No Matter What: Chapter Twelve

‘We will still keep her under observation’ he was informed.  Noor was rushed to the hospital by Hilal, her first cousin. After a series of diagnostic strategies, the doctors diagnosed her as a drug overdose case. Hilal was told that chances were that she tried to commit suicide.  ‘Is she going to be okay doctor?’ Hilal worriedly inquired. ‘She did ingest a large quantity of hypnotics, we would have to wait and see. We will try the best we can’ the doctor placed his firm heavy hand on Hilal's shoulder reassuring him.  Noor was kept under observation and left to rest her tired body in one of the wards at the hospital. Fajr and Jawad arrived as the doctor was speaking. They luckily overheard what the doctor said before he left, saving themselves the hassle of asking Hilal. 'And her parents?' Jawad asked worryingly. Hilal had a sarcastic smile on his face yet filled with hatred 'They'd want her dead for all they care'. Jawad was shocked at Hilal\s statement. He turned to Fajr only for him to see that she seemed unsurprised by what was just uttered. She knew Noor's family pretty well and for them, what Noor did was a crime that deserved a punishment more than death.  ‘Like you wouldn’t want her dead?’ Fajr bursted out in anger in front of Hilal’s face.  ‘I know what I did was wrong, but I have changed ever since’ he replied calmly as he welcomed Fajr’s accusations. ‘Yeah right, I’d die before I’d believe THAT’ she replied back with disgust filling her insides. ‘I brought her in didn’t I? If I wanted her dead I would have left her to rot and decay’ he answered back with words that were like a slap to Fajr’s face. ‘But that doesn’t change the obvious’ Fajr replied back wanting her say to be final. Jawad pulled his sister aside to calm her down ‘Don’t make a scene; we are here for Noor not him’.  She was sad and crushed, grasping her denim overall strap tight; she remembered the vow she took. Storming into the ward, she paced her way following the doctor. Her walking tempo increased as it turned to jogs. She was now running towards where Noor was.

The smell of sanitizer filled the air, the grayish green flawless glossy corridors were crowded by white lab coats and blue scrubs, the cries of sadness and chuckles of laughter and joy were all mixed up in the atmosphere. Her heart raced as she took a left to another less busy corridor, she was walking up to see her. Behind a door she lay on a bed looking helpless, as pale as the color white with lips as purple as dawn, Noor was still unconscious.  ‘Oh My God’ Fajr said as she placed the palm of her hands on the door pushing it away. She was reciting little prayers under her breath as she slowly moved forward approaching Noor.  A tear managed to getaway looking at the nurse replacing Noor’s empty IV bag with another.  ‘She needs all the rest she can get’ the doctor checking Noor’s chart told Fajr. She nodded her head and sat on the bed’s end patting Noor’s feet when she still kept on reciting prayers and verses she knew from the Qur’an.

He found the phone he was looking for on the bed. He sighed in relief and went on reading what was on its screen. It was still on the same message it was left on. He looked around making sure she wasn’t around,

‘^{♫♪☻♥♫♪☻♥} Happy Birthday My ₣ajr ^{♫♪☻♥♫♪☻♥}

I Miss You

Love, Taimur’

He smiled as he read it. He was certain that she would smile knowing he remembered her birthday. He had a wide grin but then soon turned to a frown. He wondered why she never replied back like she always had. ‘She must have someone else?’ he asked himself but soon dismissed it. ‘No no no, she’s just busy’ he chose to think the way he wanted to. ‘Or maybe yet, she didn’t save my new number’ he went on contemplating finding an excuse to calm his nerves. ‘But my name was at the end, no no she must be busy’ he finally settled on that thought as he heard a cry from the next room. He panicked and pressed the red hang up button on the phone a bunch of times to make sure the screen went back to an image that portrayed his life now. An image watchfully placed as the wallpaper of his phone. An image that would forever remind him that he has lost Fajr forever. It was a digital portrait of him wearing a fake smile in a dark green turban, a dishdasha and a black besht. His hands were carefully laid on another pair of fair rosy hands that were adorned with henna. With a matching green gown to his turban, her lips drawn with scarlet red smiled next to him. It was his wedding day photo.

She woke up to the sound of his voice not aware of where she was at the beginning. She was a mess, depressed and felt more like a bottomless pit. Unable to keep her composure she burst into tears as she felt like a helpless corpse that was hit by a train. Her body was screaming in pain; she has been sitting on the same chair for the past few hours. Checking through her digital wrist watch, the digits displayed 18:03 hrs. Getting her eyebrows close to each other, she scowled at the reality of Shihab not being there.  She was sure to leave him a message but now doubted if she ever did. Grabbing her phone, she flicked a few buttons and saw that she actually did; her message status was delivered at 10:27 hrs. ‘He never answered back’ Fajr turned to her brother. who woke her up, worried. ‘Maybe he is on his way’ he paused ‘or maybe he didn’t receive anything’ he paused again thinking ‘or maybe…’ Jawad grew silent in fear that something worse has happened to him. ‘Maybe what?’ Fajr asked in panic. ‘No nothing maybe he wasn’t allowed to enter?’ he tried calming his sister down by dismissing his thought with a silly excuse. ‘No this cannot be happening’ Fajr said as she rushed out of the room trying to dial Shihab’s number. Fajr realized how heavy the piece of news in her text must have been, but then she remembered that she didn’t actually mention anything but Noor being involved in something. ‘He shouldn’t be in shock’ she said to herself as she heard the ringing tone, of the other end of the line, in her left ear.

Fajr calling…

The phone went on flashing bright to lighten the dark room. Black was all you could see, the bed, dresser’s doors and drawers, the plasma screen TV to the walls were in a complete opaque black color.   The mixture of cologne with sweat was the fragrance lingering in the air. Stacks of dirty unclean clothes furnished the floor and treadmill.  It was dark and cold. The door wasn’t completely shut, leaving a slight opening with the light of the living room peeping through. A loud shove swiftly swung the door open for it to collide with a wall producing a loud ‘THUMP’. The sound of the TV has now made it through inside the black cold room. Two toddlers walked in with their quick baby steps and headed towards the queen sized bed. Shihab nudged from the shock of his nephews’ little cold hands touching his cheek. Giggles and laughs from his twin nephews made Shihab laugh when his eyes rolled back into focus. The twins always enjoyed seeing their uncle in fright. Something about his fright amused them, it was their daily ritual. They always woke him up from his afternoon siesta when they were visiting. The only purpose to this was for them to climb up with their uncle on the bed and play with Shihab’s fluffy bee toy which was Noor’s birthday gift to him. ‘You naughty boys’ he tickled both boys and played with them.  It was nearing sunset and the time for dawn prayer was soon, so he rushed to carry his siblings out of his room. Locking the door, he went on to sniff out a clean dishdasha out of the stack hanging on the treadmill. After selecting the cleanest and least stinky out of the stack, he rushed to the shower and gussied himself to head to the mosque, all the while his phone was on silent.