Arranged or love?

chapter 1

Chapter 1

She sat in the car as a lifeless person- like the living dead. Where once her face was radiant and joyful it now become ashen, all emotion was wiped off. Her eyes were red, her little pert nose was red and she hardly blinked. It was as if the life had been sucked out of her. That was what Adnan saw when he watched her through the rear-view mirror. What was their dad thinking? He had actually tried to kill his own daughter, just the thought of it made Adnan want to heave the contents of his stomach.

Zubaida had flown down the stairs, sobbing, her body heaving with the sobs, the colour had drained from her face and she trembled like a leaf. She had run straight into his arm, burying her face in his chest and he had stood there shocked. He could feel her erratic heartbeat, her fast shallow breaths, but he didn’t understand why she was behaving that way? That was until he saw his father on the landing and it felt as if the rug had been pulled out from under his feet. He at first felt as if he was hallucinating and mentally shook himself, but no he was actually stood there, his face devoid of any emotions and in his right hand he held a large knife. The silver blade glistened because of the light. He understood then why his sister had almost collapsed on him. His dad lifted his foot and placed it on the stair below and Adnan clearly understood his intention. He wasn’t finished. He wrapped his arms protectively around Zubaida and dragged her out of the house, barking at the rest of the to get in the car.

Lyba and Rahim watched Adnan’s erratic behaviour with concern, why was he acting like this? Like a complete and utter madman, he literally shoved them in the car and then raced around to the driver’s side, sat in, locked the car doors and without wearing a seatbelt drove as fast as he could out of the drive. Rahim snapped his head around, his mouth forming a perfect O when he saw his dad stood there with a large knife in his hand. “You are friggin kidding me, he tried to kill Zubaida?” Rahim roared, “open the damn car door, so I can go and stab him, the bloody nutcase!”  Adnan glared at his younger brother through the rear-view mirror and shook his head, Zubaida didn’t need this right now. She needed to be taken away from this mad hell hole. Rahim for once gave in to Adnan’s silent warning occasionally glancing at Zubaida, who sat there like a statue. Oh god how are we going to help her heal from this? He thought as he watched the lifeless form of his sister.

Adam paced outside Adnan’s front door after getting his phonecall, he was worried about Adnan who had never sounded so panicked in his entire life- when his mother died he shed a few tears and then put his arms around his little sister and told her it was going to be okay. But after listening to him over the phone Adam knew that only something drastic could have made Adnan so fearful and worried. He heard the car before he saw, and sighed with relief when he saw his sister, Lyba, at the front with Adnan and he could also make out two more people sat at the back. He saw Rahim occasionally but hadn’t seen Zubaida since she was sixteen.

   “Hey mate, how are you? You sounded worried over the phone?” he asked as Adnan got out of the car, he held his hand up for him to wait and couldn’t even muster a smile. He looked like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders and that it was dragging him down. Adnan sighed as he wiped his hand across his face, rubbing his forehead as he opened the car door and helped his sister out of the car. From what Adam could see Zubaida looked like she was going to collapse and Adam moved aside as Rahim and Adnan helped her inside and carefully made her sit on the sofa. Adam came in the room but stopped in his tracks as he saw her properly for the first time in six years.

Wow, she had grown and had grown into a beautiful young woman, her hair was long, thick and brown, her hazel eyes were large and were framed by long, thick eyelashes and for some reason it reminded him of Bambi. Her lips were small, she looked about average height, and was curvy but she was definitely not the sixteen- year old Zubaida he had last seen.  But his awe turned into apprehension as he realised the blank expression on her face. Her eyes were red, her complexion had paled and he noticed her hands trembled. She sat like a statue and the only sign that told them she was alive was her blinking.