Jahaan-Ara

Chapter 7: Cacophonous

Staring along the corridor, Rohail watched as Jahaan-Aara's grey wisp of her skirt swept up with the wind. His wide grey eyes glared at her as she disappeared around the corner like a puff of smoke. How did she find Badr-un-Nisa? 

Swiftly, Shumayla grabbed Emraad's arm and dragged him into the room compelling him to face his reality. In front of him, in the gloomy dark room his wife lay on the hospital bed. Wrapped in white bandages he couldn't recognise her. His eyes shot a look at Shumayla.
"It's Badr-un-Nisa." She mouthed.
His heart sank with grief. Why did she do this to herself? Shumayla's mouth moved, her lips explained the tragedy, but Rohail Saab couldn't hear her. A crackled wail came from the corner of the room and he muted the surrounding noises honing in on the wail. What was it? It sounded like it came from the lungs of an injured animal. With fear he stepped closer to the bed, the noise grew loud. Humming. When he leaned over the bed, Badr-un-Nisa reached out to him. She waved her bandaged hand up for him to hold, but Rohail Saab froze like he saw a ghost. This couldn't be the beautiful woman he once knew and loved? There was no sign of her, no skin, no lips and no smile. She was a raw version of her former self. Guilt weighed him down, heavy on his feet, he couldn't move an inch.
"Emraad?" Called Badr-un-Nisa. The pain she endured now tasted sweet with her husband standing smartly before her. He was handsome. Just like she remembered.
"Adila?" Badr-un-Nisa moaned. "Adila." She muttered once again.
Rohail Saab turned away. The memories were fresh pricking ever pore of his flesh. Adila; the reason his marriage crumbled. Was she apologising? He couldn't look at her. The past was a painful land to visit, digging its claws into his flesh and peeling away his skin until his raw soul bled.
"Adila!" Badr-un-Nisa cried. She wanted to see the little girl. She had to see her before she died. She had to correct the wrongs she did to that orphan child.
"Where is the doctor?" Yelled Rohail Saab. "Why isn't he here?" Rohail Saab couldn't breathe in the stifling room. The smell of the medication and creams was overwhelming. In addition, the powerful surge of memories spread regret, hate and anger through his veins. He swung his cane under his arm and charged out of the room with the excuse that he wanted to see a doctor.

Marching along the corridor, Rohail Saab attracted unwanted attention with patients gazing at him as he stormed past like the wind. Rohail Saab thumped his leather clad fist at the reception desk. "Where is the doctor? Why isn't he here? Why is my wife suffering in pain?"
A meek nurse walked over dressed in a white coat grasping a clipboard against her chest.
"Speak to me!" He roared taking all his anger and frustration out on her.
"He is not here. Dr Rashid will be in later for his shift!"
"Ridiculous!" He barked. "I want an ambulance to transfer my wife out of this dive! She will not be treated in this filthy hospital." He declared.

Rohail Saab stormed ahead without looking back. Shouting at the nurse wasn't enough to douse the flames blazing in his chest. He needed something more; stronger.

Speeding through the dark, dimly lit dangerous roads in his Jeep, Rohail Saab left the hospital and melted into the darkness of the night. He wasn't sure where he was going. After twenty minutes he stopped outside a corner tea stall erected at the side of a busy road. Truck drivers, taxi drivers congregated gathered at the pews sipping tea and watching the cricket match on the small screen. The hut was smoky, noisy jeering with cheers when Rohail Saab proceeded through and spotted the owner behind the large open fire stirring a fresh pot of tea. Dressed in a string vest, chewing a cocktail stick stuck between his teeth, Latif handed the ladle to the young boy to continue to stir when he spotted Rohail Saab. Side stepping to the rear of the hut where they were alone, under the blanket of the night, Rohail Saab dipped his hat so it covered his face and propped his collars disguising his face. Rohail Saab took out 3 single thousand rupee notes and slapped them on Latif's chest. Latif scrunched the notes and stuck them on the fold of his dhothi and disappeared.