Chapter 5 5：B

With each word he uttered, his eyes bloodshot as his anger became even more prominent on his words and voice, Maryam shuddered as she tried to vanish into the door. He knew he was angry at himself for getting himself involved into the mess of getting married to her out of pity for her father, but then he couldn't shout at himself, could he? He couldn t yell at himself without being called crazy and the safest and easiest way to do that was by venting on her. "One more sound from you, and I'll have to shoot a bullet right into your head and have you silenced for life." His words slurred out of him as cold as she had never heard someone sounded and she knew he wasn t just saying that, the cold tone that had accompanied those words obviously meant it and she gulped down all the cries that tried to surface into her chest. None of his soldiers spoke, and he knew they were terrified of him venting his anger next on them. But he knew even if none of them had the liver to speak, Hafiz would, even though it would be when they were out of these khaki and they were back to being friends, not soldiers. The rest of the drive was done in an eerily silence that he began to wish that there was a sound to distract him from his train of thoughts. They stopped in front of the refugee camp and he turned to look at her, it seemed as though with another sound from him, she would have the remaining calm she had in her vanished and she would certainly lose her senses. She seemed too terrified to even take some breath and he cleared his throat, but she didn t even wavered an eyelash for him to think that she would turn to look at him. "Look here," he decided that being soft towards her will only be at his disadvantage. This was the girl he wanted to do all he could to be separated from. If he made the mistake of letting her get to him or even worse, if he developed pity for her, there was no way he could cut off this rope binding them together. Even though he knew it would only be a matter of a few months or a year before he completely forget about her. She slowly turned to look at him but she couldn't meet his eyes, and that seemed to work in his favor. "You re going to be taken to a refugee camp like everyone else in your village is, okay? You ve known them all your life, I'm certain you might even be able to meet some of your friends or relatives if you have any. Make sure you don t get into any trouble and be obedient to every order assigned to you." She could only nod her head, realizing that if she had to spend the minutes she did while trying to understand what he meant, he might actually get angry and decide to blast her head with his bullet. They got down from the car and walked inside with him tailing by her side that with each step she took, Maryam wanted to scream her lungs out even though a part of her brain seemed hopeful that she might find Intisar. She would tell her that Baaba was dead too and they would cry to their satisfaction with no one there to stop them. She had heard the man that took Intisar being called Captain Bolori, and he, too, was called Captain Bolori, it only made sense if she expected to see her sister, right? She didn t care anymore if they were kidnapped, as long as she was going to live together with Intisar. She stayed aloof by the other end of the huge building that she didn t have the right state of mind to see how it was. Even though it seemed to be a new building that probably had more room than she would ever know and the field inside was huge enough to accommodate thousands of people, Maryam s mind was off to know what she thought of the place. ? He spoke to the one that seemed to be in charge of the camp and she heard him said her full name as a woman wrote it down before he turned to leave without even glancing her way. She gasped in utter shock, did he meant to leave her here all on her own? He didn t turn and was about to leave the camp when one of his soldiers stopped him by his wrist and he turned to him. "She seems to be terrified of being alone, Captain. At least speak to her and tell her that you ll get her out of here in a few days or a week." Na im shrugged his hand away from Hafiz s hold and looked at her momentarily before he turned to him. "I have to make a report at the barrack today, I do not have time to waste on her. She d only cry and it s only natural if she s afraid. Let s leave." She had focused long enough on his mouth to be able to understand what he had said without him having to repeat it. She couldn t stop her tears when they rushed and the sound of her cries that he was forced to turn to look at her direction when he heard that. She took a step back at the cold look he had flashed her, remembering how he had forbade her from crying but it was something she couldn't control, right? The matron walked towards them when she saw the way she was crying as she fixed her eyes on him, unmoving. She tried to touch her as she said, "Come here, Maryam. Your friends are all here, you won t be..." She jolted away from the woman as fast as she could and she broke into tears. Na im turned to the side and hissed before he walked towards them, "I forgot to tell you, please make sure no one touches her, she hates being touched." He knew he had to believe what she had told him about her being touched, because not once since they met, he had seen her nearly loosing her breath upon being touched. "I'll speak to her for a minute." He had said and stared at her, she still had her eyes on him that he wondered if she wasn t going to kill him with her stare. He moved to a place none of them would hear what he said to her, because he wanted to warn her hard enough for her to stay silently in this camp without having to make his life harder than it was. "Come here!" He called out and she took tentative steps towards him, afraid of what was going to be of her life if she went to him, but she did anyways. He was the one Baaba trusted enough to make her husband, and he had asked her to trust him too. He stared at her face, at how she was fumbling with her fingers while she fixed her eyes on her bare feet that were stained with blood and it was only then that it occurred to him she might be wounded too. But she would speak if she was in pain, and there were enough doctors to tend to everyone. "Look here," he called out, and how cold his voice sounded made her take a step back as she slightly shivered. But she did look at him, even though terrified, but she did. And he got to the point without waiting for her to adjust, "This is the place you re going to live now, okay? The government provided these camps for your likes, those that had lost everything and their villages raided by the insurgents. You can't be taken anywhere." He took a breath, because it seemed to him that she was too slow in understanding things as fast as he would have appreciated her to. But nevertheless, he had to make things clear to her so she wouldn't think that that so called marriage was something to him. "You ll stay here. Do whatever they ask you to do, be obedient and you ll be fine. You re absolutely safe here as well." She nodded her head, but tears pooled the brink of her eyes and before she stopped them, they rolled down to her cheeks. He wanted to snap at her for crying too much, but then it occurred to him that she was just a little girl, and it was only natural to act this way in the situation she was. He didn't want to, but he had to say the words, "It depends on how obedient you are to them and if you haven t cried too much, I'll come and take you to an orphanage, you ll live more comfortable there than here." She only nodded her head, and the pace at which she nodded was enough to show him that she didn t understand what he had said, she just did that to get away from his wrath. "It s getting late, you have to go inside and get a bed to sleep on." He turned to leave when he heard her trembling voice asking him. "Will you really come?" So, she really listened. Or maybe, when she listened, she didn t understand the words until now. He turned, and her innocence filled eyes stared at him with tears rolling down on her cheeks. He only nodded, wanting to get away from this girl before he felt himself swarmed with sympathy for her and have a change of mind. "What s your name, so I can ask them about you?" She spoke between breaths, as though speaking these longer words was a punishment to her system and she wasn t used to it. "My name is Na im Abubakar Bolori." He was out of her sight in a flash that she wondered if he was the one that had just answered her questioned. With a weak heart and knees that wanted nothing but to collapse on the floor and cried until she passed out from how much her lungs would be out of air, Maryam watched his men got into the car and they drove fast out of the camp. She turned to the matron that walked towards her with a hardened expression. It seemed that she was only being nice in his presence and Maryam felt her heart shook with fear. "Look here young girl, you re not the only one that has suffered this destiny. Get yourself straight and follow me right away to your hostel." The look on her face told Maryam that even though she didn t have enough time to understand what the woman had said, she had to just follow her and she did, her tears silently rolling down her cheeks.