ACRO

Do You Believe

It was a few minutes to sunrise.

Youssef walked down the corridor, stopping before the door to his quarters. His pace was slow, and his eyes were red, his hair ruffled. As he unlocked the door and set foot Inside, a familiar voice stopped him.

"Youssef."

He turned.

"What do you want, Zara?"

"Its about her." she said, pointing at the door.

Closing the door behind him, he stepped towards her, his red eyes narrowed in intrigue.

Zara sniffed, her face scrunching up in a grimace.
"How many joints were those?"

"Does it matter?" he answered, stoic.

"Salima was visiting too much, something didn't feel right. So I followed her to the kitchen, yesterday. When she took off her veil, it was Royce."

"What?" he asked, in surprise.

"She's planning something, and Salima's helping." said Zara.

"Where is Salima?" asked Youssef.

"I've taken care of her."

"Did you hurt her?"

"It's none of your concern."

His eyes lowered, in thought.
"What was she doing in the kitchen, anyway?"

"Urging the women to turn the against Khalifa. You. She wants their support." said Zara.

"Why didn't Deema inform anyone about this?" he asked.

"Deema wasn't there."

His eyebrows knitted together.
"She could've escaped. Why did she come back?" he asked, looking at Zara.

"I don't know, Youssef. She's planning something. She needs to be stopped." she said.

"I will talk to her."

Zara scoffed.
"Talk? She's hostage. You don't 'talk' to hostages. You silence them."

"I will handle her."

"You cannot handle her, Youssef. You can't even handle yourself around her." she snapped.

"Something needs to be done. The hole is full of women she can influence. She needs to be isolated."

"I said I'll take care of it, leave it to me." said Youssef, firmly.

"You can't do anything. You haven't even touched her, have you?" she spat.

"You want me to? Being a woman yourself?" he asked, disgust in his eyes.

She glared at him for a moment.
"I'm taking her to Amin." she said, walking towards his door.

"Hey." he said, his voice deep and quiet, holding danger in his tone.

His hand was locked on her shoulder, strongly and firmly, his eyes showing menace.

"The only thing you're doing right now, is backing off." he threatened.

Zara gawked at him, in shock and dismay.

He moved his hand away from her shoulder.
"Let me handle this." he said, collecting himself.

"You can stop me now, but I will get to her. And when I do, may God have mercy on her." she said, spitefully.

His eyes darkened and his jaw clenched, silent anger showing in his features. Danger radiated off of him as he moved closer to Zara.

"Try." he whispered.