It was Ali. My step brother. He had been up north studying. I was suddenly so happy to see him, but unfortunately in this state.
"Ali!" Both the twins said excitedly but I stopped them both. Ali looked towards us and his face was nearly unrecognisable. He had marks all over his face and he passed his fingers over his lips, revealing fresh blood. He was a big man, I wasn't going to lie, he was tall and muscular so seeing him like this was a shock. But he was nothing compared to my dad. He suddenly had a terrified look on his face as my dad got closer to him. Ali stumbled up and backed away as my dad kept walking towards him. My dad was angry. Furious. How could I tell? His vein on his forehead was petruding out and his face was red. His face was full of hatred, as if he just wanted to kill Ali.
Suddenly he pounced on Ali and cornered him while grabbing his hoddie he was wearing . I gulped and stared at Ali's petrified face.
"Never did I think I could get so humiliated! How dare you?! You worthless piece of s***!" My dad shouted and literally punched Ali straight in the face, causing him to, again, fall straight to the floor. Both my sisters screamed out of fear and I felt them both tremble. I caressed them and told them to be quiet. My mum, in utter shock, went to Ali and tried to help him up.
"No! NO! Leave him! Leave this filthy animal!" My dad shouted, ripping my mum's hand off Ali. I heard Ali struggle and groan out of pain. I felt so sorry for him. My dad stood,hovering over him.
"This boy! Means NOTHING to me anymore!" He said pointing at him.
"Who did I get a call from? The POLICE! Saying my crappy son is held at the station for disruptive behaviour, getting into fights and harming a police officer. I swear to God I was so embarrassed I wanted to hide my face from everyone!" I gulped again. This was too shocking to hear.
"And where did they find you?" Silence.
"Tell them where they found you, you scum bag!!" My dad slapped him again.
"At a club!" Ali sneered. My mum looked so weak, she sat down and started fanning herself.
"What the f*** were you doing there! WHAT WERE YOU DOING THERE?! What was the need for you to be there?! Don't you have a life?! Don't you have morals?! That God-forsaken place is riddled with drugs, alcohol and strange women!! What business do you have being there?!"
" I sent you to study and you, a total idiot, threw all that behind you and YOU TURNED TO THE STREET LIFE?! Everything was given to you in your hand and you just totally went to the opposite direction?! How dare you?! Bastard!
"Why did you even come here? Why did you come back here?! How the hell did you have the guts to come back here, acting as if everything is okey?! And even worse I can smell alcohol from you!! Shaytaan!!" I couldn't believe this was happening. This is so heartbreaking. Ali sniffled and wiped the blood from his lip.
"Dad, I -"
"QUIET! DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME DAD!!" My dad piped Ali down. My dad took his jacket off and threw it across the room and started to walk up and down the room. Amina looked at me with a tear in her eye that was ready to fall. I rubbed her arm and signalled for her to be quiet. I was getting increasingly worried that the neighbours might hear us and come knocking on our door or something.
" I want him out of my house as soon as possible! I don't care where he goes but he is not staying here while I have to look at his god-forsaken face!" He told my mum.
"Thank God I'm at work tomorrow so I don't have to stay here with this thing." He mumbled under his breath. He gave Ali a piercing look, full of disgust before leaving the room. We heard him stomping up the stairs, mumbling some Turkish curse words at Ali. We heard the room door slam violently.
The room's tension almost immediately eased and we all breathed out the breath which was held the entire time. Both my sisters ran to the floor and hugged Ali and shed a few tears. I swallowed the ball in my throat and held back the tears in my eyes. To see one of your loved ones hurt and beaten is so difficult. I saw Ali's face soften up and looking relieved, he hugged them both back. I could swear I saw a tear slip out of his eyes. You might thinking that my mum and I should have intervened and protected Ali. I agree, we should have but if you know my dad, you would know that when he is angry, it doesn't matter if you are his daughter or a stranger, if you get in his way you will have to suffer the consequences.
YOU ARE READING
The Art Of Halaal Love
Romantik*Formerly titled as ' Allah is with you '* If you had to choose between family and love, which option would you go for? For most people it's a situation which sounds like a nightmare and they would never imagine themselves in that dilemma. But for...
