I looked on my right and saw my house. We really had arrived. 'I'm not going out of this car until you tell me what's going on.'

He tilted his head to the right instead of replying. I mimicked when his lips parted. I saw Father bounding towards me, with the most exasperated expression on his face. His face and arm muscles looked like they were about to erupt. His face was red and his eyes flickered from anger. My mind froze in the terror of the situation. Instead of getting out of the car, I moved further back in my seat.

He was eventually outside and opened the door. My heart beats stopped for a second. I could now see mother coming from behind him.

'Are you out of your mind?!' He yelled, his voice echoing through the neighborhood and booming through every alley.

'John, let us talk inside, the neighbors are going to hear us' I heard my mother say from behind him.

'You thought that we weren't going to find you? The school already called and they gave you suspension for three weeks!' He continued yelling.

'If you would just let me explain.' I managed to say.

'Ah for god's sake!' He said. 'Look at yourself! After all what I did just so you don't turn out to be the way you are.' He flooded me with loathing looks then continued 'But you're still so goddam stupid! Running out of the school like you're a five year old girl and getting lost without even having cellphone.'

'John, please! The neighbors are starting to wake up.' My mother said as Adam watched the three of us without saying a word.

Father looked back at her, then at me. He subsequently decided to drag me out of the car viciously without bothering about all the people who were standing in their balconies, watching his brawl.

'That's enough!' I said as soon as he thwarted me on the house's floor. I stretched my lower arm to stand up. 'I did nothing wrong!' I shouted back when I stood up and looked at him.

My mother closed the doorway and stood on father's side. 'I behaved amok because I had just read in the newspaper that a friend of mine has been raped.' I said, tearing up.

'Is it the girl from Ekyaj?' He asked.

I nodded, utterly crying now from the pain of saying it out loud.

He came closer, his face still and his fists still clenched. He slapped me with his right hand, landing all his strength on my cheek. It burnt vigorously and I placed my hand on it, hoping this will solace the pain

'And why do you even have friends from Ekyaj?' He roared.

'Trivina, don't you know they're our enemies?' Mother asked

'No, she's way too stupid to understand this.' He said

I looked at the floor, without saying a word. He walked away towards the basement in continuous murmuring. As he shut the door closed, mother approached.

'You're lucky your father was in a good mood today. You deserved more. I'm very disappointed in you, Trivina.' She said.

I didn't look up or react. Eventually, she went upstairs and I heard her closing her bedroom door.

Even after no one was around, I didn't look up. I still looked on the floor, broken traumatized. I'm so tired of this world. Why do we have to live in such a place?

I sat on the floor -my body shivering as I did- and looked up. A bowl of fruits sat on the table oppiste to me with a fork and a sharp knife beside it.

'You don't have to live in it.' A voice coming from the knife said. It kept looking straight at me, inviting me to come. 'There will be no more pain.' My instinct said.

I stood up and got closer. That's enough, I can't take it anymore. I grabbed the knife then looked at the wrist of my arm. It seemed like the right thing to do.

I felt its smooth sharp edge cutting it and as much as it hurt, it relieved. Blood came out but not too much cause it wasn't deep. So I pushed harder. And as soon as Marry crossed my mind, I stopped. I can't be that selfish. I can't leave her alone. With no one caring for her, she'll turn out just as depressed as me.

I grabbed the closest garment and shielded the bruise. The knife was still dripping with blood. I wiped it off and dropped it into the sink. I sat on the nearest corner bursting into tears. As the tears fell, I tried to imagine what elation feels like.

Suddenly, a sound came out of the silence. It was the telephone ringing. I sighed and continued crying. I was in no way answering it. Besides, who would call at twelve o'clock in the morning?

I wondered how Marry didn't wake up from all the noises that happened. The idea that she actually did and saw me in the state i was in frightened me. I would never want her to see me as broken as that.

The telephone didn't stop ringing, badgering me to answer.

Pay attention to the phone tonight

Adam's sentence crossed my mind. How did I forget? This must be what he was talking about when we were cut off by father. I hustled towards the phone. It has been ringing for a while. I worried that I wouldn't reach it in time.

But, I did.

'Hello?' I said. I had no idea who it was. However, I wanted to know.

'Trivina Haden?' A male voice asked. I was pretty sure I hadn't heard this voice before.

'Yes.' I answered.

'It's a pleasure to finally talk to you, Trivina. You do not know me, but believe me I've heard quite a lot about you.'

The conversation was going in a queer direction, but I expected it to be. 'You heard from who?'

'From a number of people.' He paused briefly. 'Rachel is one of them.'

I was fairly baffled. 'You know Rachel?'

'Of course I do. This part of why I'm calling you.'

He waited for me to speak but I didn't because I was perplexed, so he went on.

'Rachel has been devastated since what happened, Trivina. She doesn't eat. She doesn't drink. I know you love her and it hurts you to hear this, but you have to.'

'How do you know Rachel?' I asked. Although I now knew that he was from Ekyaj -not because of his accent- because he wouldn't know this if he didn't see Rachel regularly.

'That's not what's important. What's important is what happened to Rachel. It can happen to other girls, Trivina.'

'Why are you telling me this?'

'Because you can help us and you can help Rachel.' He said still keeping his calm tone that he had since the beginning of the call.

'What do you mean by "us"?'

'I didn't introduce myself, didn't I? I'm one of the leaders of Ekyaj's army.'

Flashbacks of all the times I heard about those leaders glinted in my memory. They often were talked about in the news. The reporters would call them "rebellious" because they were the ones who really stood up for the conquest since the day it came.

'So, what do you want?'

'We want you to help us. We want you to save us from dying, Trivina. We want to save other girls from what happened to Rachel. Rachel wants you to help us, too.'

'Stop pretending like you know Rachel.'

'I do know Rachel.' he assured me. 'She's my daughter.'

I was even more puzzled now.

'And I know that you and her are friends. And I know that you've initially met her through Facebook. And I know that you both would often email each other and that you would tell her about your parents and your school.'

I would've thought that he was lying, however this was really precise. I couldn't believe that Rachel's father was one of the military leaders. She had mentioned before that her father was always busy, yet I would have never guessed this. Maybe that's why she was always so strong and outspoken.

'Wait...does..does she know where I'm from?'

He didn't respond for a second and something told me he was smiling at the other side of the phone. 'Yes, she does.'

She knew. She knew all along but she didn't tell me. She knew my nationality, yet she didn't care.

'But that's not the gist, Trivina. The important thing is your help.'

'Stop saying that!' I exclaimed. 'I have no idea what you even mean!'

'I need you to bring me some information that will decide our next move.'

'Uh, inf-information?' I faltered. 'And why do you think a person like me would be able to get you such confidential information?'

'Because your John Haden's daughter.' He said.   'And he's office is in your house.'

'You want me to be a spy for you?'

Note: Hello :) is it me you're looking for? What up Lionel Richie reference
No one got it?
Okay haha ;)

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