Somewhere! (Hunaak!) (13 page)

“
Yet you remain the legend Mr. Bruce Lee!” — I said.

“
Do you know who I owe the most for all of that?” — he said.

“
Are you hinting to Yip Man? The legend that taught you martial arts?!” — I asked.

“
You know a lot about me Husam, but the real credit goes first and foremost to the one who made me decide to go to Yip Man and gain interest in martial arts!” — Mr. Bruce replied.

Curiosity was killing me to find out
who that great person might be, the one that inspired Bruce Lee, but before he told me he let out his eighth lesson:

“
Listen Husam, every great person finds themselves in an instant… an instant embodied in a word, tune, laugh, tear or a look… the potential greatness inside us awakens in an instant… he who truly deserves that greatness never allows that instant to pass without changing his life… my entire life had changed the instant I received my first slap!” — he added.

“
A slap?!” — I asked.

“
Yes… a slap I received as a thirteen year old boy, I could not defend myself, I could not block it, and I spent the rest of my life working hard so that I would never receive another slap” — he added.

My brain could not comprehend that there was someone who could slap Bruce Lee
—
the unbeatable man of steel—.

“
I owe that scamp who slapped me!” — Mr. Bruce added.

“
Talent always receives slaps, it explodes in them if it did not destroy them… I had missed a lot of slaps, and I will not allow myself to miss any more! I understand your eighth lesson Mr. Bruce and I will become an unbeatable fighter!” — I told Mr. Bruce.

“
Martial arts are neither in the strength nor in the movement of muscles. Martial arts are the control of the energy of the body and soul and releasing it instinctively wisely and with control! Let your body speak with the same flexibility and energy and spontaneity as your tongue does!” — he added.

“
Was that lesson nine?” — I asked.

“
Lesson nine, Husam, is that those lessons and arts are not for fighting alone… but for life as well! Do you remember how many times you have faced physical battles in your life?” — He asked.

“
Two or three times, when I was a stupid kid!” — I responded.

“
It is stupid to learn to fight for juvenile battles! The real battle is the battle of life! You must fight it with your high fighting spirit and convert those arts to life skills that help you face your circumstances no matter how they might overtake you! Martial arts are a philosophy that uses all of your energy and capabilities to figure out what you are made of and allows you to control it, speak for it and deal with it throughout your life’s hardships!” — he added.

I was pumped up as adrenalin increased
,.

“
I think it is about time for a new fighting legend to emerge!”
—
I replied with full confidence.

“
I hope that legend succeeds in creating more legends! It is selfish to measure your success with what you achieve; real success is in how far your influence will go, and the people that you help change their lives!” — he added.

“
This is the tenth lesson!” — I said.

Malak took my hand, Mr. Bruce smiled as he bi
d me farewell.

“
The tenth but not the last… you will find out the rest of the lessons yourself Husam!” — Mr. Bruce added.

We left the warehouse and the echoes of Bruce Lee
’s sidekicks returned whilst the fighting lessons rumbled my motivation and soul.

(9)

Anything but mother!

D
eath is one of life’s most mysterious and realistic events. At the same time, death is the biggest motive for life as we stubbornly hold on to it… in fear of death! While death is also the biggest obstacle in life, we do not enjoy our adventures in life because of our anxiety of death!

Now, while I realize that this was just an instinctive premonition, being terrified of death is an animal instinct ingrained in our depths only to sustain our procreation!
 

He amongst you who objects to my words,
              let him imagine himself in an experiment —such as the one I am on
—
where he considers death to be his only hope to return               to life. It will then become a goal that he strives to!

Death, my dear audience, is but an inevitable step, we fear it because it is unknown to us, it would erase our memories of what came before the moment we pass through it!

“
Ice cream!” — I said breaking my own mental introspections.

Actually, it sounded more like
“Iathe-cream!”

That is how I broke the silence as we were on our way back to the city. Malak was driving the car while wearing black sunglasses to cover her swollen eyes from the punch I gave her earlier. While I threw my body
’s broken bones on the seat next to her, I picked up my notebook which thankfully wasn't torn during the violent battles earlier that day!

I tried to write down Bruce
’s lessons with the fingers that I still had some ability to move with my left hand. My handwriting was incredibly distorted.

“
Ice cream? You want ice cream?
”
- Malak asked.

“
Yeth, for my teethhhhz pain!” — I slurred words in pain.

She laughed as she turned the car towards the beach where we found a bunch of antique European-styled caf
és.

“
Ath you wi-th… I will find you the betht Iathe cream plathe!” — she responded mockingly.

As we entered one of those caf
és, I realized it was an almost exact replica of the heart Milano as it would have looked in the middle of the last century. There were wooden tables and chairs set as semicircles around the ice-cream tanks. At the center stood a girl that became surprised when we walked in.  I thought she was surprised by the traces of the violent battles we had been through, but I found out that she was happy because of me specifically being there.

“
Mr. Husam is here! I cannot believe it!” — the girl yelled.

One of the things that I missed from my world was seeing girls of limited but reasonable beauty! I missed them so much! From the moment I sat foot in this world I was shocked by the beauty of every girl I saw! This exhausted me emotionally! I gazed
her a smile and a passing joke.

“
I am plain Hutham, without (mithter) Hutham period! In the fleth and broken bonthe” — I said in my still slurry pronunciation.

I didn
’t know if this beauty from Milano had  smiled because of my joke or my slurry lips. I was certain that my charm did not appeal at all to Malak.  She let go of me after she had been supporting me on her shoulder. I quickly lost my balance and I leaned onto the cold glass panel where the aromas of fruits and ice-cream flavors that you could not even imagine were pouring out from! Damn that  Baskin Robbins bucket that I would pay a fortune of my salary for and would dissolve before even my stomach would finish its welcoming ceremony! The girl came closer to me with a friendly smile.

“
Would you like a cup of cone?” — she said.

At this moment, I really needed a set of teeth. I thought
teeth
were given their name from the strong phonetic relation that it had with the sound
th
that you are forced to make every time you try to make the sound of an
S
if the front row of your teeth was absent!

The problem was that I did not notice that awkward point until I tried in vain to force the letter
S
to come out from between my tongue and gum.

“
A cup of courthe! Dithregard the cone becauthe of my teeth!” — I said to the girl.

The poor thing tried hard to contain her laughter from the view of my broken teeth and the contained laugh spread into her face
’s blood forcing it to wear a vinous scarf despite its brown color; but Malak did not contain her laughter as she let it out loudly in revenge for her jealousy and said:

“
Make him an athhhortment to your tathte, and put it in a cup!”

I sat next to her, her jealousy faded as she examined my injured hand, ribs and knee skillfully as she said in terror and anxiety:

“Your bones are really broken! Do you really not feel any pain?” — she asked.

“
I sure do feel some pain!” — I responded.

“
Some pain? Anyone in your place wouldn't be able to stand it!” — she replied.

“
Praise the lord!!” — I said.

The ice cream arrived and interrupted us as the girl placed the cup in front of me
… but it looked more like a goblet although, let me be more accurate: it was a bucket of ice cream! A glass container crowded with ice-cream scoops, decorated with an assortment of berries, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, strawberry… and every other thing that ends with
berry
! It was all drowned in a storm of a creamy cloud, the smell erased my memory of the smell of blood and reanimated my shattered fingers, I dove into that bucket and did not take a breath until that last scoop of
berry
had vanished!

“
I will cancel our appointment with Mr. Lucas and Dr. Ginzo” — Malak said.

“
Why?” — I asked.

“
What?! You could not stand or say anything yet you ask why?!” — Malak explained.

“
So what? Did you forget how fast I recovered the last time?” — I replied.

“
Last time it was a few bruises, this time your bones are all broken up and your muscles are torn. You need at least three days to recover and rest!” — Malak said.

“
But I only have two more days here!” — I replied.

Malak
’s face changed when I said that, it had darkened.

“
That is why you must recover quickly! Let us get back” — she said.

We returned to the city and to my
accomodation. I leaned on Malak the entire way. Once we arrived to my wing, I slowly dipped into the miniature pool after she had changed some of the settings converting its water into hot medicinal waters rich with salts and minerals flowing like lava into the pool. She prepared a new set of clothes for me and got rid of the clothes that were torn and covered in my blood. I lay on my bed after that dip and Malak started examining every bone of my body and returned each to its place. The shattered bones in my hand; my destroyed ribs; my teeth of which some had been swallowed already and others had been left as a token for Mr. Bruce; my nose… or what remained of it; my cheek which carried Malak’s elegant signature. My whole body was recovering with astonishing speed. I could almost feel my bones heal with the pressure of Malak’s fingers. I felt the tips of my teeth reappearing and replacing the ones that had shattered.

Malak then handed me a bunch of translucent spheres which contained miniature colored crystals:

“Open them up Husam!” — Malak said.

“
Drugs?” — I asked.

“
Almost… they will ease your pain and they also contain some essential proteins and vitamins.” — Malak added.

As I swallowed them with a sip of the iced coffee that she had prepared for
me, and before those balls settled in my stomach… a sudden muffled explosion thundered! Everything around us began collapsing. My brain was faster than the explosion and the collapse. I did not care if I would face any dangers as I still considered this place to be a mere dream that had trapped me and death here was my goal to get back to my world… to my sister… and Mother, yet, I was terrified for Malak!

Before the first fraction of a second was over, I had surrounded Malak with my arms to protect her from the shrapnel, the crystal domes
began  collapsing and turned into sharp daggers falling directly above our heads! I felt some of them stab me in the back as I thundered with Malak with all my strength towards the balcony breaking its glass wall. I lost my balance as the tower began collapsing, and I slipped onto the balcony’s glass floor which had started to shatter as well. Before I got to its edge, I took a quick look at the point where the water stream was closest to the rocky road. I bent my knees and held tightly onto Malak. I then pushed myself in the air towards the water stream and did a mid-air turn so that my back would take the fall instead of hers. I had no idea if my jump was enough to get me to the water stream or if it would slam us onto the rocks. I violently penetrated the water’s surface; the water unsuccessfully absorbed only part of the impact and my body slammed with full force on the bottom of the stream… now I felt pain! This time around it was real unbearable pain! What had remained of my bones were now shattered and the shreds of glass had gone deeper into my back. Water flooded my lungs and everything went black.

Then she appeared again
…I did not see anyone else in the darkness… but my Mother!

“
Husam! Did I not tell you to come back early to drive me to the wedding? It is almost midnight!!” — Mother said angrily.

“
Ma you know how traffic is and …” — I began replying but got interrupted by her again…

“
Traffic or playing cards and computer games??! Come on! I would barely make it in time for the ceremony!” — she added.

“
You are always late Husam… Always!”
—
she said as her image faded.

Air flowed into my chest, evicting death and casting life, cutting off that dream that took me to a lost memory, returning me back to this world!

A whiff of air from Malak’s lungs to mine made me cough hard as I regained my consciousness.

“
Husam? Husam!! Thank God! Thank God!!” — Malak yelled.

“
Where am I? did I return to my world yet?” — I asked in confusion.

She did not answer me but only held me close to her chest and collapsed as she cried. She turned me over face down to continue coughing and help me get rid of the water in my lungs. As she moved her hands over my back, she carefully tried to remove the glass shreds, at
times, her hands would slip because of the water and blood. To prevent the slippage, she soon started removing the glass with her teeth as I squirmed from extreme pain.

For the first time, I saw darkness in this world, the skies were filled with dark clouds as if they were taking revenge for the previous days
’ light; rain poured over us after the trees’ leaves failed to protect us; thunder deafened our ears and then came the rumbling of a jet engine that appeared in the horizon. It made its way across the clouds towards us and as Malak waved to the plane hysterically, the engines turned ninety degrees making it set in a vertical direction allowing it to land vertically. Malak carried me in her arms.
—who would have thought that an angel this soft could carry my corpse so easily? —
, the airplane’s door opened and a few steps came out. The plane took off the moment Malak crossed the door with her load. There was no captain, it was an autonomous vehicle. Mr. Lucas’s image appeared on the front screen and Malak said with a voice that had still not rid itself of the effects of her crying:

“
I was afraid you would not find us Mr. Lucas
”

“
Thank God for your safety, you will arrive in the new base in three minutes” — Mr. Lucas said.

By the time those minutes passed, a small island appeared in the horizon and at its center was a two
level glass house. As the plane landed vertically in the landing pad, Malak supported me as we got off the plane. Mr. Lucas (the African) was wearing thick dark glasses and an elegant suit with a red tie. He approached and welcomed us by holding my arm and helping me walk along with Malak.

“
Mr. Husam, welcome to your new base!”
—
he said with an American accent.

This guy
… I had seen him before!! His brown skin, gravitas and gray hair all remind me of one of Hollywood’s most famous actors. We walked into a room filled with large machines and equipment. It looked like an Operating Room in a hospital. They carefully laid me down on the bed located in the middle of the room.

“
I had prepared a complete training program but some urgent developments have changed the situation!” — Mr. Lucas said.

“
Husam needs to begin healing now!” — Malak answered him with the same anxiety.