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"One day, I will be gone." She whispered to her younger brother of six years.
They were walking hand in hand in the evening sun, she had just picked him up from his school. The teacher had called her in to tell her how naughty Saleh had been that day at school. With no parents to turn to, she decided she'd give him the inevitable knowledge he would need to remember for the rest of his life.
"Where will you go?" He blinked up at her, innocence shining in his eyes. "To a faraway school? That's okay, I will come visit you."
"Oh, I will go farther away than that." She told him sadly. "I will be gone somewhere where you can't visit me."
"To another country? Are you getting married?" He asked, his eyes wide.
"Hmm, I don't know about that. But it's much farther than that too." She grinned, earning a look of annoyance from her brother.
"You are talking like you will be going above the sky or something." He rolled his eyes. "That's not possible!"
"Actually, that's exactly where I'll be gone." She said, surprised at how quickly he had grasped it.
"What? Really? But you promised!" He exclaimed. "You said you'll always be there!"
"I will, if I can help it." She told him. "But that doesn't mean it's your ticket to do bad things. One day, I won't be able to save you."
"I'm sorry." He said immediately. "I will never ruin his colouring sheets again. Just promise me you won't be gone forever."
She sighed, stopping at a bench outside the school and making him sit beside her to emphasize her point.
"Listen to me, Saleh. One day, I will wake up and change into the clothes that death will recognise me in. I don't know if I will get to step out of the house, but if I do — there will be people who will see me for the first time, and it will be their last."
"One day, I will not login to my social media accounts, they will stay here forever like ghosts of my mind. It will show that I was active a few hours ago, and then never in the history of mankind will the light beside my name turn green again."
"One day, I will write my last comment, my last story, my last poem, my last word. It will be like fate has only wanted to show that much part of me to the world, and the rest is for myself and my Lord. I will speak my last word, hopefully the shahadah, but how can I be sure? Perhaps it's a hateful, spiteful word, or perhaps it's a grateful word. Or perhaps it is just an ordinary word that will give you no hints that I will be gone in a few moments. It will show you no secrets that I will never respond to my texts, nor calls."
"Then, all you can hear from me will be silence, if you are lucky. All the thoughts that I've had in my head will come to a standstill at breakneck speed. One day, my time will come to an end."
"You are scaring me." He shuddered. "Are you ill? Are you going to die?"
She laughed.
"We are all going to die, but we don't know when." She said, a small smile gracing her features. "And oh my goodness , that time is near. It is so very near. And as Allah swt asks us so beautifully... 'So where are you going?' [Surah At-Takwir : 26]"
