Femme Fatale.

40

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Carla's mind wonders to what could have befallen Lax.
Lax could be lying in her bed in silence,like one who has dropped dead of fear and exhaustion. Her gaze could be blank on the canopy of her bed, her eyes wide open, seeing nothing.
But what if she hasn't made it to her bed? What if she is still out in the dark?
Carla knows she has to make sure Lax is fine. She sits on her bed and calls Dinah, the hostel mistress.
*_*

Songs for the chapter:
All the good girls go to hell - Billie Eilish
Together - Sia

CARLA:

Dinah's face flushes scarlet with anger. I see my bedmate, Zahra, drop her gaze to the floor and quietly praying that Dinah's does not turn to her. With her head low, she steals a sideways glance to the rest of the girls in the hostel and sees them in the same pose.

Only I, my hands clasped tightly on the bedcover of my bed so that they should not tremble, keep my eyes on Dinah's suffused  face, my face schooled to a look of polite inquiry.

"Before God!" Dinah rages at me. "I am not letting anyone into my hostel!"

"Practically it's our hostel." I observe quietly. "And it is my right to go out whenever I wish or bring a friend in as I please."

"Never! I'm not letting her in!" Dinah's shout becomes a roar. Zahra flinches beside me for Dinah is as terrifying as a baited bear.

"Why? How has Lax offended you? She is a girl of absolute virtue." I say calmly as my heart beats wildly against it's ribcage. "Or is it your own skin you seek to protect?"

She leaps to her feet, and it takes all the courage in me not to shrink back.

"What the devil do you want of me?" She yells to my face. Her spittle showers my cheeks. I do not blink or turn away. I sit on my bed as if I am made of rock while she is a terrifying tide, raging into shore.

"I want my girlfriend safe, that is all." I say quietly, surprising myself at the title I give Lax and admitting to be a homosexual which is a grave sin in this Muslim high school.

"Go!" She bellows. "Go! For God's sake and leave us all in peace. "Go and stay out there!"

Slowly, I shake my head. "I would not leave, not even for my lover, if you do not swear to protect my secret."

There is a long painful silence. Zahra looks up and sees the tears on my face but my expression stays completely calm. I know that I have just surrendered the chance to hold Lax, to comfort her.

Dinah glares at me with absolute hatred for a moment and I my head and nod to a first year student behind Dinah. "Get her some water," I say coolly.

Angrily, Dinah pushes the posts my bed and it scrapes like a scream on the tiled floor. The girl I've sent rises uncertainly. Dinah drops onto the side of my bed as if she is exhausted, sitting on the palm of my right hand.

I look at her, drained as she is by our quarrel, but I am not beaten.

"Please don't let anyone know I'm seeing her and just let me out to find her." I say very quietly.