Chapter 21: Chapter 21

Fatima’s POV

I opened my eyes to a room painted plain white with dashes of cockroach brown. It had drawers made of wood with glass doors like those in the music room back at school  just that this ones contained tissue papers, sanitizers, toilet detergents, izal and lots more. They were also somethings that looked like tampons or sanitary pads.

By my far left were series of oak doors. By my right were series of white wash hand basins with hand washes situated by the left side of the tap on each.

The tiles on the ground were white with dashes of cockroach brown too just like the wall. The whole place reeked of izal and other toilet cleaning stuff.

I’m sure y’all must have realized what the place was, well it was the female bathroom. But I didn’t know of where exactly.

I was tied down to a chair so I couldn’t stand up. I tried to shout for help but muffled sounds were what I got. And that was when I realized that my mouth was gagged.

I tried moving but each time I tried, the rope I was tied with gave me marks. I gave up and that was when someone came out from one of the bathrooms.

Suddenly, the lights went out and then the person multiplied by two, then the lights came on again. The both of them were laughing this evil laugh that gave me chills. The bad chills.

They were both wearing black sweat pants and black hoodies with black shoes. The hoodies covered their faces so I couldn’t see who they were.

I was scared to the extent that my heart was beating erratically. I tried to even my breathing but I couldn’t. Then suddenly they both disappeared and were replaced by a horse black cat that was as big as a cheetah.

The cheetah was lurking towards me. I tried to move the chair I was tied to but all to no avail. Then the cheetah jumped to get a hold if me.

I jerked and opened my eyes. And I was still in the bus. I was sweating profusely and my heart was beating a thousand miles per minute that’s if that was possible. It was all a dream, it was all a dream, it was all a dream, I kept telling myself.

I was on the chair and lying on someone’s chest, a boy. I quickly got up to meet Amir’s eyes on me. I quickly moved away from him. He reached out for my hand but I pushed it away.

I got up to leave the bus but I felt dizzy and staggered back. Amir held my hand but I pushed his hand away again.

He turned me and looked into my eyes, the way he was looking at me was as if he was looking for a treasure chest or something in my eyes.

I knew exactly what he was doing so I tried to make sure that he wouldn’t be able to see through me.

He picked up the bottle of water I kept on the ground and gave me saying “you still have the nightmares don’t you?” I was surprised, how’d he know. I almost choked on my own saliva.

“I have my ways yunno”, Amir said shrugging. Did I say it out loud, of course I didn’t. Then how’d he know, I thought.

“Was I thinking aloud?” I asked him to which he replied with a scoff. He just shrugged and then his face hardened.

“Why were you crying and why were you laying down there? Did anyone say anything to you?” he asked as his face hardened even more that’s if it was even possible.

“Nothing, just had a little argument.” I replied shrugging as my eyes well up with tears. I knew I’d end up breaking down in front of him so I just turned my face away from his sight and tried to walk away.

Keyword: TRIED

He was holding me back. I tried to talk but I knew better than to talk. If I talked, the tears will come down.

I closed my eyes in a bid to push back the tears then said, “Amir please leave me alone. Dan Allah ka sake ni ka barni in tafi {for Allah’s sake let go of me and allow me to leave}. Please.”

I knew I sounded weak and vulnerable at that moment but I just couldn’t help it. I didn’t care if he heard me sound weak but one thing I knew was that I’d never and would never allow myself to cry in front of a boy no matter what.

He let go of me only to turn me and by then the tears I tried so hard to push back were falling freely.

He put his index finger under my chin and rose my head up in a bid to look into my eyes. I looked up and his eyes were flaring. He was angry, but at who.

He brought me out of my reverie saying, “what did Sa’eed do?” At that point I just couldn’t keep it in so I leaned on his chest and let the tears fall freely.

I was sobbing uncontrollably to the extent that I could feel the headache which had disappeared resurfacing but this time with a fever.

Amir held my head to his chest and we sat back down. He looked at me and said “so what happened to you?”

I could feel the tears resurfacing as the memories of my encounter with Ya Sa’eed replayed in my head.

I narrated all that happened to him and by the time I was done, I was already crying and sniffing. My head was banging and I could feel mucus in my nose.

In a bid not to spoil his uniform I lifted my head off his chest and pulled a tissue paper out of my bag. I used the tissue paper to clean my nose and face then threw it out the window.

I then continued, “kuma {and} he’s been doing that since when we were small. Wallahi {I swear by Allah} sometimes I even think I’m not his biological sister. Saboda {because} whenever I try to get close to him as per sister and brother he’ll push me away. When I’m feeling down or moody, sad, angry or anything, the first person I try to talk to is him. Amma {but} he’ll push me away. Har maman mu tayi noticing cause rannan naji tana masa fada {even our mum has noticed because I heard her scolding him}. But he didn’t stop. What did I ever do to deserve this for Allah’s sake? Have I ever hurt anyone?”.I asked looking into his eyes.

I looked down again and continued,” kuma fah this wasn’t how he was before. When I was primary four wallahi {I swear by Allah} he wasn’t like this. We do everything together, literally everything. Amma tunda ya shiga {but since he entered} jss3 everything changed. He doesn’t talk to me anymore. Kuma maman mu, she’s always busy, traveling up and down saboda she’s an interior decorator yunno? Ana kiranta wurare tayi decorating for weddings, namings, even new houses ana kiranta taje tayi choosing décor din da zaiyi matching {people call her to decorate wedding venues, namings, even new houses people call her to choose a matching décor}. Wallahi {I swear by Allah} I’m tired of all these. At that time that Ya Sa’eed started avoiding me I grew closer to AbdulHalim. He even told me to stop calling him Yaya. Dama we’ve been close amma we got closer. Then…. Then…sai sukayi accident suka mutu shi da daddyn sa {they had an accident and died with his dad}. I really miss him wallahi.”

I looked up again and saw that he was fighting back his tears. Then I sat down very well and looked into his eyes hopefully, “please tell me you’ll never leave me. If I accept you ai you won’t block me out the way Ya Sa’eed has been doing koh? Promise me you’ll be my second AbdulHalim. Please, tell me you’ll not die and leave me alone the way AbdulHalim did. Please tell me you’ll love me with my flaws, my ups, my downs and everything. Please, just promise me you’ll not betray me. You’ll be by my side forever”.

He looked into my eyes and all I could see was honesty. After looking in each other’s eyes for what seemed like eternity, he picked my two hands and held them in his and looked into my eyes again then said, “I promise my Fatima. I promise to never leave you. I won’t betray my hayatee. I promise.”

I laid back down on his chest feeling sleepy again then said, “please, dan Allah don’t betray my trust. It was hard for me to open up to you. Now that I have, please don’t betray me. Wallahi I can’t afford to have my heart broken. I can’t be hurt more than I have already been. So please….”.

He shushed me by putting his index finger on my lips “ just keep quiet okay? Ai I’ve promised you. Kuma I won’t break my promise”.

I nodded as he laid my head on the chair and stood up. I adjusted myself and laid down very well. Finally drifting off go sleep. As I was about to give in to the darkness that engulfed me, a thought came to me than I said “Amir, please don’t let anyone know, not even Kalt. If she knows she’ll tell Halli and Halli loves you a lot. She’ll feel that I betrayed her and she’ll leave me and block me out the way Ya Sa’eed did. Please don’t tell anyone.”

I didn’t hear his full reply cause I was already asleep. The only thing I heard was it’ll be our little secret

Halima’s POV

I’ve looked for Teemah for almost an hour now but I can’t seem to find her anywhere.

I saw Amir walking towards me with rage. I tried to dodge him but he was walking so fast that he caught up to me.

He turned me and said “Where’s Sa’eed Abba Sulayman.”  Through gritted teeth.

As I opened my mouth to reply I heard Ya Sa’eed’s voice “Over here Amir Aliyu”.

Amir turned almost immediately and landed a slap on Ya Sa’eed’s face. I gasped and placed my right hand on my mouth.

Amir said through gritted teeth “how dare you lay your filthy hands on Fatima’s face? What kind of huma are you? Slapping your…”

Amir was cut off by Ya Sa’eed’s hand which almost had contact with his face if not for Kalt who held his hand.

“Look my brother is not your younger sister so keep your claws to yourself cause if you dare lay a finger on my brother, you’ll be sorry.” Kalt said, her voice sounding dangerous.

Kalt dropped Ya Sa’eed’s hand and stood in between him and Amir. Amir pushed her back and said, “Let me deal with him. Man to man.” Kalt shrugged and moved out of the way.

Ya Sa’eed scoffed before saying “Why does it concern you she’s my sister after all, what’s your business? What ever I do is none of your effing business so stay away from her.”

Amir looked at him from head to toe before saying, “Is this how older brothers behave towards their sisters? Beat them like they are punch bags? Slap them for no reason? Do you even love your sister at all?”

Ya Sa’eed sent a blow to Amir’s face which Amir dodged retaliating with a blow on Ya Sa’eed’s stomach.

Ya Sa’eed staggered back then sent a blow to Amir’s face which caught him off guard. Amir then sent two blows at once to Ya Sa’eed’s face.

That was how they kept on fighting and fighting until we all heard a shout from behind me.

We all turned to see a crying Teemah. She looked like she had seen hell.

She came and stood in between Amir and Ya Sa’eed the said, “please you guys should stop, you’re adults for Allah’s sake please stop. What if…”

She was cut off as a blow Ya Sa’eed sent which I thought was meant for Amir hit her head. She fell down to the ground and fainted.

Amir sent a glare Ya Sa’eed’s way before kneeling down to hold Fatima who was already unconsciously lying on the ground.

Ya Sa’eed looked down at her then walked away leaving Amir on the ground trying to bring Fatima back to consciousness.

Amir looked up to Kalt and said “Get a teacher here, she’s not regaining consciousness and she’s running a very high fever.”

She ran off and then Amir turned to me, “Why does he do this? This girl needs her brother for Allah’s sake. Haba what is wrong with him? Da anyi magana yace{once I talk he’ll say} what is my business, ai kanwar sace {she’s his younger sister}.”

Fatima’s POV

I was sleeping peacefully when a junior student came running to me. He said that Ya Sa’eed and Amir were fighting outside the stadium and all the teachers were inside.

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me. I fell down twice and injured my knees the first time but that didn’t stop me.

I knew that Ya Sa’eed wouldn’t hesitate to injure Amir because he had told me countless times that he hated the whole Aliyu family. He never told me the reason though.

On reaching there the first thing I saw was Ya Sa’eed’s swollen cheek. I shouted something that even I didn’t know before running to where they were standing.

I stood in between them determined to stop the fight. As I was talking Ya Sa’eed sent a blow to my face which made me fall. I looked into his eyes and saw nothing but hatred for me and he was smirking. I tried to open my eyes again to make sure I wasn’t seeing the wrong thing but the dizziness and darkness took over.