frightened. I hadn’t ever seen this side of him before. I always assumed he was the leader of the kidnapping group but I wasn’t sure of what to think or believe anymore.

“Ee ka bared’ha al7een shfeek mste3eel? La bas kent bakhara3ha l2nha 7m**a w lsanha 6weel,” Eissa then later turned to look at me and mouthed a “sorry”.

I glared at him.

“Ee mashe, ka bas nu9 sa3a w naw9al, khala9t menha. Yalla okay, bye.” He hung up.

“Who was that?”

“Him.” Eissa turned to look at me, looking serious.

“We can run away, we can just drive back home,” I begged him with my eyes.

“Walla ma negder Jawaa,” Eissa looked apologetic.

“Enrid nakheth’hom kelhom w nen7ash Eissa! Bas goul 7ag el shr6a mnu ohma w besa3douna,” I pleaded.

“What if I told you one of them was a police officer?”

“Mu men 9ijik…”

“I told you, you know nothing Jawaa and that’s the safest for you. It’ll be over soon enough, I promise you but you can’t show them that you know anything about us or else they will never let you go. I promise you that.”

“Eissa, please.”

“Remember when I told you a way to kill off the zombies? By hiding in a spot to be patient for them to get to you first but you told me it was stupid and we should just run into them to kill them off with the gun?” Eissa suddenly reminded me of the day we played together.

“Yeah…”

“And what happened when you didn’t listen to me?”

“I ended up running towards them and the zombies just grew in numbers, and then suddenly they were behind me too, they weren’t just in front of me, soon enough I was in a corner and I died in the game and lost instantly.”

“Be patient, don’t just run into the problem when you have no idea how to even fix it.”

“If you’re not right this time, I will tell them instantly and find my own way to escape.”

“I know you will bas enshallah it won’t have to come to that, I’ll find a way just trust me.”

“I can’t trust you.” I said bluntly. “And I don’t.”

“Then pretend to, just for now.”

“I can’t pretend either.”

“Offh Jawaa, el 3nad ely feech mu 6bee3y!” He groaned, putting his face into the palm of his hand.

“Adre.”

“Yalla lazem enrid w b3dain lazm a76ch wara methl gabl 3shan chena ma sheftay shay, fahma?”

“Okay…”

“Mu al7een, bas lema aw9al yem el bait w el qe9a ena wadaitch mukan ykhari3, ma khalaitch etshoufeen shay w bas 6agaitch 3shan ma etkalmeeny eb esloubch el kh*ra mara thanya, say those exact words. Even to your friends.”

“Why do you care about what I say to them?”

“Because you have to say it to them, you have to.”

“Why?”

“Just do it Jawaa,” Eissa said and started the engine of the car, driving properly again. I hadn’t even realized we were parked for so long, I totally forgot about my surroundings.

He drove in silence and I sat in silence, I replayed his words thousands of times in my head and I hadn’t realized that we’d drove that far off until he nudged my shoulder, telling me it’s time to go into the trunk to act like I was truly put there for the whole ride.

“Jawaa,” Eissa had his mask on, now he looked like Deep Voice again but his voice was Eissa. He looked down at me, I was laid in the trunk of the car and my wrists were tied to my back, he didn’t put the black cloth over me just yet.

“Abeech etgouleenlehom b3d shay,” he said, sounding uncomfortable.

“What else?” I asked.

“That I raped you.”

-

Comment down below and tell me what you think.

Do you think the plan Eissa is keeping will work?