TLS BACKSTORIES.

Subah's backstory.

Amidst dirt on a dawnful terrain, an injured woodlouse grieved. The sky was bursting with the sun's arising. Two figures of the feminine gender awaited her. The first sister was enshrouded in the mist of angst that welled around the 3-person family. The second sister was caressing this woman's shoulder, comforting her in Somali. "Waa caadi.. (It's okay..)" was echoed near them. A blanket of sorrow. This baby that was born within them had yet to be named. But, they were overloaded with thoughts enshrouding them so the poor child remained unnamed - having been the youngest - had little to no value whatsoever. Meanwhile, her parents bled to death to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the bud - their daughter - the one that had bloomed. Pools of the bromine-like fluid welled around them as the life in them faded. A man cackled upon hearing this response from his threat. He caressed his gun, 3 bullets in his fist clenched tightly. "That'll teach them a lesson.." he echoed- his footsteps getting gradually quieter and further away. The ominous feeling around the family stopped.

"...Maxaan sameyneynaa hadda? (What are we doing now?)" The first sister asked.
"Ma garanayo.. (I don't know..)" heard a reply from the second. Then they noticed the baby crying so they had no choice to comfort her. "Shhhh..."
The baby responded to this and stopped.
"Aan cashar u dhigna. Waanu dhibsan doonaa iyada. (Let's teach her a lesson. We will bother her.)" Waxaan cackled. The twins were angry at the unnamed child for causing the killing of their parents. However Habeen did not agree with Waxaan, as Subah was just a baby.
... Waxaan would make her suffer.

2 years later
"KAC! (GET UP!)" Waxaan screeched at the 2-year old.
"Waayahay, waayahay! (Ok, ok!)" responded the injured 2-year old.
The later-named Subah had grazes all over her. Her country was not doing well in economics. At all. She saw people's lives passing away and bloodshed. She always dithered, wondering if a CHILD deserved this. The girl was very slim.
Flies swarmed around the barren-looking house as they sat down, head in hands. The girl was told to clean the house up or else she would be b3@t3n. Put at unease, she quickly followed their orders.
"Qolkan nadiifi. (Clean this room.) " she screeched at Subah.
The girl quickly got to work, because if she was too slow she wouldn't be fed. In her country there was little to no food. She was lucky enough that she wasn't eating TRASH. She wiped the windows, then a shard of cracked grass fell onto her hand.
"Ow!" she wailed.
"Aamus! (Shut up!)" was the reply. The girl continued to work.
Soon she was worked to boredom when her sister finally let her rest.
But Subah never knew what "rest" was. She had snuck out a manequin after collecting water for her sisters' benefit. There was a picture of the person who had k!113d her parents on it. Subah lashed her anger out on the manequin and was satisfied by the result. It tumbled onto the floor.
She didn't realize that Waxaan was staring at her angrily. "Ma waalan tahay? (Are you crazy?)"
Subah trembled upon hearing this, and shaked. Her sister gave her a blow. "Mar dambe taas ha samayn. (Don't do that again.)"
"T-taasi way damqanaysaa... (T-that hurts...) " Subah whispered. There were tears welling in her eyes.
Her sister didn't care and dragged her. "Hadda seexo. (Now rest.)"

Soon it was 3AM, and Subah couldn't sleep. She wanted to get out of this hellhole and live a happy life. She did not want to get yeeted (I'm saying that for a reason.) in a country very few people knew about. She wanted to escape. With some contaminated water and little food, she quickly gave a goodbye letter to Habeen for not treating her like an animal but a friend, a sister. Subah noticed she was asleep and kissed her on the forehead before leaving the household. And off she went. Following this event, she arrived at Bosaso and now she had to make her mind up. Swim to the Gulf of Aden or risk getting caught in Djibouti. She decided to take the gruelling swim to Yemen; the one moment that she carefully planned out. Somalia and Djibouti hated each other and (she being Somali) most likely wouldn't make it out conscious. Subah hastily started her movement, or else if she drowned nobody would remember her. On her way she saw sharks attempting to attack her and sea animals, but luckily Subah was an intelligent young girl and she knew what to do. A few hours later her energy began to wane, and she couldn't keep on any longer. The burden of trauma piled up on her shoulders and she dropped miserably... until a dolphin saved her! The charismatic animal noticed the girl stranded near her location and decided to help her. Many people d13d taking this route. It poised her upwards and allowed Subah to ride on it.  Totally unexpecting this she became affrighted but didn't scream to avoid startling the dolphin. She didn't hold on to it as she was considerate about animals, particularly marine ones. For 5 minutes Subah finally had what humans call 'fun' (but it would end soon, like fun). After the remaining time spent with the dolphin; and arriving onto the coast of Yemen, Subah waved farewell and gently stroked the dolphin before it finally went under the surface. But Subah's journey did not end there. She pondered into the impenetrable darkness that led the way...

Meanwhile in Somalia (or Soomaaliya):

Waxaan woke up and shoved Habeen down. "OUCH!" Habeen wailed.
"SUBAH! INTA IMAAW! (SUBAH! COME HERE!)" screeched Waxaan.
No reply.
"Subah?"
Still no reply.
Then Waxaan slowly implemented and realised how badly treated Subah was. She pictured Subah in a dark corner lamenting on her bad quality of life and crying herself to sleep; in the middle of nowhere.
And Subah was only 2 years old!
"S-Subah..." Habeen cried. Her heart sank and she started weeping, holding a picture of her in her hands. She stroked the image of the girl that had now left them, and hugged it. "W-walaashay.. OO DHAMAAN AAD EED BAA LEH! (S-Sister...AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!)" screamed Habeen; the rising anger; the rage in her voice getting tenser. She feistily glanced at Waxaan, who, unaware, was still questioning her life choices. "HADDAADAN SI XUN ULA DHAQMIN, MARKAA AYAY NAGA TAGAYN! CIDNA IYADA ILAALI MAAYO! (IF YOU DIDN'T TREAT HER BADLY, SHE WOULDN'T HAVE LEFT! NOW NOBODY WILL LOOK AFTER HER!)"

Meanwhile with Subah:

Subah was petrified to death after realising that Yemen was also not a good place to stay. She was a Somalian wanderer, having no father and no mothers either. People were literally dying in front of her. She dashed vigorously with her small legs until they could not carry her any longer. She sat down, unaware of where she was. Her stomach gurgled and she clutched herself in pain. Suddenly, a ladybug was in sight, wearing a purple tuxedo paired with a white top and red bow with 5 yellow stars. He contemplated this design with the occasional British top hat. Subah quickly got up and caught his attention. "Fadlan ii caawin! (Please help me!)"
Luckily this person knew Somali and turned to face her. "Ma fiicantahay? (Are you okay?)" he responded.
He didn't notice that the girl was on her knees begging for him to help her. There were cuts, grazes and other injuries. Horrified by this, Lingo quickly took her and went to the nearest hospital.
"Sucuudiga ayaad joogtaa. (You're in Saudi Arabia.)" he comforted her. "Ha welwelin, waan ku ilaalin doonaa! (Don't worry, I will look after you!)"
"M-mahadsanid... (T-thank you..)" Subah replied.
And then she fell unconscious.