Escaping Revel - With Al Sahwa 1

This is the first story will be posting by Al Sahwa Schools Seniors as part of a project I introduced here.

It is written by Muna Al Wahaibi, Isra Al Kindi and Noaf Al Bulooshi. Please comment your thoughts about it below, and share it if you so feel.

Uncle came home one night, to our little run-down dwelling in the slums, looking exceptionally pale and out of sorts. I asked him what was wrong, hoping he wouldn't say that he'd been out gambling again. He looked up at me nervously and I could see guilt in his eyes.

"What have you done?" I questioned, my irritation rising at me Uncle's incompetence. Ever since my parent's death five years ago I've been living with Uncle Palo, but his irresponsible behavior can drive a person mad. It was like I was his guardian and not the other way around. If he's not drinking, then he's gambling. He squanders all the money we ever raise and then borrows money to gamble more, which has pulled us knee-deep in debt. "I'm sorry, Laura" he replied, "I took a loan from Revel and his men." "You wouldn't!" I cried hysterically, "Even you wouldn't do something so dumb." Uncle simply looked away. "You know that's playing with fire. Now you've done it Uncle. You've stuck your hand in the devil's mouth." "It was only a little," he reasoned, "I didn't know he would-" "Don't lie to yourself! You did know!" I interrupted, "Everyone knows that you can't win with Revel. Where will you get the money from? How are you going to pull your hand out without having it bitten off?" "That's easy," he replied, not meeting my eyes, "I'll give the devil something else to chew on." I looked at him, confused. "What do you mean?" I asked, but he didn't reply. From behind Uncle Palo entered the infamous Revel and his gang. I froze in fear. "Is this her?" Revel asked Uncle. Uncle gulped and nodded. "Take her," Revel ordered his men and they moved towards me. I could see what was going on now. "No, no, let me go!" I yelled as they grabbed my arms. "Uncle, don't let them take me away!" Tears rolled down Uncle's cheeks as they dragged me forcefully out of the room. "Uncle Palo!" I called out to him again and again, but he still didn't move. He betrayed me to protect himself. I could feel anger boiling up inside of me along with the overwhelming fear.

Revel and his men took me to their base, a several-story building hiding in plain sight at the end of the slum. Everyone knows where these rotten thieves live and their crimes, but no one can do anything about them. Anyone who tries is labeled dead before Revel even kills him, which he does. One of the men took me to the kitchen, a place as rotten as them, obviously unkempt. He shackled my feet together with a long chain, so I wouldn't run away. "This place is to be clean by sunrise," he instructed before leaving and locking the door behind him. I sat down and cried miserably for hours before hauling myself up onto my feet and getting to work. As I scrubbed the grease off of the counter-tops, I resolved that I will run away no matter what. I will escape this torture even if takes me years to do so. I managed to get the kitchen relatively presentable by dawn, but I was completely exhausted. As I put my head down on the hard ground to get some shut eye, however, the door unlocked and the same man from yesterday came in. He studied the kitchen but said no word of approval. "Starting today, you'll bring up breakfast and some drinks to the boss's room on the third floor," he ordered. I dragged myself up onto my feet and got to work. He watched me as I prepared breakfast on a tray and then placed the bottle and a few cups next to it. I followed him up, my chains clinking as I walked up the stairs. He showed me into a room where the men where gambling around a table. Revel was cleaning his gun while watching television. I placed the tray in front of him. He didn't give me a second glance. The man then shooed me out and closed the door. I started descending when I realized that this was my chance to escape. There was no one to stop me. I hurried down as fast as the chain would allow. I tripped in my excitement, but hurriedly pulled myself up and continued on. I could see the door now. I was blinded with joy and I didn't see the men guarding it until it was too late. "Where do you think you're going?" they asked as they pushed me down. "I'm sure Boss would like to have a word with you." I tried to wrestle my way out as they dragged me back up the stairs, but it was no use. They pushed me to my knees in front of Revel. He gave me a bored look and clicked his tongue. I was eyeing his gun fearfully. He pressed my face painfully into the ground with his shoe. I wondered tearfully what they were going to do to me. To my surprise, they unlocked my chains and removed them. A second later, however, they shackled me again. This time, the chain was much shorter than the first time. I could hardly walk, let alone run away. They threw me in the kitchen again and locked the door behind me. I cried myself to sleep. Days turned to weeks as I served them breakfast and drinks every morning and cleaned the kitchen every night. I noticed that even when Revel goes out, he does not take all his men. There was always someone guarding the door. I couldn't take it anymore. I took my chances and climbed out the window in the stairwell one day after I had delivered Revel's breakfast. The windows in the kitchen were barred, so I couldn't use those. I fell painfully to the ground beneath then quickly got up and tiptoed away. I could already taste freedom when a yell sounded from behind me. I had been spotted. I tried to run, but my chains wouldn't allow it. I was captured and my chains were shortened once again. Now I had trouble climbing the stairs from how short the chain was. I decided there was no way I could escape the way this was going. The more I tried to run, the harder Revel's grip gets around me. My ankles ached from the constant chaffing of the chains. I had to think of some other way to escape. One day, a few weeks later, Revel and his men came back late at night yelling and laughing joyfully. I wondered what was going on when one of them came into the kitchen. "Bring up all the drink's we've got!" he ordered with a smile plastered on his face, "Tonight we celebrate our greatest victory!" I thought fast as soon as the door closed behind him. This was my chance to escape. I loaded a tray with drinks and another with cups and carried one in each hand. I waddled up the stairs and placed the drinks on the table. Before I re-entered the kitchen, I noticed that the front door was left unguarded. The men were probably all celebrating upstairs. I didn't take the bait, however. I decided to wait for the perfect chance, to make sure I was not going to be captured again. The voices of the men that sounded down to the kitchen were obviously drunk by midnight, but I waited even more. It was a few hours before sunset when I grabbed a bread roll and some water and tiptoed out of the kitchen. I kept my eyes peeled and listened out carefully as I snuck out the door and into the cool night air. I didn't relax until my feet were aching from the walk and Revel's hideout was completely out of view. I drank some of the water and stowed the rest, along with the bread, for later consumption. Now that I was out, I didn't know where to go. I certainly could not go home, that's the first place they'll look when they notice that I've escaped. However, if I stay out on the streets I would certainly die of starvation. I walked for days, sustained by whatever I could find. People didn't give me a second glance since they were in the same state I was in. One day, I was sitting by a fence, waiting for death, when a man came up to me and asked me what had happened. I told him my story and he exclaimed in astonishment. He told me that I was the first to escape Revel's evil grasp. He took me to the police station where they removed my chains and listened to my story in awe. Finally, they decided that something had to be done about Revel. They gave me a place to stay, in an orphanage far away from the slum, away from Revel and his men. A few weeks later, I heard that Revel and his men had finally been arrested and had been sentenced to jail for give or take twenty-five years. I slept well-assured for many nights before turning eighteen and finding myself a nice job at an orchard, where I could make a living picking apples. I never saw Uncle Palo, Revel or any of his men again.