The Second Path

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

I woke up to the sound of car engine. My eyes opened and the first thing I saw were the clouds and the sky. I felt myself lying down on a shaking flat ground. Then I realised I was back on the Pickup boot again.

My eyes looked down to see a hand holding my wrist and their thumb rubbing the back of my wrist. The hand had a ring on it and I knew who it was.

I glanced at Hamid who was sitting against the body of the Pickup boot and silently staring at the road while the Pickup drove. I shut my eyes lazily and shifted my head back up. I sighed a little and opened my eyes halfway.

"Hamid." I called him as I stared at the sky.

He removed his hand from my wrist immediately and stood up a little to look at me.

"Are you awake?" He asked.

"No I'm in dreamland." I replied in a lazy sarcastic tone.

I sat up immediately and held my hands to my banging head.

"Are you okay?" Hamid asked.

"Please can we stop the car and come down. This is so uncomfortable." I complained at the movement of the car affecting my head.

Hamid quickly talked to the soldiers inside the car and turned back not long after.

"They will stop at the end of the road so that we can find somewhere to sit." He said.

I shut my eyes in frustration. "I want to go home."

"You can't go home in this condition, especially after fainting." He said. "Do you want to make your grandmother worried?"

I didn't respond but just looked at him. "How long was I passed out for?"

"Ten minutes." He said

"Only ten minutes?" My eyes widened. I expected something like two hours.

"Yes. I am surprised to see you're already awake before we get to the hospital." He said the moment the car came to a stop. "Even though we aren't going there anymore."

We stopped near a small shop that sold provisions on the street. Hamid opened the back and came down and brought out his hand to help me come down, but as usual, I didn't take it and just came down by myself.

He told me to wait under the tree that was in front of the shop and entered the shop. He returned with a small boy who was carrying a long bench for us. He dropped the bench under the tree and Hamid and I sat on it. I still held my head and rested my back on the tree.

Hamid looked at me before he put his hand into his pocket and brought out a blister pack of panadol tablets.

"Here take." He said while handing it to me, "I use this medicine when I'm having headache."

"Who doesn't." I muttered.

He chuckled. "Yes I know everybody does."

I looked at him and waited for him. He looked back confused on why I was looking at him.

"Water." I said.