The Ummah: The outbreak

Chapter 8

I walked between President Salent and one of the security guards as they lead me back to the president's escort limo. I had never been in a limo before. After this, I'd probably never be in a limo again. As we got in, I inhaled and prepared for President Salent to drop the act. 

Once the doors closed, he did just that. His happy face morphed into a darker expression, something mixed with weariness. His shoulders hunched and he sighed. "I'm sorry."

That caught me off guard. "For what? If you don't mind me asking..."

For what I'm about to do, I waited for him to say, then pull out a gun.

But he didn't. He just smiled tiredly. "My sudden change in moods," he replied kindly. "It's hard to always have to be the optimistic one. When the whole country is in a panic, I have to be the optimistic one. It gets tiring after a while."

"Oh..." I said softly. He must have been beating around the bush. I decided to play along until he got to the point. "I could only imagine."

"Tell me a bit about yourself, Christina," he insisted.

I chewed my lip. "What would you like to know?"

"Any and everything. Tell me about your past, where you come from, your aspirations..."

So that's what I did. Only I made nearly everything up. He seemed fairly interested, and when I got to my aspirations, his eyes lit up. My aspirations was the only thing I didn't lie about. I wanted to change the world somehow.I just didn't know how, or where to start. All I knew was that I didn't like how with each passing day, everything went further downhill, with the human race's mentality, wars, poverty and hunger, and it saddened me, and literally made me squirm, wishing I could get out there and do something. But like I said before, I didn't know how and where to start.

After I had finished, the president's eyes glistened while looking at me. 

My face began to feel really hot. "What?"

"The most beautiful thing in a woman is when she's so ambitious, so passionate about something, especially when it deals in something like that."

I lowered my gaze to my lap and shrugged. "Well someone has to. No one else is doing anything about it..." I furrowed my eyebrows. "Well some people are I guess, but it isn't enough. We haven't seen a Malcolm X or a Martin Luther King in so long, but we need it. So if no one else wants to do it, then I will."

He smiles. "I like that..."

I couldn't take this anymore. This stalling. "If you don't mind my asking, what's the real reason you're bringing me with you?"

He didn't respond at first, he just studied me. This made me nervous.

"Well," he begins, his voice more business like which makes my heart race. "I noticed you were looking at me differently from everyone else. Everyone was looking at me as fans, but you were looking at me as if you were cursing me in your head. I haven't seen that in quite a while. Because what that look means is that behind that look is a mind. A revolution waiting to erupt."

"So you're bringing me in for interrogation," I concluded.

He laughed. "Heavens, no. I'm bringing you in because I need someone like that by my side..." His voice got lower with each syllable. 

My eyes widened. "Like... your adviser or secretary or...?"

He smiled again. Every time he smiled it seemed as if he got more handsome. "No, my dear. I'm about to sound a bit juvenile, back to high school days, but... I'm saying I want you to go steady with me..."

"Steady about what?" I asked.

His cheeks turned pink. "No, no, I mean like I want you to be my... Um..."

"Girl friend?" I asked softly.

"Yes," he replied.

The first thing that came to my mind was Muhammad. Even though I had left him, and although he was gone now, I still felt loyal to him. And at the same time, I didn't feel at all ready for another relationship.

"You hardly know me though..." I told the president.

"Its okay, I know enough."

I wanted to smile politely, but my heart hurt now from thinking about Muhammad. "How about we finish getting to know each other first."

He smiled. "Whatever makes you happy."

But nothing was making me happy. I felt as if my life was getting more and more miserable...