Page 17 of Love and War

Aziza - 7

Killian - 11

“Hasanyoneevertoldyou you're annoying?” I hissed. Aziza and Z were on the swings trying to see who could go the fastest and who could get the highest. Aziza was winning, but I could tell Z was letting her. Which was not like him at all. Z loved competition.

“I’m definitely winning!” she cheered. Her tiny legs kicked out, pumping harder. I could hear her heavy breathing from here.

“You’re losing,” I deadpanned.

Aziza glared over at me, as she once again pumped her legs even harder, trying to win, even though Z was barely moving. Just laughing like the goofball he was.

For the past two months, every Saturday Z and I began coming to the park to meet Aziza instead of playing video games with Zander. Neither of us even talked about it, it was more of us both knowing we’d rather hang out with the sassy blonde. At first, I wanted to fight against it. I didn’t want to hang out with a girl. I stayed at Z’s and went to Zanders to escape my father. I didn’t care about her. Yet here I was.

“Alright alright, you win!” Z laughed. Lunging himself from the swing he landed in the sand.

Aziza began laughing as she slowed herself down before following suit and landing behind Z. Both of them fell into a fit of laughter while I just sat there. I didn’t understand how they got along so well. They acted like brother and sister. It shouldn’t have made me jealous, but… I was. I wasn’t jealous of her. No, I wanted to be him. I wanted it to be me she was laughing with, playing on the swings with. But Z was more easy going. Girls always liked him.

Finally once they stopped, I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was so short compared to Z, who once he turned thirteen a few months ago, grew just about a foot. Maybe even more.

“You could’ve joined, Popsicle.” Aziza crossed her arms. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was mad that I wasn’t swinging with them. But she wasn’t. She liked playing and hanging out with Z more than me.

Ignoring her, I turned on my heel. I didn’t know where I was going. I was just the one who ignored her.

“Hey, you okay?” Z asked behind me. I didn’t bother looking. Instead I continued on walking. “Aziza…” The pure fear in his voice stopped me in my tracks. Swinging around I locked eyes with her. But hers were glossy, almost like she couldn’t fully see through them.

“Hey,” my voice shook. Stepping towards her, I said, “Aziza, you okay?” Everything happened fast after that. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head before her body fell hard onto the ground. I tried rushing before her head could smack into the ground, but I was too slow.

Z and I got to her at the same time. My ass hit the ground as I pulled her into my lap. “Come on, wake up!”

“What’s wrong with her?”

I couldn’t answer. My hands shook Aziza's small body in my lap, trying to wake her up. Her chest moved up and down. She was alive, but she wouldn’t wake up. Why wouldn’t she wake up?

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!” a woman's voice hissed out. Looking up, the same woman that always picks her up stalked towards us. The one that I hate because of how she treated Aziza. Not caring that her daughter was lying on me passed out. She was more upset about us being here than her daughter.

“She passed out,” Z answered angrily. He knew how I felt about this woman. We both hated her. Not understanding why she would just let Aziza come to the park by herself.

“Get your filthy hands off her!”

“She passed out!” Z growled out. Hands on hips, I was torn between protecting Aziza and holding Z off from attacking her mother.

“Ugh, just like her fucking mother. Always needing the whole world's attention on her,” the women spat out. “Get her into the back seat.” Turning around she headed back to her car. Leaving us behind.

“Not until you tell us where you’re taking her.” Z held a hand on my shoulder.

“The hospital, where else?” she called out. “Can’t have her dying.Yet.” Yet? I could’ve sworn I heard her wrong.

Standing with her in my arms, Z helped me to the car. Aziza weighed almost nothing. Placing her into the backseat, the woman started the car, rolling her eyes in the mirror.

“You hurt her, I’ll kill you,” I blurted out. It almost scared me how calm I was saying those words to her. She looked at me, almost like she thought I was joking. “I’ll find you and kill you.” The words fell from my lips. Shutting the door I watched as she drove off with Aziza in the backseat, with the gut feeling something else was going on. Something I couldn’t explain. Or understand.

6

Aziza

Today 2:04 AM

You can’t ignore me forever.

---