Destiny - مقدر

4 - Run Away - بھاگ جاؤ

"You can't run away from yourself." - Bob Marley 

"Are you sure you don't want to just try walking?" 
"Aqsa, I can't. Just let him come and kill me...I'm as good as dead anyway."  

Ammi Jee's eye-lids drooped and she hunched her shoulders. I felt more than partially responsible for that. It was my fault, after all. We sat and watched patiently as the sun set on the horizon. I half-expected Abbu Jee to turn up immediately and drag us both back home by our ears. He didn't. So we sat, and we waited for our imminent doom. 

"What are you doing here?"

I looked up and saw Daniyal, smiling worriedly at me and my mother. His face looked concerned, as he struggled not to notice my mother's beaten up face and worn out look. "Uh. My...my mother needs to go to hospital. How about you?"
Ammi Jee looked up wearily at the mention of her name, her eyes were bloodshot and weary. 

"I was on my way home from the market..." He stated, trying hard to lower his eyes, as he didn't want to seem rude. I smiled awkwardly, "Nice."
He opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again, before deciding it best to speak. "You could bring her to my house, if you want? My father's a doctor, I'm sure he can help." 
Thinking back to his large house, his father's impressive profession made total sense. I looked at my tired, injured mother slumping into her seat like a dying flower and staring into space. "Are you sure?" 
"Of course. Shall we?" He assisted my mother as we both helped her to her feet. Ammi Jee beamed at the chivalrous young man who was gently helping her up. 

"Thank you, baita. Thank you..." Ammi Jee whispered, stroking Daniyal's chin as she was lifted to her feet. Daniyal smiled, his dimples deepening like bottomless pits and his green eyes sparkling like little emerald gemstones. I admired those unique features. Once she was stood up, guided by Daniyal, we ambled towards his house. It wasn't hard to miss, you  could see the roof of his tall house rising above the trees and other houses like a shark's fin reaching the surface of a still ocean. 

Once we'd reached his front garden, adorned with various flowers and plants , Daniyal sat Ammi Jee down on a garden bench and went inside to fetch his parents. I looked up at the setting sun and for once, I felt content enough to relax.

"What a nice boy, don't you think? Nice house too..." 
"Don't get any ideas, Ammi Jee." 
She chuckled, patting my leg as we waited from the shade of his large house. "Do you think we are being an inconvenience?" She asked looking up at their house as it towered above us. "Ammi, you need help." I replied. She nodded slowly, biting her lower lip with nerves. After a few minutes had passed, Daniyal exited the house, followed by a small, gaunt man, probably his father. 

"Um...salaam Mrs Bhatt. My son has told me about you and I have decided that it is in my best interests to help you, if that is what you wish. Shall we get you inside?" 
Unlike Daniyal's mother, this man sounded kind, he seemed humble too. He wore a white coat, a small black clock hanging from his breast pocket. He had black trousers and wore brown rubber shoes. He had salt and pepper hair, his head was large and bald, it seemed most of his hair had gone under his nose and formed a thick moustache. He wore thick, black glasses and had large emerald eyes, much like Daniyal. Daniyal's mother had dark brown eyes, so it was clear he'd inherited his kind personality and gorgeous eye colour, both from his father. 

My mother nodded slowly, and whispered a sluggish, tired 'thank you'. Daniyal's father nodded graciously before holding Ammi Jee's forearm, it was gentle and with respect, reminding me of the way Daniyal had held me days ago on the roof. The inside of their house was even more glamorous than the outside. It all seemed a bit posh for a street like this, like it had randomly fallen from the sky and gotten mis-located. Ammi Jee was placed on a soft chair in their living room and her shoulders untensed. It was the most relaxed I'd seen her so far.