As Long As I Have You // A. Ghale

No Rest for the Weary

The nightmare had set in. I was completely isolated and trapped by own selfish fear of being alone and deserted and vulnerable. It was like time had suddenly stopped.

"Mom, what's going on?" I say, getting out my warm bed to see what was going on. I rub the sleepy out of my eyes and make my way towards her. She's on the phone in the kitchen, nearly screaming and yelling at someone on the other line.

"You told me that he would be safe with you! You promised that he would come back home after a year, Min. No later than that. You lied to us. I want my husband back, whether you like it or not." I hear my mother scream into the phone. I decided to sit just outside the kitchen to listen in on the conversation. 

"You know the deal we made, Mrs. Carver. He may not come home until he has achieved his duties here in Kyrat. I'm sorry you don't like that very much, but sometimes you have to deal with the consequences." A man explains on the other line, he was much calmer than my mother, but had a monotonous way about his voice that sent shivers down my spine.

"Can at least speak with him? I need to tell him something important." My mother takes a deep breath and calmly asks a question back to suspicious man. I in chad my way closer to the kitchen, but still being as silent as I could to make sure she couldn't hear, see, or acknowledge my presence.

"You have two minutes. I suggest being quick."

"Babe? GG? It's me, Nina. Listen, I don't have much time. So, just let me say what I need to say. I haven't told D this yet, but she will find out soon enough. I'm coming to Kyrat. So we can be together again. I know that Pagan won't let you come home anytime soon, so I'm coming to you. I love you." That was the last thing I heard before she slammed the phone of kitchen counter. She started to pace back and forth and I knew that my worst nightmare had became my reality.

"Delilah, Delilah, wake up!" I hear a faint voice say, as I am shaken awake. I push myself up on my elbows and see Ajay standing over my bedside. I smile and sit up. It's funny how we get ourselves in these kind of situations.

"Have you ever heard of knocking?" I say, getting dressed for the day. He sits down on my bed and watches me, slightly blushing. Not going to lie, Ajay was very attractive. The way his dark hair fell into his eyes, and the way he'd flip it out of the way. Everything about him was cute, in his own way.

"You know, it's rude to stare." I retort back at him, but he doesn't say anything else. He was just enjoying the view.

"We've got a long day ahead of us, so gather your things and meet me outside of here." Ajay says, as he takes his time walking outside. Damn.

I finish getting myself dressed for the day, and began to head for the door. Something felt weird, like maybe we shouldn't be going today. But, I decided to ignore that and just go anyway.

As we headed to the Alpha camp, the day slowly bled into the night. The sounds of the crickets chirping was just enough to keep my mind from going insane. Ajay and I had only been talking until the radio station cut in and out, then we decided to sit in utter silence.

"Listen, whatever happens tonight just know that you don't need to save me. I should be able to take care of myself for once in my life." I stated, trying to make it as obvious as I could.

"Whatever you say, D." I was shocked. Nobody ever called me D, other than my father. It felt weird to hear someone say that for the first time since he left home.

"Who said you could call me that?" I cross my arms in front of me.

"Who said I couldn't?" He retorts, looking at my red face. He then laughed at the sight and brush off my snarky comments after that.

"Are we almost there yet? How big is this place anyway?" I ask, waiting for a valid answer. It only took a second for Ajay to gather up what little information he had on Kyrat.

"It's quite a large chunk of India, and we will be there when we get there." Ajay says, making my sit back in my seat of the pickup truck. It was so odd to see the diversity between vehicular coloring, or the lack thereof.

"Okay, you wish has come true! We're here." He says, putting the truck in park. I make my way out of the truck and follow his lead.

This was going to be a long night...

We had made it close enough to the camps, where we could almost hear the conversations. I took the right side of the campsite and Ajay took the other. There was a enormous cage filled by an equally large animal; a brown bear. Just from hearing the agonizing growls, I knew it was definitely not something I'd want to mess with.

After taking out hunter, after hunter, the rest of the camp was only filled with blood-stained bodies. Job well done, or at least that's what Sabal would say.

"Hey! You okay?" Ajay runs over to me, holding a bloody towel against his hand. Pure co nicer washes over me. For all the times he had saved me, this was my turn.

"Jesus! Let me get you back to Banapur. And I most certainly won't take no for an answer."