Operation: Dard and Devotion

33 | Torn & Trapped

To say that I was extremely shocked would be the understatement of the millennium.

"You...you killed..." I stammered, at a loss for words. "You killed your brother."

"Yes, I did." Ahsan, scowling when I had mentioned the last word, admitted the obvious and stared at me. "You know, he's still on top of you."

My mind instantly kept up with reality and I had just remembered that Faizan's blood was gushing down on my upper body like a recently thawed waterfall. I struggled to heave his lifeless, but extremely heavy, body off of me when Ahsan grabbed Faizan by the back of his collar and tossed his brother aside like a sack of potatoes. While he was doing that, I hastily pulled down the end of my abaya, which Faizan had dragged up when he was alive just a mere few seconds ago.

"I can't believe this," I whispered, more to myself, as my eyes took in every inch of the dead body.

"Are you okay?" Ahsan was eyeing me carefully the entire time. "Did he hurt you?"

Faizan is actually dead! No more children will have to be brutally murdered at his hands. No more women will be raped at his command. No more people will be stripped of all of their belongings and dragged away from their homes. No more-

"Hayat?" Ahsan's voice snapped me out of my reverie.

"Huh?"

"I asked if he had hurt you," Ahsan repeatedly patiently.

"No, he didn't." And he won't try to do so to anyone ever again! Retrieving Saad's blanket from the floor, I took a clean corner to wipe away the blood and hot sweat that grazed my neck. "I'm...I'm fine. Just...just a bit shaky knowing that he's actually dead. And the fact that you killed him."

He was taken aback. "I'm pretty sure you wanted him dead all this time, and now that he actually is, you suddenly have a problem with it!"

"But, he's your-"

"He stopped playing the role of a brother a long time ago, Hayat. I think you're aware of that now." Ahsan paused and ran his palm over the beads of sweat that had accumulated on his forehead. "I've was thinking of doing this for a while, but today, he just paved the way to his own death. He had it coming."

Still, Faizan was actually, really, truly dead!

I chewed the inside of my cheek until it hurt, unsure of how to respond. My heart rate was steadily increasing with each breath.

"Do you trust me?" He asked suddenly.

"What?"

"Do you trust me enough to run away with me?"

I gave him my full attention, especially since an escape had not crossed my mind ever since Faizan had caught Tala and I in the act. "Run...run away to where?"

"Turkey," he answered promptly. "Somewhere, anywhere as long as it's not here."

"Now?"

"Yes. We don't have much time. The sun hasn't even come out yet and we need to leave before it does or else the rest of Al-Tho'baan will be after us. I was trying to arrange a jeep earlier and that's when I heard you scream."

"Oh..."

"You didn't answer my question. Do you trust me enough to want to come with me?" He kept his expression guarded. "If you want, I can drop you off at the Turkish embassy and you can tell them your story. Since you were on the news, they can easily identify you. Then you can go back home."