by S A Tameez
“What’s wrong?” Ahmed asked, “why are you hiding in the cupboard?” The boys didn’t respond. They sat on one of the beds silently, still snivelling, still trembling.
“Are you ok? Jane asked. “Are you guys hurt?”
One of the boys shook his head, “La…” he started, but then stopped and began crying harder.
“Hey, it’s ok…” Jane put her arms around the boy. He spoke in Arabic. Ahmed translated what he was saying so Jane could understand.
“He is saying that they were supposed to go to school… but Abdul, their friend, convinced them to stay and play instead… they didn’t want to miss school but…”
The boy began coughing.
“It’s ok… you’re not in trouble. It’s fine.” Ahmed reassured them, speaking in their language. Why are they so upset? he wondered.
“Who is Abdul? Is that you?” he pointed at the other boy. They both shook their heads. Ahmed and Jane looked at each other.
“My name is Ahmed and this is Jane, she is a volunteer and is here to help.” The boys nodded.
“Where’s Abdul?” Jane asked. Looking at Ahmed to translate the question.
The boys stayed silent.
“Is Abdul here somewhere?” Ahmed then asked.
The boy spoke again, his voice a whimper.
“They were playing hide and seek, they hid in the cupboard and Abdul was looking for them… Then, they heard him scream. He was screaming for help. They could hear heavy footsteps and the sounds of men talking… and then it all went silent. They were too scared to come out.” The boys began to cry again. Ahmed looked at Jane. She faced him with her eyes wide, like saucers. Ahmed’s head was beginning to spin. Is this what happened to Malik? His stomach began to churn. He wanted to throw up but his stomach was empty. He knew something was fishy about the camp. The strange people at the office, the orphanage that is managed by no one, and not one soul has any idea about what’s going on.
“We need to talk to someone about this!” Jane said, “let’s take these kids and go speak to someone at the office.”
“You go ahead. I don’t trust anyone at that office! And I certainly wouldn’t look for help from them.” Ahmed could feel himself heating up. “I need to look for my son.”
“Of course, keep looking for him. I need to get help,” she said. He had no intentions of going back to that office, there was something about the whole setup that didn’t sit easy with Ahmed. And his paranoia was beginning to pay off. Who were these men? And what had happened to this boy, Abdul? Did they take him? Why?
Jane took off with the boys, going to kick up a storm no doubt, Ahmed thought. It was at this point he realised that he wasn’t going to get any real help from anyone. It was down to him, now, to get his son back, and he decided that he would do whatever it took to do that. He started looking for clues that might lead to him finding out who those men were. Maybe they had Malik! He rummaged through the building looking for anything that could help. He turned over beds, dug through wardrobes and draws and searched the floor for anything that they might have dropped or left… but there was nothing.
He went outside feeling worse than he did before. The nasty sensation of wanting to throw up wasn’t fading. At least before there was a possibility that Malik was just lost. But now, he was convinced that there was something far more sinister at play here. If he were a gambling man, which he wasn’t, he could bet all his money that the men that took Abdul had something to do with the disappearance of Malik. He had to find those men. He began visualising terrible images of huge, horrible looking men with hideous eyes filled with wickedness. He leant over, as if he was going to vomit but nothing except air and some saliva came out. As he had his head down and stared at the ground, he noticed tyre tracks, large tyre tracks, like that of a truck or an SUV style vehicle. Ahmed straight away thought this was suspicious for there were never any vehicles inside the gates. The loose gravel around the tyre tracks and the amount of detail still imprinted on the ground from the tyre threads, indicated that they were recent.
He ran out of the gates and up the road looking for a truck or an SUV, if the vehicle was still in the camp that was. There were two people that would know about what went on around here, one being Jane and the other Khaleel. Well, the only two that would be willing to help anyway. Jane would probably be close to the office by now, the last place that Ahmed wanted to be.
“Khaleel,” Ahmed puffed, finding him at the sewage site. He was trying to catch his breath. “I am glad I found you… I need to talk to you…”
“Of course, Ahmed.”
“There’s been an incident at the orphanage—”
“Let’s go to my office,” Khaleel interrupted, “we can discuss this there.” He took him to a small office cabin, and closed the door. Maybe he didn’t want to scare the volunteers, Ahmed thought.
“There’s been an incident at the orphanage.” Ahmed voice was filled with panic.
“OK, what type of incident?”
“We found two boys at the orphanage that were hiding and claimed that another one of their friends was abducted by some men. Also, I found tyre tracks.”
“Oh, those boys are trouble I tell you!” Khaleel said, with a dismissive wave of his hand.
“The boys… are trouble? Two little boys?” Ahmed hissed, “Did you not hear anything I just said?”
“Ahmed, you are a smart man, we don’t have time to listen to stories made up by skiving little brats!”
“Are you serious?”
“Come on… you didn’t really fall for that nonsense, did you?”
Ahmed didn’t need to verify what the boys had said; their terrified expressions had been haunting his mind since he saw them. People’s eyes tend to give away their lies and the boys weren’t lying – Ahmed was certain of it.
“I don’t think it was nonsense.” Ahmed looked deep into Khaleel’s eyes, “and I don’t think you do either.”
Khaleel remained silent. He swallowed uncomfortably. If he was trying to hide his guilt, he wasn’t doing a very good job. Khaleel looked as guilty as hell, proven by the beads of sweat, heavy breathing, fidgeting, and swallowing.
What was he hiding? Ahmed thought.
“In any case… I need to find my son, so I better get on.” Ahmed turned to open the door.
****
The boys did well to keep up with Jane’s fast pace, she almost ran to the office. When she had something vitally important to do, she was like a wind in a storm, which usually meant trouble for either herself or someone else.
“I need to talk someone inside, now!” Jane demanded, as she approached the three armed-guards standing outside. The men looked over at her briefly, then continued talking amongst themselves.
“Hey! Are you deaf!” She shouted. She was so angry that she was tempted to pick up a rock and hurl it at them.
“Office is closed, there’s no one in there right now. Come back later,” one guard said. To her further annoyance, he turned back to his comrades to carry on their conversation. Before Jane completely exploded, she took a few deep breaths. She thought of Antonio’s calm voice in her head, don’t do it! But the fuse had already caught fire. It was only the fact that she had with her, two little boys already terrified, that delayed the dynamite.
“Jane – hi,” a short man with grey hair spoke.
“John! Hi.” Jane sighed in relief. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
“Yeah… just got in. What’s wrong? You look like you could kill a bear, and you’re shaking,” he said, looking at the boys clinging onto her like she was a lifeboat.
“Let’s go inside,” John said, gesturing with his arms. She took the boys’ hands as she followed John to the office door.
“Get out of the way, you morons!” John sneered. The guards stopped talking and moved out of the way for John to pass but then collated back together like a human shield when Jane tried to enter with the boys.
“What the hell are you doing?” John yelled a
nd tried to move them out of the way.
“We need to make sure the boys are not armed,” one of the guards said abruptly.
“Are you serious?” Jane said, looking at the fear in the eyes of the boys. She could feel them trembling.
“Yes, dead serious,” the guard responded, threateningly.
“Jane, it’s fine... let them do what they need to. Bigger morons have given these morons guns and a bit of authority, and now they feel the need to show off.” John said. “Go on then! You bloody idiots!”
“Lift up your shirts,” one of the guards ordered. The boys lifted their shirts, exposing their skinny torso with the skin drawn taut over their rib cages. The guard waited at least a minute before saying, “Now, turn around.” In Arabic. The boys continued following instructions. “Now, take off your shoes... slowly!”
“Is this really necessary? Jane pleaded. But there was no response.
“Get them to stand on one leg!” one of the other guards said, and they started sniggering.
Jane was disgusted at the attitude of the guards. “What the hell is wrong with you? They’re just kids!”
The guard that was giving instructions moved forward and stood almost nose to nose with Jane. He pointed at a long scar that ran down the side of his face, “I met a lot of these little monkeys in Afghanistan.”
Jane, using her peripheral vision could see boys from the corner of her eye. Although she couldn’t physically see the tears streaming down their cheeks, she knew they were crying in fear.
“Well, I think it makes you look very pretty... princess.” Jane remarked. “Now get out of my way, dog breath.”
The guard looked taken aback, and the chortling of his colleagues seemed to make him go red.
“I got news for you,” Jane said, “we’re not in Afghanistan, you are not at war and these are just kids!”
His eyes widened in anger and embarrassment. He momentarily clenched his fists but then released them again and smiled, deviously at Jane.
“I am going have to search you as well.” The guard chuckled menacingly.
“What?” Jane was furious.
“You heard what I said... turn around slowly and lift up your arms!” he ordered, his voice forceful.
“No way! And you’re not coming near me. Do you understand?”
“I’ll tell you what I understand,” the guard whispered, so that no one except Jane could hear. “You do as you’re told or I will make a whole in your face bigger than that big mouth of yours, and then I will do the same to those two little monkeys. Now do you understand that?”
Every bone in Jane’s body was telling her to scream, shout, say something. But nothing came out. She was afraid. If she did not comply, not only would this savage shoot her in the face, he would certainly kill those two innocent boys and maybe even John as well. The thought of this man, his eyes filled with rage and hate, coming near her, or touching her, made her want to heave.
She stood, frozen, and envisioned him shooting her without flinching, then turning his gun on the boys and shooting them as they tried to run for their lives.
The guards would undoubtedly conjure up some amazing story of how they foiled some huge terror plot, would then walk around like heroes. Maybe they would even receive a medal of some sort.
Jane slowly turned around and lifted her arms.
“What the bloody hell are you doing!” John shouted and tried to get pass the guards, but they stopped him from moving. “You can’t do this!”
The guard, with his back facing the other guards bent down and put his hands around her ankles and slid them up her calves and then around to the front of her thighs and then back around to her buttocks. He held is hands there for a second and Jane could feel a slight squeezing sensation. She closed her eyes and a tear began rolling down her face. His hands then continued around her waist and on her stomach and then eventually up to her breasts. There was another short pause and another squeeze. He ran his hands along her arms and then moved closer, “I hope that was as good for you as it was for me?” he whispered in her ear.
What just happened? Jane thought, feeling numb.
“They’re ok,” the guard said to the others and they moved out of the way.
John rushed towards Jane. “Are you ok?”
“I... I’m fine...” she said, in a shaky voice.
John turned to the guards and yelled, “Was that really necessary? Bunch of clowns!” But the guards didn’t respond, they walked to the side of the office and went back to their conversation as if nothing had happened. Jane put her arms around the boys, desperately trying not to break down and cry. She wasn’t quite sure why, but she felt ashamed and had the sudden urge to hide. She jumped in fear as John touched her shoulder, “I am so sorry... are you really ok?”
“Yeah... they were just doing their job...” she said, in a shaky voice. “I need to speak to you about these boys.”
“Sure, let’s get inside.” John gave an angry stare at the guards as they went in.
****
Ahmed had been about to leave the cabin when he changed his mind. Khaleel knew something and he was determined to find out what it was.
“What do you know?” Ahmed demanded.
Khaleel hesitated before responding, “W-what do you mean?”
Ahmed wanted to punch him. As if sensing this, Khaleel took a step back, a guilty look on his face.
“You know something about the men that took that boy, don’t you? And you know they have taken my son!” Ahmed stepped towards him.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Khaleel said, with his back against the wall.
“You’re lying... I know you are, you little...” so many filthy, nasty words were surfacing on his throat, but somehow he managed to stop them from reaching his mouth. Instead, he leaned forward and gripped the man’s shirt, pinning him against the wall. Ahmed pinched his skin as he grabbed his shirt, and Khaleel gave a little squeal.
“Now, you’re going to tell me who those men were and where my son is, or Walahi...” he stopped mid-sentence, so that Khaleel would have to use his imagination and hopefully picture things far worse than what Ahmed could think of to say.
“You’re crazy!” Khaleel yelped.
“I might be crazy, but I know that you’re lying and if I don’t get an answer, I will not be responsible for my actions!”
There was a sudden bang on the door.
“Hey... erm... everything OK in there?” The loud and husky voice of one of the construction workers yelled. Khaleel looked at Ahmed with eyebrows raised.
“The door is open...” Khaleel whispered, “and I am about to tell him to come in. Those men are very loyal to me, I have helped them all. They trust me...”
Ahmed released his grip and moved back. He stared at his hands, almost in shock, not knowing what came over him.
“Yes... everything is fine. Come in,” Khaleel said in his usual, cheerful voice. A man opened the door. “Sorry, I heard some shouting... you sure everything’s ok?”
“Yes, of course it is. Ahmed was giving his passionate views on something.”
Ahmed drifted towards the door.
Suddenly Ahmed felt a sense of detachment. A voice was whispering, “don’t trust anybody...” Ahmed looked around, but there was no one else except Khaleel and the large construction worker. It wasn’t them. It was another voice, one he had never heard before. It emerged again, “don’t... trust... anyone...”
Have I lost my mind? Ahmed thought, walking out of the office and away from them as fast as he could. He wanted to hide; couldn’t face anyone, couldn’t stomach the thought of anyone talking to him, yet silence was becoming increasingly noisy and painful. He felt like he was on an aeroplane, his ears kept popping and there was a loud and constant hum. His headache was back, bringing with it a dull ache at the top of his spine. And every time he would cough or make a sudden movement, he felt like he was going to slip a disc. His jaw was so out of place that he felt the ur
ge to re-align it with a hammer. He knew that wouldn’t work, but it would bring him some sort of relief. The thought of smashing anything would bring him relief, especially as he would picture whatever he smashed to be the face of the guard that stomped on Maryam.
Thinking about smashing that guard got him thinking about Maryam. He missed her and needed her now more than ever. Ahmed walked around for some time before going to her grave.
He sat beside her grave for more than fifteen-minutes before he uttered a word... “I...” He paused and sat quietly for another few minutes.
“I miss you...” he finally muttered, and wept. “I can’t do this without you.” His nose began to run and he felt the constant urge to cough. “Our son... he’s missing, I have no idea where he is.” He could no longer speak.
Why am I even here? He thought to himself, it’s not like she can hear me, she’s dead; all because I couldn’t protect her. He felt weak.
But before his mood dropped to the depths of self-loathing again, his thoughts were interrupted. “Ahmed, there you are,” Jane yelled. He could sense something different in her voice but couldn’t put his finger on what it was. Her eyes appeared a little sunken and her shoulders were drooping.
She was with Antonio and they walked briskly towards him. “You ok?” she asked. “Sorry, that’s a stupid question, of course you’re not…”
Antonio seemed relieved that she didn’t continue.
Ahmed didn’t know what to say. He was just glad that they were there with him, even if they all remained silent.
“How were the boys?” Ahmed asked, breaking the silence, but not making eye contact.
Jane coughed quietly, as to clear her throat. Something everyone in the camp had been doing due to the sudden temperature drop.
“The boys were a bit shook up but they’re ok,” she replied with a croaky voice.
Ahmed forced a small smile. That’s great, he thought, at least they were safe. What’s being a little shook up in comparison to being missing, like Abdul or Malik.
