Paradise Hell

Cigarrette Men

-They were just there when I left. Over.

"So I will have to look for them myself", Mr. Johnson thought.

Meanwhile, in the women's restroom, Julia watched as Amany tried to straighten her beautiful curly hair. She couldn't help but be fascinated by the boss's daughter's concern for her own appearance during such a difficult moment. Julia had already taken a shower and just wanted to brush her teeth while waiting for Amany to finish her beauty ritual.

- Why do you keep watching me?" Amany said.

- Do you want help?" Julia replied, her mouth still full of toothpaste. 

- No. I'm definitely fine.

"Of course. Totally fine, straightening your hair during the Third World War," Julia thought, but she didn't have the courage to say it out loud. She continued brushing her teeth, wondering if she would still have a job after all of this.

- Can you go faster?" Amany asked, noticing Julia's lack of diligence in brushing her teeth. She wanted to get out of that cold bathroom, with its extremely bright light and the smell of excessive use of cleaning products. She couldn't realize that she was the one slowing things down.

Julia just pointed to her own mouth full of toothpaste, when suddenly Johnson barged into the bathroom, accompanied by a very thin and pale man. The two women looked surprised as he entered and immediately began questioning them. He demanded to know what they were doing, where they had been, and why they had disappeared from his sight.

Amany and Julia were scared and confused, not understanding what they had done wrong. Had they missed the flight? Wasn't the plan to wait for twenty hours until the next flight? Amany wondered as the officer fired question after question.

- I didn't know we couldn't take a shower, sir, Amany said in her usual tone, that of those who always demand better treatment.

- What she's trying to say is... Julia tried to intervene.

- Why so many questions?- Amany asked Mr. Johnson, still panting and looking worried.

- We just care about your well-being, he replied after thinking for a moment.

-Thank yo— Julia tried to say before being interrupted by Amany.

-We need a bit of privacy here, the American said.

Amany and Julia stared at each other in silence, completely confused about what that intervention had been. Julia leaned over the sink and began rinsing her mouth, still with some toothpaste in it, and then said: 

- This was a police investigation.

- But he's not exactly a police officer, Amany added.

- Something's not right here, Julia replied with seriousness.

- What could be wrong, aside from not being put on that flight with my father?

- I don't want to be rude, and I understand your father has his reasons, but...-

Júlia was trying to be diplomatic, but at this point, something was clear to her, Markus had fled the country and left Amany behind, and there had to be some shady reason for it. In response, she simply said:

- We need to get out of here as quickly as possible, she finished, not wanting to open up too much about her concerns to the boss's daughter.

Amany didn't have much to argue, and in a way, she felt there was truth in Julia's words. This was her country, and if Julia was sensing that something bad, beyond what they knew, was happening, there had to be a reason. Amany held a degree in Law and knew that the fact she had burned papers from the German Embassy on her father's orders meant something more sinister.