How I Met Mr Jinn ✔️

Chapter Thirty

Stones and Jinn

         The light crawled in, from the big window beside my desk, granting the walls with delicately printed shadows. The birds outside chirped, as they rose for their early meal of the day. At first, sweet little chirps or tweets were heard, but then it felt like a whole Mountain of birds were singing to the national anthem. Suddenly, they stopped and made that noise when they flap their wings and fly all at once. Of course, I thought that was very unusual. But I supposed an eagle or something had frightened them off. I had seen it once happen near our playground at elementary. That stupid school had serious littering issues so if you wanted to go birdwatching, the yard was the best place.

I had no idea why they chirp, so early in the morning, but it was a question worth googling. Later-That is.

Exhausted, I switched positions until I slept flat on my back. I let out a deep breath and proceeded to close my eyes to resume my sleep episode.

Somehow, the strange dreams weren't very effective now that I fix my pillow every night when I fall asleep. It was odd, but it also stirred a curious vortex in my mind. I had to ask a professor about that. Could your pillow somehow affect whether or not you got nightmares?

I had hardly gotten any sleep, therefore my head felt like it was going to explode. So when Hassan blew the door open, I almost shrieked but ended up groaning to the fact that it was time to wake up.

"Come on, sis. I know you're awake." He told me after I had intended to play dead. Maybe he'd let me go this time. "I saw you staring at the ceiling, Ruqaya." He informed me.

Nope, I thought. You did not.

"Astahfirallah," I gave up, "Cant I get some decent sleep here?"

"Oh come on! We both know you were awake before I came in," He began. "So... aren't you going to ask why I woke you up at six?"

"Six!?" I exclaimed. "Why would anyone wake up at six on a Sunday?"

"We're.. going bowling. My mom says it'll be a nice family break. You know- clear things from our mind, kind of like a 'Ruqaya is single and proud' party. I think its stupid, really-but hey! Free pizza if you do a perfect strike." He said, his eyes widening at the thought of free pizza. Everything tasted better when free.

I rolled my eyes, "Why now? Why today, the day I have a terrible headache! We haven't gone bowling since... my 8th-grade graduation?"

"How come we didnt go bowling in my graduation?" He wandered.

"Really?" I mock, "That's what you have to say about all this?"

He shrugged, "Just go wake up the others, I need to finish an episode of Attack on Titan."

"Ugh," I sighed after Hassan had closed the door.

Out of the blue, a chirp from outside woke me up just when I tried to fall back asleep. Why was it that every time I tried to rebel, my damn conscience or something else changes my mind?

Taqwa, I imagined my father's answer.

I looked back at my window, walked over to it, and swung the window open. Observing the tree in our yard, and squeezing my eyes due to the sun, I was able to make out one red-breasted robin. The state bird was singing softly on Grecio's finger as he grinned at me with open teeth and closed eyes.

Suddenly, I wasn't in a bad mood anymore. I looked left and right, and when I found that our neighbors weren't awake, I sat my arms on the windowsill and mocked an amused expression. "So you're the one that scared the birds away, huh?" I asked.