EXAMINATION

Chapter Seven

They were walking in the middle of the desert, on a narrow red brick path, under the hot burning sun with no shelter anywhere. One would expect them to be weary, sweating and complaining, but instead, they were busy laughing and getting to know one another better. Right now, the topic of discussion was colors.

"Yeah, my favorite color is the color of Khizar's eyes." Asbar said, looking over at Khizar teasingly, knowing that would make him startle.

As expected Khizar, who was lost in his own thoughts looked up at Asbar's statement suddenly surprised.

"Huh?" He said, looking at Asbar.

"I said my favorite color's green, like your eyes." Asbar said grinning

Khizar looked at him weirdly.

All of them burst out laughing and Khizar glared at Asbar.

"That was not cool man." he said angrily ,surprising the others at his tone

"Hey, I told the truth! I do!"

Khizar averted his eyes, biting his lip.

They looked at him for a while, before Shad spoke up. "Your shirt's the same color too."

"Yeah." Asbar nodded.

"My favorite color's red." Shad said. "The bright kind of red." He added.

"Yeah yeah, we get it, the kind that says 'I'm dangerous, stay away from me'. Right?" Khizar grinned.

"No..I didn't mean that..." Shad said, turning as red as his favorite color.

Everyone laughed, and he joined in.

"Mine's pink." Sehr said quickly, to save Shad from becoming redder. "Light pink."

Shad looked at her gratefully. She gave a tiny nod and smiled.

Then she turned to Mah-Rukh. "What's yours?"

"Hmm..." She replied, pausing to think. "White." She said at last, as if announcing her final decision.

"It sounds like you just picked one out right now." Asbar teased smiling.

Mah-Rukh laughed. " No, it's just that I like all the colors. But I guess I like white the best."

"Still guessing!" Shad said, grinning.

They laughed, then turned to Khizar.

"And you Mr. Khizar? What's yours?" Sehr asked mischievously adding "Mr." to his name.

"I'll tell you who's Mr.!" Khizar said narrowing his eyes at her.

"Huh? But we already know who's Mr. You!" Mah-Rukh said, joining in

"Oh! I give up!" Khizar said, throwing his hands up in frustration.

They looked at each other and grinned.

"So, what is it?" Sehr asked, turning back to the topic.

"Blue." Khizar replied.

"What kind?" Mah-Rukh asked.

"Hmm...." He paused. "I like that blue." He said without pointing at anything.

"Which blue?" Shad asked confused.

"The color of the sky in our last test." He said at last.

"Oh yeah! That blue!" Asbar said nodding.

"Yeah that was nice." The rest agreed.

Then they started talking about different colors.

Shad stepped in beside Khizar. Mah-Rukh, Sehr and Asbar were still engaged in conversation.

"Hey, Khizar?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"Why did you mind it so much when Asbar said his favorite color was your eyes?"

Khizar didn't answer. Just when Shad thought he wouldn't reply,

"I didn't exactly mind it..." Khizar said, in a low voice.

Shad stayed silent.

"It's just that, well... I don't really like my eyes."

Now Shad looked at him in surprise. "Why not? You're eyes are really cool!"

Khizar looked away, then suddenly stiffened.

"What's wrong?" Shad asked, tensing up.

"Hey guys! Be quiet and listen!" Khizar called out to the rest of them, still engaged in conversation.

All of them stopped talking immediately at his voice, and stood still to listen. Slowly, the scene around then started changing and they stood close to each other with their backs joined.

"Beware!" Khizar called out, and took out his dagger from the belt of his jeans. The rest copied him by taking out their weapons.

The sky turned red and black clouds dotted the landscape. At first what seemed like low rumblings, turned into the sound of a thousand feet hitting the ground with impact. They looked around but couldn't see anyone in the distance. The soil was red too, as if it was reflecting the sky, and an ominous wind began to blow, which ruffled their hair, and made the hairs on the back of their neck stand up.

Mah-Rukh rubbed the goose bumps on her arms.

Then suddenly close to the horizon, they made out some black forms, approaching them rapidly. As the forms came closer, they realized that 'they' were a mass of people, running towards them from both sides like a fire was behind them. When they reached the path the 5 of them were standing on, they stopped abruptly. A silence descended on everyone, and they waited, their muscles tense and ready to spring.....

Authors note:

Hey everyone! I'm sorry if I left you hanging this chapter, but it got so long, I just had to end here. Hope you're enjoying it so far, and fell free to leave a comment to tell me if you like it or not, it would mean so much to me! Thanks for reading so far!

Adina