LE PORTRAIT MAGAZINE MARCH-SEPTEMBER ISSUE | Page 27

felt awed by his athletic physique. She loved everything about Steve. He
swam next to her and put his arms around her in an embrace.
“I didn’t know you loved swimming this much.”
“I do!”
“Heh heh. He laughed.
“Do you want to race to the other side?” He asked.
“Okay!” She swum as fast as she could and was surprised at the energy
she still had. She arrived at the end with Steve still at her side.
“I won!” she yelled.
“No, we won!”
“A tie?”
“We reached at the same time.”
“Okay.” She said with a smile.
She had come back to Steve immediately she had got the chance to leave
the camp. She had missed him a lot. She now understood how important
his friendship was to her. She calmly remembered how unlucky it had
felt to be so far away.
The sky that danced so merrily before her now had been in that place the
only beautiful thing she ever saw. It was always a silver blanket floating
in the air. The air was always washed clean by the puffing wind that
never silenced the whistling leaves and branches in the trees. The sky
had been like a fume of heavy smoke that had just escaped into the air.
You could feel your hand touching it because it hovered so close to the
ground.
The day she had stayed sick in bed, it had rained down on recruits
mercilessly. The palms of heaven had parted in torrents of rain that
abused and mocked the camp. No one dared to move until told to do so.
No one mentioned it was raining or gave recognition to its effects.
Commander Ahmed found her inside the dormitory on her bed. She was
shocked. He had somehow known he would find her there. No one was
supposed to be in the dormitory at that time.
“Are you still determined to go away?”
“Sir I am not feeling well.”
“Call me Ahmed.” She shook her head.
“Come on. I know you are a beautiful girl. You need to go back and live
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