As much as I tried to move, it was almost impossible for me. I could hear, I could listen, I could feel, I could think but not move. The electroshock Rauf gave me had me completely paralyzed it deprived me from speaking. If only I was capable to ask him why. Why working with Abbas? Why his betrayal? Something I noticed in him was his look in his eyes. His eyes seemed lost and dilated I hardly could recognize the brown colour of his real eyes. Almost as if he was in a trance.
I could see how Abbas was pulling Altair from his hair until putting him inside the patrol so cruel. Like an animal. Rauf was pulling me as well into the patrol, except that he was nicer when putting me in, in the backseats along with Altair. Both Rauf and Abbas were in front and as much as I tried to beckon them, they couldn't hear me. And even if they heard me, they wouldn't release me anyways. I'm not surprised for that cunt of Abbas, but Rauf totally took my guard down.
We arrived to the prison. Abbas pulled Altair as cruel as he did, and Rauf took me as he did. Both of them put us into a jail. Altair was still unconscious and paralyzed, but I was slowly recovering. As soon as I could emit my voice out, I called Altair, but he was still unconscious. I was increasing my voice to him so he could hear me, but there wasn't answer. When I could feel my muscles and nerves back, I moved along the ground unto reaching him and patting him to see if he was still there. My biggest fear was being alone in that situation. Especially then when Rauf joined Abbas. Suddenly, Rauf, Abbas and other two men came in. They were Jamal and Masún. They unlocked the jail and Abbas came in, supported himself over his own knee and looked at me and smirked.
"You seem more stressed than usual, Al-Sayf." He laughed.
"What did you do to him?" I glared at him, asking for Altair.
He kept laughing, as if it was so funny.
"Nothing. I'd rather ask what did YOU do to him, by leading us to him and help us to catch this rat."
He took a stand and beckoned everyone into the jail.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce them to you. These are Garnier and Robert de Sable. Jamal and Masún as you knew them. Now that you know our little secret, we ought to thank you for helping us prey this cunt. He already fucked all our plans." He sighed as he smirked pitifully at me. "Too bad he isn't alive to listen to this."
I gasped when he declared him dead. I kept palming Altair and telling him to wake up. I knew he wasn't dead, but Abbas would do anything to fuck my mind up more than it already is. The electroshock he received was the same as mine. If I made it alive, so would he.
"It's useless, Malik. He's dead. And thanks to you." He kept laughing.
"SHUT UP, SCROT. YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO FUCK ME UP BUT IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK. I, INSTEAD, WILL BE THE ONE WHO WILL FUCK YOUR LIFE, EVEN IF IT COSTS YOUR WORTHLESS LIFE."
Rauf then approached and kicked me in the face, almost breaking my nose, yet made it bleed.
"R-Rauf...SNAP OUT OF IT. THIS IS NOT YOU. YOU ARE NOT LIKE THEM. LISTEN. YOU'RE NOT LIKE THEM."
Rauf just stared at me with his empty eyes. Abbas looked at him, in a way beckoning him to take out his gun and aim at me.
"RAUF. PLEASE. THIS IS NOT YOU, FOR FUCKS SAKE. I'VE KNOWN YOU SINCE WE WERE FUCKING FETUS. THAT LONG AND MUCH I KNOW YOU TO BELIEVE YOU'D BETRAY ME FOR HIM. JUST..." My nose hurt more that I started crying, and not exactly for that pain. "JUST SNAP OUT OF IT. PLEASE. YOU ARE MY FRIEND. Y-YOU'RE NOT LIKE THEM. YOU'RE NOT LIKE THESE PIECES OF NATURE ABORTION, RAUF...SNAP THE FUCK OUT OF IT, PLEASE."
Rauf hands remained stiff and rigid. His index finger against the trigger. His empty and dilated eyes open wide at mine full of tears. If my screams were as irritating and loud as everyone says, it should have worked in a way. Abbas was ordering him to shot, but Rauf wasn't responding. Like he froze or something. Abbas approached to him about to push him to shot at me when the alarm started shouting, stunning everyone around. Abbas fell on his knees covering his ears as Garnier and Robert covered their eyes, screaming for the penetrating noise. It somehow didn't affect me as much as them, since I yell as loud as that thing. I looked at Rauf and, with his empty eyes still on mine, slowly put the gun down and lead his other hand to his head. Finally blinking, grasping his hair and shaking his head all confused. I shouted his name and he reacted. His eyes were back to normal. Brown as they are and looked at me.
"Malik?"
He looked around confused until Abbas noticed he snapped out and shot at him from the back, falling in front of me. His blood stained my face a little, making me flabbergasted and cry as I saw him fall. I checked on him to see if the bullet reached his heart, and thankfully it didn't, but it still penetrated his body. He needed to be attended in time before he died by bleeding, but there was no one but Abbas' group, which he ordered Garnier to turn off the alarm and Robert to take Altair. Abbas approached to me and by trying to defend myself from him, considering my body was still weak, he took advantage of his good condition to grasp my left hand and bent all my fingers leaving them folded like paper, except my thumb. I screamed like I never did before because I had never received such pain like this in my life, nor even in that disturbing dream where Altair tortured me.
Abbas closed his face unto mine, glaring and muttering so angry.
"I'll make your death so painful that your own madness will destroy everything inside you before death comes to you. Just like I did in your dreams."
In that moment, I realized it was him who made me live that terror night, and not Altair as I blamed.
He pulled me up and dragged me all the way till reaching the basement, straight to the torture iron chamber where no one can escape once they're inside. I struggled and did my best to escape from Abbas, but the agony deprived me to keep my strength. He was still stronger even if the alarm was killing his ears. Once we reached the chamber, Robert threw Altair to the floor and closed the gate so the alarm noises didn't affect them, since the sound cannot enter nor escape from that chamber. He took Altair back and sit him on a chair that was facing another in front, and Abbas put me in the other and both chained me and Altair on the chairs, from our ankles to our wrists. Abbas clutched my face, burying his dirty nails in my cheeks.
"Now I'm going to make your own nightmare come true, along with the wanker of your bitch. I'm sure you'd love to die with him, scumbag."
He threw my face away and leaded to the exit along with Robert. Abbas gave me a last glare and stepped out, sealing the gate from the other side, making it impossible for us to escape.
I forced myself against the chains, knowing it wasn't going to work, but still fought to escape and help Altair, who was still unconscious. The alarm was shut down, making everything inside in complete silence.
"Altair!" I cried to him. "Wake up! You have to help me out! We have to go out from here! The gate is impenetrable so the only escape route is the ducts above us, which are 10 meters above us. We have to find a way to reach them, but I need your help. I know you're still there. I know you can hear me. So please, wake up and use your magic or sorcery to help us escape from here! This chamber contains every kind of devices among the walls, roof and floor: hidden machine guns, sulfur ducts, water ducts, deadly chemicals, poisonous insects and animals, air conditioners where they can transform this place into a big freezer or microwave. ALL that in order to kill us slow and painfully. Knowing Abbas, he'll choose the worst and most horrible method so he can see us die in agony. This fucking room contains everything and is monitored from the control room, which is on the second floor of the building. I don't know where everyone is, but those three are going to destroy us completely. This is why I need your help, Altair. Believe me; this room has an entire catalog where you can choose how to kill your prisoners. Please, Altair! WAKE UP."
The room's alarm was turned on, bathing us in blinking red light.
"ALTAIR. WAKE THE FUCK UP. THERE'S NO MORE TIME TO WASTE. PLEASE. I DON'T KNOW WHAT WILL THEY DO BUT YOU HAVE TO WAKE UP NOW. DID YOU HEAR ME?"
The five ducts from the roof that were placed in each corner with the fifth in the middle just opened. As I stared at them for the first five seconds, thousands of water litters started falling on us, meaning they chose drowning on us.
"ALTAIR! WAKE UP! THE WATER PRESSURE WILL DROWN US IN LESS THAN FIVE MINUTES. THE VOLUME OF THIS WHOLE ROOM IS 100 m3, AND WE HAVE 5 MINUTES, MEANING THIS ROOM WILL BE FLOODED IN THAT TIME, BUT THE WATER WILL DROWN US FIRST BECAUSE WE'RE CLOSER TO THE FLOOR. PLEASE, ALTAIR. WAKE. THE. FUCK. UP. I NEED YOUR HELP."
The water was already sinking my legs and I kept forcing myself against the chains to escape, but it was useless anyways. The water kept increasing. When I kept forcing, the water already reached my chest and it kept increasing as I spoke.
"ALTAIR! PLEASE. I DON'T WANT TO DIE LIKE THIS. I DON'T WANT TO DIE. I NEED YOUR HELP, ALTAIR..." I stretched up and faced up the roof to keep my respiration from the water. "...I need you, Altair. More than never...I'm weak, okay? Just like everyone say. I can't do this alone..." I started crying like a baby, begging to Allah to save me from this, even if it was impossible. "Altair...I'm sorry..."
I took a deep breath a second before the water covered me completely. I hardly could see anything around. My eyes felt so heavy once into the water. I still did my best to lead my sight to Altair. He was floating already. His legs, his hands, his head were floating, his face showed signs of death. His eyes half-opened and his mouth wide opened, seeing how the water couldn't enter more into his body. He was dead before we even got here. My crying let part of my limited oxygen escape and I desperately kept trying to escape, moving back and front, shaking my head like crazy. My will to live was big, but my chances were null. There was no way for me to escape. My oxygen was almost gone and I was still trapped, looking at Altair's corpse that I stopped fighting and just accepted my destiny. I was fucked. The water started entering in my body. I felt the water's pressure pass through my trachea until it slowly filled my lungs. No matter how much I resisted, the water was stronger. My sight became blurry, my eyes started to be half-opened. My expression eventually becoming like Altair's. I couldn't hear anything but the same binaural beats from that nightmare. My body couldn't move anymore. I was dead already. My sight kept recording everything around but everything seemed blurry and slowly became dark.
My audio was decreasing, just as the light around. And eventually, my body was floating, along with Altair. But my sight wasn't done in finishing its film. Somehow I sensed the water pressuring against me. As if someone pushed it just to hit me in the face. My last senses could perceive someone's else. It wasn't Altair. He was dead like me. My wrist were being forced, as well as my ankles, feeling them released somewhat. I felt my body released from the chair and floating. Eventually felt something holding me tight and taking me to surface. I think it was Allah holding my hand and leading me to his heaven, putting and ending to my torture. Light was approaching to me. I was indeed in heaven.
I could hear Allah calling my name. Screaming it as in "wake up, Malik". He sounded desperate for me to open my eyes, his voice was cutting, but soon becoming clear. He was calling my name. Telling me to open my eyes. My sight was filming again. Everything was blurred and I saw his silhouette moving slowly. His silhouette was becoming sharper and faster until I could see. My mind fooled. I was still in the water, but my head in the surface. And the silhouette took Altair's shape. He was talking to me so desperate. I hardly read his lips speaking "Malik. Wake up!" just like I demanded him. My audio was increasing its volume until I hear Altair's voice so clearly. Telling me to wake up. My ears could listen, my sight could see, my voice could speak, but my mind and body were weak. My mind was disconnected from my senses. My subconscious could catch the whole film recording. With its audio and picture, yet I was paralyzed. My unconsciousness was speaking for me. Even if I could catch every message Altair was delivering me, my mind was too weak to tell my body to snap out.
"MALIK." He yelled. "ITS ME. ALTAIR. I'm alive, okay!? What you saw below wasn't me but a mannequin! I used it to fool Abbas and his group, but I'll explain you when we're safe! We have less than two minutes to escape! This place is flooding too fast! This time I'll need your help! I entered through the middle duct! The fifth one! It's the biggest from the others and it has shafts, making some sort of ladder. The water pressure only comes from the radio of the duct since its circular, leaving a dry space where the ladder is! Listen, please! Don't die on me, yet! You're here with me, okay!? I revived you by giving you oxygen, or kissing you, however you want to take it. Your brain is still conscious but your lungs are still drowned. If I don't take you out of here soon you'll be in a coma, perhaps forever! This is why I need your help!"
"I...can't..." I said.
"YES YOU CAN! Trust me! You'll be okay! Just do as I say! I'll propel you up so you can reach the shafts and hold from them. You're going to go up first! I'll push you up, but I need you to use your last strength, okay!?"
"I...can't...I ca-...n't..."
I was slowly losing my last strength and energy.
"Okay, okay! Hold from me and don't release!"
He held me closer, interlacing my arms around his neck and his legs crossed with mine, making sure I was held enough to not release. The whole chamber was already full of water, leaving only the middle duct free of it.
"I got you! I'll climb the ladder while holding you, okay? Please, don't release yourself! Do your best to keep hold on me! You can do it! I'll pull us up now!"
After making sure I was too clung on him, he reached the first ladder shaft with both hands and using all his strength he started climbing the ladder. His own weight was heavy enough for him to climb, but he was also carrying with mine, making it really difficult for him to go up, without letting me fall, yet he kept fighting to take us both out of the chamber. For every climb, he was bellowing for all the strength he had to put in his only arms. He couldn't even use his legs to step on the shafts because he was holding me. They were at least twenty shafts for him to climb yet, and we were still in the third. The water was reaching us faster than we did for the exit. Altair kept fighting but my body could no more. I couldn't feel it anymore but could sense how I was slowly releasing from him.
"Altair...do-...n't l-...et me fa-..."
I could take no more and released from him falling back into the water. I could hear Altair's scream a second before drowning deep down again. I was floating again and my body kept falling deeper. My last film caught him jumping off the ladder, approaching to me and hold me close. He did his best to reach the surface again but it was too late. The water almost reached the entire surface, and there was no way for us to reach it in time. Altair looked into my eyes and just hugged me as we drowned. He knew there was no hope anymore. He accepted his dead with me. The only thing I could catch with my sight was that red light painting everything with its colour. Altair hugged me tight. Before my eyes closed completely, I saw the chamber painted in green. Bright green. The water pressure was pulling us down. It felt lighter. The level seemed to be decrease. Altair snapped out and held me to reach back at the surface. With all his big effort, he reached oxygen as the water was decreasing. He was calling my name, telling me we survived. Eventually, he could step on the floor. The water was almost gone. He put me on the floor and started doing CPR on me. Pushing my chest and giving me oxygen mouth-to-mouth. I could feel his strong hands pressing hard on me.
The water in my lungs was moving but struggling to go out. I was out of my mind to describe the experience. In anyways, Altair never gave up on me. He fought for me, he was willing to put his life in risk for me, and he was even going to die with me. Something no one has ever done for me.
Eventually, the water in my lungs was pulled away from them and coming out from my mouth. I was slowly coming back. I was coughing before everything sharpened. When my sight was clear, I saw Altair , holding me closer. My body was way too weak to move. I hardly could keep my eyes half-opened.
"We're alive..." I muttered.
"Yes, yes we are." He smiled at me.
I had a hard time breathing but soon I managed to take a deep breath, in relief and purifying my lungs. I leaned on Altair's chest and closed my eyes because I was so tired and exhausted for all this horrible experience.
I heard the gates opening and someone's steps rushing unto us. I could recognize the voice asking us if we were okay. It was Kadar's. My brother's voice. I heard clearly, speaking with Altair. He was worried for me, asking what happened to me and what could he do for me. Altair told him to lead us upstairs to get help, so he carried me up in bridal style and held me close to him. I never felt safer.
When we reached upstairs, other workers were investigating and cleaning all the mess Abbas caused. We were told that Abbas, Robert and Garnier were found dead in a jail from the department. They investigated who killed them, and assumed it was Altair. Even if he killed them, I spoke in his defense and cleared that he helped us to catch the most dangerous criminals in the city, overall for the fraud they committed. A medic from the department was putting bandages on my injured hand, which pain I nearly forgot due to the stress I was passing.
The medic gave us a towel to cover and left, leaving me and Altair alone. I sighed and looked down. Still confused about everything that happened. My mind was so lost that I didn't mind the fact I was all wet.
"Hey," Altair called me "want to know a secret?"
"Hm?" I looked at him.
"I never knew how to swim. Every time I'd go to the sea I'd drown." He sighed. "But when I knew about you being in the flooded chamber, I suddenly learnt to swim. Funny, isn't it? How can someone is capable of doing anything in order to survive."
I raised an eyebrow and then chuckled.
"You're seriously full of surprises." I said.
"Well, I'm an illusionist. That's what I do to survive and eat." He said.
"Now tell me about that mannequin and how."
"Hmm. You'd have to believe in magic so you can believe what I did."
"Do I not?"
He smiled at me and then showed me the watch he gifted me earlier.
"You forgot this during the assault." He said.
I looked at it, smirking, and he took my right wrist and tied it, caressing my hand.
"It looks good on you." He flattered and kissed my hand.
I rolled my eyes along with a sarcastic smile and he came closer to me.
"Do you think we can go on a date again?"
"Are you serious?" I crossed my legs. "A man who caused a scandal in order to make justice for his hometown and help the police to catch the real criminals that were fucking the whole city…has all my approval."
He raised his eyebrows along with a silly smile.
"Can we kiss now?" He asked.
"No." I gave him soft slaps to his cheek. "We'll talk about it after I fix th-…" Suddenly, I remembered about Rauf, and my brother. I opened my eyes wide to Altair. "Rauf! He was injured! Where is him!?"
"Uh, who?"
I huffed, stood up and rushed to the department's infirmary to check if Rauf was there. As soon as I reached it, I smashed the door calling his name and thankfully he was there on a bed…kissing with my brother. As soon as I saw them I let out a scream after calling for Rauf and they broke their kiss by screaming as well as they heard and saw me. Kadar knew he was going to be in trouble, though Rauf felt like he was going to be as well. I supposed that's why he screamed.
I remained flabbergasted for some seconds and took a deep breath, snapped my fingers along moving my arm with my left one supported on my hips. Just like the stereotype of Afro-American women everyone say I do.
"One of you, I don't care who, IS GOING TO EXPLAIN ME WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE." I screamed, as always.
Kadar and Rauf looked at each other and back at me, chuckling nervously.
"It's not what it looks?" Kadar said.
"YOU are in more problems now, boy!" I cried.
Altair reached the place and looked at the scene. He was just amazed without saying anything.
"Calm down, Malik," Rauf said "your brother saved me. And you two, as well."
"What?" I wondered. "What did he do?"
"Kadar was very smart by turning on the alarm. If it weren't for him, I'd still be under Abbas control."
Altair then put an arm on my shoulder.
"Yeah, forgot to tell you Abbas is a mentalist. He learned it from my mentor." Altair said.
"Wait, you mean Abbas was controlling his mind? With his own? Like a puppet?" I asked.
"I need to talk to you about illusionism indeed."
"But what was the point of the alarm? You got injured."
Rauf smiled and kept explaining.
"Well, I can't tell much about the trance since I hardly remember a thing, but the noise made Abbas lose control of his power that it eventually made me snap out. Not to mention your screams." He hardly chuckled. "Can't laugh. It hurts."
"Gosh. I think his screams were louder than the alarm. Even I could hear them from far where I was." Kadar laughed.
"Yeah. But even if the alarm was off, Abbas would still have killed me, as he promised me. Thankfully Kadar was there after you were taken away. I begged him to go to the control room so he could open the culverts and let the water go, since I knew Abbas' plans. And, among us, he killed Abbas and his group, which made us a big favour like Altair did. Your brother is a little big hero, Malik. Like Altair was yours." He then looked at Kadar. "Magic does exist after all."
Kadar showed sentimental approval on him and hugged Rauf, kissing his nose.
I was quite surprised for what Rauf said that it made it hard to believe for me. I wondered what kind of things was my brother into, but at this point, I'm glad to know he and Rauf were okay.
"What happened before you were controlled?" I asked Rauf.
"Oh, that's a really long story." He answered. "I promise I'll tell you once my body doesn't hurt this much. Heh."
"Sure. But one more question: how long have you two been this related?"
Both looked at each other, chuckling.
"That's part of the long story." Said Rauf, smiling.
I sighed and looked at Kadar. "Well, whatever the reason is, you earned him."
"Thanks for the approval." He smiled to me as I did for him.
I glance back at Rauf. "Please, educate as much as you can."
He hardly chuckled and agreed.
Altair said we should leave them alone so they can suck each other better. I rolled my eyes, but had no option but agree. Even if I didn't like the idea of Kadar dating, I knew he was going to be in good hands. As for me and Altair, I supposed Rauf was right in giving him a chance. He might be an idiot…an idiot who would put his life on risk for me. I couldn't deny I started feeling this way for him during the date we had.
It's kind of funny how someone appreciates everything better after a deadly experience. Being dead wasn't bad at all. Your soul feels free, light and fresh, and nothing would ever hurt again, but what's the point of being in whole peace when you cannot reach your loved ones from where you are no matter how much you stretch and yell at them? The afterlife is not worth it if there's no pain, and no gain.