Amidst Our Hearts

Fifty.

Dakahlia, Egypt.

Everything happened so fast. From the gunshots to the bomb explosion. No one saw it coming. The prisoners ran for their lives like headless chickens, some manage to escape while others got killed during the gunshot wipe out. Most of the guards there are also dead giving the perpetrators easy access to the sole person they came for.

Arham El-Bahd was in the gym located at the basement of the prison doing this daily morming workout felt a sting at the back of his neck. He met three bulky men all dressed in black behind him and tried to fight them but this vision became blurry and everything blacked out.

The men did as they were instructed and transported him to their hideout where the third phase of their plan will be put to motion. Their boss, commonly known as Lucifer smirked as he twirled the flute of champagne in his hand. His men did the job perfectly just as expected.

"Nice job." He voiced with his thick arabian filled accent. "You can have the rest of the day off. Have this and enjoy yourselves with the ladies too." He threw some some bundles of money making them hail praises on him grinning widely at the handsome rewards they received.

With a flick of his wrist, he dismissed them. It's now only him and his prey in the room. He let out an evil laughter as he continue to stare at the unconscious person on the dusty ground. His plans are working out perfectly. It took him eighteen whole years to carry it out. He is the reason behind the sorrow of the El-Bahd family, the mastermind behind the whole of their miserable and sorrow filled life.

He is the devil himself.

•••••

Federal capital territory,
Nigeria.

It has been two whole weeks since Khalifa got admitted in the hospital. Today, he is being discharged. Amma with the help of Sakeena helped pack his stuff from the hospital while Abba went to sign the discharge papers. Fadeel and Abdullah are nowhere to be found. Ammar has been living Adda Sameera For the past two weeks Khalifa got hospitalized.

An hour and a half later the whole family set the road for home where Sakeena's biological family's waiting for them. Pleasantries were shared and hugs everywhere. Just like that, the tensed atmosphere in the house disappeared but they know better than to just sit back and relax.

Later that same day, Fadeel, Khalifa, Sakeena and Ammar are in the living room downstairs with Fadeel flipping through the channel till he stopped at Al-Jazeera when news was airing. The room was dead silent as Fadeel read the headlines out loud.

Bombing and massive destruction at Dakahlia central prison.

That was enough to get Khalifa and Fadeel on their toes. Khalifa rushed upstairs to get his parents while Fadeel dialed his older brother's phone who happened to be arriving into the house at the same time. Silence creeped into the room with only the sound of the tv heard.

They all stared at the news anchor who's narrating the tragic event that happened at the prison. The bloodshed wasn't what made their hearts race, it was the first name on the list of dead prisoners at made their hearts drop to the heal of the feet. They all know what it means, except Sakeena and Ammar. The worst is yet to come.

Abdullah was the first who made a move with his phone in his hand as he made several calls to the minister of defence in Egypt. Abba held Amma as she's about to collapse to the ground and Khalifa became immobile till Sakeena tapped his shoulder making him flinch. He looks haggered and dishelved. His eyes turned red and breath picked up.