The Red Nights

It was about 3 p.m when all the children finished their training and prepared to live the hall . Jamal was arranging his stuffs when Natasha approached him " I wanted to apologize for earlier. It was not my intention to put them in danger , you know? "

" Yes I know it , and I'm also sorry for screaming at you . I know that you all just want to rebuild the city but you should not rush yourself "

" We are just upset that we are all forced to only the half of our lives "

After hearing that, Jamal bowed down his head. Despite knowing that it was on nothing his fault, he couldn't help but feel sorrowful when he looked at the faces of all these poor kids.

Even if it happened 2 years ago, that day left scares deeply in the hearts of all the people , not only in his town or country but also everywhere else . That terrible event touched the whole world, rather there were some countries which were more damaged than others.

" We cannot forget it only in one or two years " thought Jamal " I even wonder if one day we would forget about it and finally move forward " . After asking that, he felt overwhelmed by a very sad mood that even Natasha felt it .

Seeing that his moral was going bad , Natasha tried to cheer him up " You're going to visit Lina after that? " . Hearing that , the face of Jamal started to blush .When Natasha noticed it, she began laughing slowly at the beginning and then louder .

" Why are you laughing at me?! " shouted Jamal

" Ha ha ha , sorry it's just both funny and cute the way you look when someone starts talking about her " replied Natasha

" There is nothing hilarious, you just love making fun of me " said Jamal

" You could just assume that Lina is now your girlfriend " Shouted a voice from the crowd which was leaving.

" Just shut up and get out of here " replied

Then everyone started to laugh even Jamal got a slight smile on his face. Seeing that he was looking quite better than earlier, Natasha was trying to turn back following his friends when Jamal stopped her . He grabbed her arm and pulled her aside from the crowd. He asked " How do you feel now ? Did you ..."

" Not since the day before yesterday " cut him Natasha " it seemed that it comes and leaves randomly. Some days I feel it and the other days not "

Jamal thought a little while before he said " Well ,just control yourself and keep me informed whether it happens but don't talk about it to anyone else. I will try to find out if there are other people who sensed the same thing like you did. "

" Do you think there are other people like me ?"

" Maybe, I am not sure but if it happened to you why not into someone else "

Natasha bowed down her head as she felt that things were getting worse each day passed , Jamal put a finger below her chin, lifted up delicately her and put his eyes on hers " You don't have to be scared of anything" he paused " I will always be there to protect you, okay ? "

Natasha felt like a heavy weight suddenly moved out from her heart . She has always felt full protected when she was with Jamal but now it was different, what he said to her was the certainty that she did matter to someone.

She quickly turned aside from him when she felt some tears on and put her hands on her face. She was too moved too keep looking at him . " Are you okay? Did I say something that got you mad ? " said Jamal a bit worried

" No no ... It's just... no one never told something like that before. I was quite surprised " replied Natasha " I think I should go now " , then she ran out from the sport hall without giving a look back and left Jamal behind her a bit confused " it's unusual to see her being that emotional " he thought.

" You came earlier than usual, did something happen?" said Lina while Jamal was having a seat . They were in their favorite coffee bar , one from the three restaurants which was not definitively closed . It was true that many stores in the city were abandoned however with the efforts of Jamal and the ones who helped some proprietors agreed to let still be opened in order to try give a second breath to their town .

" Not at all . Despite my warnings, my students decided to come earlier so ... "

" Don't dare lay down your a.s.s on this chair without giving me a kiss before " stopped him Lina with a faked angry look on her face . Jamal stared at her before he decided to kiss her , he put his lips on hers inserted slowly his tongue to fondle Lina's tongue with for few seconds and after they stopped she told him " now you may have a seat " with her s.e.xiest smile on her face .

" Well ,what I was telling you before was that I came early because my careless students decided to start their training earlier today ".

" Wait, I'm pretty sure it was Natasha's idea, wasn't it? " said Lina

" Why are you always fighting each other, can't you just get along ? " only said Jamal

" So I can infer that it was actually her idea , right? "

He didn't respond , instead he stood up and went to the barmaid , he took a cup of milkshake and returned to his place. However Lina didn't give up yet and she continued " For your information, it's Natasha the one who doesn't like me... I even don't know why "

" But it wouldn't be like this if you quieted provoking her " replied Jamal

" She never wants to acknowledge that I am always right "

" You're not, half of the time it's me who chooses your side because I don't you to be mad at me or leaving me "

For a moment Lina did not add any comment , she just took his hand and started rubbing the palm with her thumb. " I was right when I told that no need to watch the barrier at night because the others will never dare cross it on night ."

Jamal sighed and nodded " Yeah that's true, and I still don't get why they refuse to cross it on night "

" They are still thinking that those "things" will one day come over us again " responded Lina

Jamal thought a little bit and asked again " And how can you be so sure that those will not come again ?"

" Because they already got what they wanted " said Lina with a serious look.

Jamal didn't seek any extra explanation because he already knew what it was , furthermore even if he asked her she wouldn't respond. In fact no one in this town would ever respond to this question , it was a too awful memory.

That day everyone lost someone close . Dear relatives or friends , and it was too painful to remind about them .

" This morning, Nata... hum ... my students told me that they were upset because they were forced to live only the half of their lives " Jamal paused and lowered his voice " Do you think I was wrong when I ordered the 1 p.m law ? Do you think one day we will ever be able to move forward and turn the page of these tragedy? "

When he said that he fixed his eyes on his girlfriend and she could see how much he was desperate and was looking for some consolation. She held tight his hand harder , chose her words and said " Hey , it's not your fault, you know? You're nothing responsible for what happened . You did all you could do in order to protect them "

" Maybe I should have done more ... maybe I can do more , maybe..."

" You're not god , you are just a human " cut Lina .

" God should have made us stronger if he expected us to solve our problems by ourselves without his help ! " said Jamal with a little anger in his voice. " How ? How did we end up like this ? ".

They stayed quiet for few minutes and then Lina suddenly stood up. " Finish your milkshake quickly and come with me. " she ordered .

" Where ? " said Jamal when he was struggling to finish his cold milkshake without collapsing from a freezed brain ." Into my house " replied Lina .

" For what? We are not even in the beginning of the evening. " said Jamal when he already finished drinking .

Lina leaned over his shoulder and whispered to him " I will make love to you until you forget about all these worries of yours " .

Jamal smiled , a sad smile and said " Don't be dumb, there is no way I could forget all about them unless I died " . Lina smiled too and replied " You underestimate me honey , be sure that I will f.u.c.k you so hard that you will whether forget or just die "

She caught his arms ,forced to him to stand up and said with a mischievous smile " Just come with me, and I promise you that you will definitely not regret "