New Warriors - Prologue

(Sorry in advance for typos!)

New Warriors

Prologue

Her fingers felt slippery in the hand holding hers, the knuckles rubbing together uncomfortably. She struggled to keep her pace alongside the person who clamped down on her so securely, stumbling along behind them. She tightly gripped the stuffed elephant in her other hand, attempting to save it from being dropped.

“Mama!” She wailed, tugging her hand away from the bigger one. “You’re going too fast.”

“You need to keep up, Delara,” her mother said, reaching down to capture her palm once more.

Delara’s eyes swept the parking lot they were rushing through. She saw another girl seated in a trolley that had a race car attached to the front. She sighed and looked back up at her mother, only to see she was looking frantically around them. Delara attempted to follow her mother’s line of sight, but she was moving too quickly to continue.

“Mama,” she began again, jogging slightly to keep up. “You said I could get ceiling stickers of the stars. Why are we leaving so soon?”

Her mother turned and looked down at her, her brown eyes wide. They flickered up fleetingly behind Delara, her pupils dilating. Delara closely observed her mother’s face as it tensed, the lines on her forehead tightening and the corners of her mouth turning down. But, as soon as she had seen the look on her mother’s face, it was gone. She turned back to tug on Delara's hand once more, leading her away before she could ask what was wrong.

“We’ll go to a different store, lamb. This one doesn’t have ceiling stickers.”

Delara sighed, resigning to be dragged back to the car without her stars. As she held her mother’s hand, she noticed it was unsteady in her own. It trembled slightly, and the feeling made Delara’s tummy bunch up in knots.

“Mama,” she said, placing her elephant tightly into her chest. “Why are you shaking?”

Her mother glanced down at her again, not making eye contact.She scanned behind Delara once more, but her face relaxed as she skimmed the surroundings. When she turned back, she smiled down at Delara, the corners of her mouth lifting up to their normal position.

“I haven’t had much to eat today, lamb,” she readilyreplied. “How would you like to get some lunch?”

The thought made Delara’s stomach grumble. She giggled at the noise and smiled wider when her mother let out a small laugh too.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

They had reached their car and Delara’s mother opened the door to the backseat for her. Delara watched as her mother glanced back again before turning to her. She tried to look away when her mother turned back, but she had noticed she was watching her.

“Come, now,” she said, clearing her throat and giving Delara another soft smile. “Put Ellie on the seat and climb in.”

She gently placed the elephant into the car and climbed in, plopping down on the tattered, old, blue and grey car seat. Her feet dangled over the edge as she settled, her little black flats slightly tapping the back of the driver’s seat. She smoothed the wrinkles that had folded in her shirt and skirt, attempting to eradicate the creases.

Her mother leaned across to strap her in with the seat belt once she was properly seated. The way she was leaning over, their faces were extremely close to one another. So close, in fact, that Delara could see the sweat dripping off of her brow in pellets so big it could have been raining outside. She was still shaking, too. Delara looked down at where her mother’s fingers struggled to buckle her seat belt. She reached over and put her own hand over her mother’s before taking the belt and clipping it in herself. Yet, for some reason, her mother still lingered, leaning over her even after she was strapped in. Delara frowned before she leaned forward and gave her a kiss on the temple.

Delara watched her mother look up and realized small tears had gathered at the corners of her eyes. Delara reached up a hand and put it on her mother’s right check.

She smiled, “It’ll be okay, Mama.”

Her mother smiled, briefly, the corners of her mouth barely lifting again, and returned a kiss to Delara’s forehead. “Inshallah, my lamb.”

Her mother stood up straight then and moved to close the sliding door of the vehicle, making a goofy face as she did so. Delara giggled and watched as her mother pulled it closed, but before the door had sealed she heard someone exclaim, “Hey, bitch!”

She watched as her mother’s face dropped and her mouth opened slightly. Delara twisted in her seat towards the direction she had heard the voice coming from. As she turned to look behind her, she saw three men standing at the back of her car, glaring at her mother. Her heart raced as she looked at them. Their faces looked mean, scary almost, as they glowered at her mother. The man in the front was wearing a ratty, old red and black flannel shirt that hung off him like a blanket. His face was hard and lined and the skin around his mouth was covered in untamed, grizzled, and graying facial hair. His hairline was receding but the hair that was there was white, thin, and wispy. One of the men behind him looked similar with the hair around his mouth, but as Delara looked at his eyes and his face, she came to the conclusion that he looked younger than the first man. His hair was fuller and darker, too, a brown much darkerthan the first. The third man was the most drastically different, Delara saw. His hair was shaved as short as possible; she wouldn’t have seen his hair at all if the little stubble on his head wasn’t so dark. His face was clean shaven but his pores were big. She thought about how that was what her Papa’s face looked like right after he had shaved. Delara looked closer at this man and realized he didn’t look as angry as the other two. She watched as he brought one big, meaty hand to the back of his neck and rubbed it, his eyes moving quickly to the things around them, feigning particular interest in the cart corral they were parked next to.

Delara heard her mother say something to the men, but it was muffled from her place in the car. She swirled around to look at them to see their response to whatever words her mother had spoken. They still looked angry, the first two’s faces were twisted. Their mouths were open in a way that reminded Delara of the Big Bad Wolf from Little Red Riding Hood. The third one had placed a hand on the older man’s shoulder. She watched as he stepped between her mother and the other two men, spreading his arms out. Delara tried to read his lips as they moved but she couldn’t make any of it out. She turned back to look at her mother and realized that there were tears rolling down her cheeks.

She gasped, and her breathing becoming heavy as she watched her tears slide down. She looked again between her mother and the men before deciding that she didn’t like that her mama was crying. She reached over and unbuckled her seat belt, pulling it back to rest behind her. She reached for Ellie the Elephant and grabbed her front right foot, running her fingers across the soft material.

“Bring me luck, Ellie.”

She reached down and pulled the handle on the car door, sliding it open with all her might before jumping down and out of the car.

“Delara!” Her mother said, just as her shoes hit the ground. “Get back in the car!”

Delara spun around and looked at her mother and saw she was still crying. The tears were gathering under her mother’s chin and dripping off. Her mother’s eyes were wide again and she reached out a hand, grabbing Delara’s shoulder, steering her back to the car door as it slide shut by itself. But Delara shrugged her mother’s hand away and turned to the men that stood at the back of her car. They were much closer now that she wasn’t looking at them through a tinted window. They looked even meaner too. The first two men watched her and her heart skipped a beat. The way they were looking down at her made her think they had laser eyes. The third man, who was still standing sideways between them all, had turned to face her too. His eyebrows seemed to be near the stubble he had as a hairline, and his mouth was hanging open slightly.

“Excuse me!” She said, waving Ellie the Elephant at the men. “Why are you being mean to my Mama? You’re making her cry!”

“Get back in the car, you little shit,” the older man said in a gruff and gravelly voice, attempting but unsuccessful to push past the man standing in the middle. “Unless you wanna watch your Ma get her ass beat.”

Delara felt anger flare up in her belly and her cheeks were suddenly hot. “You can’t touch my Mama! We’ll get the police if you do!”

The two mean men who looked alike laughed at her. They threw their heads back and laughed so hard they doubled over and put their hands on their fat bellies.

Just as Delara opened her mouth to retort, her mother swiftly grabbed her again and pulled her behind her legs.

“Don’t move, lamb,” her mother whispered, still facing the men as they laughed. “And don’t speak, do you understand?”

She placed her head against her mother’s back and nodded silently.

As the two men continued their chuckling, her mother said, raising an open palm to them in surrender, “We’re going now. We don’t want any trouble.”

The laughter died completely after those words came out of her mouth. From behind her mother’s legs, Delara watched the anger of the first two men grow once more. The oldest man had finally pushed completely past the man in the middle and stood about three feet away from of Delara’s mother. The old man was much shorter than her mother but Delara knew by the trembling of her mama’s knees it didn’t matter how different they were in size. For a fleeting moment, Delara felt real fear in her heart. Not the kind of fear she felt when she thought there was a monster in her closet, but the type of fear that paralyzed her as the old man glowered at her mother.

“Well,” the old man began, pausing to spit on the ground by her mother’s shoes, “you shoulda though o’ that before your kind blew up my younges’ son!”

Delara gripped her mother’s knees and stayed quiet like she was told. What does he mean by our kind? She wondered.

“I am sorry for your loss,” her mother steadily replied. “But please. Let my daughter and I go. We are not your enemy.”

Delara couldn’t see her mother’s face but she could hear the tightness of her throat when she spoke. Her shaking was beginning to cease and Delara crouched down to look between her mother’s legs to look at the men, silently gauging their reaction to her words. Why would they think Mama is the enemy?

“When you walk ’round our country with that shit on your head, you know damn well you’re the enemy.”

Delara could see his feet as the old man sauntered forward, just like the Big Bad Wolf when stalking his prey, and stopped to stand face to face before her mother. Delara could hear his heavy breathing, his nose whistling with every deep exhale.

“Dad,” the middle man said, his voice firm. Delara moved her position to look at him as he placed a hand on his father’s shoulder. “Come on, Leo wouldn’t want this.”

The second man charged towards the middle man, shoving him away from the older. “Shut your fuckin’ mouth, Joshua! You don’t know what Leo wants either. He was my brother, too, you know.”

“Well then you should know he wouldn’t want us to harass some poor woman and her kid, Mikey!” Joshua exclaimed, gesturing towards Delara and her mother.

Delara clutched her mother’s knees when Joshua pushed Mikey back. She suddenly felt a pressure on her shoulder, so she looked away from the men to see her mother was subtly looking down at her and gently pushing her backwards. She gave a sharp and almost uncatchable jut of her head towards their car, making Delara glance at it, only to realize her mother was indicating they try to slip away.

As Delara took slow steps towards the car with her mother still shielding her, the three men were involved in an argument so heated she couldn’t make out any of the words they were screaming over each other.

They had reached the door to the backseat. Delara’s mother turned and faced her as she was sliding it open, her face scrunched up as she pulled it gently. Delara watched her mama’s face and realized her tears had stopped. Her heart gave a tiny leap as her mother smiled down at her just as she got the door fully open and gestured for Delara to get in.

But, within seconds of the door being open and her mother smiling down at her, Delara heard the gruff voice of the old man shout at them. She looked around her mother and watched as the old man charged towards them.

“Get back here, bitch! I’m not done with you!”

He reached them and, in horror, Delara watched as the man came up behind her mother and grabbed the scarf atop her head, pulling and ripping the delicate fabric with his gnarled, dirty hands.

The mixed sound of her mother’s scream along with her own resonated in Delara’s ears, the ringing making the world around her echo in a high pitched wail of pain and fear. The panicked and terrified look on her mother’s face shook her to her very core. She watched helplessly as the man tugged again, tearing the scarf completely off, pulling so hard her mother stumbled backward onto him.

“NO!” Delara screamed. She charged for the old man just as he shoved her mother into their car door so hard her head made a loud CLACK sound as it hit against the window. She dropped Ellie the Elephant and ran at the man, throwing all her might into pushing him away from her mother.

As her hands connected with the swollen gut of the old man, a spike of searing heat flowed through her palms, heated up her cheeks and set the tips of her ears aflame as she pushed him.

He didn’t stumble. He didn’t fall over. He was launched from where he stood by their car to across the parking lot, his body flying through the air. His limbs were strewn haphazardly around him as he hit the pavement, his body skidding across it.

Delara stood, dumbfounded, as the man landed 10 feet away from where he had just been. Delara hesitated as she looked at him, unsure of whether she had actually done that. But when her hands still felt alight with fire, she lifted them andshe couldn’t believe her own two eyes. There, in the palms of her hands were small, circular bundles of glowing, pulsing yellow light. The world around Delays was spinning as she stared down at the luminous orbs in her palms. When screaming rang out, Delara tore her eyes away from her hands, only to seea small crowd had gathered around the old man where he lay in the middle of the parking lot.

Her heart began to race as she stared at the unmoving body of the old man, his two sons next to him. In horror, her breathing began to race and her heart pumped harder than she could ever remember. Did I kill him? Tears welled up in her eyes at the thought. In her panic, she realized that just as soon as the heat was spreading through her hands, it had vanished. The light in her palms was gone.

As she continued staring into the crowd, she could just make out the man named Joshua as he looked at her, his eyes blank and wide, staring at her from his position by his father. From what she could tell, he didn’t look angry.

She looked away then, tearing her eyes from Joshua’s, the old man’s body, and the cries from Mikey. With every intention to check on her mother, Delara swirled around back to the direction of her car. She expected to find her mother lying on the ground, still next to the car after her head had hit, but she wasn’t. She was standing about a foot behind Delara, her eyes calm and clear, her ripped scarf and Ellie the Elephant already in her hands. Blood was running down the side of her face where her head hit the window, but she didn’t seem to mind how it was oozing out and down her face and neck.

Her heart began to race again as her mother looked down at her. Delara began to cry, the tears spilling over and down her cheeks as she sobbed. Her mother held out a steady hand for Delara to take, the corners of her mouth lifting up the way they always did.

She clutched her chest as she ran and took her mother’s hand and didn’t protest when her mother lifted her up and into her arms, leading her back to the open car door.

In her mother’s arms, Delara faced the scene where the old man was sprawled out on the pavement. Just as she intended to bury her head in her mother’s shoulder, not wanting to look at it any longer, she gasped as she saw the old man rise from his position, barely covered in a few scratches. He looked shaken up, but when he turned toward Delara’s direction he seethed, his eyes narrowing and his mouth opening to bare blackened teeth. Her belly somersaulted in fear at his expression.

“He got up, Mama,” she said softly in her mother’s ear. “I didn’t mean to.”

Her mother replied only with a nod of her head.

Delara turned back to see if she could catch another glance of the old man, but Joshua was standing in front of him, his back to Delara. She turned away, tightening her grip around her mother’s neck.

Her mother placed her back into her car seat with ease and buckled the seatbelt without issue. She handed Ellie over to Delara without really looking at her. When she stood up straight, her mother finally regarded her. Her eyes were bloodshot and irritated and the blood on her head, face and neck had stopped oozing and had dried on. Delara itched to wipe it off, not liking the way it stained her skin. She opened her mouth to speak, since she was worried her mama was mad, but her mother beat her to it.

“I’m going to go check on the men, lamb,” she said gently, brushing a lock of dark hair from Delara’s face. “You stay here, yes?”

Delara nodded, her eyes stinging again. Her mother moved to walk away but halted when a voice from behind her said, “Go.”

Delara twisted in her car seat for the second time that day to look behind her, only to see that Joshua had come up to her mother. He had a hand at the back of his neck again, rubbing it.

“I convinced my dad not to say anything to the police. I think it would be best if we all just went our separate ways.”

Delara watched as her mother nodded, “I’d appreciate it if you and your kin didn’t tell anyone about what you saw here today.”

He cleared his throat, “Ma’am, I’m not sure what we would tell them if we wanted to.”

Her mother nodded curtly and turned her back on him, grabbing the sliding door to pull it shut.

As she did so, Delara heard the last few words stumble out of Joshua’s mouth. “I’m very sorry.”

______________________________________________________________

Delara watched the familiar scenery of her neighborhood flash by as her mother maneuvered the streets to their house. The ride home had been silent, save for the sniffles Delara had from crying. She felt anxiety pent up inside her as they drove home. What is wrong with me? Is Mama mad at me?

They reached their home and her mother pulled safely into the driveway and turned off the car. It was silent for a few seconds and Delara held her breath as her mother sat unmoving in the front seat.

“Mama –” Delara began. Her mother held up a hand to silence her and she fell quiet, her stomach gurgling in fear.

Her mother moved swiftly and turned in her chair to face Delara, looking her deep in the eyes.

“You mustn’t ever, ever do that again, Delara Kassem. Do you understand me?”

Delara looked at her mama, confused as to which thing she was talking about.The light or saying something to the mean men? She looked down at her empty palms, wondering if she ever could do that again. Her mother unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of the car, opening the side door and moving to stand at eyelevel with Delara. Delara opened her mouth to ask about the glowing light when her mother spoke first.

“Delara, my lamb,” her mother started again, taking Delara’s chin between her fingers. “I know it seemed right to stand up for me, but there will not always be a Joshua if you do.” She shakily sighed, her eyes falling closed. “Sometimes, Delara, the safest thing to do is do nothing at all.”

Delara looked at the dried blood on her mother’s face.The bruise that was already forming under the skin. The tear stains down her cheeks. The ripped scarf in her hand.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at her mother.

“Inshallah, Mama,” she whispered.

The corners of her mother’s mouth lifted up again as she pressed her forehead to Delara’s, “Keep yourself safe, lamb. Always.”