Free Me

ELEVEN

Abdallah woke up to the sound of his ring tone. It was so loud that it scared the life out of him. Looking at the caller ID, he was surprised. Nusayba calling at this hour? What time was it even? He thought but because the room was dark, he couldn't set his eyes on the wall clock. He picked up at the last ring.

"Abdallah please come over immediately after Subh" came a voice that didn't belong to Nusayba. The owner of the voice sounded distressed.

"Aunty Nurse?" He asked after recognizing the voice to be hers.

"Yes. And please don't ask questions now. Just make sure you're here after subh" Aunty Nurse said and with that, she ended the call.

Abdallah sat up, confusion written all over his face. A lot of questions were already popping up his head. What was so urgent that couldn't wait till morning? Was it her crises again? Did she pass out? He was already getting jittery. He had a feeling all was not well. He looked at the time on his phone and it was just few minutes past 4am. If not because he wouldn't get a keke napep, he would have left for her place this minute.

"I just hope she's fine" He muttered as he slowly lay back to sleep but what? The sleep wouldn't come. His pupils were dilated and his mind was not at rest. After spending thirty minutes and the sleep was not willing to come, he stood up to pray naafilah and the only supplication he muttered all through, was for everything to be alright.

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Abdallah walked through the gate of Nusayba's home hurriedly. He was eager to get the answers to the numerous questions that were bugging him. He walked into the house after he had said 'Assalam alaikum' to a group of men. Even though it looked abnormal for that number of people to be around in a person's house at that hour of the morning, Abdallah couldn't conclude on the reason why they were here since he himself, had never been here this early.

He searched for a familiar face as he walked through the passage. I never knew this house could be this full. I've never seen it this full. Abdallah thought as he walked to the living room. He spotted her father in the midst of some people immediately he set his foot in the living room. He walked deeper into the living room and found a suitable spot on the floor.

"Ina kwanan ku (Good morning to you all)" Abdallah said with a meek smile and they responded in unison.

"Abdallah how're you?" asked Nusayba's Dad. He sounded so exhausted that Abdallah began to wonder if he slept at all last night.

"I'm fine Alhamdulillah" He answered with his head low. He was eager to hear what dad's next statement will be.

"Go inside. Your mum is there" Dad said after about five minutes of silence. For Dad to tell him to go inside, he must have known about the early morning phone call he received.  Abdallah thought as he slowly stood up and walked out of the living room. He had hardly went out of sight when one of the men spoke.

"It seems he's not aware"

"Yeah" Dad sighed.

"I can't break the news to him"

Abdallah heard all of these. He was already searching his brain for the news dad couldn't tell him. What could it possibly be that he could not tell him? He couldn't lay a finger on anything. His legs jiggled as he found his way to Nusayba's room. He knocked on the door and after few seconds, it was opened. The first object he saw was Nusayba's bed and he was surprised not to see her on it. He slowly walked in, closing the door behind him. Then he spotted Aunty Nurse behind the door. His face lit when he saw her but just as he was about to begin asking her questions, something caught his attention making his breath hitch for a moment. A body wrapped in a white shroud was lying on a mat. Somebody was sitting close to that body and looking closely, he recognized her to be Nusayba's mum. She was in a state of desolation and despair.