BANE

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (3)

Dedicated to Sumayyah , thanks for pushing me to update.

Ibrahim was the closest person to her then; he pushed her aside but never got the chance to save himself. The bullet caught him right on his chest.

Banan screamed and Zaid caught him right in time before he reached the floor. Sabiha was too shocked to do anything while Mubarak came over to Ibrahim, begging and praying that he would survive.
   
They didn’t hear Sofia’s angry threat; neither did they see the police arresting all the bad guys. They were oblivious of the world around them.

*************************"*


  Mrs Anwar couldn’t contain her joy when she heard that the children had been found. She hugged and kissed all three of them as tears of joy ran down her face.

Mr Othman had never been happier to find anything in his entire life. At last, his long lost daughter had come back to him. They listened as the police narrated their part of the story; the children were not yet composed to narrate their own part.

Ibrahim was rushed to the hospital as his condition was critical. Mubarak went with him but the children were returned to their parents. The police said they could visit him later. Their parents were shocked when they learnt that the culprit had been Karimah all along.

**************
Sabiha walked without any place in mind, she couldn’t take her mind away from Ibrahim. She hoped that he would be alright. The fact that he was in that condition because of her depressed her.

They had gone through a lot in such a short time and that made her feel as if she had known him forever.

“Sabiha.” She heard a female voice call her.

She turned around and saw Naomi standing, without a word she hugged her tightly. “Thank you so much.” She said in between sobs. “The police said you were the one who called. I am sorry I misjudged you.”

“I would have done the same if I were in your shoes. I should be thanking you, you are the reason why I am now free from the monster I call my husband.”

“Husband?” Sabiha looked confused.

“Yes, that man that caught you when you tried to escape, that was John; my husband.”

“But I must say he wasn’t really the husband material. Well, he was before he changed. He started drinking and smoking and all that; then he started hitting me for no reason and hanging around with all sorts of people.” She narrated her story with a faraway look in her eyes.

“You definitely didn’t deserve the treatment he doted out to you.”

“I did learn a lot from it. I am stronger and also a better person because of that. I don’t regret every single thing that has happened. I now know how to break the chains of oppression, and you helped me. You taught me about faith and hope. I saw that every time in your eyes when you were locked up. I saw the determination and desire to survive.”

Sabiha managed to smile. ”Trust me, they were times when I felt like giving up and let whatever  was going to happen take place. At a point, I lost hope...but tell me, why did you endure all that for such a long time?”

“I felt trapped I guess, men like that always trap you somehow, I wanted to get away but I never could. I was too scared to get away... I need to go now.” Sabiha watched

Naomi as she walked away; she was a good woman after all. She promised Naomi that she would keep in touch and she was determined to keep that promise.

*********

“Well, I must say I am proud of you two.
The force would need the likes of you someday.” The detective addressed Banan and Zaid. He didn’t solve the case and that made him a little sad; but he was greatly impressed by the children.

He knew his wife would be happy that the case was over, and he, on the other hand would try to make things right. A vacation somewhere far would do the trick, when he gets home, they would decide whether to take the kids or leave them with a relative. She deserved something good.

Zaid and Banan beamed. ”Didn’t realise you were such a fine actress, you really fooled me.” Zaid said as the detective left them.

“I was scared you would notice something was off.” Banan said thoughtfully.

“I did, but I thought you had a secret boyfriend.”

Banan laughed. ”You really are something Zaid. I pray Ibrahim gets better.” Her voice turned serious.

“I hope so but Banan we need to remove Madam Hafsy from the equation or it would cost her her job and I still wonder how Ibrahim escaped though.”

“We can ask him tomorrow.’’

I pray he gets better.” She repeated. “What an experience.”

“There’s something I wanted to ask you, why didn’t you tell the police about everything before you went there?”

“I had my reasons, besides, I didn’t know where Sabiha was hidden and it didn’t occur to me because I thought everything would go as planned.”

“Hmmn, but you knew the police would figure it all out when karimah was captured eventually.”

“I didn’t even know the culprit was Karimah. “

“Banan, I know you had a reason. I know you well; you wouldn’t just walk into something blindly.”

“Let’s just say, like you had your reason to hide it from the police, I had mine. There are those we wanted to protect.”

“How did he help you?” They had always understood each other, without the use of words.

Banan kept quiet for a while. “I don’t know, it all moved so fast and just like that, we started working together. Maybe he wanted to correct his past mistakes. He admitted he had done a lot of things he wasn’t proud of. He told me that he knew I had something different in mind and he could help me. I didn’t trust him at first but I learnt to.”

“But why didn’t he call the police or tell you about Sabiha?”

“I told him not to; I made him promise that he would only call when I didn’t make it in an hour, that was our deal. About Sabiha, he didn’t know her exact location.”

“I have full faith that everything would turn out great.” He smiled.

“Where is Sabiha?” Zaid ask looking around.

“I last saw her inside the station with Tahir.”

“Well, let me look for them. We don’t want season two of what we just went through, do we?” Motassem had called earlier to know if Mrs Anwar had found them and she told him the good news. He couldn’t resist going to them immediately and he had shared the good news with Tahir, so, they went down to the station together.

Banan smiled, but her smile faded when Zaid left, she had a lot on her mind. Something caught her eye, minutes after Zaid left. She moved to the bushy area of the place.

“Hey!” Fadil said in a whisper.

“What happened after you left?”

“I went to where you hid the car. I waited for you; I freaked out when you didn’t appear. I wanted to come back but you had made me promise so I decided to wait for a little while though I told myself I would come back if you didn’t appear.”

“I couldn’t wait anymore, so I went back for you…but the police came before I could enter. I hid in the building. The boss’s people had searched earlier but couldn’t find me or the car.”

Banan listened. “We are alright, but one of my friends got shot. So, what now?”

“Well, I am leaving the country. I can’t stay here. It’s not safe. I guess this is farewell. I have done a lot of bad things in my life.”

“Yeah!” Banan paused. “You’d better leave before someone comes along.”

He nodded. They held each other’s gaze for a little while before he turned and left. She stood there for some time before Zaid came along. “What are you looking at?” Zaid started but paused when he saw her eyes.

“Oh!” he said.

“He left.” She said in an emotional voice. Zaid hugged her, his eyes as sad as hers. “I am sorry sis.” He could feel her pain.

“Don’t be. I did what I could for you and Sabiha.”

“You don’t deserve this. It’s all my fault, I started this.” He still held her. 

She smiled and said. “You are so going to accompany me to apologize to that woman, I mean the one that gave us the plate number. I was kind of a bitch to her.“ Zaid stared into her eyes, but he couldn’t smile.