HER WET PILLOW

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY

CHAPTER 7
THE SLEEPING BEAUTY
The next morning, mom woke all of us early as she used to. We had our morning prayers, mom's early talks, took our bath, dressed for school and took our breakfast. I was monitoring my mom as she showed neither sadness nor grief. You would even testify that she was a woman that was enjoying her life but no one knew what was under the bed. When we were done, we all packed and left for school while mom left for her shop and locked the house.

Luckily, I went to school early and decided to go round and admire its wonderful features. Then I met these beautiful fashionistas. They were looking great; it was as if their school uniform was different. They had beautiful eyes and glowing skin. I couldn't take my eyes off them as I admired their shoes, watches, bags and others. Although they had no makeup on because the school doesn't approve it, they looked like angels. There I was, admiring them when I heard the snaps of a finger accross my face.

"Hey you dirty brat! What are you looking at?"The tallest amongst them said.

"I...I..I.." I kept stammering.

"Oh! She is the girl that was too careless with her period yesterday." The one in the middle said.

"Oh! Is she the girl crying in the middle of the school?" The last one said.

"Yes." The middle one said. After saying that, they all busted into laughter.

"Dirty thing! How did she even get here? Only God knows." The tallest one said.

"See how she was staring at us as if she wants to swallow us. Maybe she hasn't seen beautiful, lovely and gallant girls like us before."The last one said.

"Oooo! Sooo.. bad.. Don't worry, you don't belong here and we will show you that very soon." The one in the middle said lastly and they all left.

I was left standing, dumbfounded, lost in thoughts as my eyes became teary. "No, no, no, I am not going to cry for some fellows who lack manners. They don't worth my tears. How have I even wronged them? I haven't even seen them before. Is it how bad they talked to me or how they looked at me? Are they threatening me or what? I don't even understand what just happened? Ya Allah protect me against the evil doers." I then heard a voice calling me. I turned back and saw Fatima. We then sat and chatted before assembly time. I narrated everything to her. She gave me no reason to worry about them and asked me to forget about what happened. I agreed with her but the words kept on repeating in my head.

Few minutes later, we heard the alarm and everybody rushed to the assembly hall in unison. I noticed the three girls were in same row as me which occurred to me that they were in my class. "This is not good." I said to myself. Despite everything, I calmed myself down and forgot about the matter. School was actually problem free and steady. I had my lessons and enjoyed the rest of the day. I was relieved that at least I wasn't in trouble that day. When it was closing hour, I and Fatima left for home.

Finally, I alighted from the tricycle and started to walk down the street till I get home. I was thinking about my life, reasoning the ups and downs, dreaming about my wonderful future when I came across this young girl. She was young and beautiful but there was more to that. She was begging alongside a boy who was a bit older than she was. She had bruises all over her and a plaster on her head. I stared at her in amazement. How will they allow this little girl beg on the street? Her parents are so heartless. "This is so irresponsible" I thought. I have seen a lot of boys beg as well as older men and women but not a young girl before. That was actually strange. She noticed I had been looking at her for a very long time so she smiled at me. I smiled back at her and wished there was a way to help her out. I continued taking steps in wonder when I heard the boy with her shouting.