No Matter What: Chapter Seventeen (2)

BANG…

The loud sound caused the ground to shake. He was sinking in his own puddle of blood as the police and volunteers tried to pull off the debris away from him. The bright red car wasn’t bright anymore. The red wasn’t visible under the pitch darkness of the vehicle above it. The only red seeping out was dark with a strong stench. The red that oozed traveling its way to the feet of those who helped was his blood. The car was sandwiched in the space between the road and the lower body of the trailer. Shihab was dizzy from the pints of blood he was losing. He tried to move his lips to speak only he couldn’t. His body was too weak for anything. He stayed there stranded as he hoped for rescue to come its way soon. He needed to be alive for Noor. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye. He promised not to cause her pain and he couldn’t inflict her more pain than she already went through. He must fight. He shall fight. For Noor’s sake, he will forever fight. 

BANG…

The last of the trailer was pulled away as a gush of wind blew inside the car. The pressure of the heavy weight metals on top relieved his body. Inhaling as much air as he could, he heard the sounds of people calling out for him. He saw their shoes coming forward towards him. He saw the shoes floating and roaming around everywhere through the dark lit sky. He saw them floating around, he felt lightheaded and flighty. Shihab watched as the world swirled around him until stars started appearing in front of his eyes, he fainted. 

‘You are under arrest for the kidnapping of …’ the handcuffs clinked in their place around his wrists behind his back. Cries and shouts he heard as he was taken and shoved inside the police car. ‘No don’t take him away’ she screamed at the top of her lungs as she was pulled away by her brothers. ‘No please’ she kept on yelling as warm tears flowed down like an opened water tap. Everyone ignored her, Noor felt overlooked as she struggled to loosen her brothers’ grips on her. She wanted to reach out for him only she couldn’t. Shihab looking out the window, seeing his lawful wife being pulled away and hit, wanted to fight back. Rage overcame him as he started shouting demanding he be released. He couldn’t take the sight of a fly harming her, and now she was going through what was even worse.  

Red and blue everywhere, onlookers watched as the ambulance made its way through. Still laying unconscious drenched in blood, Shihab was being transported to the nearest hospital. 

A bright light was flashing as everyone else pointed it out.  

Fajr calling…

His phone was still intact minus the scratches and cracks it endured. Reaching out for the phone that was in the accident scene, he gasped holding it closely with hsi hand all red from the blood he got in contact with and said...

‘Hello’ 

No Matter What: Chapter Seventeen (1)

She was struggling with her inner self. Should she reply back? Should she talk to him after what happened?  Should she allow herself to be shattered to pieces? ‘No, no I won’t reply back’ she said to herself, but she missed him dearly. The life she led now never filled the void he left in her heart. But then she wondered how it would be to feel her heart soothe by just seeing his number and name on the screen. ‘But he hurt you Fajr, why can’t you just let go?’ her conscious took upon itself to advocate her against it. ‘It wasn’t his fault’. She was certain that what she would do next is something she deserved; to rest her tired restless mind and get the closure she always was seeking for. For the first time in the last five years, she decided to confront him and ask why he never fought for him, for her, for them.

‘I miss you too’ she typed it down but at the last minute bailed out of her plan. She felt her heart heavy, she couldn’t take it. She suddenly felt sick and disgusted on how low she made herself be because of him.  But she needed to know his answer, she convinced her conscious.  She kept on staring on the four words she typed while her thumb was still brushing over the ‘send’ button. Closing her eyes, she decided to send it only for her to step back from that decision. ‘I’ll save it in the drafts’ she told herself but her jamming touch-screen phone did what she didn’t want. ‘NO .. NO..  NO.. ’ she screamed out in hopes she could retrieve what has been just done. Throwing her phone on the ground from frustration she leaned her head on her palms as she closed her eyes tight in regret. The phone hit the send by mistake.