HEAL

Chapter Eight

(unedited)

"Okay," Aaisha said with an enthusiasm of someone ready to hear the latest gist from her best friend "Tell me when it all started"
    He chuckled and said, "It's impossible for me to remember that."
    Aaisha had begun the talk session therapy with Hassan and even though she wasn't clear on how to deal with the sentiments he has about Jinn possession, she was still going to try her best and use the standard way of treating patients with psychological problems as she learnt in medical school.
   "But at least tell me when you realized something was wrong with you and how it felt, like when you started having continuous nightmares." She continued.
    "I'm not really sure but I wasn't like this last year"
   "Like what?"
   He chuckled again, "you know na, a depressed person who is almost at the point of running mad."
   "You don't have to be hard on yourself" Aaisha said glancing away from him.
    He looked down and said, "But that's the truth."

   Rarely do they exhaust the two hours allocated for the session because he always gets over sensitive when she asks him about his family, he would either refuse to answer those questions or at times when he was in a really bad mood, he would walk out on her. There was a time he flared up, questioned her competency and accused her of only using those questions about his family that he considered unnecessary just to cover her failures.
    Even with all these, he wouldn't miss any session and would always come back to apologize, either through a text message or whispering "I'm sorry for yesterday" before they start another therapy for the day.
     Aaisha considered this an achievement on her part, because the awareness of a problem and the will to accept the solution available is a major step in the path of getting a problem solved.
   Deliberately, she avoided asking direct questions about his family because she was also not oblivious to how his family life was playing a big part in his mental health and also because she didn't want him to feel uncomfortable so much that he will eventually stop coming for the therapy. And so, she decided to take careful steps about those questions and would only make him talk about his family when he is ready.
   "Everyone you know would be proud of you."
    Hassan blurted out to Aaisha one day during the middle of a session.
    Hearing a compliment from him out of the blue wasn't that surprising because she had known from the couple of days she had spent talking to him that he had frequent mood swings.
    Typical Aaisha would have smiled and asked him why he said that, but instead she said,          "My parents aren't"
   "Why, are they dead?" He sounded genuinely concerned.
She shook her head to this and said blandly, "I reverted to Islam and I think they hate me because of that." She laughed and added,     "And no, they are alive"
    "Wow! You are convert? You look like you've been a Muslim since you were born"
    It was intended to be compliment and she took it as one.
    "So, what prompted you to revert, I love hearing stories of converts"
    "Why did you love hearing them?"
    "I love it when people are daring and brave, it takes courage to revolt against the ones you love, it takes more courage to revolt against the ideologies you once believed in." There was a spark in his voice when he said this.
    "Well, mine isn't about revolt or bravery. It's just about seeing the truth and choosing to accept it. " She realized he didn't feel the depth of her words as much as she did.
   "Did your parents also kick you out of their house after they found out that you reverted?"
    "Not really, I got posted here few days after I accepted Islam, so my parents didn't really have the opportunity to kick me out." They both laughed at this.
   Hassan Laughter was a bit longer and when he stopped, he leaned back to his seat and stares at her with a smile on his face.
   Aaisha grew uncomfortable and said, "Why are you smiling?"
   "It feels good to be the one asking questions."
   "Yes it_"
    Before she could finish her sentence, the door barged open revealing Sisi Lamba. She wore an alarmed look and it looked like she had been running. "Baba ran away." She said to Aaisha as she tapped her shoes impatiently on the ground.
    Hassan shifted his chairs and it is only then that she noticed that he was there in the room.
   "I'm sorry for interrupting" She muttered, a little bit embarrassed. She turned back to Aaisha and said, "Someone told me he saw him leaving the hospital and he wasn't in the ward when I went there to confirm."
    She paced around the room and said to nobody in particular "What should we do? We can't leave him wandering about."
    Aaisha stood up and said, "Let's search for him. We should be able to bring him back, he can't possibly be far from here."
    "Please come with us Hassan, we might need to use force to bring him back."

Author's Note!
Who is Baba🧐🤔?
No worries 😉,next chapter is coming up next week.

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Stayhumble.