Between the Grapevines

10. 'Ashra

Riyad screamed until his throat was raw and his head hurt from the stress his crying placed on his body, but his parents never returned. So, when he picked up his baby brother and cared for him at only four years, Riyad taught himself to never need another's help but his lesson on trust came much later. Even though his trust was fragile after his parents' departure, it was only truly broken the day the baby he carried in his arms at such a young age was hung in front of him.

When he felt something on his cheek, Riyad flinched in surprise and lifted his head off the ground he'd fallen asleep on. His arm flew toward the sky to latch onto the hand he felt across his forehead.

A few inches above him, Harakat had tried to pull back from her near proximity when he suddenly awoke, her eyes wide in surprise. Even as the tension rippled through his body at the unexpected contact, Riyad recognized the girl and softened his hold around her wrist. "What...," his breathing shook with the sudden encounter before he released his hold so she may pull her hand back. His eyes roamed the farms around them with an awakening confusion about the state he'd woken into. "What are you doing?" He breathed, pushing himself off the ground to sit up to her level.

She rubbed her wrist with her other hand where he'd gripped so tightly onto her skin. Her eyes caught onto his forehead with a subtle gesture and Riyad lifted his fingers to touch the dampness across his skin. He was sweating but the weather around him was far from hot. The girl sitting before him watched him with knit brows, the hijab on her head blowing gently with the cool breeze.

Riyad glanced down at the sweat beads that had transferred onto his dusty fingers, his mind gradually beginning to process his state after his sleep had run so deeply. He pulled his head away when Harakat patted his forehead with the sleeve of her long abaya. A flicker of hesitation crossed her expression.

He straightened across from her. "What are you doing here?" He glanced around them then at the sun that had raised itself higher into the sky.

Harakat cupped her hands around her eyes as if to hold binoculars then focused her eyes onto Riyad and squinted for exaggeration.

"Looking for me?" He asked. She nodded and dropped her hands onto her legs. "But you're supposed to stay in the apartment. With that soldier there, the camp isn't safe for you to be alone... where- what time is it?"

She raised one finger, her focus shifting to something else as Riyad's eyes widened in surprise. "One? I've been here for four hours? I was supposed to watch the...." Riyad jumped up to fix his clothing and dust himself of the leaves and dirt that had clung to his clothes. In his hurry, he nearly forgot about the girl who'd stood silently behind him until he turned and found her no longer behind him. Instead, she'd begun slowly moving toward the small wooden home at the end of the fields, her abaya dragging on the floor behind her.

When he saw her refocused attention, Riyad's heart launched into his throat and nearly tore through his skin. He called out to her but she continued forward, her eyes wide with curiosity until Riyad hurried after her. "Harakat, stop it. We need to go back," his attempts were ignored.

Riyad felt bare. Racing desperately after the girl who gradually moved toward his childhood home, his space, his comfort, and his past. If she stepped in, she would see more of him than Riyad had allowed anybody to see. Only two people had been allowed within his space—one was killed and the other had been the killer. Never would Riyad allow anybody into the home that Harakat continued to innocently toward. The home that created, housed, and raised Riyad into the man he'd become when he signed their marriage contract.

From its broken, worn-down walls to its untouched and wholly preserved inside, that buildingwas Riyad.

"Harakat!" He hissed, seizing her hand and spinning her away just as she'd come a few more steps from the creaking front door. She gasped at his strength, her entire body twirling in the air to redirect her steps. "Stop it," Riyad breathed, his eyes nearly as wide as hers as they both peered at one another. "That place... is off-limits, do you understand?" He asked, though it hardly seemed to be a question.