The Midget He Isn't And The Pigeon I Am
I was done with my shower in eighteen minutes. I spent the two I had left trying to think of a revenge plan.
No one sits on Maisha and gets away with it.
I had already thrown dye on him. As satisfying as that was, if I tried it again, he’d know what I was up to way before I got close enough to him. Sitting on him was out of the question. He was too strong to let that happen.
I could tie him up first, but something told me that it would be impossible.
Seriously, why couldn't he be a four feet tall bag of bones instead of the 6'4" or something freakishly huge guy that he was?
I'll tell you why, because if he was a midget instead of the hulk, I wouldn't have to avenge myself in the first place.
I would have annihilated him ages ago.
When I went downstairs, I saw Zane in the kitchen making sandwiches.
“I saw burger patties in the freezer.” He explained, “Seemed easy enough.”
“Good going.” I said before sitting down and grabbing my plate. “Where’s Raees?”
“He went home to get something.” Zane shrugged before sitting in front of me. “What are your plans for today?”
“Other than coming up with a plan to get back at Raees? Going to the library of course. I might get paid for doing nothing, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have to go in.”
“Are you sure you’re feeling up to it?” He asked with concern. “I could cover your shift?”
“I’m absolutely fine.” I said and it was true. Even though I fainted yesterday, I felt like I was on top of the world. I’d never felt so… strong before.
Strange. Wasn’t I supposed to feel weak?
I ignored that thought. If I was feeling good, who was I to question it?
“Alright then.” Zane said. “We’ll leave after breakfast.”
And we did. There was still no sign of Raees when we left. I shouldn’t have cared. There was absolutely no reason for me to feel disappointed. But I did.
Guess the whole fainting thing had its side effects after all.
Zane and I worked in silence for the most part. He seemed worried about something. When I told him about my observation, he denied it.
“I just miss my family.” He said after a while.
The guy had spent the night on my sofa and I didn’t even think before then that he had a family. Of course he had a family! Everyone had a family, but I hadn’t even given it a thought.
“Oh? Where are they?” I asked as conversationally as I could. In reality, I was more than curious.
“Back home.” He said vaguely. Before I could ask him where “home” was, he began talking again. “I have a younger sister. She’s ten.”
He told me about his family, how his father was a little too hardworking, and his mother the sweetest lady. I wanted to point out that everyone liked their mother, but he was so absorbed in the details of his own words that I didn’t want to interrupt him. I could tell just my looking at him that he loved them.
“I wonder if my brother would speak of me so lovingly if someone asked him about me.” I said after a while. “Considering that I have a hard time even imagining it, I doubt it.”
“I’m sure he loves you.”
“Of course he loves me. Everyone loves me.”
Zane chuckled. “I can’t deny that.”
My working day went by quite smoothly. We cleaned some more sections of the books and to be honest, I was actually proud of myself. But I didn’t tell Zane that. He’d probably double our work load if he found out.
We were about to leave when I suddenly remembered something, “Damn!” I said to myself before turning to Zane, “I need to head somewhere, I’ll see you later.”
“Do you want me to come with you?” He asked.
“No, it’s ok.” I said while shaking my head, “I’ll just see you later.”
I left him there and began to walk towards my mother’s friend’s house. She had been quite ill and she lived alone. I promised my mother that I would check up on her to see if she was alright.
Which she was. I found that out as soon as I got to her place and found her scrubbing the carpet with a brush.
“Shouldn’t you be resting or something?” I asked her.
“Oh no, dear. I’m perfectly fine now. But the house is a mess!” She said while frowning at the brush.
“Ok, then.” I said slightly awkwardly, “Do you want me to, I don’t know, help or something?”
She shook her head, “I’m alright and you should get home before it gets dark. It’s not safe for a young girl like you wondering around at night.”
“Of course.” I left not long after that. And by the time I got home, I felt really tired. Even though it was only 6 pm.
So tired, that I fell asleep with my boots still on.
And then I woke up in the middle of the night. I gave up on trying to fall asleep again as soon as I started. I felt too energetic. I paced around the house for no reason, but I was too restless to just sit down.
As soon as it was 4 am, I decided to go for a run. I wasn’t the kind of girl who’d go on a run at 4 am in the morning, or at any other time of the day, but I was bored. And maybe a bit of exercise would get me tired enough to fall asleep?
Desperate times call for desperate measures.
I put on my trainers, grabbed a bottle of water before running out of my house. And then came to a complete stop right outside the gate.
Which direction to go?
I opted to head for the park. It seemed like where a normal morning-runner would jog off too.
It was still dark and there seemed to be no one around. And that’s probably the only reason I noticed the man who was jogging right behind me for a while now.
I increased my speed, but he did too. And before I knew it, there was a hand over my mouth and I was being dragged to an ally. The horror of what was happening stunned me for a moment, but even when I started to panic and tried to break free, it was no use. The guy was strong.
“What do you want?” I screamed at him as soon as he let go off my mouth to pin me to the wall.
“You know exactly what I want.” He grinned. His stinky breath confirmed two things. One, that he was drunk and two, that I was doomed.
“Let me go.” I shoved him but he didn’t budge. I started screaming but I knew there was a slim chance that anyone would hear me. We weren’t in a residential area and unless anyone decided to show up to work 4 hours early, I wasn’t going to be heard.
The intensity of my kicks increased. “Let go of me, you-“ He punched me in the stomach before I could finish, knocking the wind out of me.
“Shut up, bitch!”
“No one calls me a-“ He slapped me. Hard.
And I was so shocked that I didn’t know when I stopped struggling. I also didn’t know when my t-shirt got ripped or when he suddenly wasn’t pushing me against the wall anymore. All I knew was that I couldn't move. And I hated myself for shutting down on the first sign of danger.
It was a crashing sound that brought me out of it.
I pressed myself further into the wall and tried to see what was happening, but it was too dark.
The grunts I heard next scared the hell, heaven and the whole freaking universe out of me. This was bad, much worse than bad.
My fight mode had been switched off moments ago, so I tuned into the flight one. I might not have been able to fight the guy off me, but I wasn't going to wait for him to come back either.
Coward. I heard my own voice whisper in my head. I ignored it, going ninja on my attacker had failed miserably, if being a bird and flying off in the face of threat worked, I wasn't going to stand there thinking about my lack of bravery.
I made a dash for the road, but slipped before I could even get out of the alley.
There was something seriously wrong with my luck.
Falling backwards, my head hit the floor and an excruciating pain took over my fears.
The last thought I had before slipping into the darkness was that I was never going to go for a run again.
**
“Where are you?” Her mother called out. She just giggled in the spot she was hiding.
“It’s getting late, we have to go back.” She called out again but the little girl paid no heed. Her mother would have to find her first. This was a game of hide and seek, and games had rules. She couldn’t come out unless and until her mother found her. Without any help.
“Maisha!” She heard her mother shouting again, but this time her voice was desperate. Maisha peeked at her from behind the tree. Her mother looked worried.
She was about to call out a reassurance to her mother when the sight of a man caught her attention. He was dressed in a funny looking green outfit and hiding behind the bushes. Was her mother supposed to find him too?
Before she could make up her mind about staying hidden or going to her mother, the man took out a bow and an arrow, like the one her father had, and aimed it at her mother.
He wasn’t supposed to do that! Her father had strictly told her that archery could only be practiced on targets, never on other people. She was about to shout at him just that when her mother fell to the floor.
He had already struck.
Maisha screamed but it was already too late. The man was gone and her mother wasn’t moving. She ran towards her, she didn’t care about the rules of the game anymore.
“Mama!” She shook her. Her mother could barely open her eyes, but she smiled at her.
“It’s ok, baby. Everything’s going to be ok.”
Maisha tried to pick her mother up from the floor, but all she accomplished was getting her dress wet in her mother's blood. “Mama you’re hurt!”
Her mother weakly grasped her bloody hands in hers. “Don’t be afraid, sweetheart. Everything’s going to be ok.”
Maisha wept uncontrollably. Her father’s men came, they checked her, tried to revive her. But it was already too late.
She was gone.
And for that little girl, nothing was ever going to be ok again.
**
I woke up gasping for air.
“Maisha!” Someone called out. I didn’t know who. I was too busy trying to breathe.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and without thinking, I tried to push it off. That didn’t work. I could feel two hands on my shoulders now, pushing me to stay down.
“It’s just me!” I tried to focus and found Raees’s face above mine. For some reason, that calmed me down.
“Where am I?” I croaked.
“My place.” He said calmly. “You’re ok. You’re safe.”
“How did I get here?” I became frantic again. “Why am I-“
“Hey.” His arms pulled me into a sitting position before he hugged me tightly. “You’re ok.”
It was then that I realized that I had been crying. Why was I crying?
“What did you do to me?” I asked him hysterically.
He let go of me. “What did I do to you? What were you doing to yourself? Where were you going in the middle of the night?” He seemed to be getting angry at ME.
I was about to tell him off when I realized something.
“What do you mean where was I going? I wasn’t going anywhere! What am I doing here? Why-“
“What do you remember last?” He cut me off.
“I remember… I remember coming home from my mother’s friend’s house. And then I fell asleep.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “And then I woke up here. What did you-“ I looked at down at myself to find that I was dressed in a t-shirt that wasn’t mine. It was too big. Raees big.
He caught on to what I was thinking and his eyes widened. “I can explain!” He said raising his hands. “For some reason you left in the dead of night and wandered off like the idiot you are. And then-“
He didn’t have to continue.
“I went for a run.” I said in almost a whisper, but he heard me. “I couldn’t sleep. I thought I’d be ok, that I’d be safe. I was so sure that I would be safe.” I broke into tears.
Raees grabbed my hands. “You ARE safe. I’ll always keep you safe. I promise.”
“Even if I throw red dye at you again?” I asked, my eyes still watery.
He nodded. “Even if you through red dye at me.” He got up from the bed. “You should sleep.”
“I’m not-“ But I couldn’t complete that sentence. I was already asleep.
I guess the morning walk idea was successful after all.
**
“Using compulsion on a royal is forbidden.” Zane called out from behind Raees. “And she’s more royal than anyone alive.”
“It’s not the first time. And it’s always been for her own good.” Raees mumbled while looking down at his wife before turning towards Zane. “I need to talk to my father. He said that she would be safe here. She clearly isn’t!”
“This is the first time she was ever in danger. I’ve talked to the guards, she’s never left the house like this in the middle of the night before-”
“And did these guards tell you what they were doing when she was attacked? If I hadn’t have been there, she- God! I can’t even say it!” Raees was angry. No, he was furious and it was hard to keep his emotions under control. Maisha was strong enough to not need anyone’s protection, but she was also clueless about her own powers. That made her weak.
“From now on, I take full responsibility of her security. I-“
Raees cut Zane off. “What about those who were already supposed to be protecting her?” Raees shouted before lowering his tone. He didn’t want to wake her up. “The best course of action would be to take her back.”
“She wouldn’t feel-“ Zane tried to protest but wasn’t given the opportunity.
“Her feelings be damned! I’m done playing neighbour!” Raees roared.
Zane tried to calm him down while trying to make him see reason at the same time. “We’ll have to think this through. We need to talk to the king first. The humans she has interacted with will have to be compelled. The woman and her son will have to move away from here, there memories of the previous year will have to be altered. And then there is the problem of her own memories-”
“You’re right.” Raees said. “My father will have to act fast.”
“What do you plan on doing?” Zane asked with wide eyes.
Raees looked at the princess once again before turning to Zane. “Pack anything you need, soldier. We’re going home.”
**