The Reign of the Lost (ON HOLD)

Chapter 1.1

… the lines we draw aren't the ones we wanted.'

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''Abbu...I'm going now,'' whispered Alia into her parents bedroom, wherein lay a chubby grey haired man, who woke from his sleep.

''Do you have everything you need?'' he mumbled through the pillow.

''Yeah,'' she replied in a hushed voice, 'I packed everything yesterday'

''What about the torch?'' he questioned as he opened his eyes.

Alia rolled her own. Her father had for weeks been adamant that she should take a torch with her in case of 'emergencies', she'd argued that it would be a waste of space; they did have electricity in Australia. Nonetheless, she had packed the torch. ''Yes dad I did, just for you,'' she smiled innocently at her father. The phone she held in her hand vibrated, it was a text from Samar;

When r u setting of?!

This was the twelfth text she received of her this morning. ''Ok, Khuda Hafiz abu'' she said, as she closed the room door, through which she heard a muffled ''Be safe''.

Downstairs her mother, a plump woman with tired eyes, finished spreading butter on a peice of toast & placed it on a plate with the others on top of the counter. Alia who was planning on skipping breakfast moaned, ''Oh Ammi, you didn't have to make all of this.'' Her eyes wandered over the amount of food her mother had prepared. As well as toast there was egg, pancakes, waffles, croissants and her favourite cereal, it was enough to feed a family of five. This was her mothers last attempt to spoil her daughter, before she left. Acknowledging the effort her mother went to & knowing how much her being gone would affect her mother, she sat down and began eating a little of everything.

''I sorted all your medicines out, they're on top of the fireplace in living room,'' Alia said as she got up from the counter, ''So make sure you take them on time''. As she was spreading nutella on a croissant, she looked up, catching her mothers eyes,'' Okay?''.

''Yes I will'' her mother replied, trying to sound convincing.''Now you make sure to ring me when you get to the airport and as soon as you land'' she demanded, though the worry cracked through her voice.

''I will'' said Alia as she embraced her mother into a hug. She heard her mother sniffle.''Ammi, don't cry, you promised you wouldn't,'' she said as her own tears threatened to spill.''I'll be back before you know it... Oh shit!'' Her eyes had landed on the grandfather clock which hung above the huge mirror, it was 3:50am, she had to go. She grabbed her suitcase and bags & went to open the door.

'Are you sure you want to walk, I can wake your dad up,' her mother offered.

'No let him sleep, he has work all day and besides it's not far, I'll be fine... Khuda Hafiz' she said as she stepped outside into the warm air of the early morning.

'Khuda Hafiz Alia' said her mother, who closed the door behind her.

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