Chapter 36: Stains Of Blood

He had knocked and they were waiting for Bilkisu to open the door for them when he turned to look at her, "I m going to the barrack, don t give Bilkisu a hard time, okay?" He didn t know how to say goodbye to her, just that he knew this might take a week or less, but he didn't want her to know that. "Incase I don t come back today, I'll ask one of soldiers to come and take you to the hospital, you all know them, right?" He asked and she was just looking at him as if she didn t know what he was talking about.
"Talk to me, Mairam. I have little time on my hands." He said impatiently and she shook her head.
"The doctor said she will collect your number and will call you when she wants to speak to me. I don t have to go to the hospital for the time being." He sighed and closed his eyes at the surge of relief. Nothing will have to get her out of the palace then. "But where are you going? Will you come back today?" He was about to speak when she lifted the nylons he had given to her, "You said we d eat this together, the ice cream will melt."
He nodded his head because he didn t want her to have any more negative thoughts as he had heard enough from her. "I'll come back, but if it s night and I don t, just eat without me, okay?" Reluctantly, Maryam nodded her head and Bilkisu opened the door at the moment. She greeted him and Na im only nodded his head at her before he told her to take care of Maryam and rushed off.
Maryam stared at his running figure and just stood there, unable to move. She felt a feeling of foreboding and wanted to ask him not to leave, but she knew even if he was going to spend the whole day with her, those words might hardly be out of her lips. "Let s go in, Mero." Bilkisu spoke softly before she took the nylons from her hand and reluctantly, Maryam walked into the apartment, her heart heavy with the feelings that were gnawing at her.
She went directly to her room, all the excitement she had felt for eating those foods had vanished and she just wanted to lay on bed and think about nothing but him. Bilkisu was gushing about how beautiful she looked and the henna as well, but she wasn t in the right mind to even notice her. She slumped on her bed immediately and closed her eyes, silently praying that wherever he was going to, he should please be safe.
...
"Brief me on everything, Hafiz," he said when they met on his way to the Colonel s office. Hafiz walked by his side on a faster stride with nothing but seriousness in his eyes.
"It s about the issue of human trafficking, sir. We just got a report that an unidentified army car was filled with young girls about two weeks ago and it was passing through states and already at the border of chad. This isn t the first..." Na im nodded his head to save himself the stress of repeating something that they all knew had been there for quite sometime now.
"I know about the issue of girls being sold to human traffickers, but we all didn t know that is still going on. Where do you think they get the girls? Since there s no report of kidnapping whatsoever."
"Everyone believed that while a village is under attack, it happens. Some of the girls at the refugee camps claimed that some soldiers took their friends and said they would get them to the car to first come to Maiduguri but then when they arrive, they can t find them and that s the end of the story."
"So now, what does the Colonel wants us to do?" He asked as they moved closer to the office and Hafiz sighed.
"An attack happened last night in Bama yesterday, again. And we believe that the girls are being shipped like they have always been whenever there is an attack. So, he wants us to go and find out, if we get them, rescue the girls and make sure we catch the culprit." Na im nodded his head as he excused himself and went into the Colonel s office. He took some time as he briefed him and gave him orders of what they should do since he was the Captain there.
They were walking to the car after they all had donned their war attires, with bullets on their shirts and bombs on either side. The soldier s helmet on their heads was making it so hard to disguise between who was who and he slightly turned to Hafiz that walked diligently beside him, "Are we leaving together with Captain Bolori?"
"No, sir. He was the Captain that led the troop yesterday to Bama. So we re going there as backup and they will come back to the barrack today." Na im could only nod as they hopped into the cars and left.
On their way to Bama, even though he had forced himself not to think about her, Na im found himself doing just what he had forbidden himself from doing. He had told himself that she would be left behind just like he had left behind everything he had owned and was, but Maryam seemed to stick into his mind, reason unknown to him. He silently prayed that she ate and prayed, even though he knew she hardly played with prayers but these days, the way she thought and spoke were unlike her.
He remembered her words in the saloon, as clearly as she had said them and wondered how in the world Maryam was able to think that way. "Captain!" Faruk called him, putting an end to his train of thoughts and he pushed her at the back of his mind. Like Alan Gubro had said, whenever duty called him, he should forget he was royalty. And right now, he had forgotten about the not so real wife he had.
?
Maryam had stayed that way for over three days. She didn t know why she had been restless within since yesterday at night. She thought that it was something about Intisar but if she were going to be real with herself, Maryam knew she was thinking of him. He said he would be back at night, but it had been three days since she last saw him. Or did he come back and decided not to check up on her? She thought but shook her head.
He was a new person to her now, he wasn t going to say something he wouldn t do. And the look in his eyes showed her that if he had come back that day, he would come to see her even if she were asleep. But it had been long three days now, and she had never imagined her heart would ache to see someone like it did now. She couldn t sleep yesterday due to the bad dreams she was having of him hurt and she woke up crying until her head ached.
"Maryam," Bilkisu softly called out, for those three days, Maryam barely had more than five spoons of food and that would be all. She only cried, prayed and slept; before she woke up from the slumber with yet another cry. "You should eat something please, okay? You haven t eaten anything today and it s nearly dark, I beg of you." She begged but Maryam acted as though Bilkisu wasn t there. She didn t know what she would do to this girl to make her eat, she had roughly lost some weight in these three days.
"Can you take me to his father, Bilkisu?" She had asked, not knowing how the thought got a place to sit in her mind. She just knew that she had to speak to his family, someone that would certainly know about him. And since he had never said something about his mother, she knew his father would certainly know.
Bilkisu s eyes bulged out as though a saucer and she nearly lost her balance. "What are you going to say to his father, Mero? It s not like I'm going to take you there, I can t even if I want to. He s not someone you can easily see, okay?"
Maryam stubbornly shook her head as she turned to face Bilkisu. "Where can I see him then? Maybe the mosque, or where he passes or something. I need to speak to his father, Bilkisu, he hasn't been here for three days and I want to know if he s okay!" She broke into tears, feeling the tightening in her chest.
Bilkisu sighed and she cautiously placed her hand on Maryam s shoulder, this was the first ever touch they had ever had and Maryam didn t even seem in her right mind to realize they did. "His Father isn't someone you can see when you want to, Maryam. You can spend your entire life wanting to meet him but you can't and even if you do, he won t spare you a second and his guards might even aim for your life. Let s find another alternative, but certainly not his father."
Maryam was crying so hard at that, she had no idea who he was but she knew, hearing this coming from Bilkisu that whoever he was, he was certainly someone important and well respected in Maiduguri. "What about their barrack, can you take me there? I just want to go there and ask them if he s doing okay and then we would be back home in time."
Yet again, Bilkisu shook her head at her, "Have you forgotten that he said you can t set foot outside this apartment unless it s with him? You ll get me killed if you do that, Maryam. Please, be patient, he s going to be fine, I know. Maybe he was caught with too much work or something, but I'm certain he s doing fine."
Maryam wasn t convinced, and she was already plotting how to get herself out of this palace she was in. "Where are we?" She asked, because she needed to know her current location so she would be able to bring herself back when she thought of the successful way to sneak out without Bilkisu knowing.
Bilkisu chuckled and stood up, "You can t fool me, Mero. I won t tell you our location to have you run away when I'm not looking or something. Be patient and eat your food as I said, and I'll go and ask some people around here for news about him, if you want to know."
"Can you really do that?" She asked, her eyes lightening up with hope. Maybe finally, she would be able to know if he was safe or not. If he was back or not and she was going to kill him with her own hands if it turned out that he was back and just decided not to check up on her.