The Jewish Neighbor Read Free Page B

and inhaled with his eyes closed.
    “Delicious…”
he whispered with his eyes still shut but his face looking up to the heavens.
“You may be a fucking Arab, but you sure smell fine down there, sister.”
    Anger,
rather than fear, erupted in Umayma’s chest. Her wrath
was directed not at the two men who were about to take her. Every single fiber
of her body was writhing in its hatred of Kamal .
Whatever these two monsters were about to do to her, was no different from the
slow campaign Kamal was waging on her dignity and
sense of worth. These men were street dogs, this much was clear. This is what
they were born to do. 
But Kamal ? He was meant to be my husband. My protector.
    Umayma
accepted there was nothing in her power she could do to prevent what was about
to happen. There was no point in fighting. If she screamed or resisted they
would kill her. Not that there was any guarantee they wouldn’t end up cutting
her up anyway after they ravaged her.
    Her
body stopped shuddering and she laid her head to one side and closed her eyes,
resigned to her fate. It’s not like you hadn’t been raped before, Umayma .
Bitter, but familiar tasting tears ran down her face and a torrent of
soul-bruising helplessness pummeled through her weak body.
    The
man on top spread her legs wider, positioned the head of his penis at her
entrance, and then wiggled to improve his aim. Umayma saw the devil in his dead
eyes. As he pulled back ready to thrust in, she heard a voice coming from
across the park.
    “Hey!”
    Was
it a third accomplice coming late to claim his share of the kill? If there was
any justice left in the universe, her heart would stop right now to end her
miserable life.
    “Mind
your own fucking business!” the man mounting her shouted back. He pulled out
his knife again and raised it in the air to declare his intentions.
    “Let
her go now and walk away—I am dialing 999!” The voice was coming closer and it
was fortified with intractable resolve and authority.
    Umayma’s would-be rapist jumped swiftly to his feet and
pulled up his pants, releasing tremendous pressure off her. She took a breath
and saw flashes of light at the corner of her eyes. With her head on the
ground, she looked back and saw the world upside down. A man was approaching
them at an impressive pace.
    “It’s
that fucking Kike from the morning show on telly . I
recognize him! What’s it to him anyway?” Gavin puffed with the exasperation of
a child being dragged out of Hamleys . He too put his
pants up and buttoned them.
    “Let’s
get the hell out of here,” his partner said.
    “You
mean chicken out? We can take this half-dick out.”
    “Don’t
be a bloody muppet . We need to scram. Now!"
    Just
before running away, Gavin kneeled down and whispered in Umayma’s ears.
    “You’re
never going to be safe in this country.”
    Then
with the might of a vengeful battalion, he kicked her in the ribs. As if the force of the strike carried with it the wrath of not just
the man kicking her, but his entire people. Before long the paralyzing
pain swimming through Umayma’s body took over and
shut it down.
    §
 
    When Umayma came
round, a black cat with striking green eyes was lying at her feet, staring at
her. Like it had been assigned to protect her. The
excruciating pain in her ribs before the lights went out was greatly
diminished. She noticed some ice packs attached to her body. 
    Where
am I?
    The
stream of events that transpired before she had fainted starting looping in her
mind until she remembered Layal and her heart rate spiked. If she was late to
pick her up, they would call Kamal . And if he wasn’t
able to get there in time, child services would be notified. No excuse would be
good enough. It would be the end of her.
    “Hello?”
she called out, her voice still weak. Soft, classical music was playing and the
smell of something good cooking floated in the air. Chicken soup, she thought.
Her body was covered in a soft lime-colored