Amidst Our Hearts

Thirty one.

Federal capital territory,
Nigeria.

Sakeena...

Tears clouded my vision as I cried harder, out of nowhere, both Maymuna and Ahmad came running towards me. "I really don't know what's happening to him, he just feels and his body started jerking" I explained, my brain confused about what was happening.

"Naisa, calm down" Maymuna placed a hand on my shoulder. "He'll be fine, just give it a minute or three, everything will be fine"

"I really don't think he will be" Ahmad said. "It's really not like the ones he normally gets. This is taking more than three minutes" he normally gets? He has gone through this before? Several times?

I terminated the questions in my head for a while going back to the issue at hand. "Let's get him to a hospital, I'm going to call Amma and let her know to meet us there" Maymuna did as she said and with the help of the security guards present, we carried him to the backseat of the car and drove away to the hospital.

I held his hand tightly in mine, saying any prayer that comes to my head. The ride to the hospital was short. A few nurses and Amma stood by the entrance of the hospital waiting with a stretcher.

He was rushed into the operation room, leaving only the four of us outside, waiting anxiously.

"Here" Maymuna passed a pack of wipes and a bottle of water to me. I muttered a thank you and walked away to the ladies restroom.

I wiped off all the makeup on my face and rinsed it with the water I came in with. Never did I ever thought something like this will happen. My heart kept beating like it'll burst out of my chest any minute. Fear gripped me as my brain began flashing images of Khalifa's health condition getting worst.

I muttered a silent prayer, erasing all the bad thoughts from my head and walked out. Deep in my thoughts, I accidentally bumped into a woman wearing a jilbaab, with a niqab covering her face, only her eyes are visible.

Her hand bag fell down and I crouched down to pick it up, gave it back to her and walked away. I was too caught up in the mini catastrophe going on in my head to notice the familiar eyes.

Walking back to the waiting area, I found only Ahmad there, leaning against the wall. "He got transferred to a private room minutes ago. I knew you'll come back here so I stayed back waiting for you" he led the way to the room where Khalifa got transferred.

The beeping sound monitor showing his heartbeat filled the room. Amma sitting on the couch in the room and Maymuna beside her on the other end of the three sitter.

Amma noticed my presence in the room first and gestured for me to sit beside her. I did exactly the same. "I know you're confused about what is happening. You have so many questions in your head that need to be answered. I know you're wondering why we all didn't tell you about his health conditions in the first place" Amma took a deep breath in and released it before continuing.

"We are so sorry from hiding this away from you Naisa and I'm going to tell you everything in details. Khalifa has a medical condition called Grand Mal seizures. He had his first seizure when he was eleven years. At first we thought it wasn't something serious but as he grew, even though he gets less and less seizures, each time he gets one it is more intense than the previous one. We managed to keep it under control through drugs and he hasn't had one in months" this explains all the drugs I found in a drawer inside his room few day ago when I went to retrieve my phone charger.

"I think the spot lights and flash lights from the party triggered it. And also the stunt Imran pulled added more to it" Maymuna chirped in. "I really shouldn't have forced him to go prom when he said he doesn't want to go in the first place" Maymuna sighed and looked at Khalifa who has an oxygen mask on his nose and mouth, unconscious.