The Diamond Fist: Chapter 7

Hi all! Chapter 7 is here.

I don't really like this chapter, to be honest, and I would've rewritten it before posting, if I knew what was wrong with it. I'd appreciate any comments and suggestions!

And as a recap of what happened, we last left Liam with him making a deal with Omar to work together and finding about about Lauren disappearing.

Chapter 7

Liam

I began to sprint home, away from where she disappeared, away from it all, away from the confusion. I could feel my thoughts running with me, faster. Did she drown? Did she disappear? Did she come back to shore?

I ran through the souq; the smell of shisha filled my nostrils. I felt light-headed, not really aware of much. Everything around me seemed like blotches of colour: purple, yellow, green...

Lauren and me had walked down this souq before she disappeared. The same place. Before... we’d been messing around with a fez–a red small hat like a cup upside-down with black strings from the top of it. We’d taken photos of ourselves looking ridiculous.

I sighed. I decided when I got home, I’d call her. With luck, she’d just returned to the shore without us knowing, hopefully...

I reached the end of the souq, nearly at school, nearly at home. I sprinted to the compound, finding my building and running up the stairs. Slipping into the house and into the bedroom without Andrew’s knowing–he was busy watching the Formula one at a low sound level while reading a story to Beth.

I slinked into my bedroom as Andrew murmured something about the ‘igh’ sound. I pounced onto my desk, shoving things onto the floor like cascading waves of debris like a tsunami. Sheets, books, extra pairs of goggles, bottles of sun cream fell to the floor.

Sifting through the mess that made littered my desk, I found my phone. I jumped onto my bed, and called Lauren. I didn’t think I’d need to bring it with me, but I thought wrong. I dialled Lauren’s number.

The phone began to ring. Answer... Answer... come on Lauren, answer your phone... I hoped this was just a false alarm. I prayed that it was. She’d probably just come to shore or something, and went home suddenly. Just as Omar was going to help me–bam. Fate said no. Fate wanted to punish me for trying to do something. Trying to try.

 I was redirected to voicemail. I sighed, and threw my phone onto the bed. It bounced and landed near the pillow. What the hell was I supposed to do now? I sighed and fell back onto the bed. I was tired of all this crap.

I called again.  Ring, ring. Ring, ring. Ring, Ring.  Would I have to try the police, again? I didn’t get it. They hadn’t called back, or anything. It was as if they completely ignored my call. I was completely sure that my teammates’ parents would’ve called the police, and then they’d have probably ignored them too.

What was going on? What the–

“Hello?”

“Lauren! Lauren, Lauren, you’re there, you–”

“What the–Liam, what–“

“–you didn’t go or anything,” I shouted. “We all thought you disappeared–”

“I’m not Lauren!”

I stopped. I could’ve sworn Lauren had answered the phone. I took the phone off my ear and looked at who I’d call. Lauren.

So, who the hell was this? Was this some sort of pathetic joke? “Who is it, then?” I said slowly, hesitant. “And why do you have her phone?”

“It’s James, you douche. Can’t you tell the difference?”

“Sorry,” I replied. “I was expecting Lauren.” My guts twisted. If Lauren was alive–No, Liam. Don’t think that way. If Lauren hadn’t disappeared, if she hadn’t vaporised or something, then I wouldn’t know until Sunday, when school began for the final few days till half term.

“I thought my voice was completely different to Lauren’s, broken or not,” said James, quietly. I could tell he was choosing every word carefully. It wasn’t natural–deeper, if anything. James felt embarrassed about the way he spoke and had already been compared to Justin Bieber a couple of times, with the hairstyle and crap.

“It... is.” I sighed. “James. Have you found her? Please, man, tell me yes. Tell me she’s all right. Tell me she’s not dead. Tell me she hasn’t drowned, and that she’s not dead on the seabed. She’s all right. Is she?”

“I’d hate to lie, Liam. I’d hate to lie.”

“God-dammit!” I aimed for the corner, and threw the phone into the corner; its battery cover bounced off and rattled on the floor. I lurched for the glass of water on my bedside table and threw it at the floor; it smashed into smithereens.

Why was it always me? Why me? What bad had I done? If I had shut my bloody mouth up the week before, would this have all happened? Was this my reward for winning a diving competition?

Andrew came hurrying in with his dark hair wet from sweat, plastered onto his forehead. “Will, what–”

I turned around, hiding my face. I had expected him to leave, but he didn’t. A minute later, he repeated what he had said.

“I’d rather not talk about it,” I growled. “Personal stuff.”

He left the room, slowly, pulling the door shut. I stood up, and walked to the window, looking at the occasional car pulling up outside and parking. What the hell was going on? Was there a black hole in the middle of the sea? Had they drowned? There had to be some sort of correlation. They both disappeared in the sea, but that was about it.

As a wisp of cloud rolled past the sun, shielding me from its glares, I drew my face in the mirror, along the reflection. I pulled away as the cloud rolled away. The sunlight streamed through the window which scorched in the sun. I turned and lay back on the bed.

It seemed like no time at all, but dusk had already arrived. What was it, five o’clock? I guessed I had slept, for I found myself with the duvet over my chest, facing the door. I watched it through my eyelashes. Then, the door creaked open, revealing a shadowy figure standing in the doorway.

I couldn’t tell who it was, but it was definitely one that wasn’t familiar. It wore a hood–brown–with some white text on it and some jeans. I couldn’t tell whose face it was either; they had their hood up.

“I’m awake,” I murmured.

It was James. He stepped forward, pulling his hood down before brushing his hair out of his eyes with the back of his hand. “Yo, Liam.”

I opened my eyes wider. “How’d you know where I live?”

“Omar. You been okay?” he added. “You looked pissed off at the beach, and what the flip happened when I was calling you?”

“’S a long story. Did he say anything?” I rolled off the bed and stood up.

“No. No, not much. He’s been hiding something. And so have you. What is it? Tell me.”

“Look, I just wanna rest right now, okay?” I stood right in front of him, nearly towering over him.

“All right. I’ll see you at school. We can talk about it then if we don’t find her.” He paused for a moment, before continuing. “I’m going to check if Lauren is at home. Shall I text you if she’s there?”

“Fine.” Although, I knew that she wouldn’t be there. Something at the back of my mind told me that last week’s disappearances and then this were related. They had to be.

But what if she was there...

“I’ll see you th–er, can I use your computer?” he said.

I fell back onto the bed. “What for?” I eyed him suspiciously as he advanced to the laptop on my desk. I was sure his phone must have had mobile internet.

“Something. My mobile’s internet is rubbish,” he added. I watched over his shoulder as he checked something on Google Maps. At first, I thought he was checking how to get to Lauren’s house. The cursor hovered over my street, but then it moved south towards the sea.  

What on Earth was he doing? I reminded myself that it wasn’t good to snoop into other people’s business, so I sat down on the bed and held my chin up with my hands. My elbows rested on my knees.

Ten minutes later, after watching James doing something (I assumed he was on Facebook), he left. We exchanged words, and as soon as he left, I leapt onto my change to find out what James’d been up to.

History:

-   Facebook – News Feed

-    

-Facebook – Inbox

-Facebook – Message Subject: News?

I clicked on the message. He’d forgotten to log out.

It was James messaging Omar asking for any news. Omar hadn’t replied yet. As I was about to close it down, feeling almost ashamed of myself, but then Omar sent a reply.

no news but a couple of articles on the topic. theres not much about it Xcept for a small mention or 2.

Omar linked a few articles, before carrying on:

look what i found: http://www.saveegypt.eg its a website that talks about trying 2 campaign 4 ehab 2 return. i didnt hav time 2 c it all but i thought i should show u even though it has nothing 2 do with this.

Hesitantly, I clicked the link. What possibly could go wrong? I realised, moments after clicked it that the link would turn purple. But it was too late now.

The page loaded up, and asked me which language did I prefer to read the page in, with options of Arabic, English, French and German. I pressed English, and the page refreshed. I quickly began to skim through it. “Welcome to SaveEgypt.eg. We are a group that aim to reinstate stability in Egypt through the return of our glorified former president. We plan to use every resource in our hands to ensure a better Egypt for all...”

It then said other things claiming America and other enemy nations were behind it all. I did remember that on the first day of the protests, Omar had mentioned something about America seeming to be apprehensive or something. It was his duty. I’d overheard his conversation in English, that day.

And then I found a link in the corner that caught my eye.

Videos

If I could live my life again, I’d have turned and ran.