"Courage is knowing it might hurt, and still doing it anyway. Stupidity is the same. And that's why life is hard."
- Jeremy Goklberg
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Gauhar's POV
Why did my brother have to be a selfish toerag and not come to pick us up from college? The excuse that he had "work" was not enough for me. I huffed in annoyance as I trudged on the sidewalk, a glorious breeze gently swayed the trees bordering the footpath, cooling my sweating body.
I'm sure he would feel bad when he'd see my shriveled up body, completely dried up because of the sun. I could at least hope that, that wasn't his motive all along. Though now I had a strong suspicion that he wanted to get rid of me cleanly….clever git.
"You are in an unusually good mood today" Daniya observed in her usual shrewd way. Maybe having your eyes scrunched close and a pained expression on your face was an indication of extreme felicity.
I shrugged my shoulders, loosening my cotton shrug to let in some much needed air "Meeting you always puts me in a good mood" I smirked at her. I knew very well she was still angry at my attempt to 'nearly kill her'.
She rolled her eyes at that, but I could see that she was trying to suppress a smile "Oh please, don't give me that crap. I'm not going to forgive you for almost killing me, so easily. You'll have to work hard to get my forgiveness."
"Ah dramatic as ever I see, I'm glad the heat didn't affect your flair for overacting. My near attempt to kill you hasn't seemed to have affected that." I observed. That managed to procure a reluctant, but complete smile from her. A gleaming red car sped past us, causing us to look at it longingly as we dragged ourselves forward. The sound of its wheels gliding across the road reminding us of our tired conditions. The heat threatened to drown us in our own sweat, as the sun projected its rays right through our souls.
I was afraid that one of these days London would be flooded-- by the sweat of all the people living here. That would be quite salty, I doubt anyone would be able to enjoy it. Not that floods in general were enjoyable. I shook my head to myself, what was I thinking about? This heat was even making me think weird things.
Daniya groaned loudly "By the time I reach home, I'm sure I'll be a puddle on the ground. The sun is absolutely relentless, and wearing this hijab is not helping at all" she loosened the light cotton fabric around her head and sighed as a cool breeze rustled the leaves of the trees, and cooled down her sweat damp neck.
"I can feel you girl. I can literally feel the drops of sweat making their way down my neck. Let me inform you, it's extremely uncomfortable, feeling wet where you shouldn't be." I pulled my sweat soaked t-shirt away from my skin.
Daniya scrunched her nose in disgust "No thank you, I'd rather not be graced with this information."
"As if I was gonna tell you anyway." I said bumping her shoulder, causing her to roll her eyes.
If I were to squeeze my clothes, I'm sure it would yield at least a liter of seawater. Though I couldn't guarantee that it wouldn't be more, my scientific expertise can only predict that much.
"I hate that walking always makes me hungry, don't you feel that way?" I mused out loud.
"I wonder what mu-" I was rudely interrupted from my thoughts about food when, I felt Daniya's hand wrap around my wrist. I looked at her questioningly as she furrowed her brows together in concentration.
"Do you hear that?" she asked. I opened my mouth to ask, what exactly it was she was talking about when I heard the faint sounds of someone screaming for help.
Daniya turned towards me, raising her eyebrows meaningfully. I nodded, as we both silently moved towards the source of the sound.
The voices grew more frantic as we got closer to it, Daniya's eyes widened in alarm as a particularly shrill scream pierced the silence. Both of us stifled gasps of horror as we witnessed a woman being held against a wall by a man almost twice her size.
I instinctively moved to help her, when Daniya caught me by my sleeve. Her hazel eyes looked at me worriedly. I patted her hand reassuringly, both of us jumped as the sound of a dull thud travelled towards us.
I saw tears stream down the girls aqua blue eyes, her strawberry blonde hair held in the large filthy hand of the beast pinning her against the wall. I saw a trickle of blood drip onto the white blouse the girl had on, tainting its cleanness and purity. I looked at Daniya, and I'm sure she saw the anger in my eyes because she silently nodded and let go of my sleeve.
I took a deep breath as I walked towards the worthless piece of scum, now grinning triumphantly at the helpless woman. The woman was limp in his hold, the loss of blood incapacitating her to retaliate.
Her screams now progressively reducing in their amplitude. I scrunched my nose up in disgust as I saw the leer on his massive face. He looked disgustingly smug, as if he had won a fight with someone his own size and not with someone who was less than half his size.
I spit on the ground in disgust, goddamned coward.
"Where's your fight now huh? No one is going to help you today, you are at my mercy now" I heard the piece of scum spit at her, she closed her eyes moving her head away from him in disgust as he brought his face closer to hers.
I nearly growled in anger as his hold tightened on her hair, tears now streaming down her cheeks in pain.
As soon as her green eyes fell on me they widened, I placed a finger on my lip, motioning her to remain silent. This man was in for a treat, I was going to make sure of that. She nodded her head almost imperceptibly, showing me that she understood.
I moved behind the man and tapped on his huge shoulder, he didn't seem to notice it, he brought his filthy face close to hers. She resolutely turned her face away. Disgust she felt was prominent on her face, although it was streaked with tears and blood.
I felt the blood rush in my ears as I clenched my fists in anger. I couldn't act rashly, especially now when I had an opponent almost twice my size. I took in a deep breath and pushed him roughly, causing him to turn around towards me, his eyes narrowed as he registered my presence. "How dare you disturb me you wench!" he growled.