Chapter Ten
I gasped, seeing the time on my mobile phone. 8:30. I was in deep shit.
Turning off the ignition, I pulled the keys and left the car. Just as I was closing the door of the house, my dad appeared.
"And where have you been, may I know?" He said calmly, though anger was already showing in his bursting veins and tight fists.
I stared at my shoes. I was guilty this time and I wouldn't deny it. My shift had been over an hour ago.
"I was at the library." I said, hoping he won't ask further.
"And you never thought to call to tell your mother that?" He was almost shouting now.
"No."
"Do you know how much she had been worrying for the last hour? Your phone is off, you didn't call and it's way past your shift."
I looked up. Mom was there now, standing behind him, looking at me with her eyebrows furrowed. "I'm sorry." I said finally. I walked past him and into my room. Omar was there, studying.
"Hey." He said. Well, at least he wasn't mad at me. Leave it to Omar to always be the one detached from the problems at home, like it doesn't even concern him, even when it does. He just has this world of his own. And it manages to keep him always unaffected. Maybe you get used to it. With someone like my brother. A kid, sick, with parents who fight 24/7. Things like what happened with me and my father just now kind of lose their appeal after a while. My parents' fights did that with me.
"Hi." I say. I start taking off my jacket. Warmth instantly envelopes me. "Got that Math test back?"
"Yeah. Just today. I got an A." He grinned.
I smiled. "There you go. Told you it would be easy."
"Just because you explained it to me. I never would have passed it otherwise."
I scowled at him. "Hey, don't depriciate yourself. You wanted to be a inventor, didn't you? I bet you you'll be the best inventor that has ever lived."
Omar looked at me, suddenly sober. "If I live."
At those three words, a strong chill ran down my body and I bristled. Tears formed in my eyes before I allowed them to. And I stepped forward, kneeled and grabbed Omar's shoulders.
"You will live. You will grow up and you'll be an inventor. You'll be the best inventor on earth. And you'll be fine and healthy. And you'll be able to do whatever you want and nobody will ever make fun of you again. Don't ever think otherwise, you hear me?"
He looked into my eyes and for a moment I thought I saw something flash so quickly in his face. Sadness. An emotion that felt so very foreign in the brilliant green of his eyes. And it made my heart ache so much that I pulled him fast against me, refusing to see that emotion any longer. It's also lucky because, he never saw the tears running down my face.
***
I lingered for a while outside my parents' room. I've waited until dad was in the living room so that I can talk to my mother alone. Now I can't bring myself to do it. Finally, I pushed the door open.
She was wearing her praying gown and reading Quran, like how she always did after Ishaa prayer. She was only softly reciting, but even with her voice barely audible, you can still notice how beautiful it is. It goes up and falls and stops in all the right places, flows like melody with the rhymes in the end of each aya. When she recites Quran, she becomes more calm than she usually is.
She stops and looks up when she notices me standing. I look at a point beside her.
"Do you want to tell me something, Jen?" She asks softly.
YOU ARE READING
Void - Finding Islam (EDITING)
Novela Juvenil"It's irrevocable. But I can't help but think that if it all never happened, we wouldn't be like this. My mother wouldn't be so distressed all the time. My father wouldn't be so irritable. And I wouldn't have grown so quiet." ...
