Vein of Life.

Chapter Five.

C H A P T E R  F I V E

“Mum, please, would you calm down?” I sighed and rubbed at my tired eyes. 

“No Amira, I can’t calm down!” She picked up the phone and dialled Saleh’s number for the fiftieth time in the last hour. 

No seriously, I was even counting. 

Saleh was due to be home an hour ago from uni and he hasn’t been answering his phone every time one of us has called him. It went straight to voicemail so I assumed his phone was dead, but mum being mum, had to dramatise everything. “What if he had some sort of accident?” she began, her voice shaky. “Maybe someone abused him or he got lost, or -,” she continued rambling before dad cut her off.

“Habibti, relax. I’m sure he’s on the way home right now. Like Amira said, his phone probably just died. Have a little faith in him, OK?” He proceeded to embrace mum from behind, his big build enveloping her petite form, almost like a blanket. She closed her eyes and nodded her head, leaning back against him as she instantly relaxed.

“I think you forget that he’s twenty-one years old mum,” I voiced, crossing my arms over my chest.

“And you’ve forgotten that you’re not a mother. Come back in a decade’s time and try telling me you don’t get worried over your children every second of the day, no matter how old they are.” She clutched onto my fathers forearms, the concern clear on her face again. I rolled my eyes and dropped back onto the kitchen stool, sagging against the table slightly. I had been feeling drowsy and tired all day today. 

We waited another twenty minutes for Saleh but when he still didn’t show up, even I began to get slightly uneasy at his absence. At this point, mum was almost hysterical, pacing up and down the kitchen. “That’s it.” She picked up her phone and keys and headed to the door. “We’re going to look for him,” she announced, but before we could stop her, the door flung open and in walked Saleh. 

“Saleh.” Mum stopped in her tracks, relief flooding her voice. “Where were you? We were worried sick!” 

“Asalamu alaikum,” he casually greeted, before closing the door and hanging his keys up. “Sorry mum, got caught up at uni and I lost track of time.” Usually he could look mum straight in the eye but I readily noticed how he averted his, not only from her, but all of us. 

“Doing what?” She interrogated, her features shifting into a frown. 

“Err,” he paused momentarily, as if he had to think of what to say. He scratched his neck and face, before rocking on the balls of his feet. “I stayed back with my physics lecturer, so he could help me on a number of concept points I was struggling with. That’s all.” 

I felt my eyebrows automatically lift. Saleh struggling at uni? Ha! Now that’s a good joke. I immediately wondered what he was hiding. 

“Is that all?” Mum asked suspiciously, most likely catching on to his odd behaviour too. 

“Yep,” he answered quickly.

“‘Why weren’t you answering your phone then?” dad continued with the questioning.