Hello guys!
So I have joined work from this week and here's a chapter for only you guys. Pray for me! I am so tired all the time :(
I hope you enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think? Please pretty please :)
I haven't proof read so please if anything is wrong then sorry <3
I won't be updating before next week again as working everyday takes a toll on my brain. Hopefully I'll be able to produce more frequent updates when my "real" summer vacation starts which means in two weeks <3
Love
Shona
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Unfortunately, it is human nature for us to only learn and grow from a place of emptiness. It's hard to learn when we are winning and on top of the world.
Yehuda Berg
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Shawn slowly turns around with me close beside him. Hearing Ahmeds voice behind us took us both by surprise, I could sense Shawns body stiffen as his grip on me tightened. What bother me more than that Ahmed actually is standing there in front of us is that he is holding a gun pointed at Shawn. I don't know how many guns I have encountered the few days I have spent with Shawn. Shawn seem to be in a dilemma as he has Ahmed and Yousef at both of our sides, he seem to contemplate on which side to push me to. I don't know if to feel grateful for his concern or ashamed for making it hard for him.
"Yousef are you alright?" Ahmed questions his brother concerned as if he is the victim in here, oh well I at least did my best at knocking him out.
Yousef stands on his feet now collecting himself. "Never been better." Yousef says while throwing daggers at me with his bloodshot eyes.
I have this urge to either smirk or stick my tongue out to him just to annoy him but I know that will only result in more trouble.
Letting my eyes wander between the brothers, realization hits me. The brothers have actually cornered us from opposite sides, this time I do get scared and clutch on to Shawn due to panic. I can feel Shawns pulse throb in sync with mine and I shift my gaze to him to get a glimpse of his frown, a vein in his forehead is visible hinting that he is thinking hard. Ya Allah save us, my heart is drumming violently and I can feel the nausea on the way. I am literally cold sweating, my palms are so sticky on Shawns arms that I just hope he doesn't notice.
"Save yourself now." Yousef smirks meeting my gaze and I grimace disgusted.
My eyes narrows at him. "Shut your smart mouth." I hear Shawn warn him through gritted teeth.
Yousefs eyebrows shoots up. "Or else?" Yousef mocks with a amused expression as if he is actually enjoying this. "How will you save your princess now?" He continues and Shawn glares at him, if only looks could kill. "I can't believe that you jeopardized your life for this creature." Yousef nods towards me and shakes his head disapprovingly.
Shawns next words makes warmth spread through my heart. "I don't mind jeopardizing my life over and over again for a fellow human being with a sincere heart." Shawn claims with his nose flaring making me proud of him.
Ahmed sneers. "My, my, is this really Shawn who is speaking? Sounds more like Romeo." Yousef chuckles at his older brothers lame joke and I glare at them disgusted. "I thought you hated everything and everyone? Where's the strong, obedient, strict and disciplined Shawn?" Ahmed mocks and I feel Shawns temper rise for every second, I squeeze his arm a bit to signal him to relax.
Ahmed lets the tip of the gun rest on his temple and shakes his head. "Whatever, let just finish them and get going." Yousef says nonchalantly and Ahmed nods smugly.
My panic is back again when the gun is pointed at Shawn and Ahmed is all ready to shoot. I close my eyes and inhale a deep breath. "Goodbye Shawn." Ahmed voices cheerfully.
"No!" I suddenly hear myself scream and shift in my position.
"Sana!" Shawn voices surprised.
Just when I stand in front of Shawn as half a shield, due to the fact that Shawn is bigger than me, Javed and Saeed shows up holding Yousef and Ahmed on gunpoint. Yes! I want to do victory laps at the same speed as of my racing heart. Allhamdullilah, thank you God.
"Are you guys alright?" Javed questions with worry mixed with a hint of mischievousness in his green eyes and I go crimson realizing what I just did.
"Yeah we are fine." I hear Shawn with a monotonous voice from behind me and I don't even dare to look back.
This is beyond embarrassing and I don't even know how to act than standing there as a statue but I am sure my heart is beating loud enough for the whole world to hear.
Shawn breaks me from my stupid thoughts when he stomps over to Yousef with a straight posture.
Shawn bends to stand face to face with Yousef. "Save youself now." He mocks at the same way as Yousef did moments ago.
Yousef glares at him. "All of this for a girl." He shakes his head disapprovingly.
Shawn gets rigid and straightens his back again. "Yeah about that." Shawn verbalizes and a shocking thunder echoes through the corridor.
My eyes widens and my hand reaches my mouth as I gasp. No it wasn't a bomb, but the loud sound was close enough.
"That is for slapping her." Shawn states after slapping Yousef hard enough to break a skull.
Yousef looks up at Shawn with a disgusting smirk and shakes his head after spitting some dark blood on the red carpet. His right cheek now contains a visible red handprint, it looks like he has been burned.
All of our eyes are plastered on Yousefs cheek. "Okay it is time to start moving." Saeed finally breaks us from our trans and hurries us.
"Shawn." Osman uncle shows up and guess what he has in his hand too? This is getting ridiculous, anyone else want to join the lovely reunion?
"Salam uncle." The boys greets him in unison which doesn't actually surprise me.
"I didn't expect this from you at all." Osman uncle says nostalgic to Shawn and Shawn looks upset.
I know he held immense respect for Osman uncle and it must hurt to disappoint him, but at least he is standing up for what's right. "I am sorry uncle but I couldn't go on with all the injustice we caused. If seeing from a Islamic view we were actually sinning." Shawn utters surprising me.
Shawn is explaining someone about what's right and wrong according to Islam? Wow, did the sun rise in the west today?
Osman uncle shakes his head in slow motion and snickers. "I am glad you have found your own path but I wished I could let you go so easily. I have a bigger goal than what's concerned right and wrong." Osman uncle claims calmly and points the gun towards Shawn.
And no I didn't jump in front of him, again, to take a bullet for him. In fact even if I had the urge to do that I didn't get the chance, thankfully!
A deep familiar voice suddenly hit us before I could react. "Okay that's enough." Ibrahim shows up from nowhere pointing his gun at Osman uncle, hallelujah the reunion continues! "I am sorry for being disrespectful uncle but I can't let you kill my brothers." Ibrahim says and I feel offended that he doesn't remember me. "And of course my sister." He winks seeing my sour expression and a cheerful smile breaks on my lips. "And guys seriously how slow are you? Common move!" He orders and the guys starts to walk out from there holding Osman uncle and his sons at gunpoint.
Shawn protects me as a shield and when we are beside the stairs he grabs my hand. We all start to run down the stairs and I feel out of breath, seriously it has been a long and tiring day.
"Didn't I tell you to stay away from trouble?" Shawn scolds while we runs.
I grimace hearing that, what does he think of himself? "And didn't I tell you to not save me?" I snap at him and he rolls his eyes.
"So much for saving your life." He utters and I try to jerk away my hand from his iron grip in vain.
When finally exiting the main entrance and breathing some fresh air I feel at peace. Shawn pushes me into the front seat of his car whereas already Sara, Maryam and aunt Heba is located in the backseats. Seeing them my face breaks into a smile, Allhamdullilah they took the right decision. Shawn drives of with the other car close behind us.
My mind starts to untangle now, not in a nice way but in a messy way. "Shawn, there's a mujahid." I pause when I see his confused grimace, how do I explain this to him? "I mean a man who will blow himself up soon at the central of Stockholm." I enlighten Shawn vaguely. "We need to stop him!" I say incoherently and Shawn furrows his eyebrows slightly while my heart beats fast due to anxiety.
Mujahid is actually a person who struggles for Allah. The literally meaning is inner-struggler which means to struggle with your inner demons and become a better human being. However some people have taken it so far to blow themselves and innocent people up, thinking they're committing holy war when in reality there isn't anything holy about it. Killing innocent even in war is forbidden, especially old, children and woman.
I slit my attention back to reality. "And how will we do that Sana? We don't even know how he looks or who he is." Shawn retort back and I get annoyed at his bland answer.
"His name is Abdul wali Aslam. I heard him talk to dad." Maryam states from behind making Shawn and me take a glance at each other.
"Thank you Maryam." I express gratitude as I know this must be hard for her.
"Even if we know his name it will be hard to find him." Shawn says negatively.
No surprise as he is the true definition of a pessimist. "Shawn stop it! Ask Zaki to track him down or something." I suggest annoyed crossing my arms.
Shawn shakes his head keeping his eyes at the road. "That won't help Sana, we don't have enough time to run after a man on a suicidal mission." He states and I glare at him.
"So we won't be doing anything?" I question him really disappointed. "What happened with informing the media? If we tell them then they can get the news out and if the whole nation knows about it then the police has to take actions." I keep suggesting whatever comes into my tangled mind as I really don't want anyone to get hurt and also as I can't see the further hate towards Muslims.
It is so much harder to gain love and respect than hate. I gulp and try to calm myself down, stress won't help me.
"Sana, we didn't contact the media. We have changed the plan." Shawn finally enlightens me and I look at him shocked.
"Okay so what's the new one?" I question with anticipation.
He halts the car making me hurl forward, hallelujah for seatbelt! Looking around me I see that we are still on the highway. "We are going to have a live sending." Shawn states boring his blue eyes into mine confusing me in the process, what does he mean with live sending?
Are we like going to a radio station? TV-station? "What do you mean?" I stupidly ask.
"I am giving you a chance to give out the news in your way." I raise my eyebrow, that doesn't make sense. "You have always wanted to lecture the world and here is your chance." Nope, still not getting it.
Shawn starts to drive again and I don't bother to ask him what he is going on with as I figure out that I'll know everything I need to know soon enough. When he some minutes later halts in front of another hotel I actually get a bit nervous. Checking into a hotel room Zaki starts to prepare by setting up equipments. In front of a white wall they positions me on a chair and I just wait for them to finish whatever they are up to. "We are ready to roll now." Zaki tells Shawn and he nods.
Shawn kneels down in front of me. "Okay Sana, so here's the deal." He starts while looking straight into my eyes. "Whenever you are ready, Zaki is going to hack in to every radio- and TV-station that he can get access too. Both national and international." Shawn enlightens me and I nod understandingly but still absent minded. "What we want you to do is to just do what you are best on, lecturing people and then tell about the Mujahid or whatever you called the man who is planning to blow himself up. At the end you'll read all the names from the guest list while the names will roll on the screen." Shawn keeps holding my eyes in his piercing blue gaze. "Are you with me Sana?" He questions for confirmation and I stare at him dumbfounded with a drumming heart.
My blood rushes to my ears. I swear my heart is beating uneven due to nervousness. If we watch my beats in a monitor then it would be jumping up and down like crazy that doctors would give me shock treatment.
Am I actually ready for this? I haven't even prepared a speech. "Sana." Javed calls me from behind Shawn and I look up at his green eyes confused. "You know that you can do it, we all believe in you." He says showing me thumbs up and I smile at that.
"Ready?" Shawn asks ones more and this time I give him a nod with a soft smile. "Zaki put the microphone on her."
When I am ready for the camera I inhale a deep breath and nod for the camera to roll, with that we are on action. Hacking in to most of the worlds stations I can hear my heart beat frantically, this is going to be something I will boast to my future grandchildren.
"Assalammalaykum or hello to everyone." I gulp and try to breathe normally, the fact that a huge audience is able to see me live right now is getting to my nerves.
"Before you guys assume that I am a part of Al-Qaida or another extremist group and try to shut me down I want to assure you that it is nothing off that sort. In fact we have hacked into all the systems to inform you about a planned terrorist attack that has to be stopped, right now. A man named."
I look down on my trembling hands to read from a sheet of paper. "Abdul Wali Aslam is right now located on Stockholm central and he is planted there on a suicide mission where he will blow himself up if not being stopped. So I am doing my part to inform the world and I hope the higher authorities looks into the matter. The Stockholm central needs to be evacuated immediately." I inform first so that the countries securities can take whatever measurements needed right away.
The next part I am going to tell is more for the people to open their eyes or just to make them a bit cautious before judging or walking on the wrong path. "Yes, he is a so called Muslim and how I got to know the information is a long story which I prefer to tell another time. Those who doesn't recognize me, I am Sana. The girl who got kidnapped a few days ago from the middle of Stockholm?" Okay, to be honest I have no idea of how many days I have been kidnapped.
"Sorry I haven't been able to keep track of how long I have been gone. When being kidnapped I came to know about a extremist group in Sweden and I have got names on most people connected to the group, most of them are right now checked into the Grand hotel in Stockholm. I will at the end of this live sending disclose the names as I want them to get exposed and never be able to try to hurt another human being." This is something I have been craving to do, exposing the extremist group. Especially to see Yousef behind bars has been my goal since the day he physically attacked me.
However, I do not want them any harm. I just want to knock some sense in to them and keep them safe away from the society. Make them realize right and wrong. I just want them to be human and care for everyone.
"What I want to convey before signing off is that just because the members of the extremist groups calls themselves Muslims doesn't make all the Muslims the same. I am a Muslim myself and to receive hate due to the stupidity of someone else is actually really damaging. Whenever a man in the media is a Muslim and has done something unforgiving he is not just plainly labeled a terrorist, instead he is labeled as the Muslim terrorist. That hurts beyond words as it feels like I am responsible for his deeds and that I need to defend myself for his actions. It damages a person mentally seeing that the Muslim man has done it again, as if the religion Islam teaches violence when it actually doesn't." I try to convey my feelings but I am not sure if I am doing a good job, I sigh.
"Blaming a whole group of people or nations due to a few peoples misdeeds is easy but extremely wrong. We live in the twenty-first century and by now we should know to class people by their deeds, a human being is either good or bad. Not because of their religion or the color of their skin, just due to their actions and what's in their heart." That something that I have been preaching since the day that I have understood about right and wrong.
"If you have any questions about Islam then you can easily search on your web or borrow a book from the library, just drawing conclusions based on what you hear or see from let us say the media is just going to restrict your knowledge and give you a wrong picture. This is for everyone who feels that Islam is a bad religion, if you have questions then feel free to research. If you still do find it bad then congratulations, at least now you have knowledge to say why it is bad and not just voice others opinions shoved into you." I don't even know if my words are making sense anymore.
"And to my Muslim brothers and sisters, if you feel that a injustice is being made upon you then surely fight for your rights but not the wrong way. You can't fight darkness with darkness, can you? The same way you can't fight hate with hate. Believe in Allah and walk on the right path, you will be rewarded. If you're not being rewarded then see it as a test from Allah and continue to do your best. In Sha Allah, if God will, you will succeed in whatever goal you have as long as the intention is good. Be a good human being and you'll see that love, respect and success will come to you." That's where I decide to sign off. "Spread love not war." I say to end my speech.
I purposely didn't speak about the political agendas as involving names of influence people or countries would just make me and my family a easy target for something I know I can't handle, at least not right now.
My eyes habitually finds their way to Shawn now as I feel out of place. He gives me a small smile and nods indicating that I have done my part. I inhale a deep breath and gulp knowing that we are soon done with our mission.
Zaki rolls all the name on the screen from the guest list while I read them out aloud. "And we are out." Zaki finishes shutting down the live sending and I sigh in relief. "Great job Sana." He tells me and I smile.
"To be honest, I have no idea what I was going on about." I tell everyone straight forwarded.
They chuckle. "Don't worry you did great." Javed says and ruffles my hair.
I walk over to where aunt Heba is sitting with Maryam and Sara. She seem to be in so much pain and is lost in deep thoughts. I take her hands in mine and she looks up blankly. "I promise you that I'll do my best to keep you three safe and help you in every way I can to give you guys a fresh start." I assure them and aunt Heba smiles at that.
Shawn comes to me. "Sana, I have called the main police station in Stockholm to check if they have taken us seriously and thankfully they have. They have managed to arrest Abdul Wali Aslam and are on their way to every other person linked to the extremist group." Shawn enlightens me and I nod satisfied.
"What's next for us?" I ask him tiredly rubbing the side of my head.
Shawn gives me a soft smile which doesn't reach his eyes. "There's no next for us. You're now officially free to go home."