Page 30 of The Circle of Exile
Iram glanced up just in time to be led into an empty side alley where a car screeched to a halt. The door was thrown open and Atharva shoved her in, sliding in beside her with Gul in his arms. It was then that she noticed it — he hadn’t run with her alone. A whole entourage had run with him — his security, and Altaf. He shoved inside the passenger seat and their car sped away. She glanced out of the window and it was a whole convoy. His convoy.
She glanced ahead and the black of the seat in front of her blurred. Blast, smoke, Atharva, beam of fire, her babies… bad thoughts. Breaths didn’t come. They were stuck. Her eyes began to roll back. Black spots became blackness.
“Down,” strong fingers gripped the back of her neck and pushed her head down. Her first instinct was to fight. “Breathe.”
His voice. Atharva.Her mouth opened wide and she gasped, the breath stuck inside her finally bursting free.He had come. He had come for her?
“Phew…” she breathed through her mouth. Sweat trickled down the back of her neck and into his fingers. Her chest felt like hers again. Iram finally felt the heat inside her begin to cool. The world felt like the world again. She popped her eyes open and stared at the mat between her feet. Then turned her head to look into blank grey eyes trained on her.
Their gazes held.
Her breathing slowed.
The space behind her eyes burned.
“Khala!” Gul’s mouth burst open in a wail. “Aaaah! I can’t hear anything… aaaaa… Khalaaa…”
Atharva’s eyes zapped from her to Gul in his arms.
“Ok,” his eyes gentled. Smiled. “Ok,” his mouth opening wide on that word. His head bent to look into her eyes. “You are fine,” he mouthed, pushing her hair behind her ear. He pulled his phone out, swiped the torch and checked her ear. She cried more, trying to jump to her.
Iram sat up and held her steady.
“Gul,” Iram came to her senses. She tried to smile, wiping her tears with her thumbs. “You are fine. Fine, Gul, fine… Atha…”
“It must be the shock and the loud noises, it will come back,” he nodded, massaging the back of her ear, caressing her cheek. “Water?” He reached down and showed her a bottle. She shook her head.
“Come here,” Iram opened her arms and Gul instantly crawled to her. She gathered her in her lap and took the bottle from him, tipping it to her mouth. The car was speeding, bumping on rough roads. The water splashed from her mouth. Gul cried more.
“Here,” Atharva’s hand came to her nape. He held it steady and Iram poured the water. She drank thirstily, whimpering.
“Khala?”
“Yes?”
“I can hear something…” she cried between sips. “Whistle.”
Iram grinned for her sake and patted her cheek — “That’s good.”
“Good?” She confirmed.
“Yes, very good.” She kissed her head, her eyes clashing with blank grey ones again. As if a scab had been torn again, all the bad came rushing back. This time she steeled herself and held steady, kept breathing, kept looking at him.
It was time. She had begun to trace her steps back to him and already he was here. She hadn’t prepared yet but she would. She would.
He was here. He was here. Here for her.Her.Iram. Myani zuv. Iram Kaul. He was here for her. She was Iram. She had been Iram for far longer than she had been Noorie. She had been this girl, this woman, this human — and whatever she had been at whatever stage of life, he had a hand in painting a stroke of that picture.
She had taken it all away from him. All the colours, all the hopes, all the future and those two children. And yet here he was. Across a barbed wire that was never without fresh blood. She kept staring into his eyes, not caring where they were going or what the repercussions were until the car trailed to a stop. She glanced up, and a winding road led up to some monstrosity of a hotel.
“We need to take Gul to my…”
“Later,” he cut her off, his eyes widening but only marginally. She knew that look.Don’t talk here.
Iram glanced at the two people ahead — Altaf and a driver. She had never seen this driver. Iram nodded, eyeing Gul. Her eyes were closed, her head lolling on her chest. Iram’s chest constricted; that warm weight feeling likeeverything. A child, trusting you enough to fall asleep in a world like this. She cupped her head and patted slowly. Gul whimpered but cuddled closer, scrunching her pheran tight.
“Bubble formation,” Atharva barked, bringing her eyes back to his face. He was still staring at her.
His side of the door was thrown open and it was a flood of his security. Iram frowned, eyeing him as he got down and reached inside to take her bicep.
