Written Among The Stars.

Chapter 23 - Lost her

The fire alarm was blaring throughout the building. Everybody was running for their lives towards the exit. The fire brigade had arrived and were looking to localize the area that had caught fire.

Yet, she was sitting in her office, oblivious of everything as his words continued to echo through her mind.

Divorce. Abusive. Toxic.

She held her head and screamed loudly, trying to make his words go away. She sat across the desk with her eyes fixated on the laptop screen. It was only when she noticed the smoke rising from the front of the desk that she realised that the table cloth was on fire. She was numb for a while not being able to think straight for a while. The fire spread like a forest fire and all the wooden stuff caught fire along with the inflammable sprays placed in the corner. She began coughing wildly and tried to reach the door but the row of fire in front of her restricted her to a small safe area. The fire reached the end of her scarf and it too caught fire. She immediately threw it away. The rod of the curtains fell down and she grabbed it, trying to beat the fire. She stumbled on her feet and fell to her knees as the smoke filled her lungs. She gasped to catch a whiff of fresh air and banged the door hard enough for someone to hear. The intensity of the smoke and the gases in the room were making it difficult for her to keep her eyes open. Her banging on the door had no impact and she was drained out of all her energy. Her eyelids felt heavy and she immediately closed them, drifting into the world of peace.

The fire alarms were buzzing loudly throughout the office building. People began running here and there for their lives. Aaban was constantly getting calls to evacuate the area otherwise the building might collapse because of the fire but he didn't care about that. Haneen was the first person that came to his mind. He was just running down the stairs like a mad man, trying to reach her as soon as possible. He opened one door after another, hoping to find her and shouting her name.

"Haneen!"

"Haneen!"

As soon as he reached her office floor, his eyes widened in horror when he saw the smoke coming out from below the door. He immediately ran towards it and crashed into the door. It was jammed.

"Haneen! Open the door. Haneen, please. Don't do this to me." He cried, banging his fists on the door. "Haneen, are you there? Please talk to me."

He ran here and there in search of something heavy to break the door. He grabbed the side lamp placed in the corridor. He thrashed the door with it and the door opened. His eyes roamed around wildly in search of his life. The tears fell down as he saw her laying on the floor unconscious, in between all those flames. He ran towards her, not caring if he would catch fire. He kneeled down in front of her unconscious figure and placed her head in his lap to have a look at her face.

He tucked her hair away and cried holding her in his arms. "Haneen!"
He bent down and picked her up in his arms, running towards the exit. He laid her down on the couch and took off his jacket before tucking her safely inside it. His tears fell down as he brushed her hair away from her face. He wrapped her arms around his neck to make it easier for him to carry her out. The whole office staff stood shocked, witnessing the always broody and angry boss, at his weakest. He saw his darling suffering because of one huge mistake. As the entire staff gathered around him offering some help, he wrapped his coat properly around her frail and limp body and held her tightly in his arms. Everybody was silent. Nobody said a word. The damage done was unbelievable. They would come to know about the consequences later because first of all, his wife needed to be alright. Aaban exited the building carrying her in his arms and the rest of the staff followed, the blood oozing out of his forehead as well because of the impact he took while crashing the door.
The driver arrived at the main entrance with Aaban's car. He quickly settled at the back seat, properly holding Haneen in his arms and directed the driver to proceed towards the nearest hospital as quickly as possible, his eyes no longer being able to hold those tears inside.

°°°°°°

He was sitting on the couch in her hospital room, holding his head in his hands as she was still sleeping. The doctor had told him that the intense smoke caused suffocation for her and her lungs were not able to tolerate the levels of carbon monoxide. Her blood was poisoned and they were working on her with the antidote. It was obviously a dangerous sign but Aaban was hopeful. Because he knew, he knew that his Haneen was always a fighter. She had been born a fighter and she will get through with this as well. He stared at her for God knows how long.

He had told her that he would set her free but having experienced something of this magnitude, he wasn't sure what to do. He had never for once considered the idea that Haneen could leave him alone in this cruel world. Now that he saw death from such proximity, he didn't want her to go. He wanted her in front of his eyes always, happy and healthy. He vowed to himself that he was going to make it happen.

He didn't realize that it was midnight already but he didn't want to leave her alone. He was sitting beside her like a guardian angel making sure to protect his precious belonging. When his eyelids felt heavy, he got up from the couch, locked the door and sat beside her on the bed. He took off his shoes and socks and laid down beside her, wrapping his arms around her petite figure and slept, finally at peace with himself.

She had woken up in the middle of night to find him sleeping beside her with his head on her chest and his arms tightly wrapped around her waist just like a little child is holding something precious to him in his sleep. She smiled at him and brushed his strands away from his forehead with her fingers. And then went to sleep again, feeling contented in her husband's arms, completely forgetting about the previous night.