Mariyah's Blog

The black anger that had seized Ghassan’s mind, made him oblivious to his surroundings. The northerly wind pushed at him and he pushed back angrily. Words of an imagined argument with Alexandra’s father swirled around in his head; thoughts of stealing Alexandra away in the middle of the night, heading East on a midnight express, made his blood course. With each deliberate footstep away from the house his resolve strengthened. He had to do something. If he went home he would go mad with waiting. Waiting for someone else to decide the course of his future was not something he could stand for. Why was he being barred from the discussions when he was central to them?

Ghassan stopped abruptly with the purpose of turning around but just as he did, a young woman ran past him. Ghassan’s mind had been so focused on his own thoughts that he did not pay her much attention except he noticed she wasn’t wearing a coat and only a scarf over her head. Inadvertently he turned to look back at Frau Hanauer’s home and was surprised to see Frau Hanauer still on the stoop. She was waving frantically in his direction. Then he saw a tall figure emerge hurriedly from the house and leap the four steps from the stoop to the front walk. Suddenly, Ghassan’s mind focused on the events that were unfolding. He realized that the woman who had passed him was Alexandra and the man quickly approaching was her father.

Without another thought, Ghassan began to run after Alexandra. She was at least several hundred metres ahead of him. He could hear her father shouting her name behind him and he knew he had to catch up to her before her father did. His long legs took him further and faster than either Alexandra or her father could run. Without looking back, Alexandra turned down a lane way. Ghassan rounded the same corner now less than 50 metres behind her and was catching up quickly. Alexandra seemed to sense someone approaching and sped up. As the two took a sharp curve in the alley, Ghassan could almost reach out to touch the back of her dress. He quickly looked behind him but could see no sign of her father.

“Alexandra! Stop!” He shouted. “It’s me, Ghassan!”

Alexandra turned to look at Ghassan while she continued to run, her face a mix of surprise and fear.
“I can’t stop! If he catches me…” Her voice trailed off as she continued down the alley.

The alley had mostly a mixture of back doors and doors to storage rooms set into the gray stone buildings. Higher up, were several stories of windows. The alley was deserted except for garbage cans, and stacked boxes and a few stray cats. Ghassan’s and Alexandra’s footsteps echoed loudly as they slapped against the old stone walkway. Ghassan was starting to feel tired from the running and was wondering where they could run to to elude Alexandra’s father. As they had almost arrived at the far end of the alley, he suddenly recognized a sign from a café that he frequented on one of the back doors. Without a warning, he grabbed Alexandra’s arm and pulled her toward that door.

Shouts behind them warned them that Professor Cochrane was still in pursuit. Ghassan pulled hard on the door but it did not open. He rattled it a little more and finally it gave way. The two slipped quietly into the tiny pantry for the café and closed the door gently. Ghassan wrapped his arms around Alexandra and pulled her close as they both panted hard after such a run. Again, they heard her father’s shouts now just outside the door and then nothing as he had emerged onto the main street.

Alexandra began to cry as she buried her face in Ghassan’s chest. “He is going to marry me off to David McEwan! Take me away where he can’t find me!” Ghassan looked down to see her small, flushed face looking up at his. “Take me to Syria!” She pleaded.

Ghassan stroked her hair gently and sighed. “If only it were that easy, Habibti. If only.”