HEAL

Prologue

    
(unedited)

The interiors of the university's auditorium were brightly colored and exquisitely decorated; the hall was filled with people who were there to witness the induction ceremony of medical students.
   The students to be inducted seated in all four rows of the auditorium hall were all brightly faced. Excitement filled the air as they were called individually to affirm the Hippocratic Oath they had earlier chanted together in verbatim.
   Among those to be inducted sat Sister Sara with a huge smile that kept reappearing on her face at the thought of how moments from now, her dream of becoming a doctor would finally come true. What she awaits is to be called on the stage with of course the new title added to her name, to affirm the oath and for her certificates.
  She turned to her friend seated beside her who was clad in an elegant green suit.
   "Are you ready?" Sister Sara said to her friend; God's Favor with her signatory smile.
   "Yes, I can't be more ready". God's favor said returning her friend's smile.
   Sister Sarah opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted by the applause that came after yet another new Doctor was sworn in.
She turned back to God’s Favor when the applause died down. 
   "Now please repeat after me". She said imitating the voice of a popular comedian.
    God's favor nodded, Sister Sarah comic voice attempt unnoticed.
    "Ash Shadoo an La ilaha illa Allah," (I bare witness that there is no true god except God; Allah)
Sister Sarah recited the Shahaada (statement of declaration of Faith) to her.
   God's favor opened her mouth about to recite the Kalimatu shahada after her friend when the host’s voice rang out through the auditorium's hall.
"Dr. David God's favor".
   The hall which contains mostly parents erupted in applause accompanied with cheers as God's favor name was called. An applause which was louder unlike earlier applauses because Sister Sara friend; God's favor was the valedictorian of the class.
"They're calling you? “Sister Sarah said raising her voice above the cheers so that she could be heard.
"Let's continue “God’s favor replied, her voice firm with a strong conviction.
"Ash Shadoo an La ilaha illa Allah,"
   Repeating the Shahaada after Sister Sarah wasn't that hard as she had beforehand memorized its translation and had been familiar with the actual Arabic words but she needed Sister Sarah to make sure she uttered it correctly.
   "Wa Ash Shadoo,"(and I bare witness) Sister Sarah continued.
    The hall quietened and heads keeps turning around in disarray as to why the valedictorian is missing.
   “Dr. David God's favor.” She was called again
    "Wa Ashadu,"
     " Anna Muhammadan," (that Muhammad)
   A pin drop silence was in the hall. From the corners of her eyes, God's favor could see her mother now up from her seat, her eyes scanning the rows she was seated in, confusion written all over her face.
   " Anna Muhammadan,"
   The Host called her for the third time and added; “Please come over right now or you will be denied the right of being inducted with this class."
   "Rasoolu Allah." (is the Messenger of God) Sister Sarah said with haste.
    " Rasoolu Allah." she said, her demeanor unchanged.
   Closing her eyes for a mini second before standing up, she took a measured step towards the stage. The audience on spotting her erupted into another round of deafening applause and cheers. Her mother muttered something as she snapped her thumb with her index finger and then raising her hand over her head.
   Even though it was impossible for her to hear what her mother had said; she was sure that it was her infamous;
"The devil is a liar."
   The devil is a liar is what her Mother always says when there was a slightest drift from what she classes as a ‘normal God’s plan’. This is what she says when a broom fell off her hand, when the fuel meter run empty on thier way to Sunday service, when dinner burned and her Father refused to eat.
    God's favor couldn’t help but imagine how her Mother will use those words; in her overly dramatic attitude when she comes to know that her daughter had left her religion.
   She strided gently to the medical elders who were to give her certificates as well as medals with a strange lightness in her entire body, that particular feeling was new and strange and yet it felt warm and good. It was like if she raised her legs up a little bit higher and pushed her arms backward a bit, she would fly up in the air and her braided hair would flow behind her.
   She moved closer to the outstretched hand of the Chief Medical Director of the teaching hospital and accepts his handshake. She did so with other dignitaries present before she collected the microphone.
The hall quietened down again as she raised the microphone, she silently cleared her throat.
"I hereby affirm the oath “she voiced out her voice coming out firmer and clearer than she expected. She was not only affirming to be a medical Doctor but also affirming her faith, her submission to The Most High.
   The audience went into a wild jubilation and she was given a standing ovation. Her mother was jumping, laughing at the same time, and for moment she felt a pang of guilt. Her mother noticed her staring at her and she shouted something to her all the time jumping and with a huge grin.
She grinned back to her mother and waved. She was going to enjoy her mother’s pride and love for her while it lasts.
  Another grin broke through her face; she was finally a medical doctor but more importantly; she was finally a Muslim.
***
He had no idea why he was running but he was scared and not sure whether he was chasing something or he was being chased.
   The starless night made it impossible for him to see through the thick forest he was running through as sharp tree branches were tearing his clothes as well as his skin. He could hear his heart pounding violently against his chest and a headache that keeps intensifying with every passing second was weighing him down.
   His pace became reduced as the forest was getting thinner. His whole body has grown weak and he held his palm to his forehead as a futile way of holding back the throbbing in his head.
   After a few minutes of a helpless and painful run, his vision turned to a haze and he slumped down on the wet spiky grasses. Facing the dark sky with his eyelids slowly dropping and all the strength in him gone, he knew he was not going to make it.
   No! He wasn’t going to die yet; he doesn’t want to die this way. And so with the last dose of survival that was left in him, he twitched his legs and he tried to say those words but he was unable too. Then the tears came.
   All of a sudden he saw something; his eyes were still blurry but he could still see two short green lights that were moving close to him.
    The green lights became shorter and stronger as it was descending down on him and in his weak state, he felt the green lights entering his body before everything blacked out.
He woke up to something warmer and softer than the forest floor.
It took him sometime to realize that he was back in his room on his bed and everything still remains exactly the same way there were before he went to bed. The ceiling fan was still running with its familiar creaking sound rhyming with his flat mate’s light snores.
His rapid breathing wasn’t calm yet and the headache was still there but he was relieved it was all a nightmare.
A nightmare he wouldn’t want to re-live.