Alike: The Rogue's Odyssey

The sun was setting as the ship docked at the port of Algiers. The captain bellowed an order for his men to secure the vessel. Bags and goods were loaded onto carts and horses before being taken off the ship.

I turned to my mother and father, who were standing behind me. I could see the tears in their eyes. My home country may be in trouble, but seeing my family again was worth the journey here.

"My boy!" My father yelled as he wrapped me in a tight hug. "It's been so long since you've been gone."

"But you're back now." My mother said as she too embraced me. I could feel her body quiver with joy as if she had just found her one lost treasure.

"Yes I am." I replied as I took out my bags and began to load them on a cart that was carrying many other goods for their shops back home. "Hopefully we can get these goods delivered quickly and then have time to visit with some old friends."

"Friends?" My father asked with a confused look on his face. "There are no friends left in our land."

"Father, not all of our people hate each other like you do."

He laughed at this statement. "That's because they're all afraid of us." He said the last few words while pointing his index finger into my chest. "They fear what we can do to them."

"Father you know that's not true." I said with a smile on my face. "You used to be very well liked among our people before Mother died."

His face fell as if someone had told him that she had passed away again, but it didn't last long as he quickly regained his composure. He smiled and gave me another pat on the back before turning around to help unload more goods from the ship. His back looked much smaller than when he left over 15 years ago, most likely due to all the hard work he has put into running their business here on the coast of North Africa. It was his idea after Mother died, he said they needed some fresh air away from everything they had known back home in Northern Africa where they lived most of their lives together. It was also much easier for him to sell his goods here rather than having to travel across all of Africa every few months or so to get supplies from different places in order to keep up with demand back home in Algeria and Northern Africa alike.

As we finished unloading the ship, my mother went ahead to see if any suitable rooms could be secured for us at one of our old properties while we got ready to go sell our goods first thing tomorrow morning at one of the large markets near one of our properties closer by the city center which would hopefully give us enough money for us to stay for at least a week or two depending on how much we sold tonight and tomorrow morning beforehand.