FINAL CHAPTER

First I would like to thank my friend Layal for editing this chapter for me and for supporting me through writing the whole story. I want to also thank my friend Noor for inspiring me to write this chapter.
Please tell me what you guys think; especially what you think of the ending!

    I’m in the living room, sitting at our small dinning table, and looking through the list I got yesterday from Salman. I searched every name on that list, and what I learned is that half of the people listed no longer live here, which reminds me, why is Faris still living here? He’s a smart guy, he could find a job anywhere in the world, I don’t think everyone will care about him being sent to jail, right? What does he really want from me? Revenge? But then what?

    After I finished looking through the list, four names seemed more likely to be interested in helping Faris, because one of them seemed to always be hungry for money, and a couple don’t care what happens to them if they get caught; they never lasted a long time in jail for some reason. They all look different, and looked like foreigners, a special face strikes me because of his creepy features, he is a tall, thin man. His right cheek is burned, and he has a three-centimeter long scar right above his right eye. The remainder of his hair is brown, his eyes are dark black, and his skin is pale white.

    “How’s the research going?” Dalia asks as she cuts some fruits.

    “I’m almost done!” I reply; my eyes attached to the screen.

    “You should finish quickly and go wash up, because my parents should be here in less than an hour.”

    I looked through for a few more minutes, put the list on the laptop, and then rushed upstairs to get ready.

    As I’m putting my shirt on, I hear the doorbell ring. I quickly slip the shirt on, spray a little perfume, and race downstairs to welcome my Love’s parents.

    I am downstairs, with Dalia, I stop her right before she goes out in the garden to open the door, and go open it myself. I put on my brown slippers, and head to the entrance under the bright sun. I greet Dalia’s parents and walk them inside the house.

    “Is there a laptop I could use, I forgot to send an important email?” Dalia’s father says right before he sits for lunch. I walk towards the laptop, and he follows me. I lift the laptop for him, and the paper that has the list falls on the ground. Dalia’s dad stretches down for the paper, and when he is up facing me, I find him staring at the paper as if he is remembering something, “I know this name.” He whispers, mostly to himself than to me.

    I look at him in disbelief, how could he know any of them? But I can’t hold the excitement inside of me, because if he actually did know any of them, it could help us a lot, “Who and how?”

    Dalia's father pauses, his mind goes far back, reminiscing the days with his son, but then his eye lids close a little and his pupils darken. He then looks back at me, and shakes his head, “I don't know what happened between them. But Ali was a very good friend of Abdullah.” He focuses his eyes back on the name on the list. “I used to see him every week with my son, then they grew up I guess and went their separate ways. After I stopped seeing them together, Abdullah seemed to be lost, like he had no goal, and then he just learned to adjust without his friend I guess. It's a sad thing to see really good friends to just leave one another for no particular reason.”

    If only my father-in-law knew that when his son stopped going out with the likes of Ali, it was something good for him, but I wonder, if Abdullah never changed his path in life and his friends, would he still be alive?

    “Do you know where we could find him?” Dalia asks interrupting my thoughts, reminding me of the necklace I found by the entrance of our house, which sets my mind back to where it should be focused on; her safety.

    “Why, what do you need him for?” He asks.

    “Umm-” My mind freezes, I can't think of any relevant excuse.

    “Ali won a competition that earned him a visit from one of his favorite writers.” Dalia says pointing at me. Even I believed what she said, but it wasn't enough to trick her father.

    “Then how do you not have his address, shouldn't he have sent it to you when he entered the competition? How is he expecting you to visit him if you have no idea where he lives!” Dalia's dad laughs.

    “I guess he forgot.” I play along. “Now,” I say more seriously, “Do you know where we could find him?”

    “I know where he used to live when he was younger, but I don't think he'd still be living there.” Dalai's father says, but he gives me the address and details anyway.

    Later on when our guests left after sunset, I decide to go to Ali's house. I take the paper that contained the address out of my pocket, grab my keys from the table and drag my shaky feet to the door.

    “Aren't you forgetting something?” Dalia asks.

    “What?”

    She walks towards me, gives me a gentle kiss, and whispers, “Good luck.” our eyes lock for a minute, reminding me of the first time we saw each other. I look into the most beautiful eyes I've seen, and know that I should go find answers for all what's going on if I want these same eyes to be the last thing my own eyes catch sight of, “I love you for making my life heavenly.” I murmur.

    I walk towards the door, look at Abdullah's picture, and ask Allah to keep my favorite girl safe in my absence.

    I drive my car slowly in the quite, and dark neighborhood. The sun has set an hour ago, but the moon isn't doing a horrible work at taking over the sun's job. When I reach the given house number, I walk out of the car, and nervously ring the doorbell, once, twice, thrice - no answer. I really thought that this was the right house! I start marching towards the door, frustrated, when the door behind me opens.

    “Yes?” An angry voice shouts behind me.

    “Are you Ali Al-X?”

    “What do you want from me?”

    “You know that Abdulrahman has been murdered?” I don't have time to waste, and not in the mood to really care about others' feelings.

     His eyes widen, not only from shock, but I see fury in them as well. His arms spring towards my chest, and he clutches my shirt with his hands, “Who told you he got murdered? He just died, okay?” Ali says between his teeth. He then pushes me back, and walks back into the house.

    Right when he is about to shut the door, I put a hand to stop him, “Look, I don't know why you're angry and I don't know what secrets you're keeping, but tell me this, do you know Faris Al-X?”

    “Abdulrahman,” I never mentioned my name to him. “You're at the wrong place. Now leave.”

    “You know something - you probably know what Faris is planning, just tell me what I need to look out for? Why is he doing all of this to me! Just tell me!” I pleaded my eyes almost tearing up.

    I saw a bit of sympathy in his eyes, “How do you know Abdullah?” He whispers.

    “I'm married to his sister.” I answer.

    His eyes grow in disbelief, and I could feel his temperature rising, “Go home now, call the police, and lock up every available entrance in your house. All I can tell you is that Faris is not a good Muslim.” He doesn't wait for a reaction from me, but instead he pushes me towards my car.

    I race to the house, with thoughts juggling in my head. What was he talking about? Why has his expression changed once he knew about Dalia being my wife? What's the need for all of this security? The police? What is Faris planning to do? How is he going to even enter the house? All the doors are locked! He’s not a good Muslim? What did he exactly mean by that? All of what he said made my heart beat faster and my brain press harder against my skull. I did the best I can to ignore all these thoughts, call the police, Malak, and her now husband, Talal and tell them all to go to my house. Then I dial Dalia's number - no answer. I dial our house number, and I hear from the other end that the number cannot be accessed. “Faris, you are NOT taking her away from me!” I shout in the car.

    After less than four minutes, I'm right next to our house. I click the button to open the garage door, but end up smashing into it because it's too slow to open. I slam the driving door open and accelerate into the house. When I am in I notice that the plastic window facing the kitchen is now into pieces. Dalia. I look up front and I see broken furniture. Dalia. I run forward, and see blood on the ground. Dalia. The next view I see kills me. Saying that I felt someone dig a knife into my chest would underrate the pain I felt I'm going through. Fore I saw the most beautiful girl, lying on shattered glass, her weak maple-green eyes crying for me. Then I look up, and find the ugliest creature I have ever seen, followed by a tall skinny man. His right cheek is burned, and he has a three-centimeter long scar right above his right eye- same man I have seen earlier on the Internet.

    “Did you find that necklace I left by the door? It belonged to a girl I loved and just like how you took her away from me by sending me to jail; I will take your wife away from you!”

    I look back into Dalia’s diamond like eyes, which fuel me with more anger. I don't say a thing, but dive forward, and tackle Faris smashing his head onto the ground. Then the other man lifts me up, and throws a punch into my stomach. I take it like nothing has happened, but the pain in my gut says different. I move quickly, when I see the man glance at Dalia, positioning my body to shield her.

    I then wrestle the man onto the ground, and start throwing punches to his face. He grabs my right fist, and pulls it down, causing me to fall to the side. Next he pulls me up again, and throws me right in front of Dalia. He walks up to me, with a knife in his hand, and strikes, but I roll quickly, and dodge the fatal knife. I kick-up off the ground, and kick him with a sidekick into the gut, forcing him to drop the knife. Without thinking, I tackle him into a hard wooden table, which make him drop in his place.

    I rush back to Dalia, shake her, and she opens her eyes, “You're not going to die, I can't live without you!” I shout.

    I hear a gun reload and BANG!

    Then I hear the gun drop onto the ground. My whole body freezes and my eyes lock with Dalia's wet eyes, both of us shocked, and none of us is able to make a sound.

                                                 ***

   

    In that deadly night I lost the one who never left my heart and soul, but left me to struggle in this world alone. Fore I was like a crying bird in deep sorrow, weeping blood, on the one who was everything to me. His final words “I can't live without you.” Ring in my ears like an echo that will never leave me for the rest of my life. And still every corner of this house holds a beautiful memory of him, I will never forget. I close my eyes, and my thoughts take my back to first time ours eyes locked, and our souls merged, under the hot sun, when we traded looks of admiration, which then turned into eternal love. I crack a smile because I know that Allah sent him to a better place. Then I smile once more for the miracle that is now living inside of me.

Noor originally wrote the last paragraph, and I just translated it from Arabic to English. I have also made a few adjustments so it would go with the story, (which made it worse than what she originally wrote) so a big thank you to her!!