To Live Her Life

There no longer was a group coming back into their country, Saudi Arabia.

Najib walked, machine gun raised, towards where the group once had been. They began checking bodies, making sure death was inevitable before moving onward. He no longer was in a huge group, he and 2 other men stayed back while the rest split up. His orders were in time to meet up with the north heading group. They weren’t traveling very far from where Najib and the 2 others were still at, now.

One by one the three of them walked body to body… Each scattered a good distance from one another, each wounded in some way. Blood pooled near them all, which was to be expected since they had been shot… After sealing each ones death with another shot to the heart (to be safe,) they turned the body onto its stomach as a means to remember which was checked and which wasn’t.

Najib sighed, thinking about what they were actually doing then realizing that any of these bodies could be his own. He got to one, dark shaggy haired man. His helmet lay next to him some few feet’s distance away from the large crater which was also at his side. The man’s body slowly moved up and down with the shallow breathing. He lay on his stomach, wheezing almost, it was almost too faint to hear. But Najib could. With his shoe, Najib pulled the gun from the right side of the man before bending over and roughly pulling on his fatigues, the cloth of his shoulder. His upper body twisted enough for a faint painful whimper to surface, and his face and chest to show.

Youri’s have closed eyes stared up at the man above him, casting a shadow down. His eyes were so painfully sore and he just didn’t have the energy to keep them open. He woke up that way moments before he was yanked to the side and onto his back. For that he was grateful at least, being on his stomach was more painful than anything ever experienced.

He was older but upon seeing the half blurry, have clear man, he squinted. The first thought was that it was Océane. Just the facial features, although more masculine, screamed at him that it was her. He was so convinced he tried reaching out, to no avail and whispered her name. Tears came to his eyes when he couldn’t move any part of his body very easily and as he became more tired with using up what little energy he actually had left.

Najib starred uneasily at the man laid at his feet, mumbling to himself about something he couldn’t understand. He knelt to the ground, or more like fell, when his baby sister’s name came out of the man’s (Youri’s) mouth in whispers.

“ماذا قلت للتو؟” (What did you just say?) Najib hissed and bent down closer so he could hear more clearly. The man smiled and whispered her name again in what could only be described as caring and compassion.

Najib sat up straight on his heels; eyes wide as he gulped and stared at the guy.

Najib grabbed onto Youri’s outer jacket and pulled the buttons apart, not bothering to deal with undoing each one. What was the point?

Underneath the jacket was a shirt… with a name tag on it along with a few multi colored objects signifying rank in the army.

“Ю. Тимошенко” Huffing, Najib pulled out the silver chain that encircled the man’s neck. It was long and held two identical tags. “Юрій Тимошенко” With more writing underneath.

“Océane…” The man whispered before coughing madly, choking on the small amount of blood coming out from his mouth. Najib knew he had to be talking about her, there weren’t too many with the name Océane around here. It wasn’t common because it wasn’t Arabic in origin.

Najib gathered the fabric at Youri’s chest thick in his hand and pulled upwards while putting his other arm behind his back to keep him upright.

There was something about him that made Najib want to know more, somehow. Youri coughed and spit out a mouthful of blood and closed his eyes out of tiredness. Naijib shook him causing him to look to the side at the man that he thought was Océane. He wasn’t altogether in his mind; remember that.

It his Najib like a boulder would the ground, crushed.

“Youri?” Najib questioned making Youri smile in a daze, if anyone was to see him they would instantly ask what he was high on…

Najib wanted to punch the shit out of Youri for what he had done to her; wondering if the rumors had indeed been true. From the looks of it, but the kids actions he thought so. He shoved Youri to the ground angrily and stood up taking in his wide, suddenly sober looking eyes.

It wasn’t Océane standing over him, he realized that when it was too late. All he saw was the barrel of the gun pointed at his head, his eyesight could suddenly see more clearly as he starred down the deep, dark barrel.

Najib wanted revenge.

“كنت الأحمق قليلا ، ما نكح فعلت لها. أنا غير قادر على تعتقد أنك ، ثم مرة أخرى أستطيع. مثير للشفقة عذر للرجل...” Najib ranted turning off the safety before checking his aim a final time.
“I… Océane… I… вибачте…I love Océane.” Youri sucked in a sob and closed his eyes in a cringe for what is to come. He didn’t know why he spoke in the English language. It wouldn’t matter now.

“You love Océane?” Najib pondered, understanding the English spoken. He learned it in school but never before used it outside the schooling house. He was rusty as he struggled to remember what he learned so many years prior. Love was a given but put with his sisters name and I… ‘What was he trying to say?’ He wondered.

He briefly lowered his aim.

“Love, Océane?” Youri nodded after his spoken words.

“You?” Najib asked pointing down and Youri nodded slowly.

Najib dropped the gun to the ground and knelt down, forgetting his orders, all he was doing now was trying to save the dying man before him that he could tell cared for his sister.

Momentarily forgetting his anger he should have towards this man before him, he ripped parts of his clothing off from around his ankles and began pressing the fabric to the wounds and wrapping long, thin pieces of the thick fabric around Youri’s arms and legs to slow the blood loss down some.

“علا!” (Ullah!) Najib yelled out as he looked all around him frantically. Ullah’s head popped up as he began running towards Najib. He stopped up short looking down at what his fellow soldier and recent friend was doing.

Helping the enemy?

His scrunched up looking face turned into one of anger, a glare filled with a sense of confusion.

“ما... ماذا تفعل؟” (What… What are you doing?) Ullah asked seriously in a wavering tone. Uneasy as he watched Najib doing something he never thought would happen… The man was the enemy. He was supposed to be dead or killed.

“لأنه يعلم Océane.” (He knows Océane…) was all he said as he pressed down on Youri’s wounded shoulder.

“ذلك.” (So?)

“ذلك. انا بحاجة الى بعض الإجابات الحقيقية اولاه سخيف!” (So. I need some real fucking answers Ullah!) Najib breathed in. (أريد أن أعرف إذا كان هذا صحيحا... لماذا فعلوا ذلك. اذا كان فعلا...” (I need to know if it’s true...what they did. If he really did...)

“لماذا لا يهم كل ذلك الآن وفجأة كنت لا أعرف حتى إذا كان يعلم على وجه اليقين لها أم لا!” (Why does it matter now all of a sudden you don’t even know if he knows her for sure or not!)
“انه يقول لها ما يكفي من اسمها.” (He’s saying her name. It’s enough.) Najib thought about his words, thought about his baby sister. He left Océane at the makeshift camp all alone with 2 little babys for her to take care of herself. She almost didn’t belong there…

“انه لنجيب العدو!” (He’s the enemy Najib!) Ullah screamed at him, shoving him backwards and making his hands disconnect with Youri’s profusely bleeding shoulder.

“ماذا بحق الجحيم؟” (What the hell!?) Najib fumed.

“ماذا تفعلين.” (What are you doing?) Ullah hissed, the other man was seen rushing towards the confrontation between the two as he now noticed the problem.

“وهو لا يستطيع أن يموت. انه لا يستحق على عدم ترك مثل هذه بسهولة. ليس لديه اي فكرة. انه يحتاج الى تكثيف وتحمل المسؤولية عن أفعاله.” (He can't die. He does NOT deserve to leave like this, so easily. He has no clue. He needs to step up and take responsibility for his actions.) Najib let out a long, loud breath of air. “يمكن ؛ تي دعه يموت الآن من دون معرفة بعض الأشياء. ثم بعد ، لا اعلم...” (I can’t let him die now without knowing some things. Then after, I don’t know...)

Najib thought about it a moment.

“ذلك ما تقوله هو أنك تريد أن تعقد له للحصول على معلومات.” (So what you're saying is that you want to hold him to get information?) Ullah paced a bit before stopping and looking at the two other scheming; smirking from ear to ear. “مزيد من المعلومات حول من مجرد Océane. يمكننا الحصول على مزيد من المعلومات حول أي شيء نريد...” (More information than just about Oceane. We can get more about anything we want...)

“نعم.” (Yeah.) Najib nodded despite the doubt he felt.

Something would go wrong. It had to.

Najib was past the nice guy routine. He was thinking more now of torturing the truth out of the Ukrainian boy in front of him.

Océane is only 15 years old. Sure, she was to be wed soon before the invasion turned into an all out war… but this was different. Youri was an outsider. And becoming close to, marrying, sleeping or any of the like is forbidden. Océane’s mother was a prime example, and she only slept with an Indian man…no one would know the difference if Océane happened to look, somehow, like her mother’s husband and her “father.”

If the rumors were true…

Océane has no hope.

Nothing more than her mother had 15 years prior.

And the thoughts hit Najib like a brick to the head.

He couldn’t let that happen to her, he wasn’t about to.

Najib would do anything he could to get back at the Ukraine.

Even if it meant saving the boy now, only to finish it later on…