My Dunya (NEEDS EDITING)

Chapter 26- God is the Best of Planners

"Don't be afraid of death; be afraid of an unloved life. You don't have to live forever, you just have to live." ~ Natalie Babbitt

CHAPTER 26

               The night we returned home from the hospital, none of us spoke a word. Cameron went back to his house and promised to call in the morning. Teta and I crept into our quiet house, trying hard not to make any audible sounds. Unfortunately for us, Mama was awake, lying down on the brown micro suede sectional sofa, arching her back. She was on her phone and kept sliding her finger upward, trying not to fall asleep. When she heard us come in, her head jerked our way and she sprung up instantaneously.

               "Where on Earth have you guys been? Do you know how late it is?" she continued interrogating us and eventually gave up and granted us a moment to speak.

               "Yasmine, sit down," Teta ordered and surprisingly, Mama complied.

               "I mean, neither of you even called or answered my phone calls. How do you expect me to feel. You could've been God forbid, dead in an alley somewhere, and I wouldn't have known either way."

               Teta's temper was rising and you could tell that she had had it with whatever Mama was blabbing on about. But to me, when Mama referenced death, I could feel a twinge of agony in my heart. "Yasmine, for the love of God stop talking. Whatever I'm going to tell you now could have never been said on the phone, and quite frankly, knowing you, you wouldn't be able to shut up not knowing what it is," Teta sighed as she sat down. I went over to the coffee table in the middle of our living room and trembled as I grabbed the tissue box, pulling it into my arms.

               "Well then, what is it?" Mama asked obliviously. I tried hard not to tremble. It was hard enough hearing it once out of the mouth of the doctor. Now the second time hearing it come from Teta was just too much.

               "You might want to video call Adam too," Teta added and Mama quickly dialed his number as she realized the severity of what was yet to come. A picture of Adam soon filled Mama's screen and it was obvious that he was lying in bed, one hand behind his head staring back at us, tired.

               "Why'd you wake me up?" he whined, rubbing his eyes like a two year-old.

               "Good Adam, you're here, okay. I have something very important to tell the both of you. Gosh, I'll just come right out and say it," she said rubbing her sweaty palms against her thighs." By this point, both Adam and Mama were very attentive and I could tell how anxious they had grown to be in the past minute. "So I went to the hospital with Dunya and Cameron today because I started feeling pain and I thought I was sick. So then the doctors ran some tests and turns out I have stage four ovarian cancer," Teta pressed her lips together nodding after she said her last few words. Both Adam and Mama were speechless for what seemed like forever, they're faces crossed with stricken disbelief. Adam nudged Sumaya beside him and woke her up.

               "We'll be there in three hours. Bye," he hung up the phone immediately leaving us with Mama. Considering the fact that the drive was a five-hour one, I was only slightly worried for their sake, most mostly relieved at the fact that they would be here as soon as possible. After regrouping her thoughts and realizing that we weren't playing some cruel prank on her, Mama broke out in tears, lunging towards Teta, hugging her and wailing loudly that the whole house shook. The minute I saw my strong mom collapse into a fit of tears, I lost it myself, and soon enough we were both crying our hearts out. I had completely forgot about the box of tissues I prepared, because at such an intense moment like this, they were irrelevant. All three of us were huddled together, tearing up into each other's clothes and absorbing each other's presence.