Paradise Chapter 20

I'm sorry, I said before I had finals and this is such a busy month as it is, I couldn't write a post but the two days really gave my head loads of ideas that I couldn't think of before!

I'm so happy with this post, I finally was able to write it properly and I hope you all enjoy it, it's full of ACTION!

Please don't get mad or annoyed when posts aren't as fast or when I post one instead of two chapters, 3abrouni shway walla I promise I am trying and I am going to make sure I complete the story as well as I can. 

Thank you all SO much for the great feedback, the support and everything, love you all to bits and hope you all are enjoying Ramadhan so far.

-

Previously in Chapter 19:

I did as I was told, I woke Hamdan, Dalala and Muneera as quietly as possible, they were all confused but they listened when they saw that the door was wide open.

But they were about to wake up Mi7sen too, I stopped them and shushed them, promising I’d explain later.

We all found Eissa outside and Hamdan was about to attack him, thinking that we were going to get caught but I stood in front of him to stop him.

“Stop, he’s with us,” I whispered and Hamdan looked confused as hell. I didn’t blame him, even Dalal and Muneera shot me shocked and weirded out looks.

“Yalla bsr3a,” Eissa hissed and the rest only followed me because they trusted me. Eissa had locked the room as quietly as possible before ushering us down the dark hallway.

“Wain ray7een?” I hissed to Eissa, my heart galloping in my chest but the words that came out of his words only made it race even faster.

“I promised I’d save you, didn’t I?”

-

“Jawaa, what’s going on?! Why are you trusting that a**hole?!” Hamdan finally cried out in frustration once we successfully made it out of the house. I was surprised; the house was located on such a normal street in Jabriya. Who could have guessed that the house was holding us hostage?

“I can explain but we don’t have time now, he’s with us and Mi7sen was with them all along, walla!” I said the words as fast as I could but Hamdan stared blankly at me, not being able to process my words.

Muneera and Dalal stared just as blankly too, unable to speak.

“Bsr3a deshaw!” Eissa took his mask off and I heard them gasp behind us, he unlocked a black SUV and hurried inside, we followed him and non of them spoke, neither would I to be honest, it was too much information to take in, plus seeing Deep Voice’s true identity too?

Little by little I trusted Eissa again, he wouldn’t have ever betrayed me again when he so bluntly took his mask off, baring his identity to us.

“Take us home,” I said the words and tears began to fill up my eyes.

I was finally going to see my parents again.. my sister.. I was finally going to be free.

Eissa left the parking area of the house and sped, driving fast towards where I lived, I knew the route by heart and our house was the best place to go first.

“You have to tell me everything now, why all of this happened, I want answers,” I looked to Eissa, pleading for the answers I waited too long to hear.

“Not now, lazem naw9al awal b3dain y9er khair,” Eissa kept his eyes on the road.

“Sh9ayer?! Shl salfa?!” Hamdan was the first to speak up.

“Eee! What the hell is this?!” Muneera followed.

“Ifffh, bas redna el bait awal,” Dalal said with annoyance, not eager to know the answers. “Menzaman mu mitsab7a!”

“Walla agoulekom kelshay bas naw9al! Hadaw balkom,” Eissa said in a gentle voice.

“You raped her!” Hamdan cried out in anger. “And now you’re on his side Jawaa?!”

I could feel their eyes on me, I had to now confess to lying, they wouldn’t be able to look at me in the same way again… how could someone lie about such a thing and cause the people they cared about to feel such pity and pain for them?

“I never raped her, I made her lie,” Eissa said the words for me and I looked at him, grateful. “Mi7sen kan m3ahom w kena lazem enbayenla ena ma7bha wla chan ma gdrt ag3ad m3ahom w asa3dkom, chan gafolouni m3akom bel dar.”

“Men 9ijkom?!” Muneera cried out in shock. “All this time Jawaa?! It was a lie?!”

I felt their disapproving eyes burn into my back; I couldn’t turn in the passenger’s seat to face them. I just couldn’t. I was so ashamed of myself already.

“I s-swear I didn’t want to,” I said, my voice small and quiet.

“I forced her and she did it for you guys, or else I wouldn’t be able to get those a**hole’s trust to save you all,” Eissa backed me up.

“You’re the one who put us into this situation! You helped them kidnap us!” Hamdan grew angry.

“Walla I didn’t want to! I didn’t choose, they forced me, I didn’t even know Jawaa would be one of the students, they promised they wouldn’t hurt any of you, that it was going to last for two hours.”

“W enta el 7m*r 9adegt w sa3adt’hom?!”

“It was supposed to be a senior prank!” Eissa finally let it out and I could see the truth unravel before me. “It was all just a prank but I never found out that it was actually real until we had you guys locked up inside and they got out real guns, I always assumed the guns were fake.”

“W laish ma sa3adtna lema 3areft?!” I suddenly cried out in frustration.

“Because they threatened me,” Eissa’s eyes suddenly looked pained, we were stuck in traffic and his fists were clenched over the steering wheel in anger, his knuckles growing white.

“What?” Muneera, Hamdan and I all asked in sync, Dalal was too careless to speak up but I could see her eyes were on Eissa, watching him, eager for him to continue.

“They threatened to kill me, it was supposed to be a prank, one of them were my best friends…”

“Mu6lag?” I suddenly said.

“Shdarach?” Eissa looked at me in surprise.

“Ekhta galat esma, el ghabeya,” I rolled my eyes remembering how evil the little sister was too.

“They were going to kill me, right there and then if I didn’t help, they watched me the whole time, they made me do everything, they forced me into hurting you Jawaa, I never wanted to, I had to act along or else I was dead and then there was no hope for you or them to escape,” Eissa turned to look at Hamdan, Dalal and Muneera sitting behind us when he said “them.”

“Why?” I whispered, looking at him, his words were sincere, his voice croaked up.

“They planned to get money off of you and the rest of you, but especially you Jawaa, they wanted to send your parents your ear to scare them off to get even more money…”

My heart began to race, Eissa kept his eyes on the road again, unable to control his emotions, he took a long breath before continuing.

“Then they would kill every one of you because you saw and heard too much, aghbeya, it was too obvious, kan eb bait Mu6lag! W ahala emsafreen fa bas ekhta mawjouda, w ekhta etsolif ma taskit, soon enough they’d find us anyway and they knew that, so they wanted to get the money then kill you all and then finally escape.”

“7me*r,” Hamdan said under his breath, “Mi7sen?! My cousin?!”

“Mi7sen wa7d thane, el Mi7sen ely et3rfa mat menzaman,” Eissa suddenly said.

“Ha?” Hamdan looked confused.

“I’ve known Mi7sen, 9j we’re in different schools but I know a lot of the guys in your school. I did think it was weird for them to ask me to help with a senior prank when I wasn’t even in the high school to begin with bas gelt fal w wanasa, w el fekra kanat 3ajeeba w a7la shay ena mu bel medrisa so I won’t get suspended or sh*t.”

“Now I know they wanted me to help because they wanted to my car, yahal ma 3ndehum seyayeer, galoli yeeb el SUV w el van el qadeem mal sharekat obouy 3labuna benga79 b3d ma enkhali9 men el prank, w galoli ena you guys knew you were going get fake kidnapped and knew it was a prank w kentaw m3ana bel prank.”

“What the f*ck?!” Hamdan suddenly said.

“W galaw ena lazem enmathl 6oul el wakt l2na emsajleena kela w b76ouna eb youtube, el9ara7a gelt ena what a genius prank, it would have made such a good video too and school would be cancelled for the rest of the day, so no boring classes before the weekend… madre madre,” Eissa suddenly shook his head, unable to grasp the whole reality of the situation. “Now that I think of it, 9j 9aida ena 9adegt kel shay.”

“Akbar 9aida,” Hamdan huffed.

“Hamdan!” Muneera nudged him, suddenly I realized that uneera began to trust Eissa, way faster than I ever did and I truly now realized that all of this was true, no matter how hard it was for me to believe such a mess of a story but it made sense, every bit of it did.

But I couldn’t forget how Eissa had hurt me so well, I knew he had to do it as an act in front of the others but I wished he told me earlier.

“Laish ma gltly men awal shay?” I suddenly asked him.

“You’re the worst actor in the world,” Eissa laughed out of the blue, “tabene agoulch 3shan etkharben kh6ity?”

“Hey tara I lied about rape and they believed me!”

“Ee bas sh3ugba? After they saw the pain I put you through, it made it so easy for you to hate me when you didn’t know who I was.”

“You could have hurt me less, you know,” I said, my voice growing quiet.

“I wish I never had to hurt you in the first place Jawaa,” Eissa suddenly looked at me, his face sincere. “I also had a few other reasons.”

“What?”

“Another one… I didn’t want to promise to save you and fail at it, I wanted to make sure to get it done first wla bakoun jedan fashl jidamch.”

“Eissa…”

“W b3d haman shay thane.”

“Shnu?”

“Ma kan 3nde khe6a awal shay, it took me a day to get one.”

“How?”

“I had help.”

“3anoud.”

“Mnu 3anoud?” I suddenly glared at Eissa.

“7beebat Mu6lag, shfteeha, ely sh3rha aswad w 6weel,” Eissa was growing closer to our house; I was watching the road now too.

“The b*tch?” I said without thinking.

“She’s not a b*tch, 3adlay esloubch,” Eissa suddenly snapped at me and I was surprised, I bit on my tongue, growing angry.

“Without her, I couldn’t have gotten us out of there, el maskeena al7een lal7een m3ahom bas enshallah her plan works too and she sneaks out 30 minutes after us.”

“W shsawat ehy?”

“3anoud?” Muneera said, sounding confused. I looked at her and mouthed, “I’ll explain later,” and she nodded.

“Ee 3anoud, ma shftouha entow. Elmohm, she never wanted Mu6lag to do any of this but the 7m*r still did, she knew about it, she couldn’t stop him, first she thought he was joking, galat ena musta7eel wa7d ghabe mthla yswe kel hatha w ma estaw3ebet ena el ghabe 3nda rabi3.”

“Elmohm, after everything was done and we were all taken, she came over to see him since his family were gone and found us, at first they hada huge fight bas Mu6lag 3a9ab w 6ag’ha, ma gdrt t6la3 wla gdrt etdg 3la a7ad, she knew he’d kill her next so she had to act that she changed her mind because she loved him and she acted along with me to appear as if we both supported them and their f*cked up idea.”

“Fa lema Mu6lag yenam, ehya etkoun m3ah, khathat telephone w 7awelet etdig chem mara bas ma gdrt etdig 3adl, sa3adna b3ath w 6l3na khe6a.”

“Shnu?” We all asked him, even Dalal spoke up this time.

“3anoud el wa7eeda ely t3rf wain el bait w etdila, ana wla marait 3nd Mu6lag, kent ashoufa bel diwaneya 3nd bait Mi7sen chem bara bas klsh ma kent 7ail m3ah, bas baina salam,” Eissa said, taking a turn and we drove into the area I lived in. We passed the familiar Mcdonalds I pass every morning on my way to school and my stomach rumbled, obviously hungry.

“Ee?” I said, wanting him to continue.

“Legeina fur9a w dageina 3la el shr6a, el mshkela ena nadre etha ew9elaw, they can easily kill all of us or leave by the back door, it was risky as it is and the problem was that Mu6lag’s dad was a police officer, kan 3nda chem wa96a w dabar omoora, madre shloun, la tes2linee, fa hal shay khara3ne.”

“All we had to do was escape and the rest would be on their hands, we needed proof of their identities too, which I have and 3anoud has the rest of the evidence, she told me she’d slip it into the SUV before I escaped with all of you when they were asleep.”

“They finally trusted me enough to let me stay awake and watch you guys, usually each of us would take turns to watch incase any of you escape and I had to prove to them I was on their side or else I wouldn’t get to be the only one awake to get you all out of there.”

Eissa suddenly stopped talking and I looked to the front, his eyes stopped glancing back at me while he spoke, and finally I realized we were finally outside my house.

And we weren’t alone.

There was at least a dozen police cars parked outside the white painted villa, but against the yellow coloured lights it looked more of a beige in the night; all of them were waiting for us and my parents were standing outside with my sister, their faces broke out in smile and tears once they saw us arrive.

“And finally, we got to escape before they had to use plan 2,” Eissa concluded.

None of them waited for Eissa to continue his explanation, they all hurried outside the car to run to their families, I hadn't even realised the rest of the families were there until they hurried outside to hug them, but I stayed in my seat, not even an inch of me moving.

“Jawaa, go,” Eissa turned to look at me with a relieved smile on his handsome bare face. It felt so good to see his face and not such an ugly mask.

“Thank you,” I finally said, my eyes full of tears. I stared at him, the emotions were overwhelming, I couldn’t lie, I doubted him many times and imagined that he would suddenly park at some other place that would hold us as hostages but I was parked in front of my own home, the home I was desperate to be back in.

“I’m sorry,” he sighed and his hands squeezed my arm but I did something that shocked us both next, I suddenly grabbed him to hug him quickly before leaving the car in a hurry to hug my family next, they were looking for me in the cluster of police cars and bodies in student uniforms, they hadn’t realized that I just left the car.

I felt Eissa stare at me from behind, I saw the way his eyes widened in shock when I hugged him so suddenly, and it felt quick but warm and genuine. I was next in the arms of my family and the tears took over me all over again.

"Jawaa! 7beebty Jawaa!" My mother cried into my hair, hugging me the tightest and I felt my sister hold onto my arm.

"I thought I was finally rid of one annoying sister who stole all my stuff but when you were really gone, I wished I had you back, I swore to God I'd give all my Cartier bracelets to you if you came back alive," my sister cried along and her words were muffled but I could understand her, I smiled and grabbed her closer.

"Mabe Cartier bas abeech entay," I laughed, tears in my eyes and my father kissed my forehead.

"La etsaween feena chi the mara thanya, fahma?!" I rarely ever saw tears in the wrinkled eyes of my father's but now his eyes were pouring.

"I promise I won't," I sobbed into each one of them, thanking God what seemed like a million times in my head for having them back, for being home.

"El7mdellah, el7mdellah," I would hear whispers of my mother thanking God too and it made me smile.

God it felt good to be home.

But it was all too damn good to be true…

Because next, I heard a scream. 

A terrified scream. 

From a man.

It was Eissa.

We all turned to look and we found Mi7sen behind Eissa, he grabbed him from behind and he had a gun to Eissa’s head.

Eissa, with his short hair and handsome face but there wasn't a smile to accompany a handsome face, nor were his coloured eyes filled with life but this time, his face was covered in sweat, his eyes were wide with terror and his mouth was gaping open.

Automatically dozens of policemen got their guns out, ready to aim and shoot.

“I SWEAR I’LL KILL HIM!” Mi7sen screamed at the top of his lungs, I watched in horror and only guessed that Mi7sen was hiding in the SUV’s trunk of the car all this time since the trunk was open.

I knew we were doomed.. but I hadn’t realized how doomed we were until I heard a loud BANG! Of a gunshot and my eyes shut closed in horror, dozens of screams and cries escaped from all of us and I was too terrified to open up my eyes to see who had been shot.

-

What do you think of the post today?

Comment down below!