Basma likes Fendi

33 | Waffles, Coffee & Bedsheets

•Bashir

"Should we take him to the hotel or find a private lodging to keep him safe?"

"I think we should take him somewhere safe. It's too risky to leave him here especially since he's recovering slowly."

I could hear them faintly speak beside my head but I couldn't move or try to speak to them. My eyes were still closed and I felt too weak but I was happy I could feel the bed underneath me and smell traces of the detergent used to mop the floors. At least Rayyan wasn't trying to kill me so he could win Basma over.

Their voices kept lowering as if someone was playing with the volume button of a speaker to the point I can't hear them or even feel anything again. It's like I'm back to being lost in the darkness that I thought I was slowly coming out of.

"Bashir?" She cried, "Are you there?"

"Who's this?"

I didn't know what was happening but I was glad it was happening. Somehow it was proof that I wasn't dead. I was starting to feel the wind blowing from the AC and the buzzing of the hospital's doctors going on and about with the task of helping their numerous other patients.

"It's Mariam."

"Mariam?"

"Yes, yes, it's me. I really thought you were dead."

"How come I can't see anything but I can hear you in my head?"

"That's because you're not awake."

"I need you to pull through and try to stay alive." She pauses then adds, "even if it's not for me, do it for Basma."

"I'm trying but it feels like I'm in a sea with no way in or out. I could possibly be here for weeks or years."

"Don't say that." She screamed and I could hear her say something like you're the only reason I'm here but she just keeps crying and I'm not sure how to console her so I continue trying to find a way out of this darkness.

I start with a dua I learnt which I was taught by my teacher when I was little. He said it was for when a calamity had befallen me.

I kept saying it repeatedly. Rayyan and Bashir came back and I could hear them more loudly. It seems they convinced the doctor to allow them to take me home since she already explained that I'd be fine in a few days.

Finally we were in a car and it kept swaying from side to side. The air smelt like old gym socks and L'Homme Ultime, YSL perfume coming from the front seat. That fragrance held my signature scent but I couldn't tell which of the men smelt like it.

My eyes were able to open in the middle of the car ride and I felt like a child that was being brought into the world for the first time. Everything looked different—colours of the car seats were even brighter—including the shirts they wore on their backs. I tried to open my mouth but I still couldn't speak. My fingers would move a bit, my arm wouldn't.

"Take it easy." Miriam laughed.

Surprising, how I could hear and communicate with her in my head. She sounded extremely happy and without a doubt, had a commanding presence—even if I couldn't feel anything I'd feel her presence anywhere. It's always been like that since she'd shown herself to me.

"I'm awake but I can't move."

I know that she's gone now because I can't feel her unearthly presence again. Now I knew she was gone so I fought to stay awake because I feared if I slept I'd never wake up again—for a few weeks maybe.

Next thing that happens is the regret I feel when I realize that I actually fell asleep and I'm now waking up again but in a room with little to no light except the one bulb that projected less than enough light from its spot at the center of the ceiling above my bed.