You and I

Beep, beep, beep, bee………. “Is it time to wake up already? It feels like I just slept. May be five more minutes.” She turned off her alarm and turned to her side facing the window. She was groggy with half opened eyes. Sunlight was coming in through her crimson curtains. She waited for a few minutes, then dragged herself up to open the curtains. Fresh morning air came in, waking her up completely. Though she didn’t want to get up, she had lots to do today. Liyla had been living in her small apartment for more than five years now as she lost her family long ago. She stared at her empty apartment, thinking about the time when her father was alive and her mother was young and beautiful. She used to wake up with the gentle kisses of her mother and the calling of her cheerful father. “Let’s get up before it’s too late to open the tea shop. I ordered some inventory last week. I hope it’s coming today,” Liyla said to herself before walking towards her bedside table to check her phone. She sat on her bed and opened her phone to see an email. She opened it and saw her items would come around at 10am that morning. It was 7:15 at the moment. She jumped up from her bed quickly and excitedly. Finally, her order will be at her shop soon. She was running low on her products anyway. With this new enthusiasm, she opened her wardrobe and grabbed a lovely long pink dress. Even though it was plain, it was beautiful. She quickly showered, changed and put on her matching headscarf. She locked up her apartment, went to the parking area and hopped in her car. She drove for half an hour and reached her small tea shop, Liyla’s tea shop. She parked her car in front of the back entrance, walked to the door, opened it and entered into her shop. She always opened her shop at 9 am. She still had half an hour to set up and organize everything. She started taking out marinated chicken, chips, mini mince samosas, curry puffs and scones which she usually prepared in advance with her own hands, to defrost. She also started preparing different types of teas to serve with her snacks. “Finally, it’s time to open my shop.” She opened the shop’s shutters, unlocked the front doors and opened the windows to start her day. Suddenly, her stomach growled loudly. “Dang it! I forgot to eat breakfast. No time to eat breakfast now. You have to hang in there till noon,” Liyla said to herself while rubbing her growling and hungry stomach. She didn’t have time for breakfast anymore, so she pushed herself to start her day. She put chicken on her grill and started taking orders from customers at the same time. She worked alone in her shop as it wasn’t that big, but it was quite popular among young and old due to her unique flavour of snacks and teas. “Liyla… Good morning, dear, how are you today?” asked Suzy, an elderly lady who was her regular customer. “Suzy, my darl, I’m great! How are you, dear?” Liyla said happily to keep up with the chat, “Usual or something different today?” “I brought my friend today, so I need a table of two to sit down,” replied Suzy. “Sure! How about I'd guide you to the outside table. Today’s a beautiful day, you know,” Liyla said encouragingly. “That sounds great!” said the lady beside Suzy happily. Liyla guided them outside and placed number 1 on their table, gave them a menu card to browse and went in to serve other customers. Around 10, her order arrived and she guided them through the back door. Everything was placed inside her inventory room. She pushed through her lunch hour. Exactly at 1pm, she closed her shop for two hours to eat and pray. She was a Muslim after all. She took a chicken leg piece and some chips with a cup of tea to have lunch. After her lunch, she got ready to pray. After prayer, she reopened her shop and started serving customers until it was 5pm which was her closing time. She saw off her last customer and started shutting down her shutters for closure. She was mid-way through her closing when she heard a banging sound. (What’s that sound!) she thought to herself. It wasn’t loud, but it wasn’t faint enough not to be heard. She opened her back door to inspect but couldn’t find anything. The sun was setting as well, so she couldn’t see properly. “I suppose there are workers in the forest to trim down the trees, or something,” Liyla said to herself. Even though her shop was close to the road, the land behind was vast and full of trees. The whole area was famous for farming and forests. She shrugged and started cleaning up before going home. She wiped all the outdoor tables and gathered chairs to put them inside. After this she closed her back door to clean up the mess inside her kitchen. She was moping her floor when someone banged on the back door. She suddenly jumped, and her soul left her body. “Who can be here at this hour?” Liyla said to herself, but the banging continued, and she had no choice but to open the door. Luckily, she had two doors to protect herself. She opened her main door, keeping the screen door locked, when she saw a horrific scene. There was a wounded man barely supported by another one. They were looking rather terrified themselves, looking here and there like they were running from something or someone. “Who are you and what do you want?” Liyla asked in a sharp tone. “My boss is injured. Please let us in for a few minutes to rest. We will leave the place once my other subordinate comes. It is a life and death matter,” asked one of the men. “I’m opening the door, but before I do that, remember this, if you believe in god, god is watching you and if you don’t, then I have plenty of knives to protect myself.” Liyla reluctantly opened the security door and let them in. She closed both doors behind them and secured the locks. She instantly brought out a chair. The first man dragged his boss to the chair. The man was badly injured. There were lots of cuts and bruises on his face, neck and hands. He was pressing his shoulder tightly as blood was seeping through his fingers. Liyla was observing them while thinking about her next moves. “Do you have any first aid kit?” the first man asked Liyla. “I do,” she said, and ran to her inventory room and grabbed her first aid kit. She gave it to the first man, but he looked at her quizzically. “What! Don’t you want to treat your Boss’s wounds?” questioned Liyla. “I am the last person anyone wants to rely on when it comes to first aid. I don’t know anything about first aid,” replied the first man sheepishly. “Useless fool!” said the Boss through his painful expressions. “Alright, you don’t need to harass your subordinate. He is trying his best to save you. Anyway, I know how to perform first aid. Please remove your hand so I can bandage your wound.” Liyla stepped forward to help the wounded man. “It’s a gun-shot wound. You need to take out the bullet,” the boss replied with his gritted teeth. Liyla was stunned. She had no idea how to take out a bullet. “You need to go to the hospital. I am not eligible to take out bullets. Let me call an ambulance.” “No, you can’t. It will bring more disaster. We have to take out this bullet now,” said the boss. “You are putting your life in danger. I’ve already told you I don’t know how to take out the bullet.” “Jimmy can take out the bullet, and you can put some gauze on it.” “Alright then. What do we need to take out the bullet?” Liyla asked the first man, whose name was Jimmy. “Heat up a pointy knife to sterilize it and bring it to me,” Jimmy replied. Liyla took out the knife, turned on the burner and sterilized it. Then she gave it to Jimmy. “Hold him down as hard as you can. This is going to be messy,” said Jimmy. “Hold on! Bite this wooden spoon, otherwise you can accidently bite your tongue instead,” Said Liyla with a spoon. The boss put the spoon between his teeth and bit it hard. Liyla pressed him down and Jimmy pushed the tip of the knife into the wound to take out the bullet. “GGGRRRRRRRR…” came out a horrible sound from the mouth of the boss, and he pushed Liyla away with one hand. Jimmy instantly stopped and backed away. The boss spit out the wooden spoon and pressed his wound tightly, and said, “This is not working. Jimmy, pin me down and you, you have to take out the bullet. You are not strong enough to hold me still.” Liyla was in shock, “I can’t…” she whispered. “Yes, you can, and you must,” replied the boss. He put the wooden spoon in his mouth again and nodded to Jimmy. Jimmy gave the knife to Liyla and held the boss down hard. He winced with pain. Liyla was stunned, but she had to do something quickly, so she pressed the boss down as hard as she could and pushed the knife in his wound. “AAARRRRGGGGGGG…” came the muffled and agonizing sounds from his mouth. He was visible struggling under Jimmy, but it was necessary to take out the bullet. Finally, Liyla found the bullet and yanked it out with the help of the knife. There was blood everywhere. Boss’s eyes rolled up in his head and he slumped on the chair as soon as Jimmy loosened his grip.