Endurance

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

"Stay with me Mariam, stay with me please." Layla whispered with a heart full of fear at what might be happening as she held the girl's frail body in her arms, her head and the rest of her body had turned limp as she breathed in shallow breaths, a tear running down the side of her face. Layla peeked from the entrance stairs as she saw a man that seemed to be one of the maintenance workers in the station sprinting up the stairs with some security guards behind him.

"Sir! Sir!." She shouted, gaining his attention. He ducked and walked up to them

"Allah! Hafsa!." He breathed and half crouched to take her from Layla's arms.

Alhamdulillah! Somebody that knows her.

"What's happening?." Layla asked when she saw the urgency in his eyes and got up as he took the limp body of Hafsa in his arms and hurried out. Layla rang Surayya's phone as she tried catching up with him but couldn't reach her.

"A woman was attacked by some strong armers in disguise. She got stabbed." Layla's steps faltered for a second at the man's labored words and her mind zeroed in on the word 'attacked', and she had already began imagining the worst possible scenario in her mind.

Ray where are you!?

" Help! I need a vehicle." The man shouted in the direction of some of his colleagues at the top of his voice, bringing her back to reality. She ran towards their direction, passing by a crowd of people standing while discussing how the incident happen.

"She was standing right behind that elderly man and he stood behind her then tried to..." Layla couldn't wait to hear what happened as she hurried her steps, her heart pounding rhythmically with the pounding of her head. She called Ray's phone again but there was no answer. The man that took Hafsa was about to lend a motorcycle but Layla stopped him and called on a cab that was parked outside when they emerged and he took Hafsa in.

"Thank you ma'am." He spoke when she stood by the door, turned between going back to make sure her friend was safe or taking Hafsa to the hospital.

"I've figured that you know her right?." He nodded. "I know her too so I'll be right behind you sir, why don't you give me your number and I'll call you to know which hospital you'd take her?. I need to find my friend. I can't reach her." She explained with a nervous wring of her hands and after he typed his number on her phone, she thanked him then shut the door and ran back to the station.

"I'm sorry ma'am you can't go in there. It's not safe." A security officer stopped her from entering the station with an outstretch of his arm.

"Sir, I need to please. I can't find my friend and I've been calling—" He defiantly shook his head and she knew there wasn't anything she could do to reason with him. After what felt like an eternity her phone rang and Ray's number popped up on her screen. Sighing with unshed tears hurting the back of her eyes she picked the call with a shaky hand.

"Hello! Hello! The person that owns this phone cannot speak!, we're on our way to the hospital. She has been injured!." The unfamiliar woman's voice raises with a sense of urgency as there was a noisy chatter at the background and Layla froze at the news from the other end of the line, the tears rolling freely down her cheek.

No. No! This cannot be happening.

"No!." She said aloud. "Ma'am..ma'am wait! What...wha...which hospital are you taking her?." She asked sobbing already. Immediately she was told, she bolted out of the station and quickly caught a cab to get her there. Her mind was a mess and she had no idea how she was going to reconcile that morning's events. She couldn't believe her friend had been the one who got injured and the thought of Mariam's condition kept running through her mind like a broken record. Everything felt like an unexpected nightmare that she couldn't wake up from.