Sadiya |REWRITING

Chapter Nine

***

ABUJA, NIGERIA.

Adama was pale. Too pale for a normal being. She was fair, now as light as a sheet. She faced heavenward with thinned chapped lips, balding head covered in a loose cap as light as her skin. Sadiya could not move from the disheartening sight. She was young - too young to die.

At eighteen?

Life is truly unfair. As the thought evaded her mind, she said her Istighfar. Without her knowing, her feet led her to the locker-room where she sat in deep thoughts. The teen patient was the third she'd lost all through her career. The pain, it was all the same, each time. It never changed. But this, it felt different. You could say she saw her patients as family, because the pain of losing them was all too familiar with when she lost her real one.

Like the incessant stab of a scorching blade in her heart, then its sickening twist by the dark hands of grief. The CT scan was done, sixty-eight minutes later, Adama was gone. She laid lifeless on the hospital bed. A girl eager for college, she could not live her life to the foolest. No college matriculation to graduation, forwhy, she lost her life to cancer.

A minute turned to minutes, then, hours and Sadiya found herself at her apartment. Finally. Her little sanctum. She could not remember how or when she got home, she knew she just did. And with her car. Nurse Safeenah was also pained by Adama's death, albeit not as equally as the doctor. After a long cold shower, a late lunch did not sound as good because she knew the meal would not stay in her stomach. Her being off prayer at that time was more frustrating. She did not know when the tears she had kept bottled up for eons leaked from her eyes.

If only Ummi was still alive...her soothing words, hugs...calming presence, all of it.

The familiar tightening in her heart remained. At least it always reminded her that she had one. Work did not sound so appealing at the moment, either. It was then, Sadiya wished she had a night shift, which she seldom had. Series of tosses and turns passed, the draining thoughts were still there. Life sucked. It did, no doubt about that. One minute, it's all sunshine and rainbows, next...it turned reality. Sunshine and rainbows were only a one-time thing, until reality set in.

She sat up, looked on the bedside drawer and grasped her phone. Scrolling through her contacts list, drowning in hope of finding theirs - Rayan and Mahreen's. It had been what? Fifteen years. God...Fifteen years of not setting eyes on her brother and best friend? Their numbers were long erased from her memory. Even if she still had them, they probably might have changed their cell numbers. If she used a new one, they most definitely were, too.

5:34a.m., time read.

Sadiya got off the couch she'd transferred her physically and emotionally drained self to, splashed her face with the cool tap water and changed out of her pajamas. Into a large, old hoodie of Rayan's and loose pants. Slinging on a Givenchy fanny pack after throwing in a taser, pepper spray and her favorite of all, the rose gold alarm keychain.

What? She's just a girl.

Then, laced her running shoes and exited the apartment anon. The cool dawning breeze kissed her cheeks as she tuned on the familiar voice reciting the most calming words ever, through the headphones.

5:45a.m.

Quickly setting an alarm for an hour run on the smartwatch, she went her way into the streets of Maitama. About thirty minutes or so into her exercise, a strange feeling crawled up her skin. She felt eyes on her, quiet thuds of boots on the sidewalk, the aura of the unknown, leaving goosebumps in its wake. How worse could it be when the sky was dark, the rainy season seeping in as it was mid year. Sadiya knew then and there.

...She was being followed.

By who? She had no idea. Quiet alarms blared through her mind, reminding her of the danger trailing her steps. Even with that - the fear, her jog did not falter. If she wanted to defeat the person behind her, she had to appear strong, as the biggest mistake she could make then, was show fear.

That was until a strong arm was tightened around her neck.

***

KANO, NIGERIA.

Jolly voices and screams of the children bounced within the confines of the smaller living room - Asiyah was used to it. In fear of them accidentally knocking over her soufflés or things of the sort, she cautioned them on playing in the main living room, lifting a spatula to their eye level as a warning shot. She could never hit them, but knew her children like no one else.

They giggled once more, having time to play before homework. They treasured that little time. Hide and seek before dinner, homework after dinner. The girl got an A+ in the maths assessment they had that day. She was eager to break the news to her Abi. What more could she ask for? A prolonged time hiding and seeking her brother out, her mother preparing her favorite meal for dinner.

What more?

Their mother, Asiyah, called them from the kitchen to have their meals. They rarely waited for their father, Sadiya wanted to, but he was tardy that day. Deep down in the mind of the six year-old, she hoped all was well. Her Abi was not a tardy person. Just when they'd began shoving spoonfuls into their mouths, he was back. But, something was off. He did not kiss them on the cheek, ask them how their day went, or allow Asiyah take his briefcase.

He simply passed a smile that was obviously forced and went into the bedroom in long strides. Sadiya frowned and Rayan instantly grabbed her hand. She was a crybaby, he knew their father's action hurt her.

She turned to her equally puzzled mother. "Ummi, what happened to Abi? Did we do something wrong?" She asked, nose scrunched up in worriment.

Once done reassuring them, she made sure they had fallen asleep after tucking them into their beds.

Different thoughts swarmed her mind. What happened to Muhammad? That was the one with the bigger question mark. After grabbing him a glass of his most liked cold drink to cool whatever anger or frustration within him, Asiyah rushed to the room to find out what had happened. And what did he do? He snapped. Why? She did not know. He snapped his fingers before her eyes, upon calling her name to no reply. She was lost.

"Asiyah!" He called, she flinched. "Can you move?"

His wife stood rigid before him. She finally outed, shakily. "Mu-Muhammad, we are in the middle of a conversation." She tried pushing down the tears threatening to escape her eyelids.

"I'm busy, Asiyah." He never called her by her name. "Leave. My. Way."

Her hold on the sweaty glass of beverage was shakier than before. "B-but-but--"

And he lost it. He pushed her to the side, shattered pieces of glass pierced through her palms from the impact of the fall.

***

"Do as asked - exactly as planned. Do not disappoint me. Track her prints, get her and bring her to me." He paused.

"You get the balance once it's done. Now, go get my mysterious owndom to me."

^-^

Any idea who this could be? What could this "owndom" be? What do you think of the flashback? Any thoughts on the chapter? If yes, let me in on what you think, in the comments.

Oh and for those that read the old version of Sadiya, you might've noticed I changed the fmc's brother and best friend's names. The old ones just weren't giving. So yeah, now Rayan, NOT Omais and Mahreen, NOT Raheemah. Like wha-- 🙂

Anyway, thanks y'all!

Do not forget to drop a vote and at least a comment!

- ♥