"Maryam if you could keep your eyes open one more minute. For me, please." Adeel placed her head on his lap a feeling of helplessness engulfing him
"Oh, Adeel...you....f..." she attempted as she gazed up at him
Adeel watched as Maryam's lashes fluttered in a desperate attempt to keep her eyes open "They feel heavier than those weights you lift"
Adeel swiped his sleeve gently on his eyes trying to control the tears that were streaming down his face as they were burning as they ran along his no doubt, gruesome burns.
"You hated them, ugly fat muscles is it not?" He smiled keeping his eyes on her struggling ones knowing the sight that would grace him otherwise, a timeless body, hanging by a thread. A silent voice telling him that there was no doctor no miracle that could get her back. But he wouldn't believe that so he focused on the only life in her, her eyes.
She didn't respond now, but he caught her lips curl slightly just before he was swamped by nurses and doctors alike
He quickly got into action ignoring them all and as Adeel lifted Maryam into his arms, her body felt fragile and lifeless in his hands. He couldn't bear to look down at her still form, knowing that her face would be pale and devoid of its usual warmth. But as he sprinted towards the ambulance, he could almost hear Maryam's voice in his head, whispering words of encouragement and love. Despite the chaos surrounding them, Adeel focused and determined as he laid her down gently on the gurney.
He was shouting, aggressively even at the doctors that where already getting to working on Maryam. The nurse trying to calm him down had quickly given up folding her arms across her chest, she stepped back begrudgingly and watched in resigned silence as Adeel's emotions overflowed.
The ride was probably what Adeel to date would describe as the longest ride of his entire life, sitted and forced to look at his Maryam's now lifeless looking form. The moment the ambulance stopped they'd wheeled her in, Adeel's hands tightly clutched to the railings of the bed not letting go until a male nurse had strictly told him off, taking lead and wheeling her into a door, denying him access. A few doctors followed, walking with a confidence that left promises in their wake.
But that's the thing with promises, it's with definite certainty not by our power, perhaps tomorrow the sun will not rise, maybe today the end will unravel.
~
THE wait was doing something to him, creating images in his head, of Maryam held in his arms, projecting her happiness onto him, as she'd always done. Her swaying back and forth as she rocked an angel to sleep, so small and fragile in her arms. It had sparkling white wings. Her in her favorite place, the sky. She'd always say "I live in the sky, it's my favorite home" it never made sense to him but she did, she made so much sense. Nothing made more sense to Adeel than Maryam.
A doctor had tried to convince him to get examined too but Adeel did not budge, he was in so much pain that his skin was starting to feel numb so he convinced himself that in a few minutes, he wouldn't feel it all. The doctor left only to be back a few minutes with supplies and started tending to Adeel
He signed "You have suffered second degree burns, you might need a skin graft."
"No." Adeel muttered flinching at the needle that had just pierced his skin
Doctor Rufa'i, his tag read, he was tall and thinned, and he was practically glaring at Adeel now but the kindness in his eyes betrayed his demeanour, he tried to keep persuading but Adeel glared with uncharitable eyes
"I will go check on your Fiancé then? Perhaps that would ease your mind" Doctor Rufa'i said with a resigned sign
Adeel perked up at that gasping words out "Yes, yes please, i am sorry i just, i can't...i can't..... i can't do anything, i can't breathe"
He nodded and headed for the doors that separated him and Maryam, suddenly with the doctor gone he could finally register the overwhelming silence , yes the hospital's waiting area was filled to the brim and even being in a little isolated side of the chaos didn't ease that but he, he was all alone, he had called no one from either of their families, he didn't have his phone which meant he'd had to look for a phone first and that would include getting up from right where he had a clear view of the door and leaving her, family would have to wait even if it's possible that they had heard of the fire outbreak that it's possible they where trying to reach out but he didn't care, as long as he stayed at Maryam's side it will all be okay, wouldn't it?
Perhaps it was this moment, as he watched three doctors one being doctor Rufa'i walk out of the door, perhaps it was the looks they all gave him perhaps it was the plea that laid in the eyes of Doctor Rufa'i that instilled regret in him. Maybe if he had blocked his hearing, did anything humanly possible to not hear those words perhaps it wouldn't have been real then, maybe he would have rushed past them and met his Maryam laying down on the bed, smiling and awaiting him with open arms as soon as he walked in, maybe he would have run up to her, picked her up and never let go. So why then had his ears betrayed him picking up clearly the words of Doctor Rufa'i
"She's gone, i am so sorry they did everything they could."
~
"Adeel! Adeel, for God's sake, don't die on me!" Adeel for the life of him couldn't decipher whether her name was Zubaida or Zainab it was all lost in the chaos of the situation he woke up to, she was looking down at his drenched figure with a merge of worry and oh God, disgust.
"I am fine." He groaned out, his head pounding with every word he uttered
She huffed and climbed off the bed took long strides away from him. This was her first time in his room, she probably heard him scream from down the hall where her room was.
"Going somewhere?" He inquired, not that he didn't have an idea anyways.
"Yes, absolutely. I mean look at you, i can barely manage to look at you and this! God! Calling out another woman's name every night the past three days i've been here? Awake and asleep, No, no, just no, i refuse to subject myself to a marriage where i am the second woman, the first? A dead woman!"
Adeel felt his heart squeeze so hard it physically hurt, he had long realized the power of words and how we yield them to comfort and destroy, perhaps if we truly did understand the power our tongues held we would shut up a whole lot more we would find solace in silence, perhaps then, many tragedies would have been averted.
"You are right, i am sorry" He whispered to her retreating form, still sitted on the bed drenched in his own sweat
This dreams he had, they were hypocritical. Perhaps 'marriage' just takes him back, as though when marriage is mentioned it is Maryam and her alone he could ever dare imagine it with. He couldn't control anything, not really, everytime he closed his eyes it was Maryam and best believe, he had tried contless times to keep them opened but he was only human. With a heavy heart he got off the bed and straight into the bathroom, desperate to wash off the sweat clinging to his skin
He was watching the sun rise from the window his pen and paper in hand, he'd written a divorce letter which was, thankfully after remembering her name, Zainab but everyone called her zeezee, perhaps that's what prompted his forgetfulness which was gratefully temporary otherwise he could very much be in huge trouble sending her off with a letter that had a strange unfamiliar name on it, her parents would probably look for him and commit their first murder. He went to the guest room where she was packing up. She'd stayed their since they got married days ago and now he knew why, she could barely manage to look his way.
Zainab glanced at the paper he'd dropped on her suitcase, then the other envelope that was full of enough cash to get her on a comfortable ride back home.
Adeel cleared his throat to get her attention "Are you going by road?"
"Train. Not that it's any of your business"
"Do send me a message when you arrive safely, please." He muttered and left the room and that had been it for his second marriage.
YOU ARE READING
HIS TEMPORARY GIFT
Romance"Of life of love of death. The later brings sorrow not known to the dictionary" Adeel was a fervid lover, he loved blindly and why wouldn't he? He'd afterall found his soulmate, the one ideally made just for him. But life as he'd always reckoned cou...
