Shadows

Maeve O'Donnell

19/12/2014 16.46 P.M. El Taiba, Egypt - Maeve O'Donnell

I'd be lying if I said I hate this place. I don't, I love it and Nora seems to love the fact I'm here.

My dad has been trying to contact us but we've been trying to ignore him as much as possible. He succeeded with contacting us once; I was walking through the sandy streets, in the middle of the afternoon when everyone usually sleeps and then my phone rang. We had a fight over whatever he wanted to fight over and there were even people coming out of their houses to see what was happening. I felt bad for waking most of them up but they understood and when almost everyone was back inside their homes again and I was about to hang up on dad without a word, he told me mom deserved all the bad he did to her and that he wished I never happened so she wouldn't have known Steven (as he became a friend of mom through the fact he's family of one of my friends) and she would have had no ability to leave.

Do you know when people say "It felt like I was stabbed with a million knives in my heart"? That's what it felt like to me when he said that and it hurt, it hurt so bad. Tears started to blur my vision but I was lucky that my voice did not crack and that I sounded poisonous when I hissed at him: "I hate you." I hung up right away and stood still a couple of minutes before turning on my heel and walking back home again.

After telling mom what had happened, I expected her to maybe cry and tell me I should respect my father, no matter the circumstances. She didn't. She hugged me and smiled warmly. "He deserved to hear that," mom said to me and I hugged her back.

"I would never let anyone get away with saying such a horrible thing about you. Never."

"Thank you Maeve." After our conversation and eating the (burned) pancakes I had made, she asked me to go pick up Nora from school. I took a small plastic bag with a pack of cookies and a bottle filled with juice in my hand and walked to her school. On my way people kept greeting me and asking me questions such as: "Do you like it here?" and "How is Eleanor?" and I liked speaking to them, being the sweet people they are.

Arriving at the small, old building, I took out my phone to see what time it is and right now I am waiting for the bell to ring in about one minute.

"Hello there," a guy, not much older than I am says and I nod my head towards him. He sticks out his hand for me to shake and I do so.

"I am Michael."

"Nice to meet you Michael, my name is-" I am cut off by Nora suddenly hugging my legs and I lift her up kissing her cheek. Michael lifts up a small boy in his arms and then he turns towards me.

"Hi there Nora," he says and I frown.

"Do you... do you know each other?" Nora nods, grabbing the juice from the plastic bag and opening it.

"My cousins, Michael and Simon," she says and puts the bottle to her lips, letting the red substance fill her mouth.

"You must be May then?"

"Maeve, my name is Maeve. I am Nora's stepsister." He apologizes for not knowing my name correctly and I tell him it's fine.

"I didn't know you had moved here already, uncle Steven didn't mention it yet."

"I think he did tell your father but I'm not sure if it was yours. It was his brother though."

"Dad and Steven are the only two children grandpa and grandma had so yes, he did tell my father then," he says smiling as we walk back home again.

We all share the pack of cookies and then we're almost home.

"Where exactly do you live?" I ask Michael and he points to the opposite direction of which we are walking.

"I'll say hi and then I'll leave again if that's what you meant," he says smiling cheekily and I smile back, continuing what he started.

"Yes, that is what I meant." Opposite from me, Michael has very dark hair but blue eyes. His skin is a bit tan and you can tell by the way he speaks and moves that he is from a very sophisticated family.

"Maeve? Could you come over here for a second?" I get out of my thoughts to mom's voice on the end of the street. I nod and when we reach her, Michael introduces himself and Simon and she invites them inside for a drink.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" I ask and at first mom looks a little confused, but then her mouth forms an 'o' and she speaks up.

"Steven was thinking about taking all of us for a ride on camels or horses around the pyramids," she takes a sip from her coffee and puts down the cup, continuing her story, "and if no-one minds, Michael, Simon and their parents could also come with?" I nod and smile to Michael.

"We're not exactly sure yet but it will most probably be in a week or three," and with that she stands up taking our empty cups to the sink, the sound of the running water calming me to the end.