BENAZIRA

COINCIDENCE

Days passed by faster than the maghrib prayer.

Life was as normal as it could get for Benazira.

She would spend most of her days studying, because she had nothing else to do.

She hadn't gone out, at least alone.
In Darvish's eyes, she didn't need to go out.

He sometimes thought what would she do when she grows up into an adult and starts working.

He wasn't planning to stop her from chasing her dreams, but he would have had to hire someone to look after her secretly.

But how long will he always keep her hidden and protected?
Protected from his own past.

He had no idea.
He wished to move to another country, but feared that people would find out.

He had no care for himself he only cared about Benazira.
She was all he had.

Without her, life would have no meaning to him.

He basically did nothing.

He went to work in a pizzeria which his friend's dad owned, and he helped him, kind of like an assistant.

He got payed enough to provide for Benazira and himself.

But his life was meaningless, there was no purpose.

He was only 24, but he felt like his youth was taken away, and now he was an elder.

Or rather a parent who only wanted to take care of their child.

He had become a parent for Benazira.

On the other hand, there was the restless madman who was after his sister.

Well, to be honest, he had tried to stop thinking about her by not going to see her, or stalk her, or ask about her background from his men.

He was so restless, he was caging himself.

Literally.

He had once handcuffed himself to his work chair.

Murad had accidentally walked on him, and he held his laugh for the sake of not getting murdered.

Based on the look that Amir had, he didn't seem really...friendly.

So Murad quickly masked his laugh with a "what happened brother?".

Amir had never felt so useless.
He had always gotten what he wanted...so why can't he just get himself to forget about her.

His head hurt from the times he would suddenly start hitting his own head.

'I swear she is a witch.'

He had once even come to her house, and even to her door, but he didn't knock.

He wanted to find a reason to see her, look at her, talk to her, touch her.

But there was none.

There was no reason that they would meet again.

He had heard his sister asking Benazira to hang out, but she had refused.

He still remembers the weird face Zubayda gave him when she caught him eavesdropping.

He had become a creap.

Today he had decided to go to the town where she lives again.

He had convinced himself that it was because of the beautiful scenery.

The scenery was dark.

Trust me her house didn't look bad or crusty, or too poor.
But you could tell they weren't anything rich.

Just mid class people.

Before he noticed he stood next to his car on a thursday, waiting for Benazira to appear from school back to her home.

He had brought his men with him, he didn't know why.

They just kind of followed him.

But he forced them to face the other way, so they wouldn't see her beauty.

He waited, and waited what felt like forever, but it was worth it.

But before Benazira could arrive, he met someone else...

____________________

I got off the bus quickly.
There was literally no AC in the bus.

God, I still can't properly breathe.

I walked forward, as I loosened my hijab, and shook my dress a couple of times to get some air through my dress to my skin underneath.

It worked a bit.

I tried to walk quickly, but the sun had sucked all of my energy away.

I couldn't breathe, nor walk.

I pushed myself forward and forward.

In the blink of an eye, my house was right in the corner.

I walked with enthusiasm, thinking about the cold water that I will treat myself with once I get home, when suddenly I got pulled away from my thoughts.

There was some noise.

I looked to my left and saw a gang-
no not a gang...a few men beating up another guy, I couldn't see him that well.

My heart started beating as I froze.

What was happening?

I was so scared, I wanted to run away, but my body wasn't reacting.

'go Benazira... don't push yourself in someone else's mess.
You know what they say... curiosity kills the cat.'

My instincts spoke to me.
There was a feeling in my right rib, some type of a goosebump ran through me in my right side upper body.

I was about to walk away when I saw who the guy was who was being beaten up.

My eyes widened, as panic rose in me.

"DARVISH!" I ran with tears running down my face.

The men didn't acknowledge me, as if they didn't hear me.

I approached them, and jumped on top of my brother.

"Please...PLEASE STOP!" I begged and begged, and the men backed off, as a sign of confusion.

"Benaz-bena-benazira...l-leave...leave!" Darvish tried pushing me away, but I hugged him tighter, as I looked at the men daringly.

I pulled Darvish' head on my lap as I weeped silently.

My heart broke into million pieces, as I saw my brother covered with blood.

How can they do this to him, to my only family.

I cursed them solemnly, and I cursed whoever caused this to happen.