Unsealed Fate

Chapter 33: A Fractured Mind

This chapter is dedicated to Annalisadonkor
Your words add colours to the book and I couldn't feel any greater joy dedicating this chapter to you. Thanks for the lovely comments.

A FRACTURED MIND

★★★★★

It was three months ago when Hannan was having her driving class with Yusuf. He was trying to get her to practice on the highway and then she took the wheel while he observed her from the passenger's seat.

"Listen, if you don't conquer your fear of the road, I don't think you'll be able to drive on your own." Yusuf's voice was steady as he spoke, his words falling on deaf ears. She looked distracted and he was well aware that her reluctance to pull into the main road was accompanied by fear.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the view of a man coming toward them. There was something oddly familiar about him and she was trying to remember where she knew him from. He was in his late twenties, with pale skin, handsome features, and remarkable auburn hair. However, there was something in his ember eyes that made her body shiver.

"I don't feel comfortable about this." She complained, driving slowly along the curb and keeping her eyes on the stranger in front of them.

"Remember all that I've taught you and apply the rules. It's that simple."

"You don't understand, I think we are being followed by that man." She said and saw the man coming their way. She still didn't recall where she knew him from. Probably from the television, she'd like to believe that because there was no way she'd hold such a familiar memory of a white man in a country full of people with dusky complexion.

"Just ignore the man and drive. I don't think he's onto us." Yusuf barely even completed that sentence when the man with porcelain skin tone and auburn hair appeared on his windscreen.

"Hey! Kids, you know where I can find a pharmacy nearby?" He asked. They'd like to assume he was not from around there or maybe because he was a foreigner he decided to call them kids because clearly, they were young responsible adults.

"There are no pharmacies around here," Yusuf told him, winding down the windscreen.

"My dog was exposed to rabies, so I need to go to the clinic to get my jab. Do you know where I can find one?" It wasn't hard for the stranger to cook up a story that was quite believable. His motives were sinister and Hannan was vigilant enough to read it from the air around him.

Yusuf pointed in a certain direction and the man pretended to be attentive as his eyes followed the direction of his finger."You need to go down that street four blocks. There is a clinic there." He was standing one step away from the car with his face directed at the car window.

"Thank you very much, kid." The stranger said and something flashed in his eyes as though he had just noticed Hannan for the first time he arrived. She looked very familiar. His lips curled up into a surprised smile as she stared at him with her big brown orbs as if she couldn't blink. Clearly, he was giving her the creep.

"Excuse me, what's your name, miss?'

Her eyes went wide for a moment, a little hesitant to speak at first before the words came rolling out of her mouth without intent.

"Hannan Saleh,"

She knew that whatever it was that her gut feeling was whispering to her about his aura or personality, this man was probably evil.

"You are Ahmad's sister right?" She was surprised to know that the man seemed to recognize her too, but from where did she know him? They probably have never met before.