Zahra and Huda had gone back to sleep after offering Fajr salah to get that precious one hour of sleep in. The alarm sound once again interrupted the blissful slumber taking place in the gray room, forcing the two girls to wake up. They both sat up, staring into oblivion, waiting for one another to take the courageous first step to the bathroom.
After a few minutes, Huda got up and went into the bathroom, Zahra following soon after. It was a Monday morning and neither of the girls had it in them to pick out stunning outfits for the day, so they both went for good old scrubs and plain pastel long sleeve shirts underneath, paired with sneakers and a light two-step.
"Do you want to eat right now, or later at the hospital?" Huda asked.
"At the hospital, I'm not so hungry right now," Zahra replied.
"Me too, let me just have some coffee and we'll head out," Huda said, finishing her coffee and grabbing the car keys from the counter. They both got into Huda's car and drove to the hospital, parting ways after arriving at the hospital- Huda went up to her office.
Huda had time to spare until her first appointment of the day, so she decided to eat a breakfast bar and drink another iced coffee. She ate while going through the lab reports of her patients- when a nurse rushed into her office in a panic.
"Dr.! Jefferson from Room 31 has left his ward and is on the roof. He won't listen to any of the nurses; we need help," she panted.
Huda gasped as her heart dropped to her stomach; she immediately stopped what she was doing and ran out of her office.
Jefferson Taylor was a 16-year-old patient of Huda's, and he was currently hospitalized as his hearing was fading. He was a music enthusiast and planned on becoming a violinist. Due to his condition, he was also diagnosed with depression and anxiety because although he was seeing a therapist and an audiologist, his progress was gradual. He had attempted to harm himself a couple of times, as he had to come into the ER with injured wrists and arms even though he was always under great care and supervision from family and staff.
Huda had multiple conversations with him, trying to convince him not to self-harm and put so much pressure on himself. He always listened to her and would talk about his concerns with her, and Huda would usually clear his concerns with her loving nature.
They made their way to the rooftop, and Huda ran towards the boy who was sitting under the metal rods that were placed for fall protection. However, there was someone already there- a male doctor who was holding his arm tightly, talking to him so softly no one barely heard a word.
She decided to walk a little closer to the two, and Jefferson's eyes met with Huda's, both eyes welled with tears. The man helped Jefferson out and picked him up from under his arms, away from the edge. Jefferson turned around and walked towards Huda crying, leaning his head on her shoulder as he sobbed.
"I thought we had a deal?" Huda muttered, caressing his upper arm.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." He repeated, not only apologizing to her but himself.
"I want to try. I can't give up." He spoke amid his tears.
"Yes, you can't. You're too strong, and have too much to accomplish," Huda said, as he backed away, giving her one more look.
"I am going to be there with you every step of the way, but you have to be there with me, got it?" She smiled at him, as he frantically nodded.
The nurse came to Jeff and gently led him out, holding his shoulders. When he left, Huda was a little dazed at what she had just experienced. This was so unexpected, her emotions were all over the place. She finally looked up to see the man from before looking at her. She stared back, analyzing his looks; the guy was fair, with stubble, he was wearing a navy blue tuxedo with a black coat on top.
She looked away and turned around to leave, grabbing the gray and cold door handle, but as she pulled, it didn't budge.
The door wouldn't open. She pulled harder on the door and also gave it a push, but there was no result. She turned around to see the guy who was now much closer, moving away to give him a shot at opening the door, but even when he pulled, the door was still closed.
"Oh my god, we're stuck." She gasped.
She stepped forward and banged on the door fiercely, yelling for help as loud as she could.
"HELLO! ANYBODY? OPEN THE DOOR!" She screamed.
The guy from earlier took out his phone, dialed a number, and then soon lifted his phone into the air, again and again from one place to another.
"No signal." He said.
WHAT! They're stuck. They're stuck. Huda thought.
"What are we going to do?" She asked.
"There's nothing we can do; there's just this door and-" She said, now talking to herself.
"Maybe there's another door." She added.
She ran across the terrace to find any other door, any exit, anything, and saw another door as rushed to open it.
No luck.
It was still morning, and it was cold as it could be. She ran back to the tall man, to confirm that they are trapped on the rooftop.
"We'll just have to wait; someone will realize that we're missing." He said.
"No one comes to the terrace. Like ever! This is my second time here in the last four years, we're going to freeze to death," Huda talked fast, obviously panicked.
She was frightened of the height that they were on, and the weather was freezing cold. She had a feeling no one would realize they were missing until she had hypothermia.
"Oh my god, there was news about this man getting stuck on the roof and dying of the cold; they only found him three days later," Huda started blabbering the nonsense she had begun to think due to her anxiety.
"This is it, I'm stuck on the roof and I am going to die by a stranger!" She prattled, pacing around, tears in her eyes.
The man carried a serious, unbothered face, which didn't help Huda's nervousness.
"You don't know who I am?" He said, after a while, turning to her.
"Yeah? Aren't you worried?" She asked with furrowed eyebrows.
She took another scan of him and tried to recall if she knew who he was until finally, her eyes landed on his ID badge.
"Dr. Khan?....Dr. Humza Khan?" She asked, now her heart dropping as she realized she was with her new attending.
He looked away from her with an unconcerned expression.
"You're our new attending. It's nice to meet you, I wasn't there for most of the conference, but I am Dr. Huda Siddiqui," She wiped her tears with her sleeve introducing herself.
He didn't reply; instead, he just nodded at her with pursed lips. Then looked at his watch and walked over to knock on the door again.
Huda touched both of her
YOU ARE READING
Only You
SpiritualDr. Humza Khan is the Pediatrics Attending at Lakeside Hospital, but with him comes his 6-month-old daughter. The man is handsome, mature, and successful and is focused on creating the best future for his daughter- Haniah. Dr. Huda Siddiqui is the...