Chapter 15: The Aftermath

Aisha stuck close to Lucy, her hand firmly on the girl’s shoulder, as she escorted her back across the school grounds towards her dormitory. They were about halfway across, when Lucy finally spoke: “so…that guy from earlier, who is he that he gets to enjoy exuding such authority?”. “He’s the headmaster.”, a very flat response from Aisha. The silence returned once more whilst Lucy pondered the implications of this revelation. She had been caught wandering around late at night by the headmaster. She had thrown a torrent of insults at him in her head. She had almost insulted him to his face. Lucy was lucky to not have gotten a greater punishment than what was being carried out now. Being escorted to her room? At least she wouldn’t have to worry about getting lost. Having someone stand guard outside her dorm all night? She’d be asleep anyway, if anything it was the person standing guard whom she’d feel sorry for. The person standing guard… “Hey uh… Hana was it? How did you end up in this…favourable position tonight?” There was no response. The silence continued to stretch. Lucy tried once more, “How come… Your clothes are different. All the students I’ve seen here wear black - are you not a student? You wear the same colour as that headmaster, are you also someone in charge of this school? Yet you seemed almost…subservient…to his commands.”. Aisha turned Lucy by her shoulder, till she was staring directly into the girl’s eyes, with a steely gaze, “Keep asking questions and I’ll have you on dish-washing duty for the well-keepers.” The two continued on, and finally reached the dorms. Lucy took one last glance at her custodian and rushed inside. The remaining few hours of the night seemed to drag, the sky beginning to brighten, a fraction at a time. Finally, her watch buzzed, and Aisha was given leave of her post. She slipped off back towards the underground.

Sulayman (or Jim as the students knew him) was the Caretaker of the school. He was the head of all the well-keepers. When his role in the school community was paired with the fact that he was Zaki’s father, and had raised the Six, it became evident that he essentially ran the school. As a result, he found himself falling into step beside Umar on Tuesday morning, as the boy was heading back to his sector after disposing of sector AB’s recycling. Last night Sulayman had met Asma and Hudhayfah in the living room, just as they were discussing what Aisha had mentioned about the insults thrown during the fight (after he’d told Asma that the architecture department were requesting more 1 metre rulers). He had noticed that Hudhayfah seemed to be falling asleep during the conversation, so he’d said he’d handle it. Now he calmly began conversing with the year 11 boy. After some small talk to get the boy more comfortable, the caretaker approached the subject of concern. “Yunus…is an interesting guy is he not?”. Umar glared in confusion, “uhm, no, I have no idea where you got that impression from, but he is not exactly what I would class as ‘interesting’, he’s more of… ‘delusional’”. Sulayman nodded, “yes, I see why you may say that, Yunus has not yet come to terms with the reality we live in, he hides from the true brutality of the circumstances people like us find ourselves in by throwing the blame on his allies to try and gain some sort of control in his life. When he was 7 his own uncle was amongst those who came to kill his grandparents. Although I am not trying to excuse his behaviour, it is surely understandable how he has turned out this way.”. Umar considered this for a second (was Yunus really not that bad? And what did Jim mean by ‘people like us’), and Sulayman continued, “Umar, don’t think I am ignoring your angle of yesterday’s events, in fact I think it is important to consider quite the opposite. I entirely understand the difficulty of holding back when your people are being attacked, and I must say that I am quite impressed that you restrained yourself and didn’t retaliate sooner, but I am also obliged to ensure you understand the weight of your actions. Just as it is my duty as caretaker of this school to ensure everything is running as it should be, it is your duty as a student of this academy to uphold our morals, which includes both refraining from dirty talk, and protecting the safety of this sanctuary. In telling Yunus the words you did, do you not think this could be of consequence?”. “But-”, Umar tried to interject, yet was cut off as Sulayman continued. “Umar, you are a very clever guy, you think through things at a deeper level than most, and in a matter of seconds. I trust you can find in good judgement within yourself the ability to resolve this by your own means. I will return to this conversation with you in a week’s time, and if the situation has worsened, or you have not been able to rectify it, then your penalty will continue as originally planned. If you do manage to settle this matter, then I will alleviate your punishment and you will be able to return to your regular routine.” “Thank you?” Umar nodded quickly and hurried off for breakfast.