HONEYDEW (A murder mystery)

Chapter 22~

My heart fell with a dull thump as suspicion crawled into my mind.

I could not understand why uncle Haroon would engage himself in books which contained basic information on the subject and was precisely written to satisfy the growing interest of a student.

My heart began beating faster. Was the Detective right in suspecting uncle Haroon?

But what could those books possibly contain?

"Aleena......are you listening?"

"Sorry. I was thinking."

"Care to say?"

"Nothing important," Then it struck me that I needed her help.

"Ayath, could you do me a favour?"

"Of course, I would."

"Please don't allow uncle Haroon to touch my books."

Silence.

"Fine. Reason?"

I had to think of an answer. Ayath was someone whose curiosity would not be easily satisfied and I did not have the heart to scare her with the ugly realities of our life.

"I have written about my crush in one of the books and I don't want uncle Haroon to find it," I bit my lower lip with worry. I hoped Ayath would buy my answer. It wasn't a lie as there were loads of pictures of my favourite cartoon character in all of the books. The idea of an indestructible high-flying super-strong man with human emotions had always appealed me. I just love superman. Silly me.

More silence.

Then finally a reply, wavering with shock and uncertainty, "You had a crush?" I could imagine Ayath's eyes bulging out from their socket.

"Please."

"I'll do it. How's it going to benefit me?"

"Whatever you ask for?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. InshaAllah."

"I hope you won't forget your promise."

"I promise to never forget my promise."

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During dinner there was an awkward silence between me and Aahil, the only sound audible in the large dining hall was the noisy clatter of cutlery and the giant grandmother-clock doing tick-tock.

I wanted to avoid another argument so, after dinner, I stepped into the huge library on the fourth floor of the second wing. As I stepped into the library, I smelt the familiar fragrance of pages. The smell of magic.

It was filled with volumes of books belonging to various authors. A few lines were written on a wall,

You cannot pretend to read a book
Your eyes will give you away,
So will your breathing,
A person entranced by a book
Simply forgets to breathe.
The house can catch alight but the reader deep in a book
will not lookup
Until the wallpaper is in flames.

I browsed through the shelves for quite some time and settled on "Greek mythology," But before I took my seat in one of the wooden chairs, another book caught my attention 'The Muslim marriage guide.' I quickly grabbed that book and began reading,

Islam teaches that marriage is half of the deen because it fulfils so many basic needs of the individual and society, it is the cornerstone upon which the whole Muslim life is built.