THE MASKED GIRL

11

The masked girl

The saying; "Be kind to people always, as you don't know what they have been through" Kept ringing in my head the entire time. Who would think that behind the big bad Aliyu is a vulnerable person who lost his mother in a horrible fatal accident? Behind his tough guy attitude is a poor kid who was struggling to accept his fate in a cruel world, a lonely person that lives in denial for almost six years. The fact that he has his trust in me to tell me about his life had me feeling a wave of messy emotions and his mother's name being Hafsat got me to be solicitous about the situation. And I couldn't stop myself from seeing how much my story is similar to his, but I don't see myself ever telling him my story. I cannot do that no matter how much I want to, that part of me will never be revealed.

"I am waiting," I told him breaking the silence that was beginning to form once again. He looked like a boy who was just promised a toy he had been dying to get.

"Why are you masked?"

Some part of me knew he would ask me that question since I didn't answer him the last time he did but I also thought he would ask me another thing since I didn't answer him the last time.

"Because I have a scar I don't want anyone to see" I answered him truthfully.

"Oh!" He exclaimed. "Can I see it?" He asked curious and I shake my head no.

"You already use your one question"

He groaned in frustration blaming me.  "You rushed me into asking you"

"I didn't," I said raising my hands in the air. "I also have a question," I told him leaning onto the bench.

"Only if I get to ask you another question" He offered and I agreed without a second thought.

"Why were you taking midnight training?" I have been curious since the week I saw him while I was serving my punishment exercise and he was always there training alone.

"I actually didn't expect that question," He said laughing slyly. "Well?" I questioned nudging him to tell me.

"It was because of my situation" He answered. "The general received many complaints from the officers about me not joining the practice my first few months in the army and he knew what I was going through so he brought the idea and it became my practice" He explained further and I nod my head in agreement. That explains why he was always late to practice during the day and none of the officers punish him for that.

"I preferred that since I hardly sleep at night anyway and I like being alone," He said again. "It was later made a punishment for people like you" He teased and I rolled my eyes at him.

The bell for light out warning rang ending our conversation and we looked at each other and then burst out laughing. We had been here some minutes after eight meaning we have spent almost four hours here. We went back into the barrack hand in hand. I don't know what was going on between us before but today made a big difference. I stopped seeing him as the person who doesn't like me and makes me take part in exercises I don't like a long time ago but today changed whatever it was I see him as after that. He is now someone in my life that I will always be there for and someone I can never hurt.

We part ways when we got to our rooms after bidding each other good night. I am pretty sure that my thoughts will keep me awake all night so I am on my laptop after getting ready for bed, finding a snack to dine on, getting comfy in bed, and putting on a kdrama to watch. My addiction to kdrama surprisingly didn't stop even after all that happened to me, I thought I had stopped but I slowly find myself getting back to it. It was like a means of escape from the reality, obsessing and gushing over the story and the cast is an absolute source of happiness.