THE MASKED GIRL

15

"The villain will always be the villain if only the hero tells the story"
-Anonymous

The masked girl

How long has he been watching me? How did he get there? Did he follow me? How did I not see him? How did he get out? I quickly leave the area knowing standing wouldn't answer my questions and I don't know what to tell him, not after what he has seen. He probably sees me as a murderer and I owe him no explanation I don't need to tell him the reason but why does my heart feel heavy? Why do I not want him to see me as someone I'm not?

My life had been going well for months, from being the girl that need the help of her team members to pass training, to Aliyu telling me about his life, to me appreciating and accepting his presence, to carrying out my vengeance. It was all going perfectly fine till he found out about my outing, it became a huge mess in a flash. From his confrontation to me leaving the team, to my break from revenge, to him seeing me deal with Abdallah. It all happened in a blur that I don't know what to do about it, how can I handle this?

What makes it so hard to deal with, is that it is not any other person that seen me in the act but Aliyu. The Aliyu that brings food to me without a break for almost eight months, the Aliyu that has trust issues but opened up to me because he has great trust in me, the Aliyu whose trust I will never betray. And I know how much it hurts when someone you trust disappoints you no matter the circumstances. I cannot shake off the confused look he gave me, he need my explanations. I did not think that my stay in the army would be much more complicated than my revenge. What I'm I suppose to do? I am not ready to tell him about me, I cannot handle the pain that will come with it.

I didn't realize how hard I was crying until I feel how drenched my pillowcase is, I turned it over and held my face against it. I cried and cried until I felt like I couldn't shed another tear then I would scream so hard into the down-filled pillow that I would start crying again, the pain becoming raw once more.

I missed Suhail more than words can say. The things we would have been haunts me, what we would have become breaks me, and knowing I will never see him again kills me over and over.

Third person's POV

Aliyu didn't come out of his room for the whole day's training exercises. Yusuf tried to talk to her but she low-key avoided him the entire day. She went back to her room after they were done for the day and others went to the cafeteria for dinner.

She carry on with her night routine and checked her phone when she got to bed. The brutal death of Abdallah and his friends was the trending topic on social media, that made her smile. She later checked her call log after going through the media. She saw missed calls from her mom and Aliyu's dad. That reminds her of him, she surprisingly finds herself looking for him amidst the crowd today. She actually expected to see him at her door first thing in the morning to bombard her with questions but he didn't, maybe silence is his way of handling a situation.

She called her mother back to hear what made her call first since she never calls unless she does.

"Where did you leave your phone? I have been calling since yesterday" Her mother worried voice speak after she answered on the first ring.

"Mommy good evening" The masked girl greeted pretending to not hear her mother's question.

She answered her greeting anyways and they catch up with each other since they haven't spoken in a while. The phone was later passed on to her father and have their piece of conversation.

"Someone has mysteriously killed Abdallah and his friends," Her mother tells her after she has finished speaking with her father. "I told you not to tell her," Her father says in the background.

From their conversation, she knows that she is on speaker. "It's okay Daddy we were told about it during training," She tells them as she sits on the bed folding her legs together.

"The way they were killed was very unfortunate," Her father told her and she listened pretending to know nothing about it. "Maybe they messed with the wrong people who could not forgive them like we did," She said when he was done telling her the story.

They talked more about the issue, and her parents telling her that this is a good moral of being patient. They have paid for their actions in the worst way possible when they ran from being punished the other time.

"Maryam tell me to say hi for her" Her mother said before hanging up.

She pushed her best friend out of her life alongside others after what happened to her. She locked herself away when the world showed her its darkest side.

A knock on her door interrupted her thought she hesitated before opening it since she was not expecting anyone.

"I'm sorry I didn't bring breakfast and lunch" Aliyu was the last person she expected to see right now. She nonetheless collected the food and he turned to leave.

"Your dad just called" She finds herself calling him back.

She give way for him to enter and he did. He sat where he did the last time he was in her room and she give the phone to him.

She sat on the floor leaning against her bed as she opened the takeaway to eat her food. She removed her mask because there is nothing more to hide, he has already seen her at her worst, and she is hungry after all.

He study her face as he speak to his family, he couldn't keep a conversation with what is going on in his mind so he told them that he isn't feeling well and ended the call after promising to call when he get better.

"Thank you," He said as he keep the phone on her study desk.

She also keep the food aside after he was done and started talking. "I know you have thousands of questions you want answers to" She got up and bring water out of her food cabinet and gulped down half of the bottle.

"I am going to tell you about me Aliyu. Not because of what you saw yesterday but because you deserve to know who I am"

He stays still as he listens to her speak not knowing what to say after all that is his only wish.

"My real name is Hafsat...

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Drum rolls please🙇🏻‍♀️🥁