As Christina watched the woman spazz, she ran up to the elder woman and grabbed her hand.
"Come in the room with me!" Christina said in her persian language as she ran her into her room.
Christina tugged the older woman into the room with her and quickly shut the door. Soon after, three men walked inside of the hotel room and glanced around. They were very muscular. They gave the woman up front an angry look, giving her a furious look.
"Where is she?" The first man up front growled.
"Who?" The woman cried.
"The woman!" The third man yelled, startling her.
"She ran through the back!" The lady upfront lied. "She told me not to tell you guys that she ran through there, but-"
"Lets go." The second man said as they stepped out of the front.
Soon, the men got into their can and circled around the back. They stopped, looked on the other side of the parking lot, then sped off in the same direction to check if they ran. Meanwhile, the frail woman watched through the peephole, glancing in fear. She turned around and held her chest, coughing and stumbling over to a chair into the hotel room. Christina quickly hung up the phone and looked at Numra as she lifted up in the bed and cut on the light.
"Christina..." Numra groaned in a raspy tone. "What's going on?"
"Mom she needed help and-"
Numra looked at the woman and jolted back, holding her heart as her and the older woman locked eyes. It was her mother. Numra lunged out of the bed and crashed into her, wrapping her arms around her as her mother held her back. After not seeing her for 20 years, the feeling was bitter sweet. It was extremely hard for the both of them to contain their composure.
"Mom...." Numra wept in their language as she held onto her. "I haven't seen you in so long. I missed you......."
"I thought about you every single night, babe. Every single night." Numra's mother wept back as she clutched Numra close to her lap while Numra sat down on her knees.
Numra's mother coughed violently, holding her chest while doing it. She was sick. As she clutched her fingers by her mouth, she looked back up at Numra as Numra jogged over to Christina and placed her arm around her.
"Mom, meet Christina!" Numra smiled. "She's 9 years old."
"I.......I have a grandbaby?" Numra's mother smiled as she looked at her, coughing a little. "Hello, Christina! I'm Athena. Your grandmother!"
"Hi!" Christina said in a shy tone.
"Mom how........how did you get here so quick?" Numra panted as she plopped down onto the bed.
"I can't discuss it, now. They might be listening." Athena whispered. "I.....I promise I'll tell you tomorrow. Okay?"
"Sure. Sure!" Numra smiled as she fixed the bed that Christina was sleeping in. "Christina, grandma's gonna sleep in your bed tonight. You can sleep with me."
"Okay." Christina said as she crawled onto the side of the bed that was closest to the wall, cuddling under the covers. "Goodnight grandma!"
"Goodnight, darling." Athena sighed as she clicked the lights off.
And with that, Numra clicked the lights off to the hotel room and went to sleep.
But just because Athena came off calm, didn't mean that she wasn't scared. Deep inside, she was screaming and begging for help. How she got back to the US was one of the most terrifying and scariest stories up to date. In fact, she didn't want to leave the hotel room. She didn't want to leave the building. Knowing that she was safe at this very moment, she slipped into a deep sleep. A sleep that she hasn't had in a while.
A sleep, that she hadn't had in 20 years.
All throughout the night, Athena coughed and coughed violently, sometimes getting up to fill some of the hotel cups with some water to drink. However, that didn't help. And the coughs that was soaring through her system didn't sound like regular coughs. They sounded deadly. As Numra's mother continued to cough, Numra cut on the lamp by her side and looked at her mother. It was 3:02am.
"Mother," Numra said in her persian language, speaking in a sleepy and tired tone. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm fine." Athena lied, coughing a few more time. "I just have a severe cold. That's all."
"I'll order you some soup and some tea tomorrow morning, okay?"
"Thanks darling." Athena smiled as she cleared her throat and sunk into her bed. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight."
And working with the last money that Numra had from leaving Iraq along with not having Dr. August's support, she couldn't stay in the hotel too much longer.
Numra would have to give into Dr. August, or become homeless soon.
A few hours later, Numra's alarm went off. It was 7:20am and it was time for her to go to her military school. Numra showered, brushed her teeth, and got ready for almost an hour, then got ready to step out of the door. Numra shook Christina's upper body to wake her up a little.
"Hm?" Christina said, barely waking up.
"Instead of going to school, you're going to stay here with grandma, okay?" Numra said in a soft tone. "Make sure that she's alright and that you order soup and tea for her, okay?"
"Mk." Christina whispered as she drifted back to sleep.
Numra kissed Christina on the cheek, walked out of the room, and called the taxi in. 20 minutes later, a cab arrived and picked her up to take her to her to the school. A half an hour later, they arrived at a decollate place that wasn't too far away from Dr. August's home. Outside of the large building, laid a large area that had a large obstacle course in the back. The cab driver glanced at the place in a weird way, then looked back at her.
"Are you sure that this is the place, ma'am?" The cab driver asked in a confused and scared tone.
"Yes." Numra smiled. "Thank you, sir."
It was extremely gloomy outside. Rain drizzled out there from the late night showers, so it was very muddy. Numra's hair was still soaked from her shower, so the drizzle didn't bother her. When Numra walked inside of the place, she rushed into the women's bathroom to do what she always did. She brushed her wet hair into a sock bun and placed on her school uniform that she always wore, also placing the hat over her bun as well. She placed a thin piece of a life jacket under her outfit to make her look more "manly" like as well. She wiped the little amount of make up off her face and placed on the fake mustache that she got from the Halloween store, then fixed herself in the mirror, also carrying another one of her fathers ID since she was a splitting image of him. She also placed on her dirty timberland boots that she always used in the training part of the field.
This place that she attended was for men and men only.
But knowing Numra, she was tired of being labeled into the "women's" field. She wanted to do manly things. She wanted to fight like a man, shoot like a man, defend herself like a man, and have the BALLS like a man. Hiding her bag behind the large trash in the women's bathroom, she stepped into class, only to see her teacher teaching and drawing out a weapon and a naval base. The African man gave Numra a furious look as she stood in her upright and demanded position.
"And why are you late, Roberto?" The teacher growled as he wore his camouflage suit.
"I'm sorry, sir. I was helping out my mother." Numra said, putting on her manly voice while standing in the basic position. "I promise that it won't happen again, sir!"
"It better not or I'll have your ass kicked out of here!" The commander growled as he pointed to the desk. "Now write down these few steps and listen to my explanation. After this, we're gonna do our daily training and gun checks!"
Nobody knew, that Numra was dressing up like a man to earn her spot in the army.
While this was going on, Dr. August opened up his office. He hadn't slept since Numra left. All he could think about was where they were and hoping that they'd come home. Under his eyes, you could see small little brown marks that showed his insomnia and exhaustion. As he sat down on his chair and started to drift off to sleep, when a woman walked in and looked at him.
"Doctor?" The woman said, startling him
"HM?" Dr. August snorted, waking up. "Hmmm........."
"I'm uh.......ready for my appointment." The woman giggled as she sat down on the chair.
"Y-yeah!" Dr. August smiled as he ran the water and splashed some in his face. "Let me get you ready."
The woman was a dark caramel complexion with hair that came down to her chin. She had on a black top with some solid tan shorts along with some flip flops. As Dr. August placed on his gloves, he grabbed his notebook and started to write a few things down about her appearance.
"I see that someone didn't get a lot of sleep last night." The woman giggled.
"I haven't slept in a while. Heh heh." Dr. August said as his eyes drooped onto her. "What's your name, miss?"
"Ebony."
"That's a gorgeous name." Dr. August nodded. "And why are you here today?"
"Well, my husband has definitely lost his luster. He used to be able to last in bed, but now that he's been working extra hours at the plant, he's always to tired to do so." Ebony growled. "I was hoping that you could help me out with that."
Then it all hit him. Dr. August thought back about Christina's tear filled eyes when she spotted him kissing Jayla. All because of one kiss, Numra and Christina were gone. His family, gone. The people that he loved the most, gone. Dr. August looked down at the floor, then looked back up at the woman.
"How long have you and your husband been married?" Dr. August asked in a concerned tone.
"For about 8 years." Ebony said, responding back to him. "We got married when we were 18."
"And how many children do you two have?"
"2." Ebony said, scrunching her eyebrows at him. "Why?"
"Ebony, do you know how much your husband loves you?" Dr. August said in a serious tone.
Ebony knew why he was saying this and was rushed with a great amount of guilt.
"Yeah...." Ebony mumbled, not making eye contact with him.
"Your husband works extra hours and misses time with you and his children to make sure that you both have a better future and a better home." Dr. August said. "Be grateful that you have a man who gets up and works on early hours, then doesn't come back until midnight to make sure that you and your children are fed. Do you have girls or boys?"
"I have one boy, and one girl." Ebony said in a shaky tone.
"Do you know what would happen if he caught you in here trying to have sex with a man you don't even know?" Dr. August said in a more sinister tone. "If I were to guess, you guys would divorce, have to decide who gets the house, who gets the money, who gets custody of the kids, and so on and so fourth. Do you really want to have to deal with all of that because of this?"
Ebony bowed her head as tears started to trail down her face. She was flooded with guilt. She loved her husband so much and the fact that she was getting ready to betray him made her guilt as charged. Dr. August wiped her eyes and cupped her face, slowly and softly lifting it up.
"Go home to your husband, Ebony." Dr. August said in a serious tone. "I'm pretty sure he's waiting on you."
As Ebony stood up and made her way to the door, she stopped and glanced at him, putting a small smile on her face.
"Thank you so much." Ebony nodded, putting a faded smile onto her face.
"My lips are sealed." Dr. August smiled.
As the girl left, Dr. August shut the door and shut off his lights like he always did when he felt the need to vent to himself. He rolled over to his chair and placed his fingers between one another, bowing his head to think. He was so tired and so drained, that he couldn't think straight. But having Numra only made him realize how wrong his job was.
"I'd to anything to get them back......." Dr. August said silently to himself, closing his eyes and clenching his jaw as tears worked their way out of his eyes. "Please, don't take Numra and Chrissy away from me."
....and the more he thought about his potential wife and daughter, the more "Dr. August" he was respresenting became less and less important to him.