Destiny

Chapter twenty six

They say that time suppose to heal you, but I ain't done much healing.
                                                    Adele
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The tales she's heard, tales of ghost and jinns, but never once did it tell of one appearing in the middle of the day.

It is him no doubt. She could remember clearly from the picture she had seen. Not much had changed about him except the few grey hairs at the edges of his temples.

He was still gawky at 6-ft-7. His complexion a tad lighter, with sunken  eyes that looked tired and sad.

The scripts her mom had been grading a little while ago, were strewn about the living room.

The usual sweetness that surrounds her mom was gone, replaced by a myriad of emotions Ameena had never seen in her.

She looked from her dad to the teenage boy beside him.

Here he was, an answer to a long overdue prayer. Of all the countless ways she had imagined to react if it ever happened, not one came to her head at this very moment.

What do you do when you have pictured and fantasized about something for too long and then that same thing finally appears in front of you? Of all the things she thought she would do, not one came to her rescue, instead she stared straight into the wary eyes that looked back at her.

If she had an atom of joy still left in her, she would have shed tears of joy. But alas, joy was just a word in her dictionary rather than a thing in the collection of the emotions she possessed.

He moved his lips several times but nothing came out of them. The boy beside him held his hands, they exchanged looks and the boy nodded, He seemed to understand.

She felt a pang of jealousy as she watched this little show of affection between him and the boy.

"Am...Ameena...is that you?" He finally managed to say.

The sound of his voice seem to break the spell of silence that had enveloped the living room. She obeyed the only logical idea that came to her head, that is, walking silently pass them to her room and locked the door. She took out her phone and dialled her sister's number.

Meanwhile, after her mom had gotten over the initial shock, she stormed towards her room and he followed suit leaving the boy still on his feet.

She grabbed two empty suitcases and started throwing in any piece of clothing she could lay her hands on. All she wanted to do was get out of there so she could breath.

He called her name twice but she ignored him and kept piling clothes upon clothes until she filled the first box.

"Safiyya...listen to me please." He said that as he grabbed her hands to keep her from what she was doing.

The sound of the slap reverberated all over the room.

"How dare you touch me!!!"

For the first time since his arrival, this is the first word she uttered. Her eyes were cold and hard. Her actions were fueled solely by anger. Her floodgates were threatening to burst any time soon.

"I deserved that...and more. But please Sophie don't leave...hear me out first.

She put both hands to her face and took a deep breathe, she is trying to control the bottled up rage she's been keeping all these years from breaking. Her breathing was laboured and she tried to control it, it felt like her heart wants to break free from its cage.