Sidratul Muntaha

Chapter 12 🏊🏽

Bismillahi Rrahmaani Rraheem•

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu•

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Muntaha stood on the beach as he stared at the sea raging before him. The girl had disappeared beneath the waves. The other girl was still shouting for the girl, who jumped into the sea.

"Adara!"

His men released the girl who fell on her knees on the shore. She was sobbing hysterically. Her eyes, which were filled with tears continued to gaze towards the sea. The giant wall of water was still coming towards them. The girl wiped her tears angrily.

"Adara!" She shouted again. His men kept staring at the girl pitifully. She was drenched with water and shivering uncontrollably, but she was worried about the other girl. Muntaha kept his gaze on the sea too. Something was amiss with the whole picture and he didn't know what. He frowned. He suddenly walked towards the girl and bent down on one knee in front of her.

"Why did she jump off the raft?" He asked her urgently.

"Something was pulling the raft back. She jumped to save me." The girl replied.

"How did that even save you?" Muntaha wondered but didn't ask her.

"We need to get out of here." Faris told him forcefully. He looked back at Faris with a determined gaze. "No! No Muntaha! You can't! You don't know what's going on. Don't endanger yourself this way!" Faris kept shouting to see that Muntaha had already removed his robes, which were wet to the core. He threw the robes on the sand.

"If I don't come back, then get back to the safe house and send a message to Amm." He ordered. "Suleiman will take charge in my absence." His men protested but he couldn't let this go. There was something unnatural going on and he wasn't that leader, who saved himself by remaining hidden within the cocoon of his men. He was a leader, who lead by observation of his surroundings and acquisition of knowledge from all of it and for that he had to abandon the fear of the unknown and step into the unfamiliar territory.

He smiled at his men and turned towards the sea. His loose pants were held up by a dagger belt which carried a single dagger. He walked inside the sea hastily,  because he had already wasted too much time and dived inside it once he was in too deep, after taking a deep breathe and whispering a reverent 'Bismillah'.

The water engulfed his senses for a second and then he began taking long strokes in the direction where he had last seen her. He reached the place after a while and came up for breathe. Looking around, he saw his men standing a bit nearer to the sea and waved at them, before taking a deep breathe and going under again. He needed answers and he would get them.

He began to search all around him for any clue to know what had happened but found nothing. He still kept looking around in hopes of finding something. Twice he came up for air and dived under hastily to keep searching. Once he thought he saw something, but when he neared it, he found clothes, which probably were from the ship.

After some minutes of searching, which appeared to be hours to him, he decided to give up and turned towards the beach, but something made him change directions and as he swam forward, he could see it clearly. It was the same girl who had jumped from the raft. She was swaying lifelessly as some clothes from the ship had tangled with her legs and were dragging her down towards the bottom where their other end was trapped within a heavy iron chest.

Another man was already there as he tried to free her trapped legs from the clothes but strangely the clothes were not coming free. Muntaha swam upwards and took a breath before returning back. He slightly pushed the man away as he withdrew a dagger from his belt and cut the clothes neatly with a Bismillah in his heart. He did the same with all the other clothes that were tied to her. Freeing her from her entrapments, he pulled her towards himself. Her eyes were closed and he wasn't even sure of she was breathing but he still couldn't leave her here. The way she had selflessly jumped off the raft to save her sister touched him so much that he just had to take her back. If not for a reunion then at least for a decent burial. She deserved it.