Please Rescue Me

Prologue

Prologue

Synthia

Location: Nowhere

Time is relative. And the way I perceive time is by the sun that is perched high up in the sky and the shift of the sand by the wind. It is in Eve’s eyes; in the way she told me stories of her long long life with Ahmed. Her stories often came with staring into her eyes, and I would be transported to that time and place. Feel what she felt. Be where she was. Her world was small since the time she came to be along with her brother, but the way she looked at the world was both raw and filled with wonder.

Everything was new and exciting. Her long life, though marred by so many horrible things, is still filled with so much hope. So much wonder. I don’t know how long I have stayed here, but I’m here, with the twins.

“You lost more weight” Ahmed sighs. A tape measure was already in his hands then he placed his hands on his waist. “We can’t keep this up”

Eve wraps her arms around my waist and easily carries me to the bed, without a single indication of any exertion from carrying me. “You have been eating, but nothing seems to stick” She clicks her tongue, her brows drawn together in concern. “You need to rest that thing in your vein isn’t going to cut it out anymore.”

She motions to the IV line on my left arm. It’s hanging on a stand that had rusted and is the loudest thing in our small room. The twins don’t let me touch it for fear of some disease that could go through the skin apparently.

I smile. “I’m fine.”

“Define having lost a kilo and a half in three days fine.” Eve roughly sighs. Pinching the bridge of her nose as if all the accumulating stress could be pulled from there.

“Come on, let's measure you.” Ahmed is already in front of me, wrapping the tape measure around me as he begins to measure every limb and inch of me. I let him fuss the same way I let Eve fuss over me.

I’m too tired to argue anyway.

The IV drip filled with vitamins and hydration isn’t cutting out anymore. The mountains of food or the medications injected in my veins aren’t helping. One could only think what would happen in the future.

I already do know.

In the next hour, Mr. Akeresh enters our small room with a number of men around him, not only there to protect him, but I spot his secretary, a few doctors, and another servant holding a tray of food beside him.

The small room became even smaller. His cold eyes looked down on me with the usual air of authority and cruelty. He merely flicked his fingers and the doctors in their smart polos and the servant with the food were in front of me.

Eve took a step back reluctantly as if the floor was pinning her feet down before she wrangled it off the floor. Ahmed was smoother, but his frown was deeper. I let them do what they needed as they spoke in a language that I had no energy to learn. I could barely keep myself conscious, but I managed to sit straight enough that they were able to easily do what they wanted with me.

The doctor and his male nurse stood around me and assessed my body as Ahmed did. Ahmed doesn’t give them his own writing; he has no energy to interject. We learned the hard way that they want to do things on their own. They don’t need help from the other slaves to do their job.

They took a step further and drew some blood and pried open my mouth to check my teeth. The taste of sterile gloves and cold medical instruments didn’t leave my mouth, even after they stepped back. It was the servant’s turn now. She placed the mountain of food beside me on the bed and took the empty tray from the foot of the bed.

“You’re wasting away.” Akeresh’s voice cut through the tension, but instead of relieving it, he made it overwhelmingly suffocating. “You’re the all-seeing Visioner, you should tell me how long you’ll still be of use to me.”

I lick my dry lips. “Long enough”

“Hmm,” He stares at me with open disregard. “I have a friend. In North America, he has a similar business to mine, but mine is kinder. Seeing as I haven’t forced you to couple up and make more of you to replace you.”

Incredibly kind, I thought wryly.

“So, out of my gratefulness for what you’ve done for me. I would let you waste away with no replacements. The twins would be free as agreed after your death, and you… you have made me successful enough to last my wealth for generations.”

“As promised” I added. “You and your line would last millennia.”

“Rakor is delighted by that” He smiles slightly but only for a second. The only weakness he ever had was his son, but I don’t mention the fact that he would die a gruesome death, while he watched his son tortured and killed in front of him. “It is also time for Amenia to marry. Tell me where I should sell that daughter of mine to?”

You mean the daughter who’ll topple your whole clan over. “I have heard the answers from the spirits. You should arrange her safe passage to Europe, and she would meet someone of great importance. She won’t be any hindrance to you then.”

He frowns. An overwhelming but silent rage seethed in his eyes. “You’re suggesting I let my daughter go? What profit would that yield to me.”

Then I decided to let him in on the truth. Not all of it, but enough of it. “If she continues to stay with you, there are unforeseeable changes that would lead to your death. She will indirectly cause it if you continue to let her stay in this country. You would die Akeresh”

He grimaces. “You better not be plotting anything.”

“We have been friends for the longest time” The sardonic smirk stretched wryly on my face. My breath felt heavy in my own lungs as if oxygen wanted to escape through my ribcage rather than be absorbed by it. “Why would I start lying now?”

He stares at me for the longest time before finally turning away. I know he would have to mull over the decision, but he would listen and would make the decision all the same. It was silly that he had to keel himself over with these thoughts when he had me. I already know what he’s going to do, he would have saved time if he listened.

When they’re gone, Ahmed moves the tray of food to the only other chair in the room as Eve takes my feet and helps me lay down on the bed.

“Sleep” Eve bossily says while tucking me in bed, the warmth of the quilt seemed to reach deep into my cold soul. “Rest and wake tomorrow for us.”

I smile. “You should wish for the opposite.”

She stares as if that’s an answer.

The prickly half djinn. I can’t help but chuckle at how cute she is.

The sweet and gentle Ahmed puts the hot compress in the middle of my body on top of the quilt. He took my hand and gently held it in his palm. “Sleep, and we’ll talk more once you’re strong enough.”

The warmth almost made me cry, but I held myself long enough to just surrender to sleep. I don’t want to upset the twins any more than I already have by being stubborn. But I couldn’t let Akeresh see how weak I really am now. I can’t let him win. Not yet.

So, I sleep.

I often dream of a lot of things, but often it’s the spirits that visit me in my dreams. Eve had taken off my hearing aids, which I still felt even in the deepest parts of my sleep. The sensation had become so familiar that I could see it in my dreams.

Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.

Take me away