National Exile: A 21st Century Novel about Nobility, Poverty, and Cruelty

by Rusul A. Altaay

  Chapter 16

  What’s wrong with us?

 

  In the morning, Rain left early and walked to the orphanage to find out what really was going on. He was welcomed by the manager of the place who told him that the kids were having their breakfast.

  “May I please have breakfast with them?” Rain asked.

  “But Sir…” The manager tried saying no.

  “Please, I would really appreciate it. I also will pay for everyone’s meal for the day.”

  “Well, as you can see, we don’t have much to offer. The kids are having milk and a piece of bread this week.”

  “That will do.” Rain said as he thought, “What on earth did they do with the money I sent?”

  He entered the dining room and looked around. He saw the kids who worked in the town. He did not know what to say, so he just walked to them and sat at their table.

  “Hello guys… Do you remember me? I was in town just yesterday.” Rain said.

  “We don’t know what you’re talking about. We were here all day yesterday. We never left.” A girl replied.

  “I took a picture to you guys, remember? You don’t need to lie. I can protect you.” Rain whispered. “Here, it’s still on my phone.” He said as he showed them the picture from the day before.

  “Please, he is going to be very mad.” One of the girls replied.

  “Not on my watch.” Rain replied with a tone. “Does he force you all to work?” He asked.

  “Yes, but he let us stay here and give us some food. We all lost our parents, and we’re grateful that he just let us stay here. Ms. Amani, his wife, she is very nice. We like her.” The girl replied.

  Rain left the table with an angry face. That manager had no right to do this to them. The money they received should have been enough to feed and educate the kids.

  “How could you? This place was paid for by a friend of mine. She dedicated her life to seeing kids like them get off the streets. I’m not about to let a guy like you ruin the last of her dreams.” Rain shouted at the manager.

  “I’m not sure what you are talking about. Please calm down.” The man said with a scared tone.

  “I’m the one who has been sending you money every month. What do you do with it? Why do you make the kids work?” Rain yelled.

  “Did they tell you that? Because they lie… They’re all liars.”

  Rain just lost it and started shouting at the manager,

  “Shut up… They cleaned my shoes just yesterday in the town. The only liar I see... is the likes of you. How could you destroy their childhood with your greed for money? I lost the only person I ever cared for, and I have no idea if I ever will see her…” Rain continued yelling at the manager. “This place was all she cared for. She gave up so much for the orphans. All she wanted is to see the kids lead a normal life. She trusted you people to handle things.”

  The manager of the orphanage took his gun out and pointed it towards Rain. His hands kept shaking the whole time.

  “I have heard enough of your insults. I don’t have to deal with those dogs you call kids. They’re nothing to me. Now, leave or I will kill you right here and now.” The manager shouted.

  Rain quickly took his gun out as well and fired at the same moment the manager fired at him. Rain’s shot ended up hitting the manager’s leg. However, the manger’s bullet was fired randomly and hit one of the kids who stood right behind Rain.

  “Oh…my God… BAHER…” Ms. Amani shouted. “What happened here? I came after I heard all the yelling. What did you do?”

  “Stay back… I think the bullet went through the surface of her shoulder.” Rain said. “Hey… Stay with me… What is your name?” He talked to the girl.

  “My name is Zahra. It hurts.” The kid replied as she was crying.

  “Baher… How could you?” Ms. Amani yelled at her husband who was on the floor due to the bullet in his leg.

  “Get the medical kit… Quickly… I swear if she dies, you die with her, Baher” Rain shouted.

  The girl’s wound was not as bad as they thought. Rain treated her and was able to stop the bleeding in her shoulder. He decided not to take her to the hospital. He kept her at the orphanage where she can receive a better care. On the other hand, Rain was so mad that he wanted to leave Mr. Baher to bleed to death. However, Ms. Amani begged him to help. After taking his gun away, Rain was able to get the bullet out of his leg and stop the bleeding by stitching the wound up.

  “Ms. Amani, why did you let your husband do what he did?” Rain asked with a tone.

  “No, please do not yell at her. She is very nice.” The wounded little girl said.

  “It is ok, Zahra. He has the right to ask. Rain, I’m really sorry. When you came here last time with Sidra, I really wanted to tell you guys what was going on. He is very controlling. He used to hit me sometimes in front of the kids as well.” Ms. Amani said.

  “Shut up, woman… Or the next bullet is going into your head.” Baher shouted.

  “There was nothing I could have done. He usually takes all the donation money we receive and give me very little to feed and dress the kids. Then, he forces them to work and take all of what they make. All he cares about is how much money he has in his bank account.” Ms. Amani said with tears in her eyes.

  “It’s because the likes of you, Estil is still suffering poverty and ignorance. Every time someone wants to do something or change anything to the better, the likes of you stop in the way. Everyone wants Estil to change and become a great nation, but no one ever stopped and cleaned this land from people like yourself. Now, I know why Estil will suffer for much longer. You are a shameful icon to our nation.” Rain said calmly.

  Rain immediately called for backup and asked his team to put Baher in jail because he fired at a Peacekeeper. After everything was over, Rain stayed behind to help clean things out in the orphanage .

  “Rain, thank you, really. You saved us all.” Ms. Amani said and continued. “You are wrong about one thing. This nation will not suffer much longer because of people like my husband. It will, with God’s willing, become a great nation very soon because we have people like you.”

  “I really hope so.” Rain replied.

  “I have to ask. Where is Sidra? We have not seen her in months.” Ms. Amani asked.

  “I wish I knew. I have been looking for her. At this point, it is possible that she’s dead.” Rain said while looking at the ground.

  “Why are you saying that? Did something happen?” Ms. Amani asked with a concerned face.

  “It is a long story. I will be sending you money each month. I will make sure that it is more than enough for everything. I will stop by every once in a while. Here is my number. Please do not ever hesitate to call if you need anything. All I ask of you is that you teach the kids and feed them well. They are the ones who are going to make Estil a great nation. Please, I want Sidra’s dream to live even if she couldn’t make it. Take care.” Rain told Ms. Amani as he left the orphanage .

  Later on that day, Yazan was able to make one quick phone call to Rain.

  “What’s up my friend?” Yazan said with a cheerful voice. “Listen, I was hoping we could meet and catch up.”

  Rain immediately realized what was going on. “Sure, do you want to meet at that old restaurant in the capital?”

  As soon as they agreed on the time and place, Yazan hung up. When they met as planned, the first thing that Yazan said to Rain was,

  “If you find Sidra, make sure that she does not come back to the Burj. Commander Basam is after her and would not stop until she’s dead.”

  “Ok…That’s assuming she is not dead already. It’s been a month.” Rain said with a surprised face.

  “I don’t think I trust you anymore. Before Sidra left to Aser’s house, she told me that your IP address was traced to somewhere outside of Estil. Do you mind telling me where you were? More importantly, I think it is about time you tell me who the heck Aser was.” Yazan said
.

  “It’s not what you think. I care for you guys.” Rain said.

  “That is not an answer, Rain. Have a good day…”

  “No, wait… You have to promise to never tell anyone about this.”

  “It depends. What did you do?”

  “After I was asked to work as a Peacekeeper, I got a phone call from my uncle. He asked me to go to a private island to talk to him about something. If the administration knows that I left to another country, I will be in big terrible. Anyhow, that is why I tried to block my IP address, and could not send a normal email to Sidra. I was being watched and so was she.” Rain explained.

  “You were on a private island while you asked her to save a man of yours? Why didn’t you bring you sorry legs back here and saved Aser yourself?” Yazan asked.

  “It’s her unit that was ordered to kill him in the first place. When I asked her to save him, I didn’t mean for her to get in harm’s way. Besides, she had to meet him herself.”

  “What does that even mean?”

  “Aser is ‘or’ was a good man. He and Sidra were working on the same project without knowing it. I only found all of this in my visit to my uncle’s. My uncle is one of the people that funded Sidra’s project.”

  “Great… And how is that information helping us now?” Yazan asked.

  “Listen, I know that you were imprisoned because of our phone call. I can’t begin to tell you how sorry I am.”

  “I was not imprisoned because of a simple phone call. It was because the call was international. Did you really think that they wouldn’t find out? What were you thinking? Stupid.”

  “I obviously wasn’t thinking. I underestimated them. Please forgive me.”

  “You were lucky they didn’t find out that I was talking to you, Rain. They wouldn’t care who your father is. You would’ve been executed if they knew you left the country while working for the Peacekeepers.” Yazan said. “We can talk about this later. Let’s sit down and order something. Any news about Sidra?” He asked as he grabbed the menu in that very old restaurant.

  “I don’t know Yazan... I’m starting to give up already. I searched everywhere. I even had my father’s connection helping me out. She is nowhere to be found. If she were a live, she would have contacted us by now.”

  “I was kind of hoping that she would contact you via her encrypted messaging system. Rain, don’t even think about giving up on the search. It was you who put her in that mess in the first place. You sent her to Aser. In another word, if she is dead, none of us will ever forgive you.” Yazan said.

  “Like I can ever forgive myself.” Rain said. “If she is a live, she just proved to me that she wouldn’t give a carp about us. A month is more than enough for her to contact us. She doesn’t care whether we get worried or not. If she is really dead… well, you’re right. It was my fault.”

  After a while, their food was ready and served. As they talked, a young-man approached them. With no introductions or anything, the man immediately asked,

  “I’m really hungry. Can I have your food?”

  Rain and Yazan looked at him for few seconds. He was dressed well and seemed very skinny.

  “Please, have my plate. I haven’t touched it yet.” Rain said.

  “And you can have mine for the go.” Yazan added.

  They had the food all wrapped up for him. They just gave him the food and did not say anything else. The man left the place thanking them. Rain had to go back to his base. He said goodbye to Yazan and left as well.

  Few days later, Rain received an interesting phone call. It was from one of his father’s friends.

  “Sir, you told me to call if I find anything about a woman named Sidra.” The man said.

  “Yes, anything new?” Rain replied happily.

  “Well, I’m not so sure, but few months ago, there was a woman named Sidra being held here at the underground prison. Did you know that?” The man asked.

  “Yes, I did. She was released after that. Thanks anyway.” Rain replied feeling hopeless.

  “Actually, one of my men was ordered to clean a prison cell that contained the slogan everyone is saying and writing everywhere. I just called because I saw the name Sidra written on the same wall.” The man said.

  “Wait, what slogan? And is it still there?” Rain asked.

  “Yes, Sir. It is. They’re about to erase it, however. Sorry, I couldn’t be of more help” The man answered.

  “No, wait. Don’t erase it until I get there.”

  Rain instantly left what he was doing and decided to go to the underground prison. He wanted to see for himself what was written there. It seemed hopeless especially that it was written few months back and before Sidra even disappeared. He just wanted something, anything that might provide answers.

  He got to the underground prison and asked to go to Sidra’s old prison cell. After checking his paper work, he was finally able to get in. He remembered how last time he was there, it was to find Sidra as well.

  “All this girl seems to do is disappear on me. And all I seem to do, is look for her.” He thought.

  He got in and looked at the wall. The moment he read what was written, he remembered the slogans he saw on the walls in the city.

  “This is written with a rock. I can’t tell if it is Sidra’s hand writing. Either way, someone is trying to get the administration’s attention by writing it all over the city.” Rain thought as he took a picture of the wall and left.