Chapter 23: Chapter 23
Halima’s POV
I waited for the driver and after thirty minutes of waiting, he arrived. The drive home was silent as I was not in the mood to talk and the driver understood.
The car was faulty and that was why he didn’t come to pick me immediately he was called.
He apologized and said that it was his fault because he had not taken it for servicing for the past two months.
He also begged me not to tell mummy and daddy as he thought that his salary would be cut if they found out. I just nodded in response.
The car stopped moving right in front of our neighbors house and without further ado, I got down and walked to our house while kicking anything I saw on the road.
I didn’t even know why I was moody. I guess I was just tired and all the day’s events were tiring and maybe just maybe that was what affected my mood.
I reached home and to my surprise I saw daddy coming out of a car that was parked a little bit away from the house
I was sure I’d never seen the car and I knew all four of dad’s cars. I also knew all two of my mum’s car so whose was it?
I had a feeling I had seen the car somewhere so I decided to walk over to where he was peeking through the window of the car. I tried to walk faster as I heard the car rev to life.
Daddy looked to my direction then widened his eyes and said something then the car moved and stopped just by the junction.
The person in the car brought his head up and I could’ve sworn I saw Amir. I tried to squint my eyes to see the person but it was too sunny and it was as if the person peeked intentionally because the person swiftly put his head back in the car and drove away.
I looked at daddy who was face was looking scared. I asked, “daddy waye wannan? {daddy who was that?} Is he one of your friends or colleagues at work? I think I’ve seen his car somewhere”.
“no baby na {no my baby}. You don’t know him though he’s been here a few times but you guys never met. Anyways let’s get inside and talk. I thought they said you’ll be back after four so why are you here now? It’s just 2:30. Or you know what let’s go inside and talk about it over some ice-cream. Aunty Fauzzy brought some for hers and your mum’s whatever it’s called.”
He was trying to change the topic and I understood that so I just dropped it. Moreover, having ice-cream sounded refreshing. But I didn’t want to relive today’s ordeal. But whether I liked it or not I needed to tell him no matter what.
We walked in and sat down and had the ice cream after I had taken a long refreshing bath and dressed in a flay leaf green material gown which I paired with a cream viel that I just wrapped around my head .
I was telling him about my day and at the mention of Amir he stiffened then asked me his full name I told him and I saw an emotion flash across his eyes but I couldn’t decipher what.
I asked why he was concerned and he just said that his name was the same that of someone he knew but the person was abroad so it possibly couldn’t be him.
I shrugged it off and continued with my ice-cream as he excused himself to his room. He didn’t come back and I didn’t bother to check on him knowing that he might be working and I didn’t want to disturb him.
After finishing a whole tub of ice-cream and suffering from several brain freezes I had a headache and decided to sleep till 4pm then binge watch all the zee world series I had missed after praying Asr knowing that neither I nor Teemah had been paying attention to our Salahs.
And not to talk of Adhkar and Nafilahs. Those were things we decided we’d start once we were married.
But I had more hope than Teemah cause I made sure I prayed all five prayers but Teemah prayed the maximum of three and minimum of zero per day instead of minimum of five and no maximum.
“I’m sorry, I had to leave you all those years. I had my reasons. Just don’t do it please. I already know they left you you and that girl a huge amount of money to live on but I could help you with more money. Anything but this please.” Audu Kalshingi said with pleading eyes.
His eyes were teary and he was giving him his best pleading look despite knowing that he couldn’t see him.
They were in a hotel room at Prixair hotel. He had his back facing Audu Kalshingi and his gaze was outside the window as he enjoyed torturing this man.
“Halima already knows me as someone else. All I want is for her to know me for who I really am, not who she sees me as.” He said with a stoic face.
“Please, I’ll introduce you when the time is right. This is a wrong timing please. Just reconsider. I can go on my…” Audu Kalshingi was cut off by his ring tone.
He gulped as he looked at the caller ID displayed on his screen which said Baddo am. “Answer it. It’s her right? I know she’s the one so pick the call.”
He gulped then nodded. Realizing he couldn’t see him he said “okay son.” As he was about to answer the call he sent something flying across the room such that it almost hit Audu Kalshingi.
“Don’t ever call me that in your life. You lost the privilege to call me that when you left me in the hands of those monsters ten years ago. So. Don’t. Ever. Try. It.” He said between gritted teeth.
He walked past Audu Kalshingi and left the room after saying “I give you from now till April 13th. You and I both know it’s her birthday so you better tell her before then or else…”
He slammed the door and left a crying Audu Kalshingi. He had kept the truth away from her for too long. He needed to tell her and his wife before it was too late.
He stood up and went to the bathroom to clean his face and left minutes after he was sure his eyes were void of any tears.
Fatima’s POV
“Please stop. Dan Allah stop. I’m doing this for her own good. I’d never hate my sister. That blow was meant for Amir but then I thought, why not make the act seem very realistic. I wanted to aim for her but hit Amir but she moved and it hit her. Wallahi tallahil azeem I was scared when the blow hit her square in the head, that was why I left. I didn’t want to see her in such vulnerable state knowing that I’d break down in front of that thing called Amir. And the whole reason for the charade I put up is to help her grow. I want to help her grow and be able to… “ Ya Sa’eed had completely broken down by then.
I could feel my chest closing up and the walls closing in on me. My breath was hitched. My chest felt like daggers were being sent to my heart.
I quickly reached for the water on the center table but my hand was shaking and I couldn’t get a grip on myself.
The glass cup slipped out of my hands, breaking in the process. I could feel all eyes on me as I felt as if someone was strangling me.
I felt like someone was squeezing my heart, ribs, neck and everything. I heard some voices which sounded like Afnan and Amal’s but that didn’t matter to me.
All that mattered was that I felt like that was my last day on earth. I felt like I was slowly being robbed of my life.
Why did my life have to end like this. I had not even prayed Subh prayer talk more of Zuhr. Was that how I was going to meet my Lord?
I prayed silently as I saw some light being shined on my face. I thought it was the angel of death. I didn’t even know his name.
I started saying all the supplications Ammi forced me to learn. Not that they’d save me from death.
I suddenly felt water being forced down my throat and them I felt like the grip on my neck had been released.
Then I felt my cap being taken off, I didn’t mind. Then I felt my shirt being removed. I tried to move my limbs but they failed me.
I opened my mouth to say something but all that came out were incoherent things that even my brain couldn’t decipher.
I finally had the energy to move my hands and I pushed the person who was taking my shirt off but then I felt some set of hands holding mine tightly.
I closed and opened my eyes consecutively till I could see even though my vision was a little bit blurred, all the while refusing the person who’s been trying to get my shirt off.
I noticed it was my mum and a female doctor. I calmed down and I felt a syringe pierce into my wrist and that was when I fell asleep.
“Trust Sa’eed he’d never do anything to harm you. Even if he would remember Allah is here with you even so he can’t do anything to you” AbdulHalim said all dolled up in his white jalabiya that shone in the darkness. The jalabiya was so long it covered his feet.
I tried to reach out to him but he said, “if you come any closer I might have to leave you. Just stay where you are and listen to me attentively.” He said and I thought his voice just got more angelic. Was that even possible?
I gulped then nodded as my vocal cords had decided to fail me when I needed them most.
He continued “don’t ask any questions and don’t answer any of my questions, just listen attentively and let everything sink, okay?”
I nodded in affirmation again and he continued, “Sa’eed would never harm you, even he would remember Allah is with you so he can’t. Naturally you’re supposed to trust him more than you can ever trust me but alas, it’s the opposite. All want to say is that you should trust him for he’s your blood brother. Whatever he says don’t question it just let your heart do the thinking and I promise you’ll find out he’s saying the truth. And I want to talk to you about your sallah. You hardly pray five times daily, how do you want to make Jannah if you don’t pray. And don’t do it because I said you should, do it because it’s obligatory.
“Do it because it will get you closer to Allah, do it because it’ll help you prosper. What is a Muslimah without her sallah? So make sure you pray on time and also pray Nafilah before and after every sallah as it might make up for your lack of prayer for Allah is Ghafurur-Raheem. Good bye Fatimah”.
I was being shaken back to consciousness. “are you okay? You were shouting AbdulHalim in your sleep. Did you dream of him again? What did he tell you this time?” Ammi asked with concern written all over her face.
I told her all he said excluding the sallah part as I know she’d be furious to find out her daughter didn’t pray her daily sallah. She just nodded all the while.
I told her I needed to talk to Ya Sa’eed and she called him and Abba into my room. I sat up from my sleeping position and released a yawn before looking at Ya Sa’eed.
I saw him gulp then blink before opening his mouth “Fatima I’m sorry. I know that’s not the way I should’ve gone about the issue but that was the only way I could think of.”
I opened my mouth to reply then remembered AbdulHalim’s words. I closed my mouth and nodded for him to continue.
“You know I love you and I’d never do anything to hurt you. When AbdulHalim was about to travel he told me that he might not come back as his dad said he would start his senior secondary school in a command school in Yobe. He told me to look for a way to tell you he might not come back soon and to get you to get over him.
“He knew you held him dear to your heart too much to let him go. So after telling me this they embarked on their journey and when I heard the news of his death, I wanted to pull out my non-existent hair in anger, frustration and mostly sadness.” He let out a sad chuckle then rubbed his hand over his face before continuing.
“I was very sad for you. I didn’t know how you’d take the news. All those cries, they weren’t for me. Not that I didn’t feel bad about his death, I felt really bad but I felt even worse for you. So I decided that I’d pretend I hate you so that… so that you’ll be able to stand on your own and be able to live without leaning on anyone.
“I know that it was a bad idea but it was the best I could come up with. I started with my plans when I entered ss1 but I guess all I did was going to the trash as you took it as a cute way to look for trouble and lovingly annoy you. I heard you saying it to Halima when you guys fought. And that was when I decided to go with drastic measures and that was why I refused to come to your aid when Hamza was… You know what.” Ammi looked at him questionably and he explained.
“hamza put his hands on her shoulders to make one girl jealous and she couldn’t loosen his grip on her. So she asked for my help but I ignored her.”
Ammi shook her head in dismay then urged him to continue “I was intentionally avoiding you. All I did was intentional except for that blow. I’m sorry. I’m the reason for all this I’m sorry my baby sister.” He engulfed me in a hug as we both cried.
I felt the door open and close and when we broke the hug, we were alone in the room and our eyes were bloodshot. He pinched my cheek and we both let out heartwarming smiles that we later unknowingly turned to a competition to see who can smile the widest.
After some seconds we both burst into a fit if laughter and hugged each other again. I missed him so much.