The Memory Of Us

Chapter 23

Tiptoeing into Mina's grandma's bedroom, Mina and Khalil tried to be as quiet as physically possible despite her absence from the house. She wasn't home. She was never home but, even without her physical presence, she still managed to incite fear in both Mina and Khalil who were holding hands tightly as they rifled through her belongings in search of her checkbook.

    Tucked between an alarming amount of cash and a number of aged sepia colored family photos, they finally found it in the top drawer of her bedside table, each page decorated with the uniform scribbles of Mina's grandmother's dainty writing.

    "Look!" Khalil exclaimed, pointing to each respective date as he flipped through the checkbook, revealing that they were all indeed the same ones that they had observed in the previous book. "All the checks were written on the same day, the 15th of every month." He said, shoving the checkbook beneath Mina's nose now so she could see the phenomenon for herself.

    "And tomorrow is the 15th!" It was Mina's turn to exclaim now, pushing the book away and whipping out her phone instead. Her fingers moved over the screen so fast that they were barely more than an indistinguishable blur. "We have to follow her in the morning and see who she gives the check to!" She resolved, still flitting through the contents of her phone until she had found the purple and white colored app icon that she was looking for. And she sucked in a breath as she felt Khalil move closer to her, staring over her shoulder at the phone screen in her hand.

    His breath tickled the back of her neck and she had to repress the urge to shiver with overwhelming satisfaction as she felt Khalil's front press firmly to her back. She wasn't sure if it was purposeful, if he was aware of the feelings he was eliciting from her, or if he were just attempting to provide an air of normalcy in her otherwise un-normal life at the moment.

    She decided not to dwell on it, rolling her shoulders backwards as if to dispel her rampaging thoughts.

    It didn't work as, the next moment, Khalil was moving even closer, resting an arm idly on her shoulder.

    "And how do we do that without getting caught?" He asked, his eyes desperately roaming the screen of her phone as if the answer lay inside.

    Mina raised her phone up higher, allowing him a clearer view of what Khalil slowly began to decipher was clearly Mina's grandmother's location on her phone screen.

    "How-" He began to wonder aloud, but Mina quickly began to explain.

    "After the backlash from the city, after my mom's arrest, she made me download this app so she could always track my location. She was afraid of what might happen to me if-"

    "Well, she was clearly right to be afraid for you." Khalil chuckled humorlessly.

Mina whirled around on him immediately, as soon as his words had met the air, causing his arm to fall limply to his side once more.

    "Was she?" Mina asked snarkily, her words coming out more harshly than intended.

Khalil faltered backwards a few steps.

"She might very well be the one behind everything bad that's happened to me so far!" Mina exclaimed, obviously.

    "You're still on this?"

    "You don't get it!" Mina stressed. "You don't hear the way she talks to me. You don't see how she looks at me, like I'm single handedly the root of all her problems, like I'm a disappointment, like I've ruined everything!"

    Khalil was quiet, and yet the pity in his eyes was deafening.

    He parted his lips as if to say something before promptly closing them tightly once more. He did this again. And again, still unable to find the right words.

    Mina wasn't sure he would ever find them and, judging by the way his eyes seemed to flicker everywhere but her eyes, he didn't think he would either.

    For the fourth time he parted his lips wide and, this time, he managed to formulate an actual word.

    "Mina." He said, pointing to the phone she still held firmly in her hand, particularly the purple dot with her grandmother's face attached that was much closer than it had been before.

    Mina frowned, glancing down at her phone, but it was too late, the sound of the front door being pushed open was already echoing throughout the house.

    Instinctively, Mina shoved Khalil towards the door,unfortunately for her however, she shoved him into the door instead of through it.

    "Ow!" Khalil exclaimed, clamping a hand to the back of his head before immediately shushing himself.

    "Mina Joyce?" Mina's grandmother called out. "Mina Joyce? Are you awake?"

    "My room!" Mina whispered. "My room! My room!" She repeated, matra-like, as she slapped Khalil's back, pushing him through the door this time.

    "Ok! Ok! Ok!" He simultaneously whispered and yelled, raising his hands in an attempt to shield himself from Mina's attacks. It was useless. And he was only able to drop his hands when Mina successfully pushed him into her room and slammed the door shut behind him just as her grandmother came into view.

    "Hi, what are you doing awake?"

    "I couldn't-" Mina ran a hand over her hair breathlessly. "I couldn't sleep." She lied.

"Is it your stomach?" She immediately prompted. "Where you were stabbed? I can get you some painkillers-"

    "Was anyone else involved in the hospital fire besides mom and dad?"  Mina surprised herself by asking, her voice rising in level to surpass the knocking sound that echoed behind her, an indication that Khalil had run into something or knocked something over in her room.

She hoped her grandmother hadn't caught the sound and as she asked confusedly, "Why would you ask something like that?," she assumed she hadn't.

Mina shrugged, forcing herself to swallow her rising fear. "I think it's an important question to ask." She feigned innocence, though she could tell her grandmother wasn't buying it.

"Why is that?" Her grandmother placed her hands firmly on her hips and, before Mina could think better of it, she blurted, "Because someone is very clearly trying to kill me and I want to know who it is and why you seem to be impervious to their attacks!"

"Excuse me?" Her grandmother scoffed disbelievingly. "I'm not sure what you're trying to accuse me of-"

"I'm not trying to accuse you of anything-" Mina said. "-but if you have something you're willing to get off your chest then by all means Mary-"

Mina flinched but, this time, the cold palm of her hand never connected with the side of Mina's face. It simply floated in the air.

"Everything I do is to protect you! Everything your parents did was to protect you! Everything!"

Mina nodded, "Goodnight," she whispered into the distance between them that only seemed to double in size with every interaction, with every spoken word. She could hear her grandmother saying something behind her, but she was already slipping into her bedroom and closing the door behind her.

Khalil stood idly in the middle of the room waiting for her and he rushed over as soon as the door was firmly closed, Mina's back resting against it.

"Come here." He motioned to her with extended arms and she fell into them with ease.