Ella's Dairy

Chapter 3

The Day Before

Today is the day. Okay, well it's the day before the day. As usual, the day before we go on a mission Amir, Aasia, and I gather in the meadow. There, we just talk. We get everything off our chests before we face certain death. We make final plans for the mission, what we want to do with our lives if we live through the mission, and just everything in general. It has been a tradition that we do this ever since our first mission.

"I definitely think that one of the men needs to carry a bow on the," Aasia says as we try to figure out how we are going to do the mission tomorrow.

"No!" I shout back at her. "It would be too obvious. We need to make sure that no one notices us, and that they think that we are normal party guests."

"Ella's right," Amir said. I smile at him. After our huge fight the day before, I wouldn't have expected him to defend me. "We don't want our cover to be blown."

"Think about it. If we have someone with a bow, we can take him down from a longer distance away. It would be safer for us," Aasia said defiantly. She was determined to get her way, as usual, but if I know Amir like I think I do, he would never let her do something so stupid that would put our lives in danger.

" No, we are not using bows!" Amir shouted back. I know he wouldn't let her do something so stupid. My hero. "We should let Ella decide what we should do, saying it's her operation and all."

Dang it! I hate making huge decision like this. So much for being my hero.

"Well," I say after several minutes of thinking and planing out the perfect plan. "Here's what we do. Aasia and I will dress like regular party goers, wearing nice dresses and such. Underneath our dresses, we shall wear a belt with knives, and wear daggers disguised as hair pins in our hair. Amir and the other two guys will wear suits with long cloaks over them. This will allow them to carry swords without anyone realizing that they have them on them. Amir will escort me into the party, while one of the other guys escort Aasia. The other guy will go in and standing guard inside the party. An hour after we arrive is when Aasia and I go to work. Everything else will go the same as usual. Got it?"

"Got it!" Amir says back. Aasia just through a fake smile. Some days, I wonder why I am friends with her. If she's not in charge of a mission, she doesn't like to go along with what anyone says. It just makes me sick!

The conversation start to get more serious as we talk about what may happen if we were to be attacked, if someone were to die, or if we were found out before we even walked in. The threat of death always clouds my mind, especially right before we are to go on a mission. I just chose not to think about it. I need to keep my eyes on the prize and not focus on what could happen.

Amir breaks the tension by pushing Aasia into the little pond in the meadow. Aasia was not happy with him. While she was in the water, Aasia pulled Amir into the water by his foot. They both burst out laughing. I too, was laughing on the nice, dry bank. Amir then got out of the water, lifted me up into his arms and threw me into the pond. I was under the water trying to find the surface, wishing I took a longer last breath. Slowly, the surface comes into sight. I pray to Allah that I can make it up to the surface. Then, I stand up. Okay, so maybe I am being a bit over dramatic about things. What really happened was that I just flung around in the water a bit, and then, I was fine. We laughed and played like we were children for hours. Then, we lay out in the grass, hoping that the hot Arabian sun will dry us off.

"I love the rainy season," says Amir. "It just goes to show you that there are good things hidden in the bad." I couldn't agree more. I hate that a lot of the times when it rains, we can't go hunting with out my parents wondering what I have been up to, but when it's the dry season, it's almost too hot to do anything.

"Ella, if we do live through our missions, do you think that you would do anything else?" Aasia asks. This was a new question to our topics of choice, or at least not one that we talked about recently. Usually, when we have one of these nights, we have a least one serious and meaningful topic to discuss. I guess this is the one tonight.

So many thoughts ran through my head. I could be a medic like my mother. No, I have a tendency to make people sicker, not necessarily heal them. I could be a carpenter like my father. No, not after the whole toothpick fiasco. I could be a wife and mother, and be what society expects me to be. No, I hate children, and I have never conformed to society before, why should I start now? I think for a long time, and then, it finally hits me.

"If I were to live, I want to take care of my family's pigeons. The closest I could get to flight." The birds once belonged to a friend of my mother's. After he died, my family took care of them. I could not imagine doing anything else with my life.

"That's nice," replied Aasia. "If I live through this, I wan to be on the prince's private guard. I would be fighting and protecting him, and I would be the first woman to do so. It was my destiny to be apart of the Saracen army, and I plan to die with them. Okay Amir, your turn."

"Oh, I have no idea. I guess I would want to work as a blacksmith, making swords and stuff." Amir has been making most of our knives, swords, and other weapons. He has a real gift for it. "I also hope to marry a pretty girl with pretty short, dark-brown hair and beautiful dark-brown eyes." My heart sank. I knew he was talking about me. I couldn't believe it! I have always had feeling for hims, but I never expected that he would have feeling for me! My hear was about ready to explode. I want to have feelings for him, and I am extremely happy that he has feeling for me back, but I have never had this happen before.

"And I love you too," I respond without thinking. He then slowly leans in towards me. I know what's going to happen, but I don't know how I am supposed to react to it. I slowly just fallow his lead. Soon, we share a passionate kiss. A kiss that I will always remember, and I will tell our children about someday. We pull apart for a few seconds, and behind Amir's head I see Aasia stand up and storm off with a severely scorned face. Amir and I go back to kissing. I feel true passion when we were kissing. This is what my parents must feel when they kiss too. I then feel a sudden chill. I then realize how late it has gotten.

"It's getting awfully late," I tell him. "We should probably get going."

"Farewell Esmeralda my love," We kiss one more time, and I pray to Allah that it won't be our last.

I make my way back to my house. On my way, I see a neighbor of mine standing in her doorway.

A man was standing outside the door as well. The neighbor has known me my entire life, and I knew that her husband is fighting in the war. The other man, however, did not look like her husband. In fact, I don't think that I have ever seen this man before. From the way he was dressed, I could tell that he was fighting on our side though. The man put his hand on my neighbor's shoulder, as if he was trying to comfort her. My neighbor started crying hysterically. I knew what all this meant. My neighbor's husband was another victim of the war. Tears start flowing down my face, as I hide behind a wall, watching the entire scene unfold before my eyes. I know exactly what I have to do. There must be peace, and I may be the only person to make it happen.

Sorry it has taken me so long to post this. It has been written on notebook paper for like two weeks now, I just haven't had time to type it. So, the plot thickens, Ella has girl feelings and is not afraid to show it now even if it means hurting her best friend, on accident of course. Next chapter plans to be action and then the next a cute Will and Djaq scene I promise, just hang in there! Thanks for reading and reviews are very appreciated, may be even rewarded, who wants candy! Haha just kidding but seriously greatly appreciated. On a different note, notice any parallels with the characters?