Shy Girl

16

Nyla

To say I'm hurt is one thing, to say I'm now the victim of something way bigger... I mean... a trafficking ring, that's one of a parent's worst fears. And the people in my life, who are they? the people in my life. My mom... Who is she?

"Who is Nehma Durham then?" I asked. "She said she's Palestinian and Egyptian. I think she's in her mid 30s early 40s."

"The lady you call your mother?" Christinina asked with a sad expression. "Her name is Gemma. She's been missing for 20 years. And she's 29."

"How do you guys even know all of this?" Lexi asked, plopping down on the couch beside me.

"Well, how about everyone turn their phones off first then we can really talk?" James said, fixing his posture.

They looked at him for a bit, wondering if the couple had gone mad. But they complied.

"Alright, well first we found that picture of you and your friend Polly from Drew Primary School. Remember your 6th year?"

My 6th year....

"Nyla you wanna take a picture with me?" Polly asked, holding up her new phone.

"Sure. What you gonna do with it?" I asked, getting up to pose with her.

"Im gonna put it on Instagram. Do you have one?"

"No. I don't even have a phone." I said with a sigh before plastering on a smile and throwing up the peace sign.

"Cheese!" She said, taking the picture.

A few months had passed after that day and I had totally forgotten about Instagram. But I had been taking pictures with my friends and they had instagrams, so my face had been on the app. I was in study hall, studying, when I was called to the office.

"Nyla there are some people here to talk to you."

It was a man and a woman, who I now know to be Christinina and James. They towered over me whilst looking down with disbelief. The same look they'd given me at the fountain.

"Nyla we'd like to ask you some questions, is that okay?"

They asked me questions about baba and what he did, how he treated me, if I was okay, if I was happy, things I didn't understand at the time.

When I got home I told baba about it, and how I thought they were weird. It was a term I used loosely back then. But that was the day everything changed for me. The next morning I was being shipped off to the Netherlands. Then to Austria. No, Berlin. No, China. Egypt, Paris, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Cuba. On and on and on and on... till I came here.

"You were the people that came to school that day to interview me. It was really about him and seeing what he was about."

"It was about you and making sure you weren't in serious danger. Nyla, he's killed people before. Gemma's mother went missing a week into looking for her daughter. And her body came up a week after that. He's had Gemma the entire time." Chris said.

"We think he's possibly been the ring leader of the entire organization. But he decided to lay low after we that day at your school." James added.

"But if he's so powerful and evil, why didn't he kill you guys?" Lexi asked.

"Good fuckin question daughter, I was just thinkin that." Trevor said, dapping Lexi.

"We had already had a solid security trail. If he killed us, it would've been solid proof that he not only had our daughter, but also Gemma. He would've been arrested for two kidnappings and two murders and since the detectives in the States were able to get Federal clearance, he could be charged in the United States as an international criminal with capital punishment and possibly the death penalty." Chris said. "That motherfucker wasn't killin me without a fight."

"So what am I supposed to do now-"

"Why doesn't this bother you? I mean... he's your dad? I'm your father, but that bitch raised you, and here we are tellin you all this shit and you're kinda just sitting here? I don't get it."

"James!"

"No, I'm just saying, don't you love him or something? I mean we were prepared for you to hate us and turn us away and say we're lying."

"I believe you though." I said.

"What?" They said in disbelief.

"It is hard to believe, I get where y'all comin from." Trevor said.

"Yea it's hard to believe. But it's easier to believe that than to believe that that girl and 60 year old man got together and took trips together and that they know each other. I never even believed they knew each other. My parents don't love each other. My mother is a slave and always has been. It's always been weird like that and to have two complete strangers come to me and tell me such horrific news about my mother, I believe it. I'm not even supposed to call her mother. We're supposed to call her Nehma. And I'm pretty sure she still doesn't respond to it half the time."

Lexi sighed and laid her head on my shoulder. I could tell she's worried about me. I mean I probably would be too. I mean I am. I'm sure she's still going through it too. She just found out not too long ago that her dad is really Trevor and not Bernard. She thought she was white, turns out she's half black. And me. I thought I was adopted. I was somewhat right. But I'm black and Asian. At least I know now, kinda of.

"You look like her." Lexi whispered in my ear.

I don't know what I'd do if Lexi and her family weren't here with me. I kissed her forehead and held her hand.

"I think so too."

Hey sweet thangs🧚🏾🍄 I hope everyone's doing well, I didn't proof read, thank you to the readers that still read and the new readers. Yah keep the book goin.

xo lolJoyeux