Choosing The Right Path

34) 🚵Mishaps🚵

✴ A Z L A N ✴

I greeted my parents as I ran down the stairs, trying to shove my left arm into my leather biker jacket.

Yes, my biker jacket.

Dad me the key to my bike back and I couldn't wait to take her for a spin again. The free feeling of speeding past a blurred world was really something else but my eagerness to ride my bike was not the only thing that spurred me on to get out the house.

"Azlan, you can't leave without having breakfast."

"But Mom-"

"Azlan," Dad cut me off, "Listen to your mother. Have something before you go."

I nodded and gravitated toward the kitchen. I had enough time to get to the mall. It had been forever since I saw Aamirah, what with school being closed and my family life getting in the way of things. Who was I to speak about family? The Omar kids were basically my family. They stuck with me through thick and thin. I was even anticipating seeing Rubina again. I had grown used to her company.

My main motivation, though, was Aamirah. She made me happy and made me realise that I had two parents who loved me and who I loved more than anything. She pushed me to go back home, even if I bumped into my father unwillingly. My happiness was all because of her.

"I'll just have coffee." I said to Mom.

"No, your favourite breakfast cereal is right here. At least have some of that before leaving."

The pain in my mother's voice was evident and I enveloped her in my arms. One day when I would become a parent, I would understand what it would feel like to watch your child leave home and not know when they would be coming back, even if it was just to visit. Mom always told me this and I guess there was some truth in what she said, even if I couldn't relate to the situation from a parent's point of view.

"Why do you have to go, son?" My mother asked me, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Mom, when you meet Zak, you will understand."

I hadn't told Mom and Dad every detail about Zak, yet but I was planning to introduce him to them. Zak was such an amazing friend. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have had gotten through a lot of the difficulties I had been confronted with. Depsite the struggles he had to face in life, he still persevered and he passed on his strength and perserverance onto me and that was what kept me going. That was what got me through the pain of being separated from my parents, the only people I thought I could count on. I needed to return the positivity that I had gained through Zak's friendship furthermore; I needed to be there for him in his time of need.

As usual, Allah works in myserious ways and it was through being separated from my parents that He showed me that I could count on and trust other people. He had left me with no option and now, I see that this whole experience was merely for my own good. If I knew that things would turn out this way, I would not have been regretful about my actions. Though if I wasn't regretful, I might have never come back to my family in the first place.

Thoughts laced with contradiction filled my head as I walked to the car hold after what seemed like long, painful years. I'd faced months of having to take public transport, beg for lifts or simply walk, not that there was anything wrong with that. I just missed having my independence.

But I got it back and that was all that mattered.

My beautiful motorcyle was mine to use again. She was dusty but that was ok, it was nothing that I couldn't fix. To be taking her out after so long was going to be a struggle but practise makes perfect and I wouldn't have gotten onto the main roads before driving around the block for a while.

So this was what it was like to feel happy and whole again. This was what it felt like to be human. Only Allah knew how thankful I was for this day, for this life and for the people in it.

》》》

"We have a boy, seems to be in his late teens or early twenties... Severe gashes on calf and lower thigh... Concious... Critial condition..."

What was happening? I didn't -I couldn't understand the voices and what they were trying to say. Were they talking to me?

"Stay with us, young man, you're going to be alright."

"... Seems to have had lost control... Family members to contact? Rutheryn, get a family member's contact number, please."

"Sir, can you give us the details of a family member of yours that we can contact?"

Echoes.

Pain.

Black.

👯 A A M I R A H 👯

The slow music in the mall made the time pass even more slowly than usual. Raeesa, Rubina and I waited at a table in the food court. There was no sign of Azlan. That was okay though, he had plenty time to get to the mall. Maybe he was delayed? I couldn't tell. Nobody could tell with this bad boy, really.

"Aamirah I'm tired. When will Azlan be here?" Raeesa asked, her words follwed by a huge yawn.

Raeesa landed back in Seaview at 2:30am today and insisted on coming to the mall. She was not going to miss Azlan's big story, even if she fell asleep right afterwards.

"By ten-thirty."

"Seriously?" Rubina chipped in. "You've got to be freaking kidding me, Aamirah. It's already eleven!"

"Oh really? I didn't even notice the the time..."

But I had noticed and I was worrying. Azlan always seemed to be at places on time, just when you needed him. Today seemed to be one of those off days when life threw you off balance with the unexpected.

My ringtone filled the silence. I answered the call and pressed my phone to my ear.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Aamirah Omar?"

"Yes it is, can I help you?"

"This is Lydia from Greenwood Hospital. We have receieved a patient by the name of Azlan Jabbar. You are the only number he could give us so if you could please come to the hospital ASAP, it would be a big help to us."

Everything around me froze. My heart seemed to have stopped and my breath was hitched in my throat. No, Azlan was not running late, maybe he was out of time and I needed to be there for him.

"Ms. Omar?" Lydia asked.

"Yes, I'll be there. Thank you ma'am."

I snapped out of my daze and explained the situation to Raeesa and Rubina. We left the mall within a matter of seconds.

I felt so helpless, so lost. Something terrible had happened to Azlan and all I could do was make du'a for him...

♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧♧

I feel like such a horrible person right now like I didn't even know I was gonna do that to Azlan 😭😭😭.

But everything happens for a reason so don't worry!

Keep readingg x.