Sub Terra: Et Reditus

Eighteen, Part Two

Masoud passed me the glass, for which I thanked him. He told Connor he'd be going out to see some friends, then bid the two of us farewell. Laila sat in my lap. I caressed her soft curls as she made herself comfy, watching some old cartoon from the 40's on a TV Connor had turned on.

"I was in a coma for almost a year, I was told." Connor said. "They said I wouldn't even be able to walk anymore."

"Now you do it like it's nothing!" I remarked.

"I wouldn't say like it's nothing. There's still permanent damage to my left leg, so I can't put a ton of pressure on it anymore. But compared to the estimates they gave me, I completely proved them wrong."

"How'd you get here?" I asked.

"How I got here? Well..."

He looked up at the ceiling in deep thought. Without looking back at me, he gave an answer.

"It was three months after I woke up, around the time I was finishing up with rehab. I got a call from an unknown number. They said they were hiring doctors to help settlements around the world that were forgotten, lost,"

I knew Connor knew what it felt like to be forgotten and lost.

"They included a good salary and countless benefits, all I had to was leave my city. They told me what their organization was called, and I told them I'd call them again after looking into it a bit. It was a complete coincidence, you know. I hated the Citadel. I hated the place that brought me so much anguish, so much pain. I know you know exactly what I'm talking about,"

I knew it all too well.

"That call was exactly what I needed. A week later they had me sent here. I was assigned to their English-speaking patients first-

"Like Mr. Sterling?"

"He was my first patient here," he said merrily. "He's a good man, but that's a story for another time."

"I see."

"Yep. Anyway, sooner or later, I'd have to engage with the locals, so at the very least I'd have to learn French, so they arranged a teacher to help me speak it. Maintenant, je peux parler comme ça." Now, I can speak like this.

"That's good! Knowing another language can't hurt you, I think you have a pretty good grasp on it."

"I do? I still have a lot more to go, thank you for saying that."

I nodded in acknowledgment.

"Do you want to meet my teacher? She's excited to meet you."

"She? Meet me?"

"Get up. We'll see her right now."

I picked myself up, giving Laila to Connor. I headed for the door, but Connor stopped me.

"She's upstairs."

Intrigued, I followed him up a small flight of earthen stairs, leading to a hall with three or four rooms. He knocked on the door of one of them. I could hear a voice on the other side saying something, but it was too quiet for me to hear.

"We can go in." He pushed the doorknob forward.

We were in a bedroom. It looked like any other bedroom in the village, with the exception of a desk with a laptop in a corner of the room. A woman sat on the ground, her back against a wall.

Connor sat on the floor, folding his legs. I did the same.

"Yasmine, this is-

"Je sais!" I know, she said, feverishly. She outstretched her arms, preparing to hug me like I was an old friend she hadn't seen in years. I accepted it, though perhaps not as eagerly as she may have wanted me to.

"Devi, you know, Connor only says good things about you?"

I looked at Connor, who winked at me like he'd done me a huge favour. I smiled at her comment.

"Mon dieu, you're much more prettier than I thought you'd be!"

"I- I appreciate that." I said, shyly. I wanted to say the same thing to her, if it weren't for the turban-like headwear she wore, covering her entire head and neck, except for a slit that exposed her eyes.

"I was just telling Devi about... everything." He chuckled.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Continuer!" Continue, she said, playfully hitting his shoulder, before slowly recoiling back against the wall.

"Take it easy, habibti." My love, he said in Arabic. I looked at him like he was a creep. Why would he say that to his teacher?

"I know this isn't what you expected, D, but she isn't just my teacher anymore. She's my wife,"

I then realized why he told her to take it easy. She was without a doubt pregnant, carrying their second child. The first, Laila, was dozing off in Connor's arms.

"It started off with her teaching me French, you see. I picked up on it quickly, and since she only taught me a certain amount of time each week, we had lots of time to spare. We started to talk about her religion, her life, where we'd been and-

"It was by God's will that it happened." She said charismatically. "Masoud thought I was crazy when I told him about it, but he became Connor's best friend."

"He even tried to fight me back then, didn't he?" Connor said.

The couple laughed loudly, but not enough that it would wake up Laila.

"I'll take the little one to her room, alright Yasmine?" He asked.

"Ouais, ouais." Yeah, yeah, she said, trying to contain her fit.

All I could could think of was Yasmine's expectant belly, how there was a baby growing just a few feet in front of me, yet I couldn't see it. Being an entity that relied on a battery rather than food, it always amazed me as to how fascinating life was. How effortlessly it existed. It was like seeing puzzle pieces sort themselves out, with trial after trial happening until it finally made one big, beautiful picture.

"A month," she said. "A month until he's out."

"He'll be a kind little boy." I stated.

"Just like his baba." Like his dad, she said.

Moments later, Connor entered the room once more, holding a bowl of oatmeal in his hands. He'd also quickly changed from his white doctor's coat to a lime yellow djellaba.

"I brought you something to eat, ma chérie." Sweetheart, he said affectionately.

"I'm not hungry." She said defiantly.

"It's not just for you, it's for him too." He said, patting her belly. She sighed in defeat, accepting the meal.

She took a very quick, but noticeable glance at me through her periphery. Connor noticed it.

"Right, right,"

He turned to me and told me to get up.

"Let's continue our discussion outside, shall we?"

I picked myself up and did as he requested.

"Let's walk over to where I'm staying."

"As you wish." he said.

Leaving the house, I couldn't help but wonder why she wanted to eat alone. It must've had something to do with the shawl, and I figured it to be related to the burn on Masoud's forehead.