Living In Fear

Chapter 4

Hasna's P.O.V---

I pushed myself up from the floor and groaned when I felt a sharp pain in my arm. After trying again and again, I fell back onto the floor hopeless. 

"Hasna!" I looked up and saw Imad running to me. Why is he always here? "Hasna, can you hear me?!" He took out his phone and I heard him talking to the emergency services. It was only a few minutes later when I heard the high pitched sirens in the air. Imad held onto my hand. I would have protested but I was too tired. He looked more scared than me. 

I stayed awake during the whole ambulance ride. The poked me and ran so many tests on me that I lost count. Imad stayed outside and I would see his head pop into the room to get an update from one of the nurses. Aunty came in and frowned at me.

"When I said come back to me, I didn't mean it like this. How are you feeling?" I looked at her and she nervously laughed. "Wrong question. I was going to treat you but they have this thing about not treating someone you know personally." 

"That's okay, Aunty. Has my mum been called yet?" 

"Yeah. She said that she was coming." 

"But she was at my cousin's house. That's like two hours away." 

"Imad's gonna go and pick her up from the train station." My mum rushed in, followed by my younger sister. "Looks like she is already here." 

"Sana! I leave you for a couple of hours and look what you did to yourself!" After she freaked out for half an hour, Imad came in. Aunty was still here. 

"Thank you, Imad." 

"I drove your car..." 

"Okay..." 

"I didn't answer your phone this time. Hassan called...I didn't pick it up." 

"Immy, what's wrong?" Aunty asked. 

"Nothing, Ommy." He put the keys and my phone down and then walked out again. My mum looked at me and frowned. 

"Hasna, I told you about hanging around with men." 

"Amma, he was helping me! And there is hardly any Muslims around that they are gonna gossip about us. And so what? I am sick and tired of being scared all my life! Whether it's the people that beat me up or just people looking at me as if I'm doing something wrong. Imad was helping me! If it wasn't for him then I would have been there on the ground probably dead!" 

"He's seen you without your hijab! Twice! This is why I said get married. If you get married then you can stay at home and not have all this trouble." 

Aunty frowned at my mum and left the room. When I looked through the windows, I couldn't see Imad anymore. Maybe he was gone. After they put a cast on my arm, they said I could go. My mum kept on muttering on about how it was wrong for me to be friends with Imad and everything. She kept on going on about me getting married. I walked past Imad and smiled at him. He nervously smiled and gave me a little wave. 

"Amma, where's Dad?" 

"He couldn't get off work because they said I would be there. He said he will talk to you when he got home or at his break." 

"Oh." She drove my car home with my sister sitting silently at the back. She hardly ever spoke. "Amina, you okay?" 

"Yeah. Urm, Amma said I got a marriage proposal. He seems like a really nice guy and I just want your opinion." 

"Amma, she's only nineteen!" 

"So? At your age I had both of you." 

We all ate after my dad came home. He freaked out the same way as my mum did. He didn't say anything bad about Imad helping, he just wanted to thank him. My mum was stuck in her culture but she was a nice woman. She loved me and my sister and we knew that. Unlike my mum, my dad wasn't that strict and stuck on culture. He understood where I was coming from about wanting a job a job and getting married on later. And I understood why they wanted me to get married so fast. They were brought up like that. It's just how their minds work. I understood what they meant by it being too late to have children and stuff. I didn't mind getting married. I just want someone who will lead the prayers. Who will correct my reading and wake me at Fajr. Someone who will teach our children to read. He didn't have to have a huge sum of money. Or be perfect. Just someone to protect me and love me.