To Our Doom (Paused)

Chapter 1: The Dinner Dawat

After Maghrib, Sarah and her mother were ready to welcome the guests. Since the men and the women would be sitting in different rooms, Sarah and her mother dressed up fancy-nancy. They also had their Khimars at hand to serve the food later during dinner. Sarah's mother was a perfectionist when it came to putting the food in front of the guests, so she wanted to serve herself.

Ding Dong!

The doorbell woke the butterflies in Sarah's family's stomachs.

The guests were here!

Umm Ishaaq performed a last-minute inspection of the living room and once she decided everything was alright, she and Sarah went upstairs. As the coast was clear, Abu Ishaaq opened the door and let the family inside.

"Where's your mother, dear?" Umm Ibrahim asked Ishaaq as the fathers walked over to the living room. Ibrahim followed his father inside the living room.

"She's waiting for you upstairs, Aunty," Ishaaq gestured at the stairs that led upstairs. Umm Ibrahim nodded, and Maryam shyly nodded along with her mom. They both went upstairs to join Sarah and her mother.

Ishaaq then went to the living room and sat beside Ibrahim on the sofa. He looked at Ibrahim curiously, before striking a conversation with him. Ibrahim admired Ishaaq's extroverted energy, and quickly, they became friendly with each other.

"Haleema! How have you been? I missed you so much!" Umm Sarah exclaimed as she skipped over to hug her best friend.

"I've been good Alhamdulillah! I've missed you so much too, Asma!" Both mothers were wrapped in each other's loving embrace for quite a while. Sarah and Maryam chuckled at their mother's energy.

While the mothers settled down to talk in the master bedroom, Sarah invited Maryam into her room, who curiously followed her. She was astonished by Sarah's organized room. Filled shelves of books were next to her desk. A window in front her pastel-coloured bed and the left side of her wall was covered with an organized mess of sticky notes.

"Woah!" Maryam exclaimed as she darted around the room and admired everything about it. Sarah sat down on her chair in front of the table.

"Come, sit down," Sarah smiled as she tried to follow Maryam around her room with her eyes. Maryam sat down at the bedside, trying to read the sticky notes.

"I love your room!" Maryam complimented her room without hesitation. Sarah was glad to see that Maryam was comfortable in her room and enjoying her time.

"Jazakillahu Khairan," she said, expressing her gratitude. She pulled out some notebooks from her drawer. Maryam's eyes curiously followed Sarah's hand as she flipped through the pages of her journal.

"This is one of my many journals," Sarah explained.

Maryam was wonderstruck by Sarah's amazing handwriting and how she beautifully decorated every page with pretty pictures and cute stickers. "You're really good at this, sister!" she said, with stars in her eyes. Sarah giggled at her enthusiasm. Maryam and Sarah then exchanged compliments about each other's dresses and talked to each other about life, school, and the like.

The fathers were chatting away in the living room, so Ishaaq decided his room would be more entertaining for both himself and Ibrahim.

"You play football?" Ibrahim asked when he saw the football cleats beside Ishaaq's desk as he followed behind Ishaaq and entered his room.

Ishaaq immediately turned to face him, "Yeah! You too?" he asked, his eyes sparkling with eagerness.

Ibrahim nodded, "Yeah, me too!"