Go away?
Adam blinked at the wet wood. Did he hear that right?
"Fareed?"
"GO AWAY!"
"…Huh…"
His fist slammed the wet wood. The door rattled in its frame like loose teeth. Adam kicked the bottom plank for good measure.
"Fareed, you donkey's ass! Open up!"
Silence. Just wet coughing from inside, weaker now.
"P-please..." Fareed's voice cracked thin. Like Adam was the wolf huffing at some little sheep's door. "Just go back, Adam. Please?"
She poured her life into this vial, you ungrateful little—
"Think I walked through this soup for my health?" Adam shouted. "Aziz will skin me alive if I come back with this! I'm soaked to the bone, smell like wet dog, and I'm holding the only thing that'll stop your sister hacking up a lung!"
Inside, Leyla let out a fresh peal of coughs.
"Just!" Was Fareed crying? "Just... Baba said..."
Adam froze. His fist lowered.
"Baba said... Said you bad news. Bar the door against...you."
Against you.
The cold in Adam's gut caught fire.
Even here? Even Fareed?
Adam looked at the medicine in his hand. Then at the door, the only thing between him and his one friend.
Too much. He had to break it down.
He planted his feet.
"Want to bar the door? Fine. I'm going to smash this plank! Give you till three!"
"Adam—!"
"One!"
"Stop it!"
"Two! I'm kicking this door down, Fareed! Swear on Fire. Swear I'll smash it to kindling!"
He tensed his leg, aiming his boot at the lock.
"Three—!"
Click
Lucky. The wood was thick enough to snap his foot. Good thing Fareed had rocks for brains.
The latch clicked, revealing Fareed's pale, terrified face.
Silence. Rain dripping off the eaves.
Adam stared at him. Fareed stared at the mud.
No, Fareed squinted at the clog. "What's that on your belt?"
Adam didn't answer, shoved him instead.
Fareed stumbled back, boots slipping. His eyes snapped up, mouth hanging open. But he said nothing. Just stood there taking it like a whipped pup.
That made it worse.
"What's wrong with you!" Adam shoved him again.
This time Fareed shoved back. "What's wrong with YOU?!"
Adam lunged. Fareed braced. Hands grappled wet wool, slipping and pulling—
Hrrk-kah! Hrrk-kah!
Leyla…
Both boys went rigid. Fareed's grip on Adam's collar went slack.
Adam smoothed his wet shirt, glaring. "You missed it."
Fareed blinked, breath hitching.
"My white wearing was today, idiot."
"Today? But… ain't Mobed Nariman out on his investigation? Who done it?"
Mobed was back from the city? Then why settle for Mansour?
His headache throbbed. What were Aziz and Babak hiding?
"What's Nariman searching?"
Fareed shrugged.
Adam sighed. "Herbad did it."
"Mansour? He herds goats. Can he even do that? Thought only a High Mobed could—"
"Well, belt's on, ain't it?" Adam said, shrugging the wet wool against his neck. "What's it matter who tied the knot?"
Fareed opened his mouth. Closed it. He looked at Adam's waist, then back to his eyes.
"I…"
Wheeze…
Adam sighed again, the fight draining out of his shoulders. "Gonna let me in now?" He stepped forward—
Fareed blocked him like a stubborn wall.
Adam frowned, the vein in his temple throbbed. Just a punch. One solid crack to Fareed's stupid face! Another sigh. Little Leyla…
Not worth it.
Adam unrolled the wet cloth, revealing the vial.
"Mix it with water. Give her little sips. She spews green after? Good. That's sickness coming out."
Fareed reached for it.
"If it's blood..." Adam said, but Mazda please not... "Know where to find me, right?"
"Blood?"
Adam scratched his head, shaking it.
Fareed's hand shot out.
Adam snatched the vial back against his chest.
"What? Stop fooling around, Adam!" Fareed lunged for it again.
Adam sidestepped, guarding the vial. It felt slimy. Wrong to the bone. Bargaining with a little girl's breath, but Aziz had bled for this. And Fareed had pissed him off.
"Look. Just..." Adam swallowed. "I ain't running a charity. Your Baba leave you any coin?"
"Money?" Fareed said. "What money?! Ain't you hear me? He wanted nothing to do with you!"
Nothing to do with him? Just happy to take the medicine though?
"Then you get nothing!" Adam snapped, turning away.
"Just give it to me!"
"Shove it, Fareed!"
They collided again, grabbing at the vial, at arms, at shirts—
"P'please... plea..."
Leyla again…
They stopped. Dead still.
Fareed's face crumpled. Panic drowning the anger. "Adam… I don't got no coin. Baba took the catch... we got nothing. Just give it. PLEASE?!"
Adam looked at his friend's wet eyes. Then at the dark hut behind him.
Grrrroooowwwl
His stomach roared loud enough to shame him.
"Look…" Adam said, "least you got any food instead? Bread? A fish head?"
He loosened his grip. Could ask for that much, right?
That was all Fareed needed.
He lunged, yanking the cloth.
Adam stumbled forward, empty-handed.
BAM!
The door slammed shut, wind slapping his face. The bolt shut home with a damning thud.
Adam stared at the wood.
"HEY!"
He pounded the wood with both fists.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
"Open up! You owe me! You hear me? That's theft!"
"GO AWAY!"
Adam pounded until his fists burned, screaming and kicking. Screaming for the coin. Kicking for the food.
But mostly screaming because the wood was cold and his only friend had barred himself on the other side of it.
"Fareed!"
Adam rested his forehead against the rough grain, fists spent.
"FAREED, GIVE ME MY DUE!"
Nothing but rain answered.
Just piss washing away his chance at being right.
Fine.
He wasn't leaving empty-handed.
Adam backed up two steps. Lowered his shoulder.
This time, he wasn't bluffing.
WHAM
The door shuddered, but held.
"Open it!"
WHAM
Wood groaned. Iron hinges squealed in protest. Inside, Fareed yelled something, panicked and sharp.
Good.
Adam backed up further, boots sliding in the mud, lining up for the killing blow. He'd knock it off its hinges. He'd—
"OY! RAT!"
The bellow cracked the air behind him.
Adam flinched, spinning slowly.
His heart slammed against his ribs. A hunched, twisted shadow stood at the edge of the clearing, black against the gray rain.
It didn't move. Just… stared.
Adam's mouth went dry. He couldn't say nothing.
Then the figure stepped forward. The monster melted.
Fareed's Baba. The 'hunch' just a wet sack of fish slung over one shoulder.
Adam gulped down a mouthful of spit.
Vahid's face was a sign for bad moods. The man never smiled, but today the scowl was meaner.
"Uncle Vahid!" Adam forced brightness into his voice, stretching out a hand. "Good to see—"
He stepped forward.
"Hrmph."
The grunt stopped him cold.
Vahid loomed over him, rain dripping from his thick mustache like grease off a skillet.
Silence stretched...
"The heck you think you're doing to my door?"
"We-well, you see—"
"Don't care. Just get off my lawn."
Adam's fist tightened.
"No."
Vahid's frown deepened. He took a slow step closer, his shadow swallowing Adam whole. "Hmmm?"
"...Fareed owes me money…"
Vahid chuckled. "Keep your druj to yourself, boy."
"BUT HE DID—"
Vahid's eyes went hard.
Adam's mouth snapped mid words.
Vahid stared at him, eyes traveling up and down Adam's soaked frame. Growled something under his breath. Then, without looking away, stepped toward the door.
THUD
He threw the heavy sack onto the porch, fist hammering the wood. "Fareed! Open up!"
The door groaned open. Fareed peeked out, face pale as milk.
Vahid kept eyes on Adam. "You owe this fellow money?"
Fareed stood clutching the cloth-wrapped vial to his chest. His eyes darted from Adam to his Baba and back.
"I…" Fareed said. "I don't know what you're talking about, Baba…"
Vahid nodded. Something smug crept into his face.
"There you have it. Take your swindling elsewhere."
Adam gritted his teeth till his jaw ached. "Just look what Fareed's got in his hands!"
Vahid's scowl got deeper. But he looked.
His eyebrows shot up. Then crashed down, heavier. He turned that gaze on his son.
Fareed shrank back, shoulders hitting the doorframe. "It… it's for Leyla, I'm sorry…"
Vahid snatched the cloth from Fareed's hands. Looked at the small vial for a second—then tossed it.
Adam scrambled, catching it against his chest in a fumble.
"There. Now get out."
Adam stared at the man, horror cold in his gut. He stumbled forward, hand outstretched to shove the medicine back.
"You can't do this! Leyla's—!"
His hand brushed Vahid's wet sleeve.
"—HEY!"
Vahid shoved him. Hard.
Adam flew back, feet slipping in the muck. Hit the ground ass-first, breath punched clean out of him.
Vahid loomed, chest heaving, veins standing out on his neck. His hand rose—
Adam flinched, bracing for the blow.
Nothing.
He cracked an eye open.
Vahid's hand trembled in the air. The man's eyes were squeezed shut, face twisted, jaw grinding like he was chewing on something foul.
His arm dropped. He let out a long, ragged sigh that misted in the cold.
"Get out of here, boy," he rasped. "Out and don't come back."