UNTAMED

Part Thirty Seven

{Shake yourself free. Rise from the dust, undo the chains that bind you.}

                 She had washed the plates and taken her bath but could not settle down because of Beast. He had been so mad that he might have forgotten he wanted to hit her because of that machine. He might come any moment and whip her for telling the truth about love. She went to the library and tried reading the last two pages of the novel but could not. She went back to the room and sat by the wardrobe waiting for Beast. She did not know how long she had been sitting down but she heard Cindy’s voice.
“Halima where are you? Cindy asked.
Her voice was coming from the library side. No. she was not supposed to come, she did not know Beast was very angry. The door to her room opened and Cindy came in.
“There you are, I’ve been searching for you” Cindy said.
She came and sat down with her at the wardrobe.
“No. Cindy go, you can’t be here. Beast is mad” she said pushing her away.
“Beast?” she asked and burst into laughter.
She looked at her confused. She did not understand what was funny. Her life was in danger but she was laughing.
“Wait until everyone hears you call him Beast. But come to think of it, Beast was his original name sha” she said clapping and laughing.
“I am serious, he is mad, I don’t want him to find you here” she said pushing her away but she shifted back to her position.
“Why is he mad? What happened?”
She might listen if she was told what happened.
“I told him the real meaning of love and he got mad.”
“Wait! What is the real meaning of love and what on earth brought that discussion?”
“I can’t tell you now but you have to leave here and run away from this place, from that man, he is going to make you feel bad and he is..” she stammered.
“Halima, you are really serious! Calm down, you are already confusing me. Tell me everything that happened Halima.”
“No. There is no time. You have to leave now” she said pushing her again.
“You are acting hysterical. Okay, let’s reach a compromise, you tell me everything that happened that led to Dark Prince’s outrage and I will know the kind of danger I’m in. At least let me know how I will run okay?”
She nodded. At least she was making progress.
“Tell me Halima, tell me everything and how I’m in danger”
She told her everything from when Beast had joined her in the dinning. But she did not mention Abigail. As soon as she stopped talking, Cindy started crying making her more confused.
“Why are you crying?” she asked worried.
“Chief is an animal, in fact the worst animal is too pure to be compared with him. He is a waste that can never be recycled, a sorry excuse for a human” Cindy said wiping her tears.
“I don’t understand, you are in danger.”
“Halima whatever Chief told you about love is not true, what you just explained is known as rape and sexual abuse which is a serious crime. Chief can spend more than twenty years in jail for that. Halima that is the opposite of love. No wonder Dark Prince was mad” Cindy said holding her hands.
She shook her head, Chief was right.
“Look at me Halima, love between a man and a woman is a strong emotional feeling of attachment. You never want to be without that person. You feel complete and sex is different from rape and it’s supposed to be from love. I lost my foster parents, that is they were not my real parents, they were Jason’s parents but they raised me. I’ve always been angry with my mum, sometimes, it was my dad. They died the same day and left us just like that. I thought at least one should have remained but after I got married to Jason, my perspective changed. Now I’m happy for both of them. I am not angry anymore because I cannot imagine how life will be without Jason. Only the thought of it makes me feel empty and scared. There is no safer place than being around Jason my husband. He is incapable of harming me. I grew up with him. I knew his name before I could pronounce my name. We grew up and fell in love. He will never harm me Halima because he loves me” she ended her long speech.
But Chief was still right.
“You don’t seem convinced Halima. Look at me, do I look unhappy? Do I look sad?”
She shook her head.
“Because he has not started showing you love” she answered her.
Cindy stood up and starting pulling off her top. She watched in confusion as she held her top in her hand.
“Halima, look at my body” she said turning round.
“Do you see any whip mark?”
She shook her head.
“Jason has been loving me like a brother, then as a husband and he has never hit me once, not even when I was the annoying sister. He gets mad when I’m hurt. You are not wearing long-sleeved today so I can see your whip mark Halima.”
She tried to digest what Cindy had said. She was really happy and there was no mark on her body and she was not afraid of the man but the man had not yet showed her love, Beast had killed Abigail.
“But he said he loved Abigail”
Cindy had put back her clothes.
“Yes Halima, he loved Abigail”
“Then you must believe Chief was right. You are not safe. He killed Abigail”
Cindy gasped and placed her palm on her mouth.
“Halima, where did that come from? Please tell me you did not mention that to Dark Prince” she said holding her hands.
She shook her head and Cindy immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
“Where did you hear that? Abigail was his wife”
“He said it, he took her clothes from the wardrobe. I asked him where Abigail is and he said she is dead. He must have killed her after she tried to run away.”
“Halima will you wake up” Cindy shouted making her shock.
“You need to stop this. I don’t understand all this psychology stuff but you need to stop thinking that way. Why will you think Dark Prince will kill his wife? She was killed by people like Chief. Halima people like Chief killed her” Cindy said crying.
She was too confused to say anything.
“Halima please wake up. Dark Prince is in trouble because of you, although you are still the reason he is alive, you may also be his end”
“I don’t understand.”
“Halima I’m getting frustrated. What is it that you don’t understand? Where you not the one who called him?”
She shook her head. Something was wrong with Cindy. How did she call Beast?
“Then who created that word with a steel wire? Who fudged the word 'help' and put it in a clay pot?”
She gasped and covered her mouth with her palms.
“How did you know about that?” She asked.
“So it was you. Why did you do something like that if you believed no one will ever see it?”
Cindy was angry with her, like she was accusing her.
“Why do you think Dark Prince came? How do you think he knew your existence and knew where to find you? I thought he had made it clear he is Chief’s enemy. Why do you think so? It was because of what he saw. Halima although I’m grateful he broke that pot and saw your message because he would have committed suicide by now….”
“Suicide?” she asked interrupting her.
She wanted to follow everything she was saying.
“That’s is, he wanted to kill himself because he was in pains because Abigail was no more, because. He loved Abigail so much, he could not take the pain anymore. Jason said something he was listening to made him angry and he had broken his clay pot in anger, then he had seen your message. Jason had followed him to rescue you Halima. He said you refused to go with him even when he showed you what you fudged. You refused to believe you are free that’s why they had to lock you up. They said it’s normal, that you have been there for long and it will take time for you to accept that you are free. That’s why I’m asking why you put that message there? At least you should have believed someone will come. Jason said it takes very high heat and pain to fudge what you did. So why will you go through so much pains and burns to fudge that word if you thought no one will come. Why Halima?” Cindy asked crying.
“The word, my message” she stammered.
She immediately remembered the day Beast had come. He had shown her the message and had said he was sorry for coming late but she had thought Chief knew her secret and had sent him to test her but he was Chief’s enemy. If Chief had not sent him, then how did he know she was there?  She gasped. Could it be true?
“Now you are getting me. Good. You better think about my question because you must answer me. The novels I’ve read, freed captives don’t act the way you are acting. They are always happy and grateful to those who rescued them. They even give hugs and kisses but in your own case you’ve made him the bad person, in fact the world is accusing him of kidnapping you and you are not helping matters Halima.”
“Is it true? Are you sure? He really saw my message? Please tell me” she pleaded holding her top.
“Jeez, Halima you are going hysterical again. Calm down.”
“Please tell me?” she asked holding her skirt.
“Yes Halima, how else will I know? And has he touched or whipped you the way you call it?”  Cindy asked.
But it was not real, it was just a dream, it was not possible. She had given up hope a long time ago. But she said he had broken the pot after listening to something. That was the same way he got angry earlier and broke his plate. She needed to see her message again, she needed to touch it.
“Where is it?”
“Where is what?”
“My message, please I need to see it. Let me see it” she begged holding on to her clothes.
“I don’t know. It should be with Dark Prince. You can ask…”
“Where is he? Please I need to see my message” she pleaded, tears already coming from her eyes.
It was too good to be true. She stood up and ran downstairs. She did not even remember she was afraid of the steps. She was hoping to see him in the parlor but he was not there.
“Where is he? Please I need to see my message.”
“Calm down Halima. Let me go call him for you. Just sit down” Cindy said taking her to sit on one of the chairs.
“I will go call him.”
As soon as Cindy left the parlor, she started crying, what if it was not true? What if Cindy was wrong?
“Please let it be true” she said.