by Manu Amun
Chapter 3
We left our parents making our way into our room with Nyema following behind us closing the door.
“Okay if nobody will say it then I will, they are missing a few screws.” Nyema said.
“I just do not understand the logic behind this all. Why do our parents feel the need to run as if the government really feels like they are threat? I am sure if that was really the case the authorities would not wait until the morning to knock down our door.” Bilal said.
“Yeah this does not make any sense. But they seemed convinced that they are doing the right thing. I am wondering if through association and our upbringing that the government would lump us in with their stupidity. I do not know if we have a choice but to go with them because there are too many what ifs and I am not separating from you all. Whatever our decision we do it together.” I told them.
“But what about all our friends?” Bilal asked.
“Forget all of our friends, what about Skylar. We are just going to leave her behind?” Nyema said.
“I am sure all of their closest friends will be coming with us but for clarity I would ask in the morning but this is not something I think they would do without those closets to them. The have operated like an inseparable group since we were babies so this is something I am sure they have discussed with all of our uncles and aunties as well.” I told her.
“I guess that makes sense but I will ask in the morning.” Nyema said.
“So that is it we are going with them. I am still not sure, what kind of life would we have running for the government and Phoenix is hot, I mean really hot. I am sure that people like us do not go to a place like that for a reason. We could just run away from them you know as long as we got each other I am good.” Bilal said.
“I am not going anywhere without Skylar.” Nyema said.
Bilal could not do anything but sit on his bed in frustration with his hands tied knowing that he was stuck to a boat that maybe sinking as a result he sulked in silence until he fell asleep.
“Zohar what do think is really going on.” Nyema asked me.
“I can only go off what they are telling us and they seem pretty convinced of the necessity to move. I have to assume that they have good reason for their suspicions and the President seemed pretty resolved in his efforts to rid the nation of those like Mom and Dad. In the midst of my anger I cannot get lost in the loyalty I have to them for all their craziness they are our parents and I love them as I know we all do. If we were to run it would not do them any good where in their attempts to locate us they could be apprehended. It is best if we all just stick together and figure this out. If we need to run it is best to make sure Skylar is with us anyways.” I told her.
Skylar is family to us the only difference is that she did not live in the same house but we were family regardless. We had known each other since we took our first steps. Nyema would not move unless she knew Skylar was by her side. She was anxious to talk to her but she knew that the phones were not able to be used because who knew who was listening.
Nyema left our room to go to hers to pack for the morning which just left me with our thoughts as Bilal was in his bed snoring.
My mind began to wonder into my first lessons with my father where he introduced me to the history my teachers never told us. Lessons about the great contributions of people of color to the world over. It was difficult to learn things so contradictory to my classroom, where my brother, sister, and I would always challenge the teachers in classroom being ostracized by students until they realized how smart we were and asked us for help with their class work. My father always referred to us as his science experiments, at first I took it offensively until I realized the actual validity in the statement where I was reading a book about genes and DNA where traits and characteristics are passed down but can be refined and positively directed through social conditioning. Hey it happens daily but my parents were convinced that if strides were made spiritually to us it could be passed down generation after generation improving our lives and those that came after us. These building blocks of the future would push our family to great heights so we were told but we definitely hit a valley where the acceptance of these principles became clouded in uncertainty.
This was of course was not initially shared due to unnecessary pressures placed on us where we operated in this world they had created for us without interruption until friends began to question us as their own social conditioning began to take shape where they would take on the opinions of their families where it was not just intelligence that was ostracizing us but our way of life. We each handled it our own way but I clung to the teachings of my father because it worked, we excelled in everything that we did. We were never a threat only a contributor to those around us but now this lifestyle I was so accustomed to having was a threat to everything I had and hoped to be. There would be no more thoughts of being a scientist making breakthroughs in research.
As I closed my eyes for sleep I had no idea what tomorrow would bring other than I would be moving to a place I have never been, I looked around at my room and enjoyed the peace of the final night in my home.
As the rays of the sun hit my face, I rolled over with my stomach like a ball of yarn. Uncertainty makes me sick, well not sick but queasy, like right before you have to speak in front of a large audience. Nyema was up and packed but still looked tired, I do not think she got any sleep so it seemed that she did not do well with uncertainty either. Bilal, my baby brother was still asleep. He was not packed but he was like my dad in that way, everything was always done in the last minute. But Bilal was not fazed by any of this he had the uncanny ability to adapt to any circumstance and be comfortable hence him being in a deep coma of sleep in the midst of the revelation of our parent being wanted terrorist.
My parents were already up and packed.
"Bilal wake up and grab what you are taking we need to go." my mother said running his back to ease his transition from slumber.
“Mom. Just give me five minutes.” he said to her like this was a normal school day.
"That fool would sleep through the end of the world!" Nyema said.
"Bilal! Time to get moving. Or does the idea of having your permanent residence in a FEMA camp appealing to you?" dad said.
"Why is he always so extra with everything; all I need is my digital reader with all my Books, my music, and my meditation CDs.” he said to us under his breath.
As we made our way to the truck which our father had heating up as we prepared for our exit into a future whose road was treacherous. We had no choice at this point but to trust our parents, still the unknown was unsettling. Bilal always accused me of thinking too much at times. Over analyzing things always had my mind moving over 1000 miles per hour, I just need to breathe and clear my mind, get in the car, and know it was going to be ok.
“Is Skylar coming?” Nyema asked.
“Of course we will meet them in Phoenix.” My mother said to her giving Nyema a hug.
We would hear from all my parents’ closet friends that "Your destiny is mapped out, the routes to that destiny is entirely up to you."
If that route included being a terrorist by-proxy based on your parent’s tutelage; I wondered what I was thinking, as I looked at my family as we began this unknown journey into a tomorrow that was as bright as it was dark. I could only relax and envision a happy ending where we could just be a normal family, well the closest we could be to normal.
As we pulled out of the driveway I took one last look at what was home. This is a place we grew up and had ever memory that I had ever known. Leaving all that behind was hard.
“It is going to be ok Zohar.” Nyema said grabbing my hand.
“It is just that I thought we were going to be here forever going to college, staring businesses, being successful. It is unbelievable how in an instant it can all change so dramatically.” I said to her.
“There is still time to bail on them and make a run for it.” Bilal said.
It was only recently that we were coming to grips with everything we had been doing as a family which we all battled with our whole lives but that was completely rattled as we were on the run. I could not help but to think about meditation sessions with my father which composed of using doing visualization exercises this was something we did daily as a family. Control of the breath and emotions was a focal point to growth as we became older. In situations such as our current lot it was becoming clear the reasoning behind such activities as our family found ourselves in the predicament we were in. I need to calm down and breathe.
In these sessions we learned to calm our mind's chatter, the random thoughts that would come in and out of our head which open ourselves being able to make connections to our lives, studies, and anything else we had questions about. This helped us many levels: school was a breeze, we were well balanced emotionally never getting too high or low, and we were able to always get what we wanted.
This may seem absurd to some but it was normal to us and as we saw these results the questioning we had of our parents way of life began to lessen. But we always felt the urge to be normal like everyone else. My father has been studying his entire adult life about the secrets of the universe and our place in it. He had a plethora of books for us to choose from and we had been reading them when our peers were reading what was directed in school where we did that and more. Through his discoveries we were able to reap the benefit without the effort of finding these documents; well initially that was the case. As we progressed in our studies and our interests became unique to each one of us, it demanded that we search for our own truths. But the beauty in it all is that it led right back to what our father introduced us to.
But like our mother was a great influence on our father she was the same if not more for us, always keeping us grounded; listening to our father we would have had our heads in the clouds all day. She brought us back to reality and worked with us to blend in with kids our own age even though we were light years ahead of them in regards to intellect and maturity.
But most of our days encompassed the following in this order: wake up, meditation, getting ready and going to school, homework, dinner, studying with dad, and meditation before bed.
This routine was the same from the time we began school. My parents knew that if we were ready to be mis-educated by the global elite then we were ready for our true education that sought to shape our mind, body, and soul.
“The more I think about it, I think they were preparing us for all of this.” Bilal said to me but in an octave low enough that our parents did not hear.
“You think?” I responded.
“All those books which we did not think anything of just reading them it was what was normal in our house. But I do not see any benefit from all that now. If I could turn back time I would throw those books in their face and tell them I do not want anything to do with any of it.” Nyema said.
“Well that is not an option but let’s try to blend in as much as possible in Phoenix. I mean our natural appearance will make us stand out anyways no need to add the problem by being weird.” I said to them.
We nodded in agreement as we drove down the highway leaving the nation’s capital to a place that we knew would be everything but what we had been use to our whole lives.