Chapter 23: Pets and Boys

"Caught you."

The words were whispered in Aladdin's ear.

The street rat opened his eyes.

He gazed up at the hazy late afternoon sky in confusion.

His head hurt.

A lot.

And his back was sore.

But besides that…

He was fine?

Aladdin had expected to hit the hard dirt with a smack!

Instead:

Aladdin's landing had been soft and quiet and there was…

A big hairy arm around him?

Aladdin twisted to try and see more.

It felt like his whole world spun with him.

"Ow…"

Had Aladdin said that?

He wasn't sure.

He had felt that.

Moving was a bad idea.

"Aladdin…" a familiar voice breathed, "you okay?"

Aladdin definitely hadn't said that.

He hadn't so…

"Omar?" Aladdin asked. "Is…is that…you?"

"Yeah…"

It was!

Omar sounded as tired as Aladdin felt.

But more importantly, he wasn't dead.

Omar was alive!

Aladdin felt tears prick at his eyes.

From above him, he heard Babkak shout, "What's going on down there?"

"Omar!" Aladdin called up in awe. "He's…alive. We're…alive!"

"I wasn't talking to you, Ape!" Babkak shrieked back.

But the boy's shaky voice lacked its usual venom.

Omar gingerly lifted up his other arm.

He gave Babkak the thumbs up, before shouting, "Hurts though!"

Aladdin winced.

The unexpected noise had stabbed at his still-bleeding ear.

"Okay, I'll be right down," Babkak promised them. "Stay there."

The older boy disappeared from sight.

Aladdin wished his pain would disappear.

His head really-

"Aladdin," Omar said, cutting into the street rat's thoughts. "I'm really sorry."

"What?"

That was the last thing Aladdin expected to hear.

He was the one who had nearly killed Omar.

"I'm really sorry," Omar repeated. "We shouldna listened to that lady. She was wrong about you."

Aladdin frowned.

What was Omar saying?

What lady?

What had she said?

And why did it matter now?

But before he could ask, a new voice cried out:

"Aladdin!"

After another wince, Aladdin slowly turned his aching head to see a monkey, his monkey, Abu, racing towards him with a wooden plank, looking ready to do some damage.

Aladdin held out a hand and said, "Don't."

The monkey slowed and then stopped.

"What's going on?" he asked.

What was going on?

Aladdin tried to answer, but there was so much now.

Things were happening too fast.

His head kept throbbing.

And they weren't making any sense.

And his ear still hurt.

And he wanted them to make sense.

But he felt…

Slow.

So slow.

Mud slow.

But he needed to think.

He needed-

Omar spoke again, "Hello monkey."

"Fuck off," was Abu's sharp reply.

But Omar didn't understand.

The large boy reached out his hand.

He'd tried this countless times before.

Abu always bit Omar if he got too close.

Today, Aladdin said, "Abu, let him pet you."

"What!" Abu snapped at the same time, Omar cried, "Really?"

Trying to think through another spike of pain, Aladdin did not explain to Abu or himself. He just said, "Yeah."

"I get to pet the monkey!" Omar celebrated eagerly. "I've always wanted to pet the monkey."

"Aladdin," Abu began a lot less eagerly. "I don't-"

"Please, Abu," Aladdin said.

The monkey was pissed to have to interact with one of the people who had been trying to kill him and his best friend for years, but he trusted Aladdin.

So, Abu reluctantly approached Omar, grumbling the whole time.

Omar reached out his hand as far as it would go, but he didn't get up.

Aladdin could feel the blood pooling around Omar's left leg.

It was bent the wrong way.

Omar had to be in a lot of pain.

More pain than Aladdin.

But the big guy still smiled when Abu finally came close enough to touch.

Omar's large hand clumsily petted the monkey even though Abu was covered in ash and sticky…frosting?

Never mind that.

Aladdin tried to really think again, but all he got was more head pain.

It wasn't worth it.

Aladdin gave up on it and just asked what he really wanted to know:

"Omar…what were you saying about the lady?"

"Huh?" Omar said, coming out of his happy daze. "Oh, yeah, the animal lady, she said you traded Kassim to get the monkey."

"What!?" Aladdin exclaimed causing himself to wince yet again.

"The animal lady said," Omar began again.

"No, I heard you, but…" Aladdin didn't believe it.

Babkak had always implied as much, but Aladdin hadn't thought he meant it literally.

Surely, they hadn't really thought he'd done that. Surely, they hadn't trusted that evil madwoman over-

"Come on, Aladdin," Abu interrupted. "You heard him out. Let's go."

Omar, still not understanding a word Abu said, spoke once again. "I like your monkey. He's so soft and small, but I didn't like that you sold Kassim into slavery for him. Kassim was dead by the time we…"

"But that's not what happened!" Aladdin burst out. "I told you what happened!"

"But it didn't make sense," Omar countered. "And the animal lady said, she-!" Omar cut himself off with a howl.

Aladdin and Abu cried out as well.

Omar had suddenly tightened his grip on both of them. One of those slimy monsters had popped out of the ground and wrapped itself around Omar's bad leg.

In less than a few seconds, the humongous snake had coiled around all three of them.

From the shadows, a sweet voice cooed too softly for Aladdin and his friends to hear:

"Good girl, Lali-loo! You found your Mama some new pets to play with."