Chapter 9

(Jean Dujardin as my idea of Kamal's Father)

Kamal...

It was only by the sheer force of will and the fact that my father had sent Hamid to summon me to his in home office that I left Jameel's side after he fell into an exhausted slumber. I unclenched my jaw and tried to relax my tense muscles, but coming to terms with this level of violence against another human being made it seem like it was a lost cause. Nothing could have ever prepared me to deal with what was done to Jameel. My rage at the man knew no bounds, the same sadistic bastard that had spent the greater part of my young life cursing me for being gay only to turn around and abuse and serially rape an innocent young man locked up in his home like a personal pet.

I had to stop right there in the middle of the hallway as my anger flared into a burning inferno, my skin prickled and hot burning, resentful tears poured out of my eyes. Hamid realized that I was no longer following him and he turned and took one look at my face and immediately his face softened and he tried to approach me, but I held up a shaking hand and shook my head at him. My emotions were way out of my control and I just needed a minute to gather myself, but fuck, how am I supposed to do that. That fucking hypocrite, if I never before believed that there was a God, I believed it now, because the good Lord saw fit to take that son of a bitch from this mortal plane. Otherwise, had I found out about Jameel and that fucktard was still alive, I would have murdered the man.

That thought scared the shit out of me, because I know that I am completely serious on the matter. I would have had no qualms, no regret, and absolutely no guilt whatsoever about taking the old tyrant's life as punishment for his crimes against that beautiful man.

"Kamal, little brother. I understand...You...."

"No, Hamid, no...Don't you dare say that you understand my anger and that you understand what I am feeling. You don't, Farooq certainly can't, and neither does any other heterosexual man in this family." I interrupted Hamid's attempt of trying to calm my raging temper.

"You didn't have to sit there and listen to that man tell you that you are nothing, that you are a reject and a disgrace. You have no clue what it was like to live in fear of leaving your own house on a daily basis and wonder if this is the day that an angry mob of your own grandfather's associates are going to beat you to death for being an abomination to Allah. God Dammit!" I screamed on top of my lungs. The growing need to hit something intensified and the overwhelming desire to vent this poisonous haze of unadulterated fury momentarily over pyowered me. My hand curled into a tight fist and I lashed out at the first thing that I saw.

Sorry to say it was my mother's Daum Crystal Kumara Vase that fell victim to my angst. The sound of the heavy crystal shattering and raining it's jagged shards across the marble floor like a million twinkling tear drops echoed throughout the house like a gunshot. I stood there shaking like a leaf as the last pieces of glass skittered across the floor. It took a minute for the unrelenting haze that had prompted my irrational actions cleared from my brain enough for me draw in a ragged breath. I shamefully looked up into the shocked face of my brother, and what made my behavior feel even more deplorable was that just beyond his shoulder, our mother was standing further down hallway with a hand over her heart and a haunted expression on her face.

I went to open my mouth to say something, but she gave me a wobbly smile and turned away to return to whatever room she had come out of.
Damn, and double damn, this is the second time I have managed to literally rip my mother's ideals of her father to shreds, and again, I wasn't too sure if I truly cared because there was a severely abused young man almost comatose from exhaustion, malnutrition, mental, and physical injustices of the worst kind in another room at the opposite end of the hallway.

No sooner had my mother retreated did my father appeared outside the doors to his study. He pointed a finger right at me, and damn if I didn't feel his angry eyes burning holes right into the middle of my burning face.
"Asre' (Hurry up!)" He barked out as he motioned for us to get a move on. Hamid and I wasted no time as we quickly made our way towards his office. A serving girl timidly sidestepped us on her way to clean up the mess that I made and I grimaced at the twinge of guilt that swamped me.

We skirted around our irate parent and immediately found a seat in front of his massive desk. Farooq was already seated and waiting on us as well. I heard the whisper of silk moving and I was surprised to see that all of my other siblings except for Yasmin, who was still monitoring Jameel was in attendance.

My father imperiously took his place behind his desk and his dark eyes assessed each one of us before his gaze ultimately settled onto me. "First and foremost, I gathered you all in here to discuss the recent developments in this family. I do not need to tell you that I do not want your mother hurt more than she already has been by this entire situation with her father and the injustices he fostered on that poor young man. We all are going to put in the time, the effort, and the kindness I have raised you to believe in to help this young man heal and go on to live his life."

I watched out of the corner of my eyes as my all nodded their heads in agreement with our father and a rush of warmth washed over me. I was truly blessed to have the family that I have, and I was sorry I blew up on my brother that way, but again. They would never truly understand how deep that man cut me, and how traumatizing it was as his viscous words shredded my very soul. As a young man growing up struggling to fit into an environment where there was no room, no tolerance, and sheer fanatical ignorance, my own grandfather had almost destroyed me.

My father gave us one more hard glare making sure that his decree was cemented into our psyche. Then he launched into an explanation of what he and Farooq had learned from the servants in our grandfather's home. It was just like Jameel had described, the regular house servants who were aware that Jameel was locked up in the very same room as the depraved old asshole had tearfully confessed that they kept his secret in order to keep their employment. I already heard Jameel's version, but hearing how callously the servants treated him on top being used like a personal prostitute and punching bag for an untold amount of years made my father fire the entire lot of them immediately. Personally it pissed me off that they got off so easily, but then again it will be hard for them to get another job in any affluent household after being terminated from ours without a letter of reference.

I was grinding my teeth so hard, my jaw hurt. "Can we please stop rehashing what was done to him. We need to focus on what to do to help him." I snapped at everyone in the room. Just as he didn't want my mother's nose to constantly be rubbed in the her father's transgressions, Jameel shouldn't be made to feel less than a man because of his abuse. He needed to learn normalcy and the sooner we begin the less awkward he may feel in his new surroundings.

"All of you may be excused. Kamal you stay behind please, I would like to talk to you for a minute ibn (son)."
My brothers and sisters quietly left the room and Farooq closed the study door behind himself on his way out. I sat there and prepared myself for the scolding that I was sure was coming about upsetting Mama, and not just once but twice in the last 72 hours.

"Ibni (my son,) kaifa haloka (how are you?)" He asked me instead and my head snapped up to see the man that was my father. The man that has accepted me and loved me no matter what looking at me with so much tenderness in his eyes, and I felt tears pooling in my eyes as my fluctuating emotions once again grabbed a hold of me.

"Ana bekhar, shokran (I'm fine, thanks.) I replied knowing full well that I was less than fine, but I didn't want him or my mother to have add my feelings and how badly this entire situation was affecting me to their worries right now as well. It wasn't just the unimaginable depravities foisted upon the unsuspecting young man down the hall. It was the total lie, the hateful acts, and hypocrisy of the man that had set my blood boiling out of control. The multiple sins and laws he broken while damning me and trying to tear me to pieces inside my own mind. The level of evilness that lived inside that son of bitch was just incomprehensible to me.

Right now, I didn't even want to understand what drove the old fucker to be the way he was, or do what he had done to me and to Jamal. All I wanted right now more than anything else was to make the world alright for that beautiful boy. Even with all the abuse, he still survived. There was something so guileless and so innocent in those wide chocolate eyes of his. There was just something driving me to protect him with every fiber of my being, and I found the intensity of my feelings towards Jameel so strange because it's only been a matter of hours since he came into my life, well close to a whole day since I was fortunate enough to find him.

My father sighed heavily and brought my attention back to him. I looked at my father and I saw all of us, or I should say I see all of his features reflected in my siblings and I. My father's a very distinguished gentleman. He wore designer suits made to fit his tall muscular frame to perfection. His salt and pepper hair and his beard just made him even more debonair. There is an undisputed air of pure Alpha male surrounding him that just made you undoubtedly aware of exactly who was in charge at all times. I can only hope to carry off my own aging process just as elegantly as he is does.

"I know that you are lying through your teeth, but I forgive you because I know why you are stretching the truth. You are a good boy and you always have been. I can't even try to begin to understand how you feel about this distasteful situation. That man was so full of himself and his own self importance. Karma has caught up to him and I hope he is eternally paying his pennants for his actions in the fires of Hell." He worked an eyebrow and continued, "now if you repeat any of what I just said to your mother, you will be joining the old bastard in the after life."

His amused grin made his dimples pop out across his cheeks the expression softened his threat. These feelings of love and security is what he wanted to teach Jameel about. It was now about getting the young man to trust others, but more importantly getting him to trust and love himself enough for him to see that deserves such blessings.

My work was going to be cut out for me after all the poison he was lead to believe, but I am not going to give up on that little beauty. Jameel is someone special, and he is meant to be the ray of sunshine he has the potential to be, and I need to make sure he knows it as well.