[COMPLETE] African Pride

8. The First Strike

After that terrible nightmare, I had to make sure that the Pride was safe and secure. Slipping out of the house before anyone would notice me, Halima and I made our way to the Animal Sanctuary to calm my worried soul. Although the Warden let me in without batting an eyelash, when we passed the front office my heart froze in my chest. Waiting outside was the last person that I thought would be here: Dalia.

Dalia sat in one of the many seats, texting on her mobile. My heart quickened, my heart beating so loudly in my chest that I believed she could hear it. Dalia looked so... so... so innocent, so calm. Dalia didn't have anything close to the type of responsibilities I had, yet there was a tremendous amount of pressure upon her. She was forced to hide who she was, her true feelings, else her Father, would kill her.

I didn't know what she was doing here, but just looking at her made a wave of emotions wash over mer. My ex-girlfriend was a mere three meters away, and I couldn't run up to hug or kiss her because of the stupid laws here.

Talk to her, Halima said.

Are you crazy? I asked. Hal, what would I say?

How about just hello? That's a good start.

Although Halima could come across as sarcastic and cold in some situations, she was my best friend. She was the only one besides my family that knew of my feelings towards girls and accepted it without question. Being my spirit guide, she was apart of me and I her, making us closer than sisters.

I nibbled on my lip; my feet moved at a turtle's pace as I walked forward, clearing my throat when I stood before her.

Dalia looked up at the sound of my voice, her eyes growing as big as dinner plates when she saw it was me. "K-K-Kara... Hey..."

"Hey..." I said, rubbing my arm. "How... How are you?"

"I... I'm well... Waiting for Baba to finish up some work inside. He's donating some money, believing it'll help his public image, or whatever."

"If he wanted to help his image, he wouldn't be so evil when it came to people with our condition."

I arched an eyebrow. Calling our feelings for each other a 'condition' was a way to demonize people like us. "People with our condition?" I repeated, my voice rising.

Dalia's glanced behind her fearfully, before looking back to me. "Not so loud, all right?"

My face became thunderous. "Oh, I'm sorry. Am I not allowed to be angry and hurt that my girlfriend dumped me?"

"Kara... I know... I know that you don't believe me, but trust me when I say that... that what I did was for the best."

"For you, you mean. I don't care what people would think! All I would want is to be happy!"

"Well I don't want to be sent to jail, or forced into one of the infamous conversion camps by Baba. I'd rather die than go there!"

The door to the front office opened as Dalia's father, Reuben, walked out, stopping our argument.

Reuben wasn't tall or imposing like Baba was, but was somewhat intimidated people with his mannerisms and words. He looked down on people like Baba, people who didn't hunger for power and fame, but instead just wanted to help. No, Reuben cared about one thing and one thing only, and that was money. Well, he also wanted to be the man with a perfect family, and that was the primary reason Dalia was terrified of him as having me as a girlfriend wasn't apart of that picture.

"Ms. Shujaa," Reuben said, wrinkling his nose slightly as if I was a foul odor. "I hope that I'm not interrupting your talk with my daughter?"

"No! No, Baba, you're not," Dalia stammered. "Karasi was just... just leaving. We were talking about school."