Sold?

•Arius

The journey to the border was longer than expected. It made me realize how far from home I was.

But with the help of the Arab men, we made it to the edge of the country.

"You see that fence?" Qasim said, "You cross that sharp at 12 am, there is no electricity there for a minute because the servers are switched." He looked at his watch, "You got five minutes. Then you climb through it and run like crazy until the time you reach a slum." He explained everything the best way he could to a pair of kids.

"Thanks Qasim." I looked behind him, "Ahmed and Bilal. Thank you so much."

"Yes. Thank you for helping us." Caesar spoke as well.

We did not tell them the rest of our story.

They did not ask us anything further not even why Caesar was covered in blood and yet they helped us.

Ahmed patted our heads, "It's okay kids, there are always people worth saving. Be the bigger person and help others out." He grinned and we both smiled back.

"Ready." Qasim said and we nodded, "Okay, 3,2,1, go!!!"

We both sprinted at full speed and grabbed the fence, climbed over and ran further away without looking back.

I don't know if they left immediately or watched us disappear in the distance first.

I don't know why they even helped us. After all the experiences it was a bit hard to think that good people were still there but they proved it wrong.

I sometimes wish I did look back and gave them a final good-bye wave, after all they were our ticket home but I was too focused on running and facing ahead that the thought didn't even cross my mind.

After running for two hours we arrived in the slums and collapsed near a tent.

The next morning when I woke up Caesar had already brought some bananas from somewhere.

"Where did you get these from?" He shrugged at my question.

It was odd, by each passing day he spoke less but oh well, as long as I understood him what did it matter?

There were tons of bananas so I decided to give them to the kids around the slums.

We couldn't possibly carry them with us, I only had one bag with me, in which I carried the broken heirloom.

"Should we go ahead?" I asked and Caesar nodded.

***

"These collars." Caesar scratched on them, "How to take them off?"

"I don't know. There must be a special way to do it."

We had only kept two bananas, one for each of us but regretted that decision greatly after a day.

We got lost in the middle of nowhere.

We walked and walked and walked and finally ended up at an abandoned distillery after two days.

Too tired to think, we ended up sleeping there too.

I woke up to the sound of commotion and panicked when I saw people had gathered around. I gasped and accidently put pressure on Caesar's hand with mine when I backed away.

He woke up with a jerk but had the same reaction when he saw what I did.

"What do you want!" I growled at them.

"Calm down child." A female said while the rest talked among themselves, "We're here to help." She tried reaching for us but I was on high alert. Seeing so many people all together put an alarm in my mind.

I scratched her hand.

"Ahh!" She groaned in pain.

"Lebberly, leave them for now. Let's inform the Boss first." A man said

"He's right, they both are scared, let them adjust."

They all agreed to leave us alone with some food.

We both stayed there for a few days and the townspeople would leave some food for us.

The distillery was a nice place, I grew attached to it. It was calm and quiet.

It was peaceful

The townspeople when failed to get me and Caesar out of the distillery they called their boss.

Not even in my wildest dreams did I think it would be that one man I wanted to see the most.

***

"The kids are here?" Someone entered the place. His voice felt familiar.

"Yes sir." A woman answered him, "Just straight up ahead by the veranda."

He walked closer and closer but when he came into view I felt myself quiver.

"Dad?!" I stood up.

He was even more shocked than me, "Arius!" He ran in my direction and hugged me, "Oh God! Oh my God!!" His embrace tightened, "I searched for you so hard." I hugged him with all my might as well.

He then pushed me apart, "How did you end up here in Loralai?"

"I don't know, I don't know anything. It's a looong story." I glanced back at Caesar who quietly stood there in his place.

"Who's that."

"My best friend." I looked back at my father, "I won't ever separate from him."

"..." He was a bit taken aback by my words but didn't say anything against it, "Okay." He stood up, "For now, let's go home."

***

The feeling I felt when I reached the mansion was indescribable.

It felt sort of foreign but calming.

Somewhere in me I felt the peace I had forgotten.

Everything was prepared for us.

We got a warm bath, tasty food and comfortable beds. Dad knew how the collars came off and took them off of our necks.

***

All that we had lost could never be returned but if we had to be thankful for something, it was that we made it back to a safer place.

We both took a deep breath as we stood on the roof and watched the sun set casting an orange glow on us.

Gentle breeze blew as after months my tears began to flow out uncontrollably.

Seeing me, Caesar couldn't stop his tears either.

We cried like crazy that day. Perhaps for the last time for years.

We were finally home.