Caught In The Shadow [Jenlisa]

Chapter Twelve -

Lisa

Blood. Lots of it. It mixed with the fine dust of the ground and created a mixture inside the girl's mouth. She cried. She'd never been hit so hard. Above her the strange man was yelling again, but she didn't understand. The words were too fast for her to piece together and even if they weren't, she'd never heard those kinds of words before. She wanted to go home.

She closed her eyes and for a moment, she was there. She was drawn up in her mother's arms and she was kissing her neck, making her giggle. She was her 'Pretty Little Woman. Her small legs flailed as she squealed with laughter, but her mother held her tight, she wouldn't let her fall. Tears burned her eyes. Everything burned.

"Sukat!" said the man. The girl knew that word, it was what the man always said when she cried or screamed. The girl forced her mouth shut, trying to breathe through her nose and swallowing all the blood that drained into the back of her throat because of it. She was no longer hungry. Her belly was full of blood now.

Her hunger had led to this. Every morning Narweh placed a scarce amount of unleavened bread and water on a small table in the room, eyeing the kids wickedly as he left. There were six of them in all; two English boys, one Spaniard, two Arabs, and the girl.

At first they shared it in equal measure, but as the days wore on and hunger set in, it became a battle that ended in a full belly for one or two, and a bloody nose for those that challenged. The girl was often the victor in such battles, but on more than one occasion the collective strength of the others was used to rob her of her spoils. Such had been the case that day.

When she'd smelled the food, she hadn't been able to help it. It had been two days since her last won meal. The water had been hot and the bread cold, but she'd savored it all too quickly. Not enough. The plate on the table had lots of things, she thought she smelled chicken. She was still young enough that all meat was 'chicken' to her. She sat at the small table and picked up the meat. It burned her mouth, but she didn't care, the tingling tickle infusing her lips, tongue and throat wasn't enough to overpower the deliciousness of her stolen meal.

The girl hadn't seen the blow coming. One moment her mouth was filled with delicious chicken and the next, blood and dirt. She didn't even know what she'd been hit with. She didn't really know why she'd deserve it, just that she wouldn't do it again.

"Ghabi! Léili!"

Something hot and wet collided with the side of her face. Her eyes were really on fire now. Her small hands rubbed at her eyes but it only made matters worse. She screamed, gurgling sounds bubbling out of her blood-filled throat. Still, in the grips of her agony, she could taste the savory food sliding into her mouth. She swallowed. Eyes tightly shut against the burning pain of the spices she dragged the food out of her hair and across her face into her mouth. It burned twice as much as before because there were open cuts in her mouth. But she was, apparently, still too hungry to care.

Léili, the man continued to call her, then grabbed her by the nape and dragged her across the floor while she struggled to crawl on hands and knees.

The girl cried.

Screamed.

Begged for her mother.

She never came. The girl hated her.

*****

The air was thick. Tangible. Filled with an all-consuming excitement for things to come. She wasn't far. My fingers curled tighter around the steering wheel of the SUV. Stroke her, or strangle her? I still didn't know. I only knew I wanted my hands on her. I gripped the wheel tighter and pressed farther down on the gas pedal. Jay gave me a bemused look from the passenger seat. Fuck him.