Intervention at it's vaguest.

It was raining heavily in the middle of October when a lone car was passing the empty highway. The driver of the car kept looking at his sister from the corners of his eyes, thinking that she was not paying attention as she gazed outside the window. They had no idea how to explain this to their parents, the fight just broke out, and he was the one who was supposed to look over his sister while both of them studied in the same university. Getting into university was a dream come true for their parents, with jobs having average jobs with average income, they have worked day and night to come up with a sum of money that would allow them to get in. He tries his best to check on her as much as he can but had his own life to attend to as well. He knew she was being picked on, even though this is university and they have to be all grown up, however, the impact of words is destructive and will leave scars that will never disappear. It was like high school all over again, different environment, different people but the same harsh words are used. And now with both of them suspended until the university investigates the situation and comes out with a verdict about who is the offender and who is the victim, they will have to go back home to face their parents’ disappointment and sorrow at their “rash” actions.

She could not control herself. She is known to have a bad temper and her friends and family got used to her hot temper and explosiveness but when that wench starting being racist and starting calling her out, that was it. She wasn’t going to stand down and let this go, she was tired of words lashing at her from corner she walked to, she was tired of being quite about it and having to “let it slide” in each and every situation it happened, so done with the people’s ignorance that had been suffocating her and wanted to fight back. With her fist, it felt really good. For about 20 seconds. Then she remembered where she was living and the sever consequences of what she had done, she could not remember who started first, hair being pulled and veils being ripped. Good thing someone broke them up before it took a horribly ugly turn. Next thing she remembered is being sat at the dean’s office and being told that both of them were suspended until further notice. Her parents were not surprised anymore and tried their best to control her temper but with no avail, however, it was a shock to them when they knew that her brother, the two goody shoes got suspended as well for throwing at the dean several colorful words for his decision.

Usually, her parents would give her a speech about how she is supposed to be the better person and step down because she was better than this, but this time, they simply told them to come home. She normally would not feel guilty, but the lack of the angry and accusatory tone in their voices filled her with horrendous sense of shame for letting her parents down. Their dream was for them to be accepted to university because their income just was not enough to let both of them in. In addition, their parents being immigrants, they tried their best to show that they do not fall into the stereotype that is being imprinted on everyone’s minds by the media.

She wanted to fall asleep. She wanted to forget about this for the time being, the only thing was on her mind now was the image of her parent’s tired and stressed faces full of grief and agony for this news. The time they had spent on double shifts and extra work to gather the money they need for their tuition is gone down the drain. As she leaned her head on the window watching countless droplets of rain slide down her window, wishing they would wash her remorse away, she closed her eyes, falling into fitful sleep.

“You know we are screwed right?” he said, couldn’t bare the tense atmosphere.

“Look at you. The goody-two shoes is in trouble, you don’t see that happening every day.” She replied, as she gazed out the window.

“I’m serious, I don’t know how are we going to deal with this, we basically just crushed our parents’ dreams. I…I can’t bare looking at their faces. I just can’t.” He tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

“What other option did we have huh? Let them ridicule us like every single time we let it slide, humiliate us in front of everyone? Would that have been better?” she spat, anger filling her again as she let her gaze from the window to her brother.

“

We could have done anything that wouldn’t have gotten us suspended maybe?!”

“WHAT WOULD YOU PROPOSE? A PEACE SUMMIT?? YOU KNOW THOSE PEOPLE! NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU TALK TO THEM NOTHING WILL CHANGE!” her well-known temper making an appearance.

“PUNCHING THEM IN THE FACE ISN'T EXACTLY THE BEST OPTION EITHER!” he took his eyes off the road for a moment to meet his sister’s furious glare.

A moment.

That is all what it took.

A very loud horn honked at them and light emerged from behind her side of the car before the realized what was happening and sudden darkness toke them in and the sounds of screeching tires and metals crushing was the last thing they registered.

What a silly dream she thought, she tried to open her eyes but every single part of her body was screaming with pain. Her sight was blurry and she can hear police sirens from far away. What was happening? She blinked a couple of times to realize that she was hanging upside down, still in her seat and blood was dripping off of her veil, she tried to look around but her neck wasn’t having it. She looked outside her broken window to see a form that was hideously tossed on the ground, coated with blood. An enormous truck resting on the side of the road with a limp figure on the driver’s seat. She screamed for her brother but her voice came out raspy and barely there. She started to panic and tried to wiggle but with no use, she starting screaming as loud as she can possibly get in her current state. Her headache started to grow immensely around her head and her eyes started to droop gradually until they darkness swallowed her whole.


Copyright © 2016 Yasmin Mohamed El Ali. All rights reserved.