TREASURES AND THORNS

Chapter 71

Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation.

Kahlil Gibran

  < The Hour>

OMNISCIENT

UNEDITED

When dark clouds rapidly move in the sky, the birth of rain drops is expected. A relieve from the burden of carrying so much darkness inside them. Ahmad envied the clouds, at least their burdens were relieved within minutes. He felt stuck in a dark state, filled to the brim with the repercussions of his mistakes with no relieve in sight.

The mansion felt too big, thus feeling emptier. He especially dreaded meal times, eating alone at such a big table had to be the loneliest thing ever.  Even the food lost its taste. He only ate tiny morsels before rushing out for work. Burying himself  in work seemed like a solution- for a few minutes - eventually his problems haunted him in bold prints on white papers before him.

The whole thing was driving him insane. There was no way he could just continue living as if a huge dent wasn't in his life. They knew exactly what they were doing to him even how it would affect him. Perhaps he truly deserved the lessons he was getting served. All his misery was Karma's way of getting back at him. Thinking that he deserved it did nothing to change how pained he was. Happiness felt like an old dream that stayed a little too long.

****

She stared wide eyed as the iron bars were opened. A short stout police man gestured for her to come out.
“God save you today, you for chop your papa, idiot!” The smack lands at the back of her forehead. Hafsat eyes him, words ready to fire out of her mouth like missiles but she thought better of it.

She walked through the dark and narrow corridor till she saw a beam of light shining through the doorway, she quickened her pace towards it. The first face she saw over the counter brought joy to her darkened life. She could hardly remember ever being that happy to see the barrister.

She had been in detention for a few hours but it felt like years. There were a couple of red patches around her body where mosquitoes feasted on her. In all her life, she had never seen such big mosquitoes. Happy to be safe from them, she was unsure the stench of the cell would free her nostrils anytime soon.  It smelled like adult pee, strongly infused in the dirty floors of the cell. The same floor she had stood on barefoot. Who knew what kind of pathogens she was exposed to?

“Hafsat,” the barrister calls. A mixed expression on her face. She felt relieved to see her, having acted fast to ensure Hafsat’s quick release, still her daughter looked like hell.

“Mummy,” her voice came out in a whisper.

As soon as she signed her release papers. She was free to walk out the counter, her seized accessories handed to her. Hafsat engulfed her mother in a lingering embrace.
“Oh Hafsatu,” the barrister says, tears welled up in her eyes. “Hafsat why?”

Hafsat neither answered nor did she free the woman from her embrace.

“Let’s get out of here,” she says moments later.

****

The emporium had become a safe haven for Rukkayya, since her indefinite move to the Modibbo mansion. Mammy had been extra nice, as sweet as she had always known her to be. She even went the extra mile to make sure Rukkayya was comfortable, like getting completely new sets of curtains and duvets just to make her feel at home.