Deceptive Glitters ✅

Chapter 44: Family Warmth

Assalamu alaikum, Eid Mubarak my darlings, taqabbalallahu Minna wa minkum
anyi sallah lafiya, toh Allah ya maimiata

Kamla who was already a crying mess turned to her cousin who also had tears rolling down her face, she mustered up a smile.

“You look like Manal when you cry and she has ugly crying face.” Despite the mood and the fact that what was being said wasn’t funny, Khadijah let out a small chuckle then moved to wipe her tears.

She felt her and Kamla shared a special connection, she also knew what it was like to feel utterly helpless, when you know screaming and shouting wouldn’t help so you just surrender and hope it goes away soon enough and you’ll be able to pick yourself back up when it was over.

Kamla let out a shaky breath through her nose and in a not so confident voice added, “Let’s get this over and done with.” She said with bravado she definitely wasn’t feeling. It was something she’s never told anyone but she was tired of letting it rule her life, maybe talking would make it all better, maybe, just maybe.

With another deep breath, she continued.

Kamla stared at the pestle in her hands with disbelief, she hadn’t known when she reached for it or picked it and better yet used it but the man lay a bleeding mess crushing her with his weight which meant she did.

With a newfound strength, she pushed the unconscious man and stood up, her gown at her waist, scared he would wake up, she ran out of the kitchen and to her temporary room, she wore the first thing she saw which happened to be a black jallabiya, Hajiya zee had given her saying she was tired of it, she wore her old hijab that had seen better days, she looked at her small luggage but decided against it, it would slow her down, she opened a part of the big and picked an old purse she’d gotten from her mother and without a second ran out of the house.

She didn’t know for how long she ran but she kept running, even when her lungs burned and she felt the wind being knocked out of her lungs, she kept running, when she tripped on a stone and fell, she kept running.

“Hey, are you okay?’ she let out a startled scream then proceeded to fight the person that caught her, she didn’t care that she looked like a mad person, fighting and crying, the hijab surely wasn’t helping matters, she didn’t calm down until the person let her go, she wanted to keep running but the person stood in a stance that showed her they would follow if she did.

That was when she stayed and looked around her, tears and snot running down her face but what she looked like was the last thing on her mind.

A woman probably in her early or mid forties stood before her with a panicked look. “What are you running from?” Kamla managed to shake her head no, she just wanted to keep running and never stop, her whole body was shaking. “Why then are you running?” she kept quiet trying to stop the tears but they just kept coming and coming.

“My shop is right there, let me give you water to wash your face then you can leave, okay?” she didn’t reply and the woman turned to the door of her shop, turning to look at Kamla as she walked, she knew she would bolt any second. Like she said, she handed her three sachets of pure water and a bathroom slipper, that was when Kamla noticed she wasn’t wearing shoes and her legs looked horrible, there was dried blood she didn’t know where it came from and she didn’t feel any pain, the only thing her brain and nervous system could register was her burning lungs, every other thing was numb to her.