Khadija adapts to her new life, and finds love along the way.

The Prince, his wives and companions, now on a US Navy Carrier at sea, fled for their lives as he and his father’s forces worked to defeat the evil men who had infiltrated society. They were now involved in perhaps the biggest war in human history. It was not fought with armies but by computers, and by men who controlled huge amounts of money. Khadija, now free to explore, has her own unique way of attracting unwanted attention.

Below deck in their quarters, Khadija ran into Huda’s arms and began to weep. “I don’t know how to be now. I don’t know how to act around men! I don’t know how to be! It all feels so strange and now that I remember life in the US and am trying to balance that with my new life, it just feels like too much to bear.” Khadija said between bouts of sobbing.

“Khadija, Khadija, what is the matter with you? Calm down sister. Tell me what it is? Huda was holding Khadija like a dear sister and smoothing her hair as she talked softly to her.

“There was a man out there! He talked to me! I did not know what to do and then he made fun of me. He is the one I was going to shoot, and he is the one who carried me off the beach. My body is telling me strange things. Oh, Huda, it is just awful!” Khadija gasped out between sobs. “I used to be a man and now, well, now being held by one excites me! What am I going to do?” Khadija wailed piteously.

While in a sense, what poor Khadija was saying was funny, it was tragic too. Huda did not feel like laughing at her.

Huda was deep in thought as she held the young woman who used to be a man. She wondered how she would adapt to the changes that had been pushed upon him without his even knowing about it. She’d seen the records and talked to some of her captors. They were Wahhabbi extremists who perverted the Jihad, defiling it before Allah swt.
To Huda, Islam was the belief that her own gentle father had introduced her to. He was different than the Wahhabbi; being gentle and equitable to both his sons and daughters. Both of her parents had been killed by extremist’s right in Riyadh, on the way to the Mall.

Huda had stayed on in Riyadh until her youngest sister was ready for college, and then she had tucked her away at a college in Michigan, USA so that she could pursue her dreams like she knew her father would have wanted. Hala, the youngest was in Pre-med in California now.

She thought about her siblings, two brothers, one an engineer, and the other who farmed back in Saudi. Her older sister, married to a Saudi who worked for the 5th richest man in the world, a moderate Muslim. He’d even banned the use of the Hijab in his building; saying it prevented his workers from achieving their full potential. Mala was as domestic as anyone Huda had ever met. The idea made Huda almost giggle for a moment. She could not understand how Mala was so content at home with their 4 children, unable to drive a car, and having to traipse about in that awful Burqua in the heat. Her husband, Akmed, had been educated at a university in an American state called Oregon.
Huda comforted herself in the knowledge that she fought so that all her siblings could live life as they chose, even Mala. Huda had patiently allowed Khadija to cry herself out, while she was lost in thought.

“Habibi (my beloved), I know this is all very difficult for you. We all know about how you suffered at the hands of men who only wanted to hurt you.” We know that they were going to kill you when they finished their experiments. Khadija, you must get well. Your only revenge will be living happily when those evil Jinn (Arabic for daemons) tried to ruin your life.” Huda said with more emotion than she intended.

Huda sat calmly with her until Khadija dozed off. She then wriggled out from under her and covered her in soft blankets.

Later, most of the women including Khadija and Huda, sat in their bunks; all listening to Khadija share her feelings. To Khadija, all this helped her to begin to feel better about her life. Cocooned in the Harem, Khadija had not truly dealt with being a woman and her own sexuality. She’d just been able to relate to the others like sisters and she supposed that she related to the Prince as a Daughter or perhaps a slave.
“I know I am an American but since all this happened; I don’t feel like one any more. The last thing I remember is going to get some Pizza so I could think about what I knew.” Khadija said. “I don’t even remember my old name. All I know is that I am now named Khadija.” She finished.

“Darling Khadija,” The Prince said.

Khadija had not seen him come in and fell to the floor on her knees. Khadija turned to look at the Prince. “Master, I had not heard you come in.”
He mused that Khadija seemed to have regressed significantly since the escape. She’d been doing so well.

The Prince bent over and pulled her up to stand in front of him. “I gave you your new name because Khadija was Mohammad’s first wife. It was she who made him what he was. I have talked with Doctors about you, and they are surprised that you survived as well as you did. One told me that people subjected to less than you often develop what is called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. It is difficult to heal, but I and my family have become extremely fond of you. It has taken months for you to stop being a complete slave and nearly a zombie. As Huda told you earlier, your best revenge is to live a happy life. You asked for none of this and the evil vermin that infect my father’s company meant to harm you. Do not allow them to win, dear Khadija.” He said.

“Khadija, do you hear anyone else call me Master? I am your protector and you are my ward until you are well enough to start a new life of your own. Please address me as Abdul. You are special to me. I know that you were conditioned to do many things by Dr Evil and I find your addressing me as “Master” to be the most offensive thing they did to your mind. Do you understand me?” He said. “Does any other of you women wish to call me Master?”

His question was greeted with a gale of happy laughter and a storm of thrown pillows. It was readily apparent to Khadija that no one in the room feared dear Abdul.

Khadija just could not deal with this. The men had punished her so much for even the tiniest infraction. They’d shocked her and beat her until her mind was but a blank slate. Her whole past seemed like a disjointed nightmare. She remembered waking up to the smell of ozone; her body soiled with her own excretions, and her flesh smelling like a rotten dish rag. They never allowed her to have a normal bath or shower. It was always accompanied by bodily violations, alternately hot then icy water. Now, the prince who she had so feared is telling her to break all the conditioning that had been taught with such abominable cruelty?

She’d now been with the prince nearly three years, and still she constantly disassociated, and the paranoia sometimes seemed worse than when the prince’s men had finally broken into the complex where they had her. They did not even know about Khadija. She was just one of the captives who were subject to the experiments of the evil Doctor.

Sadly, they did not get the evil Doctor, but the complex was now just sand and broken concrete. They’d even used ground penetrating Radar, and other equipment usually used to find oil to search for the route that the evil one had used to escape.
The prince stood there waiting for her to move back into her own head.

“Oh, yes Mas…..er sir, I mean Abdul” she finished timidly.

“Well, that is better; inshallah you will learn as time goes on.”

“Yes Abdul, I will try very hard, though sometimes it is really hard for me to think clearly and it is doubly hard to go against what they taught me, Abdul”, She finished after some hesitation on his name.

The prince said, “I know that there are some evil men who would have their women being slaves but that is not the true way of Islam. There are some of us who strive to be as Allah made us. Do you hear any of the other women who are afraid of me?” You were captive of men who still adhere to the old tribal ways. Were it up to them, there would be no joy in my family.

She stepped over to Abdul and looking up into his face, said “Thank you”. She looked like a deer in the headlights, so he reached out, pulling her into her arms and tipped her back dramatically, kissing her romantically. The other women there giggled and made the trilling noise common to Arab women. When he finished, the young woman looked at him wide eyed, feeling her face. “Oh my” and then she promptly plopped on her back side as if in shock. Khadija sat there, fingertips feeling her overheated cheeks.

He walked out of the compartment roaring in laughter. Khadija’s other “sisters” were kinder but they laughed too. The grim look on her face signaled a tickle fest and pillow fight. There was so much laughing and screaming that the Marines outside began to get uneasy.

“Don’t worry men; my wives are treating one who has suffered too much.” He said. With that he walked off down the passage way laughing.

In the next weeks, she kept close to the other women and no longer felt like going anywhere on the ship alone. Oh, she trusted the men on the ship, but she just felt as if she needed a chaperone. After all it was only proper for a Muslima to be chaste and modest, though she had not actually thought about if she was a Muslim or not.

Talking to Huda later, “I am beginning to understand some things.” Rephrasing, “Actually, I can not understand but I feel more secure as Abdul’s slave and I came to see the chains that you put on me as a gesture of protection, and they made me feel secure. I do not even object to the Burqua any more because I feel protected and secure wearing it.”
“Khadija, you have been through just so much, it is a wonder that you survived. In the time before we fled his kingdom, you had grown to seem happy and secure. Now you act like a slave again.” She said. “Please do not allow evil to triumph over you. I know that you are more than you appear.”

Khadija realized that she had somehow become attached to the prince, his wives and his people that she felt she belonged with them. No one however pressured her to take the oath called the Shahadda.

The nuclear powered vessel seemed to be almost stopped in the ocean, far from any land but the captain had told them that they had been cruising at 15 kts since leaving the Middle East. The weather was much cooler now and it was not until they passed a tiny smoking island that someone told her they were near New Zealand. They paused in that area to rendezvous with a tanker that filled them with Jet fuel and replenished their food.
While Khadija’s life came to feel about as normal as it could be under the circumstances, she was entirely unaware of the happenings in the rest of the world. The King’s forces in his country had continued to fight a pitched battle with Mafia and Wahhabbi extremists who were much more sophisticated than the usual radicals he had coped with for years. The British Navy had happily volunteered to blockade his country’s single port, searching every vessel.

But when the Mafia was sure that Khadija was not there, the pressure was suddenly off while they tried to find her elsewhere. Through various leaks and the illicit use of Satellites, the criminals eventually found a task group with out a carrier and then they found a lone carrier near the Antarctic. At first, they tried to use a small business Jet against the carrier, and when that occurred, it was shot down by fighters. One of the fighters was destroyed in the explosion and the fighter that returned to the ship had a lot of damage, so the pilot ejected. There were rumors that the Business Jet had a nuclear weapon aboard. It was to have been a suicide mission.

The Captain of the carrier abandoned cruising alone and rejoined the task group. About a month and several more unsuccessful attacks on the carrier, it slowly moved up to the dock at Norfolk.
In the mean time, the governor of Texas had tried to mobilize the National Guard to prevent his own arrest on charges and the Governor of Florida was captured trying to flee to Brazil. It was decided to make the old Fort Sill, a confinement base for those arrested since the number was in the thousands. Many of those arrested were from oil magnate families. It included the President and the Vice President, 80 Senators, and a few hundred other legislators from DC. In the end no state was untouched. Many corporations were soon in the hands of stock holders. There had been lots of revolutionary fighting, and it eventually came to the Navy and Marines against the Army. The Air force just seemed to be out of the loop. The same was true in many areas of the world. When the rest of the world had seen what was happening in the USA, it encouraged those in several other countries to have bloody uprisings. You’d have thought that rival countries to the US would have fed on the apparent weakness and attacked but astonishingly China let it be known that anyone with such ideas would have them to deal with. Some said that China was far too fond of the American dollar to allow the US to crash. Russia later fell into line with China. Pres. Putin decided that this was a prime time to deal with corruption in his country. The Stock market had shut down and would not reopen for almost a month. Then it was rigidly supervised.

After nearly three years of unrest, military law, and fighting, the battle for the world was at a stand still. The worst of the worst were now confined at Ft Sill. There was much clamoring for the release of the darlings of the differing world factions.

The world was a crazy place, but that did not stop the Prince, who had been staying at Camp David, from having a new Palace built.
The Prince put Khadija to work with computers and this was the best thing he could have done. She was now doing something at which she was very good. Khadija’s work quickly isolated extremist activity on the Internet, and later began to make life miserable for them. A few months doing something that she had developed a gift for was actually the best therapy for her.

At dawn, early in the fall of 2019, a lone, solar powered drone climbed the skies over Lawton, Oklahoma. It was unseen by the eye, undetectable by radar.
Observers in the area later said that there was a sudden blinding flash, a huge fire ball, and then the shock wave that spread out from Ft Sill, for miles in all directions. There would be no more clamoring for the release of people who lived no more.
The same thing had happened in a dozen different places in the world. It was like the fabled assassination of the American president Kennedy. No one ever knew for certain whom it was.

Abdul had enlisted the aid of a psychological team and the first thing they wanted to do was put Khadija on several different medications to control her nightmares and depression, but she refused to take them.
She had more confidence now than before. “Abdul, please send them away, I won’t be half out of my mind to make them happy.” Deep in concentration, he had a frown when he looks up at Khadija.
The confident look on her face disappeared. “Oh, M…Abdul, I am sorry, I didn’t mean to make you angry with me.”
Abdul could tell that she still was not as strong as she sometimes looked.
Smiling, he said, “Amira (Princess) Khadija, please come here.” When she hesitantly came to stand at his side, he simply swept her onto his lap, and leaned back. “I am surprised at you Habibi. When are you going to get angry at the bad guys? It took indomitable spirit to even survive those months. I promise that I will never hurt you on purpose. I will certainly never strike you.”

The King had decided to retire and put his son, Prince Ahmad in office. And there was a special wedding. With the joyous approval of his other two wives, Khadija had been asked to marry the new King. It is hard to know who was most happy since everyone had tears in their eyes. Even the Muslim leaders had decided to lighten up a little and the wedding was a combination of Islamic and western traditions. It is rumored that the Islamic leaders had feared a full scale revolt if they did not embrace the sweet heart of the country, Khadija.
Indeed, one of the radical Imams had been stoned to death by his own countrymen. Only about a dozen people in the world knew of her origin, and Huda along with the other wives had grilled, drilled and trained Khadija until she could no longer even begin to recall how to strut like a guy.
“Khadija, are you sure you wish to be a Muslima?” Abdul asked her. “Oh yes, Abdul I certainly do. You are all my family now. I have no one else. Some of the others have given me instruction on Islam and I want to embrace it.” Huda had been a long time Muslima but had the support of her father in her unladylike behavior.
The saying of the Shahadda by Khadija was well attended and while she wept well and truly, she was actually very happy. (Her independent mind and intellect refused to accept everything with out reservation) This was a new life for her. She’d talked enough with Abdul to know that he did not blindly accept what was not reasonable to him. Had the conservatives known what he believed, they’d have been frothing at the mouth.
The wedding occurred with Khadija uncovered but once the vows were taken, she happily went behind the Niqab to return to the new Palace. It had been built in a valley at 7400 ft up in the mountains not too far from Sania, a very historic place.
That night only the chirping insects could hear what happened in the King’s chambers. Needless to say, Khadija was happy to consummate the marriage in the traditional manner.
A few months after the wedding, Prince Ahmad, took all his wives to Hawaii. Khadija had that certain glow. Her expression made her look like the cat that ate the canary. Khadija was the most reluctant to wear western clothing. Huda sat down with her and explained that Arab clothing would only draw attention, but she steadfastly refused until she went to talk with Ahmad. He assured her several times that he wished her to obey him because he bore the responsibility for her protection. “Yes Master”, she said. As she turned to leave, a hard swat on the behind made her whoop scandalously. But, she had a mischievous grin on her face as she ran from his quarters giggling like a school girl.
Later, Khadija emerged somewhat self-consciously wearing a one piece suit with a tiny skirt. Huda and Khadija walked down to the sea behind all the other women, one of the wives streaked past wearing a scandalous Brazilian bikini on. “Look at Sasha, Ahmad will certainly punish her for dressing like a slut,” Khadija said.
“She is used to being Ahmad’s favorite and since the wedding; she had felt unattended to.” Huda was laughing as she said that.
The private beach was wonderful and there Huda introduced Khadija to snorkeling. She and the rest of the wives were soon awe struck by all the colorful fish that dwelled in the rocks along the beach. Even some of the older children joined in and the wives took turns watching the babies. Some of the little ones were able to make things in the sands.
While the world was more peaceful than before, the family still had weapons in places that Khadija knew about. She was still much protected, but did not know it.

The afternoon rains seemed to cool the air somewhat. Khadija was under the water when the rain and lightning started. “It is so beautiful” she though. What a pleasing present from Allah swt.
The Hawaiian food was wonderful, but their waiter insisted that they were missing a great treat not to eat the pork dishes. The prince quickly explained that eating Pork was Haram (forbidden) and the waiter seemed to accept that. They did the usual tour of the Volcano but stayed out of the Cities because of security.
One afternoon as they were finishing lunch, they all heard the sound of a distant explosion. An armed Helicopter was seen approaching the estate where the royal family was staying. The enemy had defenses against every weapon known at that time, except another Helicopter flown by human hands.
The last part of their stay was horrible for Khadija because she had started and it was no secret to anyone in the family. It is obvious that she’d had a miscarriage. Huda, having borne the curse since she was 12 finally got sick of it and told Khadija to stay in bed until it was over. She even called Khadija a drama queen out of frustration. This led to more tears and slammed doors.
The Prince and his wives were all talking while Khadija was indisposed and Huda suggested that they get her pregnant again to get them some peace and quiet. That led to a good round of much needed laughter for everyone. They were just about to talk about other things when the Prince saw Khadija standing in the door, with tears running down her face.
She quickly ran over to the prince where he sat on some pillows, knelt at his side and tearfully apologized for being so troublesome. The rest of her evening was quite peaceful since she quietly lay at his side.
A day or two later, she was finally herself again.
Huda, Sasha, Haifa and Khadija sat in a corner talking. “Oh, Khadija, you must do everything you can to please our husband. He is loving and kind to us in a way that many men would not be. We are as free to be ourselves as even American Women!” The conversation went on for a while and then began to get very animated.
All the wives stood and began to disrobe, getting ready to go swimming. There was much giggling. And when they all had their suits on, they ran giggling to the door and down the steps. Khadija tried to lag behind but Huda and Sasha drove her ahead of them, planting open palm swats on her delectable bottom. As they ran past a reclining Abdul, he called to them. “Khadija, he called.”
They all stopped, and Khadija turned self-consciously around to face the King. She had a smirk on her face, and could hardly stifle her giggles since the other wives were making little comments.
“You are very beautiful, as are my other wives in their new suits.” He said. He watched as pink, then bright red went right up over her face and then down over her breasts. At first she sort of drew into herself but then relaxed as she accepted his complement whole heartedly.
Her new suit had tiny triangles that just covered her nipples and then little patches of cloth that barely covered her below. Her cheeks, all of them were glowing agreeably.
He stood, and walked over to the girls, his reaction to their beauty clear beneath his swim suit. He looked at the other wives and winked conspiratorially.
“Khadija, I notice something on your behind though, can those be hand prints?” He said.
With that Khadija and the other wives began to giggle coquettishly. Khadija had this really naughty gleam in her eyes. “Oh yes, Master, would you like to add another?”
Before Abdul could move, she turned and with the other wives, raced for the water, the King not far behind them.

The best revenge is to live a happy life. Never let the bastards win!

This is effectively the end of this story unless I change my mind. In which event, it won’t have been the end. Oh, I can’t decide.

Khadija Gwen Ellen Bint Brown

ENDED 11-25-08 Gwen