Nubivagant - wandering in the clouds; moving through air.
- 1 -
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She was busy staring at the busy streets of Preston. The weather's gloomy due to the constant rain. That's what she thought. She was never a big fan of rain. She always associated it with sadness and pain. She looked at the kids going to the schools with their mothers. The smiles on their faces indicated how content they were with life. With a sigh, she moved away from the french window in her lounge. This was her favourite part of the apartment she lived in. She could look at people but the people couldn't see her because her apartment was situated on the 8th floor.
"Alaia! Honey, we should get going. Your class is about to start. And I have an important meeting to attend." She looked at her mother, or maybe the only mother figure in her life, who was there for her when everyone abandoned her. With a small smile she picked her bag and crossed the lounge to stand beside her mother. Alaia gave Asma a hug and picked up her keys from the small table kept in the corridor.
"Yeah. Let's go." She always wondered what life would have been like if she never came here. It's been 4 years but these thoughts never left her mind once. She wanted to forget them but it's like they're engraved in some part of her mind were she can't reach. She opened the door and entered the long lobby waiting for her mother to lock the door of their apartment and leave for UCLAN togther.
"Mama?" "Hmm", her mother replied. "What is the meeting about?", Alaia questioned as she started to follow Asma to the elevator. Her mother gave a look which said 'do you really want to know?'. Alaia kept looking at her which indicated 'yes' as an answer to her mother's look. After heaving a sigh, Asma started elaborating it to her. "Alaia, I'm not sure how you're going to take it but I'm going to tell you because you want to know about it and sooner or later you'll get the news because Elizabeth is your friend. Do you remember me mentioning Preston NGO visiting our department last week?"
Alaia nodded. "The NGO has started a program through which they're going to help all the victims of sexual and physical abuse. Our department decided to collaborate with them and help our students to learn how they're going to protect the victims. This idea was presented by Mrs. Gillbert. And it caught our attention. Out of all the ideas presented in the last meeting, this one was on the top. Majority of the staff voted for it."
"What's there to worry about then?", asked Alaia while opening the main door of the apartment complex they lived in. She gave a polite nod to old Mr. Johnson standing beside the door with an umbrella in one hand and his pet dog Toby in the other. "I'm coming there. All the students will be divided in a group of 4 and they'll have to travel to other countries which include Zimbabwe, Morocco, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Philippines, India, USA, Turkey, Poland, Russia and Pakistan."
Alaia stiffened at the mention of her country. Her hands started trembling. Asma held her right hand and provided her some warmth with the help of a side hug. Alaia started counting till 30 until her hands decided to stop trembling on their own. She looked at her mother and gave her a small thankful smile. Asma knew her daughter was still not out of the dark, and pretended to be fine all the time, as if the world didn't matter to her, nothing affected her in any sort way.
They didn't continue the conversation and decided to put a full stop to it for the time being. Walking on the streets of Preston was Alaia's favourite thing. But the weather today had it's own plan of not allowing her to have the fun she wanted. The walk to UClan from their apartment complex was of 10 minutes. As soon as they entered the premises of the Campus Alaia removed her hand from her mother's, and started walking towards her class after saying bye to her mother.
She was done with marking the attendance by leaving her thumb impression on the scanner outside the lecture hall. She entered the class room and saw Elizabeth also known as Ellie excitedly waving at her. Alaia gave her a smile and approached Ellie with a hand wave identical to hers. "You're 2 minutes late Alaia. It was so hard to keep my mouth shut. You know how I can't do that. Anyways there's a lot I have to tell you about. First thing first, guess what happened?". Alaia chuckled briefly before shaking her head and motioning for Ellie to continue. But Elizabeth glared a Alaia jokingly. "I told you guess and not ask me".
"Alright! What is it? Can't I get a hint?". Ellie made a thinking face with her index finger placed under her chin. "Okay. How about NO?". "Okay, as you wish", was Alaia's simple answer. "Ughh fine I'm going to tell you. But before I start my never ending rant let me tell you that 'you're boring'. You gave up so easily. Anyhow, Matt proposed me last night. And I said yes. Can you believe it? I never thought I'd get to see this day. You know he's such a coward. But he's my coward. And only I get to call him coward. He came to my house last night and mum and dad were out on a dinner. You know their weekly dates and all. And I thought he was here to ask for my notes again like he did last time but he surprised me with a bouquet of lilies and this ring".
Ellie showed Alaia her ring finger which was adorned with a beautiful yet simple diamond ring. Alaia smiled and congratulated Ellie followed by quick hug. Before Ellie could continue the Professor entered the classroom and everyone settled on their seats. Alaia and Ellie were sitting the third row as always. They never liked the last row and the first one was always out of option. Mr. Hamilton greeted them all and took his place behind the rostrum.
"Alright guys. Before I start today's lecture let me brief you all on the project coming your way by the end of this year. I'm sure many of you must've seen the notice board and as always transferred the news. Getting back to the point you know that the marks of the final assessment are added to your results in the beginning of January and they have the second highest weightage after your final examination. The project is simple. The faculty will divide you all in different groups with 4 members per group and you guys will have to travel to a different country and help the NGOs there to protect the victims of sexual harassment and raise awareness. You'll find the list of the groups by the end of the day on the notice board along with the county allotted to each group. And yeah this project will be done in collaboration with Preston NGO."
"How do you know I was going to ask that?", questioned a nerd from the first row. "I'm your teacher, and you're age is less than my experience.", replied Mr. Hamilton. This is what she dreaded. Alaia never wanted to go back there and she knows her mother will place her in the group which will be helping the victims in Pakistan. Not that she hated the country. She's always been a Patriot and loved Pakistan to no extend. But someone decided to ruin this for her. Well not only one person but everyone. So everyone decided to ruin it for her. Alaia knew her mother wanted her to face her fears and stand for herself but what if she was scared for a moment? What if everything comes back to her?
"I'm here ... I'm here ... I'm here", she kept chanting these words in her heart. These words helped her to returned back to normal. Her therapist played a major role in it. Soon the lecture started but Alaia never focused on it and continued to motivate herself to face it all and bring an end to it. She won't run away like last time. Well she had no option back then. But now she was going to find the options herself.
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Hey guys! How is it?
The first 2-3 chapters are mainly going to describe the characters. And I'm sure most of the readers by now have guessed what the story is going to be about.
