The Perks of Being a Hijabi

Chapter Seventeen

Baba laid across the hospital bed, tubes sprawled all over him. Through his nose, his arms. The second I laid eyes on Baba, tears rushed out of my eyes. My father was here, half dead half alive. I ran to the side of the hospital bed to crouch next to him.

"Baba!" I choked on my tears. "Baba wake up! Don't leave me! Ya Allah!" I yelled into Baba's ears trying to get him to wake up, but the drugs that the doctors gave him were too strong. Suddenly the door swung open, a group of doctors surged into the room.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but you're going to have to leave. We need to give his medicine." The doctor was a woman with red hair tossed up into a messy bun.

"No! I can't leave him, he needs me!" These doctors didn't understand that Baba needed me.

"Please leave ma'am," the doctor tried to sway my reasoning, but I wouldn't budge.

"No! I'm not going anywhere!" I folded my arms stubbornly. The doctors asked me to leave again, but I refused again.

"You give u no choice then," the redheaded doctor came at me with a needle filled with a pale white liquid.

"Get away from me!" I pushed her away from me, but she only pushed me back. One of the other doctors surged toward me with another needle on hand. As I fought off the redheaded doctor, the other one came up from behind. The other doctor then stabbed my back arm with the needle. Then everything went black.

I woke up in small white room. I figured I must be still in the hospital, as I sat up a headache crept into my skull. The pain pounding against my temple, making me fall back in defeat. Slowly, I remembered why I was in the hospital and why was in this separate room. Baba. I had to get to him as soon as possible. Even though my head was in pain, I still hopped off of the bed and made my way to the door. I jiggled the door handle but it was locked. Panic surged through my veins. How on earth would I get out?! Ya Allah! I can't keep on getting into these really hard situations. I prayed silently in my head for someone to come and save me. For some reason I shook the handle once more, believing that it would magically open. I got even more panicked then I had before, I began banging on the door hard.

"Someone! Anybody! Help me!" I yelled as I crashed my fists against the hard door. I continued to scream and hit the door. But no luck. Nobody came to save me. Where is Hussen when you need him? Then, I had an idea! My phone! How could I have not thought of that? I whipped out my white iPhone, and dialed Hussen's number. The phone rang for what seemed like hours. I called Ummi, same thing. Until I finally called Asim. He actually answered.

"Hello?" Asim's voice never seemed so sweet to my ears.

"Asalamualakum! I'm stuck at the hospital in a locked room, I'm not sure where I am but I'm at the hospital." My voice shook, I felt tears burn the backs of my eyes.

"We told you not to go to the hospital, but you never listen!"

"That's not the point! The point is that I'm stuck at the hospital and I can't get out! My wedding is tomorrow!" My wedding! I completely forgot until those words came out of my mouth. What if I never come out? Who will Hussen marry then? Questions filled my head, making my headache even worse.

"Okay, just hang tight! I'll get Ummi and Hala, I want you to call the police okay." Hang tight, easier said then done.

"Okay." We hung up and I quickly dialed 911.

"Hello 911, what is your emergency?"
I explained my situation to the police.

"All right, we'll be there very soon." I hung up the phone and slid my back against the door until I was in a sitting position against the door. Unneeded tears sprinkle down my cheeks.

Minutes later, I hear a loin banging against the door u had been sitting on. I leaped out of the sitting position, and waited for the police to break the door down.

"BANG!" The door fell off of the hinges beside me with a loud thud and crash. Dust billowed in clouds around the door.

"Zainub!" A masculine voice that belong to my fiancé came running to me. Large and muscular arms wrapped around me.

"Hussen," I whispered his name into his neck. The smell of his cologne wafted off of him and into my nose. I missed him, his smell, his arms around me. Our sweet little moment was rudely interrupted by a female police officer.

"Ma'am are you injured?"

"No, but the doctors did stab me with a tranquilizer before they locked me up in this room." I uncovered my left arm and showed them the large puncture wound that the needle made when I struggled against the doctors.

"Ya hubibti!" Ummi ran to me to see my wound. "How dare they hurt you?" Her pale face was flushed from anger.

"It's fine Ummi, I'll just clean it up." I answered, reassuring my mother.
The officers called in a few nurses to clean my wound. They also called in the redheaded doctor that hurt me in. Ummi wanted to sue the redheaded doctor, but me and Hussen refused.

"Can we please visit Baba?" I asked Ummi as we walked out of the hospital room.

"Of course," Ummi uneasily lead me and Hussen to Baba's hospital room. When we opened the door, he was now in a sitting position being fed by one of the nurses. Baba looked at Ummi with love in his eyes. Ummi broke down in years when he gestured for her to dot by him. She reluctantly sank in a chair next to him and held his hand. Tears covered her face, she continually kissed Baba's hand.

"Um, I'll just go then," the nurse gathered her things and left. Hussen and u watched the beautiful scene of my parents unfold. We shared a quick look, both of us had tears in our eyes.

"Why are you all crying? I'm going to be fine Inshallah." Baba smiled his normal wrinkly smile that always made my day. I wiped my tears.

"Hubities, I'm going to stay with your father Inshallah, okay?" Hussen and u just nodded ours heads dumbfounded.

"Hussen," I nudged him as we left the hospital and searched for our car.

"Hmm?" He looked down at me.

"I'm scared for Baba." Tears threaten to spill again.

"Don't be, he will get better Inshallah. Just pray to Allah." He wrapped an arm around my shoulders to comfort me.