BANE

CHAPTER NINE

She pressed her back against the wall deep in thought. It seemed like years, yet it was only days. She was tired, tired of being locked up, tired of wondering what would be her fate, tired of wearing the same clothes; tired of the mystery that had been bugging her, most of all, she was tired of being tired.

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Mubarak walked slowly to the grocery store; there weren’t many people in the store, just a couple of women, their children and a man.

He didn’t go home directly, but he went to the park and found a quiet place to sit. Less people, less attention. He had always hated the spotlight; Ibrahim however had always been the people’s guy, loquacious and funny but who he was quite the opposite of that now and it hurt him to know that he help made him that way.

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She wished she could warn Zaid about his sister’s sinister activities. He was obviously a nice guy, but Banan had threatened her family, and she wasn’t sure if he would believe her as she wouldn’t believe it too if she were to be in his shoes right now.

It is none of your business, a voice warned, but another voice told her to quit lying to herself. If only she could find a way to inform Zaid without getting her family into harm’s way. Just let it go, she tried to convince herself, sooner or later, he would figure things out. There was no doubt that he was smart.

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“You didn’t take your drugs last night, did you?” Karimah said picking up the untouched drugs.

“I wanted to but I fell asleep on the sofa.” He lied.

“Hmm.” She looked unconvinced. She brought him a glass of water and handed it to him with the drugs. “You are not asleep now, are you?”

“What?”

“Nothing, and please stop punishing yourself. Nothing that happened was your fault.” He looked at her but said nothing, she would never understand.

“Sabiha won’t be happy when she finds out that you have been punishing yourself.”

“If…she ever comes back.” Without adding anything, he got up and left for his room. She stared at him and knew without being told that he needed his space.

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A little comedy did him good, he was glad that Mubarak was out of the house. He felt all tensed up when Mubarak was around, like someone stuffed him in a corner.

A part of him wanted to forgive Mubarak but anytime he remembered all he went through because of him, he just couldn’t.

He laughed out loud and the sound of his laughter sounded weird to him. The last time he laughed like this was sometime back in the hospital, when Hafsy cracked some kind of joke. He switched to another channel where an animation was being aired. His wife used to love animations, one of the things that made her seem so innocent, but she really was a crazy creature deep down.

He thought about her with misty eyes. Sometimes, memories did more damage than good; some memories were better left unrecalled.

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If not for the fact that he had a resilient spirit, he would have given up long ago. What kind of investigation was this? An investigation that never progressed, it was annoying and frustrating, making him feel like a loser.

He was determined to solve the case, no matter how long it took. Didn’t they say if there was a will, then there was a way? Well, he sure did have a will.