Unshackled

His Eyes

Asiyah's POV.

I can't believe he knows about this—how does he even know?

I have never said a word about this to anyone. And the reason is that I just wanted to forget everything that happened and move on. It was a mistake that shouldn't have happened and I've learned my lesson.
But moving on is never easy. That guy was once special to me but I wasn't for him. I let my guard down, and everything happened so fast that I wasn't able to recognize where things were going wrong.

We still train every day as usual. I do feel more energetic and full of energy day by day. We train hard and I was never used to such physical activity before.

Although training is good, being here is still not comfortable for me. Often, I think about ways to escape again but I just never know when or how to because this place is filled with bodyguards but also ever since I met with my family I can't stop thinking about what Abbu said.

It stopped me from doing anything because I fear the outcome now. Everyone seems to be fine but I'm not.
Is this Allah's plan? Do I need to just accept it and make peace with it?

This morning, I was expecting us to train again but to my surprise, we were not.

After breakfast, Sultan announced that we had a task to complete today. We are going to be put in teams with a leader and we will be sent out of the mansion.
He said it was all a play which means it's not an actual task however it's similar to what we will eventually experience. I'm not sure about the others but I'm just not ready for this. I will mess up or something bad will definitely happen—I can just feel it. May Allah protect me.

Each girl was given a heavy vest to protect us from being armed and a gun. As soon as I grabbed onto the gun, my anxiety went up but I still managed to place it in my back pocket.

Then we all got separated into groups and went inside the cars with our leaders. I was with Zorah and our leader was Abay. What a relief. I'm glad it's not Azaan.

The ride was silent until we reached our destination. It looked like a giant forest with enormous trees. I'd definitely get lost. We stepped out of the car following our leader and then waited for instructions.

"okay girls, for this task—we are the blue team against the other teams. yellow and red. The game is simple, the winning team will be the one who does not get shot. You're only allowed to aim at the vest not anywhere else of course for security reasons," Abay explained.

Are these people out of their minds?? A gun is not a toy! Here we are playing a game and shooting at other people. This doesn't make any sense.

I don't care if I have a vest or whatever, what if I still die?! What if I hurt someone by accident?

I raised my hand to ask a question.

"yes Asiyah,"

"Abay sir, I'm not—I'm afraid I won't be able to do it" I said acting weak. I hate pretending but I have no choice.

"I'm playing as well, I will be watching over you both—there's nothing to be afraid of okay?" he said.

"Okay," why did I agree so fast? This is still not safe!

After Abay had explained the rules, the game started.

The moment I stepped into the war zone, I literally felt like I was in danger. Is this place secure? Because it looks scary. All the other girls were on their guard and ran to find a place to hide. I couldn't move at all, I was just stuck there overthinking my whole life and just wanting to leave right away.

I felt someone behind me.

"It's going to be okay, trust me" Abay whispered in my ear.

He stepped in front of me and asked me to follow his lead. I'm less scared now that he's here but I'm still not ready to hear gunshots. It's like the silence before the storm right now.