Two faced

Chp 15

***
I heard the two of them fighting as always but that day was the worst of all. I was curled up in my bed under my blanket shivering as hell and sweating profusely despite of it being summers with my heart pounding as if it would jump out of my chest any moment.


"You filthy son of a __--__--_. " my mother shouted as I opened up my sleepy eyes, rubbing them vigorously to brush off the sleepiness from them.
"Shut the hell up you __---__." My father replied harshly while shutting up their bedroom cupboard roughly at once such that the door flap trembled with terror.

I could hear stampeding footsteps of them two around the room as their words echoed with the sunrise yellow thick wallpapered walls of the room which some way symbolized happiness and calamity. I was lying on my bed while my body shivered and sweat dripped down each and every bulk of my face. I could see my eardrums bursting with each and every sharp and painful word, they cursed of. 
All I did was just prayed to God, to hold me in it's embrace so that the pain subsiding inside my body would somehow come to an end and the horror of the situation that swirled through every bit of my dead soul.

"You better go and live with that hag." I heard my mother tease my father followed by a vase breaking sound.

The next moment I heard my father "You better stay out of my life __-__--," and another glass shattering shrill sound roamed around.

"Ah ahh." I heard my father slightly moan out of pain and my mother chuckled.
I was done for that moment, I could feel an intense pain going through my lifeless body, gripping my limbs strongly in it's rough and strong hold and my mind started started going numb, leaving myself unable to move nor think.

All I needed was someone to hold me tight so I immediately threw the blanket off me and ran barefoot towards my parent's room.

I had almost reached there, despite of the fact that the distance from my room to my parent's room was less than two minutes but for me it felt like I had to travel through the skies and the worlds to get there though I could still hear their horrifying voices.
"___---__--."
"----____---___---____-------__---__."
"____--__-----____."

I finally reached the door to that hell and without thinking about anything I pushed the door open but what my eyes caught was the biggest shock of my life and left a biggest scar on my soul.

I hadn't expected such a situation. The room was totally disheveled. The sheets were crumpled, bed linens were unfolded, the floor was mostly covered in shreds of glass, flowers and other stuff, there was a minor wound on my father's forehead, with two or three drops of blood steady on his skin while he stood in front of my mother pointing a brutal piece of weaponary, a  gun towards her!

This was all I could bare at that moment, I passed out right in front of them."

***
She remain steady and rigid as a statue as she narrated the incident to him who was now standing beside her, looking at her closely.

She now seemed calm, her closed fists were now loosely open, letting the sweat enclosed in them to disappear into the air, her closed wrinkled eyelids were now relaxed, such the fold in her eyelid skin were no nowhere to be seen, while her tight grip on the arm rest had now loosened, allowing the cloth to breath.

"I see," He sighed to gain her attention.
"You are a one brave young woman." He complimented her but she didn't showed any expression, probably because she knew better about her that she is no brave woman but a coward who took shield behind her own past.

"When I woke up, I was in a hospital," she gulped.

"I was lying on a plain bed loosely despite the fact there was hustle and bustle all around that busy place but I could feel nothing. I was numb, all I could feel was my soul imprisoned in my lifeless body or I should say my body was just piece of flesh and blood." She finished.

"Did your parent's do something about it?" He asked her calmly.
She stuttered for a while and then said "they divorced."!

"Oh." He consoled while looked at her face  thoroughly and professionally.
"Thanks for being with me," she begin and he took the seat next to her while she squinted her closed eyes and tapped her fingers slowly on the soft cushioned arm rests.

"You are the only person who has been all along with me, RIA" She finished and his face glimmered in curiosity and shock. He just observed her strongly.

***
After four hours
Afzaal finished the observational report of Maria's first session of free association therapy after a continuous effort of three hours.

He closed the journal and put it aside. He moved back on the couch with his back resting on the couch's back while he unbuttoned the first two buttons of his shirt, making it easier for him to breath and closed his eyes because how much he tried to work he couldn't do it as he was mentally tired after working on Maria's case.

He took deep breaths for some time to overcome his tiredness. As he gathered the encouragement to stand up, he did so and holding his journal, phone and some files he left the therapy room after switching off the lights and locking the door.

He walked through the corridor and then into the aisle area leading to his cabin. He stepped inside and turned on the lights which left him in utter surprise and a tinge of horror.

He witnessed that his desk was badly disordered as if someone had been here searching for something. The files lying all over the desk, unlike how he had carefully arranged them synchronously before leaving for the therapy room. The drawers to his desk were open half way, with his open diary lying inside the top most drawer, as if someone had a good read through it.

Few of his things were lying on the floor along with the sparkling pieces of his broken coffee mug, which was a previously placed on his desk, on the table coaster. The chairs were also displaced from their positions. He wondered who it could be because when he bumped into Maria, he could clearly see from the corridor that his cabin was perfect hence someone might have mingled with his stuff after he left for Maria's therapy.

"Who did this?" He asked to himself pretty annoyingly because just like typical doctors he was a perfectionist especially when it comes to organization and hygiene.

He walked into the room a little more while brain storming into the matter.
"Oh I get it now. I had send the nurse to fetch the file, she might have did this." He replied to himself and moved forward gathering pieces of his mug carefully and threw them into the bin.

"The hospital staff needs to learn how to deal with the files." he gritted his teeth as he decided to file a complain against the incident.

He then returned to his desk and started to organize his things before leaving for home. It took him about thirty minutes to fix the setting of his cabin. He lazily fell on his chair with a tired yet playful smile rose on his face.

He took his phone from the desk and noted the time. He then stood from the chair, got hold of all his stuff and then plainly exited his cabin.

He walked clumsily towards the reception desk on his floor.
"I am taking off for the day." He said to the receptionist to which he replied "Okay. Good night."

While updating it on the register.
"Good night." Afzaal wished him and left towards the elevator and then to the hospital exit.

***
At Maria's place the clock had struck ten pm and as usual her family was present at the dining table already having their dinner.

"This rice is yum." Haider complimented Naima putting a huge spoon of rice into his mouth.
"Thanks dear." Naima replied while Maria rolled her eyes playfully.
"I forgot something." Maria announced and everyone turned to her.

She dropped her spoon and fork onto the plate.
"Dad called today, he wanted to talk to you." She told pointing towards Naima.
"Yes I know that. I'll talk to him." She replied casually, winning at dodging the conversation and they continued eating.

'You never truly know the daily struggles of others'