Somewhere! (Hunaak!)

by Abbas, Ibraheem

  “What?! You could not stand or say anything yet you ask why?!” — Malak explained.

  “So what? Did you forget how fast I recovered the last time?” — I replied.

  “Last time it was a few bruises, this time your bones are all broken up and your muscles are torn. You need at least three days to recover and rest!” — Malak said.

  “But I only have two more days here!” — I replied.

  Malak’s face changed when I said that, it had darkened.

  “That is why you must recover quickly! Let us get back” — she said.

  We returned to the city and to my accomodation. I leaned on Malak the entire way. Once we arrived to my wing, I slowly dipped into the miniature pool after she had changed some of the settings converting its water into hot medicinal waters rich with salts and minerals flowing like lava into the pool. She prepared a new set of clothes for me and got rid of the clothes that were torn and covered in my blood. I lay on my bed after that dip and Malak started examining every bone of my body and returned each to its place. The shattered bones in my hand; my destroyed ribs; my teeth of which some had been swallowed already and others had been left as a token for Mr. Bruce; my nose… or what remained of it; my cheek which carried Malak’s elegant signature. My whole body was recovering with astonishing speed. I could almost feel my bones heal with the pressure of Malak’s fingers. I felt the tips of my teeth reappearing and replacing the ones that had shattered.

  Malak then handed me a bunch of translucent spheres which contained miniature colored crystals:

  “Open them up Husam!” — Malak said.

  “Drugs?” — I asked.

  “Almost… they will ease your pain and they also contain some essential proteins and vitamins.” — Malak added.

  As I swallowed them with a sip of the iced coffee that she had prepared for me, and before those balls settled in my stomach… a sudden muffled explosion thundered! Everything around us began collapsing. My brain was faster than the explosion and the collapse. I did not care if I would face any dangers as I still considered this place to be a mere dream that had trapped me and death here was my goal to get back to my world… to my sister… and Mother, yet, I was terrified for Malak!

  Before the first fraction of a second was over, I had surrounded Malak with my arms to protect her from the shrapnel, the crystal domes began collapsing and turned into sharp daggers falling directly above our heads! I felt some of them stab me in the back as I thundered with Malak with all my strength towards the balcony breaking its glass wall. I lost my balance as the tower began collapsing, and I slipped onto the balcony’s glass floor which had started to shatter as well. Before I got to its edge, I took a quick look at the point where the water stream was closest to the rocky road. I bent my knees and held tightly onto Malak. I then pushed myself in the air towards the water stream and did a mid-air turn so that my back would take the fall instead of hers. I had no idea if my jump was enough to get me to the water stream or if it would slam us onto the rocks. I violently penetrated the water’s surface; the water unsuccessfully absorbed only part of the impact and my body slammed with full force on the bottom of the stream… now I felt pain! This time around it was real unbearable pain! What had remained of my bones were now shattered and the shreds of glass had gone deeper into my back. Water flooded my lungs and everything went black.

  Then she appeared again…I did not see anyone else in the darkness… but my Mother!

  “Husam! Did I not tell you to come back early to drive me to the wedding? It is almost midnight!!” — Mother said angrily.

  “Ma you know how traffic is and …” — I began replying but got interrupted by her again…

  “Traffic or playing cards and computer games??! Come on! I would barely make it in time for the ceremony!” — she added.

  “You are always late Husam… Always!”— she said as her image faded.

  Air flowed into my chest, evicting death and casting life, cutting off that dream that took me to a lost memory, returning me back to this world!

  A whiff of air from Malak’s lungs to mine made me cough hard as I regained my consciousness.

  “Husam? Husam!! Thank God! Thank God!!” — Malak yelled.

  “Where am I? did I return to my world yet?” — I asked in confusion.

  She did not answer me but only held me close to her chest and collapsed as she cried. She turned me over face down to continue coughing and help me get rid of the water in my lungs. As she moved her hands over my back, she carefully tried to remove the glass shreds, at times, her hands would slip because of the water and blood. To prevent the slippage, she soon started removing the glass with her teeth as I squirmed from extreme pain.

  For the first time, I saw darkness in this world, the skies were filled with dark clouds as if they were taking revenge for the previous days’ light; rain poured over us after the trees’ leaves failed to protect us; thunder deafened our ears and then came the rumbling of a jet engine that appeared in the horizon. It made its way across the clouds towards us and as Malak waved to the plane hysterically, the engines turned ninety degrees making it set in a vertical direction allowing it to land vertically. Malak carried me in her arms. —who would have thought that an angel this soft could carry my corpse so easily? —, the airplane’s door opened and a few steps came out. The plane took off the moment Malak crossed the door with her load. There was no captain, it was an autonomous vehicle. Mr. Lucas’s image appeared on the front screen and Malak said with a voice that had still not rid itself of the effects of her crying:

  “I was afraid you would not find us Mr. Lucas”

  “Thank God for your safety, you will arrive in the new base in three minutes” — Mr. Lucas said.

  By the time those minutes passed, a small island appeared in the horizon and at its center was a two level glass house. As the plane landed vertically in the landing pad, Malak supported me as we got off the plane. Mr. Lucas (the African) was wearing thick dark glasses and an elegant suit with a red tie. He approached and welcomed us by holding my arm and helping me walk along with Malak.

  “Mr. Husam, welcome to your new base!” — he said with an American accent.

  This guy… I had seen him before!! His brown skin, gravitas and gray hair all remind me of one of Hollywood’s most famous actors. We walked into a room filled with large machines and equipment. It looked like an Operating Room in a hospital. They carefully laid me down on the bed located in the middle of the room.

  “I had prepared a complete training program but some urgent developments have changed the situation!” — Mr. Lucas said.

  “Husam needs to begin healing now!” — Malak answered him with the same anxiety.

  “And that is what we will start with!” — Mr. Lucas said.

  He removed my jacket and fixed a few probes on different parts of my body. He also pierced my arm with a needle connected to a tube that branched off to more than one tube, Malak gasped when she noticed it.

  “Mr. Lucas… this is…” — Malak began saying but was abruptly interrupted by Mr. Lucas —

  “Yes those are heavy doses of enzymes, stem cells and neuro-blockers”

  “No! No! Mr. Lucas, please Husam’s body will not take all of this while he is in this condition!!” — Malak pleaded.

  “No! I can take it!” — I yelled in approval.

  I did not know if I had said this out of stubbornness or in anticipation of more danger than what was needed for a body that refused to communicate the pain to its brain.

  The dose in itself was painful… very painful! I felt as if it was lava flowing from my arm through my veins to the rest of my body. I could not hold my screams and Malak squeezed my hand and cried along as I blacked out again. I wished that I would not awake again before the two days had passed so that I would make it back to my world — so long as if I really was going to get back– and make sure my mother and sister were ok.

  I suddenly opened my eyes and quickly sat uprig
ht. I did not feel any pain but all that I felt was as if I had slept for a very long time. It certainly was enough for me to completely heal or those neuro blockers succeeded in canceling out the pain signals that every part of my body was emitting. I stood up and walked through a glass gate and towards a wide space with dozens of three-dimensional screens while Malak and Mr. Lucas were watching them with extreme interest and worry. Malak saw me enter and raced towards me to catch me before I fell to the floor.

  “Husam! This is impossible! How is it that you’ve awakened?!” — she said.

  Mr. Lucas pushed down his thick glasses to confirm what his eyes were seeing.

  “This is truly amazing. I did not expect you to be awake for a few more hours!” — he added.

  I continued limping. This was caused by the dizziness storming in my head but I did not want to burden Malak by leaning on her again.

  “I only hope that I did not miss much during my heavy sleep!” — I said while I interrupted her discussion with Mr. Lucas.

  “Your heavy sleep was less than three hours Husam, you were supposed to sleep longer!” — she added and then resumed her discussions with Mr. Lucas.

  “Mr. Lucas, Husam was targeted for assassination more than once, every time it has been more violent than the previous ones! I do not know when and where the next attempt will be, even Mr. Bruce almost killed him with one of his robots!” — Malak added.

  “Mr. Bruce would have intervened to save Husam with his own life if Hussam had been in any real danger. Regardless of that, I agree with you: Husam is facing a real danger!” — Mr. Bruce added.

  “I had expected them to act, but I had never imagined that they would go as far as blowing up the entire tower! I was thinking of canceling the training program to protect Husam’s life, but luckily your plane arrived in time!” — Malak explained.

  Mr. Lucas did not move his eyes off of the screens in front of him.

  “They would not dare commit such violent acts, but they have enlisted the help of a mind that knows no logic or rules when it comes to achieving its desires as fast as possible!” — Mr. Lucas added with an increasing tension in the tone of his voice as he responded to Malak.

  “Husam must remain here until the time is up!” — Malak added.

  “I am afraid that they did not leave us that choice either!” — Mr. Lucas said.

  He waved his hand in front of the screen as he finished speaking and it revealed her image! The image of the last person I could imagine being here… it was my mother!

  My mother appeared on the screen and she was tied up crying and sitting in a chair. She was wearing the same abaya that she was wearing the last time that I had seen her. The last event that I had lived in my ordinary life was the moment I drove my mother to the wedding. I did not remember anything after that. That specific memory and all its details came back to fill up my brain. It was Friday morning, the sixth of June of the year two thousand and fourteen… I was late to drive my mother to the Amasy ballroom in the Jamia district… after that… there was nothing! I just found myself here!

  My mother was crying and behind her stood a man whose looks and features suggested two things: he was a lunatic and at the same time he did not value life. He was wearing a suit with colors all over the place and his face was covered with white powder. He had ugly red lips and his hair was of a provocative phosphoric color. He was carrying a huge gun that he was pressing onto my mother’s cheek.

  “Ninety eight – ninety nine – one hundred – one hundred one – one hundred two…” — he counted.

  “If you touch her I will shred you to pieces!!” — I yelled to the top of my lungs as if he could hear me.

  “one hundred three – one hundred four — Come on Husam! hurry! — one hundred five – Mummy is waiting for you! – one hundred six – If you do not come to the central tower before I reach one thousand one hundred and thirteen I will regretfully have to damage her with a hole right here in her head – one hundred fifty one – one hundred fifty six – but do not worry, I will make sure to clean the blood after I pull the trigger. You know, she must maintain her looks for the wedding – two hundred fifteen – two hundred nineteen…” — the villain continued his counting carelessly.

  “Damn it! Damn it!” — said Mr. Lucas.

  “This is a dirty trap! This cannot be Husam’s mother!” — Malak yelled.

  There was no chance that I would trust Malak or any other creature on Earth when my mother was in danger.

  “How do you know? My mother was with me to the last moment! It is only logical that whoever brought me here brought her as well!” — I shouted at Malak.

  “Husam trust me this is only a trap so that they can kill you!” — Malak added.

  “And how do I know that you are not the trap? Anything but mother!” — I added.

  “Mr. Lucas! Please help me! I must go to him!” — I faced Mr. Lucas and asked.

  “Over my dead body!” — Malak replied.

  While trying to block my way, I did not give her much attention and I pushed her out of my way.

  “Nothing matters to me now! Not even your dead body, I would kill anyone for my mother!” — I added.

  I meant every word I said, the clown’s annoying laugh interrupted us, he pulled a silver watch hanging from a chain out of his pocket.

  “Oh! I forgot that I have to catch my costume party to support orphans! Oh well! I guess we will have to cut corners for the poor orphans! Four hundred fifteen – four hundred sixteen…” — the man said in a cynical way.

  He then fired two shots into the air my mother trembled and I exploded!

  “Mr. Lucas!!!” — I yelled.

  Mr. Lucas moved quickly entering a bunch of codes into the keyboard in front of him, the platform where we were standing on moved and slowly descended towards a larger crowded space filled with cars, motorbikes, weapons, and —most importantly— the black masked caped suit. I remembered now! I could not believe that the hero whom I knew by every single one of his movies by heart was now a reality in front of my very own eyes!

  “Mr. Husam, I am sure you remember who is The Master of this den. here is where I keep all of his secrets. Unfortunately, I have no time to let you in on all the details, I tried to propagate them into your mind as many skills and battle strategies as I could during your sleep. Everything and anything that happens after that shall only depend on your intuition and luck —especially with an unpredictable adversary such as this clown!” — Mr. Lucas added.

  I rushed towards the suit and put it on as fast as I could, I tried to recall everything that I knew about its owner from my memory, anything that Mr. Lucas had infused into my brain.

  “How can I get to him?” — I asked Mr. Lucas.

  Malak answered me but she was now in a black suit similar to the one that I had on. Hers only showed half of her face and her copper hair that flowed onto her back from underneath her mask. She jumped onto a small jet airplane ignoring my earlier threats to her life just moments before.

  “Come on Husam there is no time!” — she yelled and signaled me to jump onto the jet.

  I did not hesitate for a second, the wall in front of us rose and revealed a lit cavern path. We jetted through the path and once we reached its end in a blink of an eye, we tilted slightly upwards. A second gate split open and we became engulfed by ocean water that came down upon us. We came out of the water like a missile, we then began flying with enormous speed directly towards the central tower. Malak came close to the tower’s entrance without slowing down. We violently slammed to the ground and the plane’s nose, wings and tail had detached as the plane drifted on its wide wheels, it was not just a plane, it was a car made to fly. Malak raced the car into the central tower that seemed so empty and gloomy after it had been pulsing with life. She ignored the glass facade and smashed the car into it to crossed into the building. I still wondered how we would be able to find this clown. How?!

  He announced his presence by firing two
shots directly at us. The car’s armored body protected us. The clown was sitting on the top of the statue —my statue— which was located in the center of the tower. He was sitting on my statue’s hand that was extended towards the letter H between the index and thumb fingers. He was holding his huge gun and swinging his legs in an annoying manner shouting at the top of his lungs:

  “Nine hundred eighty five – one thousand one hundred thirteen… Oh Husam! you arrived?! Too bad!… luckily for you, I am a noble man and I respect my promises. Unfortunately, I will be late for the Orphans’ costume party, come on quick so I can kill you and get to my party!” — the clown said.

  I touched the car’s control panel and easily found what I was looking for: the car split into two halves, transforming itself onto two jet bikes. I began driving one and Malak the other. I sped towards the statue and I slammed into the statue’s foot. My bike continued racing onto its leg, while Malak went for the elevator. I followed the statue’s curves so that I would not lose my balance and fall, the bike’s wheels held as they grabbed onto the statue even as we went on an almost vertical path. I got to the shoulder of the statue and moved onto its extended arm towards the clown.

  “Twinkle twinkle little Husam, How I wonder what you are., Up above the world so high, Like a jet bike in the sky!” — he was singing this irritating song with his pesky voice.

  Without stopping his annoying singing, he fired a single shot which hit directly underneath the front wheel detaching it from the statue’s body swinging the jet bike to slide over the smooth surface. I jumped at the last moment before it fell off and exploded.

  I stepped towards the clown who was now shaking his legs with much more excitement.

  “Come on! Come on fast! You could make it on time! With determination and persistence you can be merciless my dear… come on!!” — he yelled sarcastically.

  He pulled a watch out of his jacket’s pocket and said:

  “Great! You are right on time! Oh! How I respect your timing!”

  Suddenly, the building’s windows shattered with two missiles that created a huge hole where a helicopter came through. The helicopter’s long line dropped and the clown held onto it while a masked giant appeared from its window pointing a machine gun at me to prevent me from stepping forward and catching his master. At that same moment, an explosion echoed from the base of the statue, and it started to collapse. Except for this time around, there was no water stream below me!