Noor went with the attendant to the school office. The office staff asked her to wait outside the principal’s office. They called Noor in after a few minutes. She opened the door and found her parents in the office. She was surprised to see her parents. She smiled at them in doubt.
“Good afternoon mam.”
“Good afternoon Noor. Come sit here”
Noor sat near the principal’s chair. Noor understood the tension in the room and felt trouble.
“What’s the matter?” Noor asked.
She felt so tensed. She looked at her parents. Her mamma’s eyes have turned red from crying. Her heartbeat rose.
“Noor, I will tell you something. Don’t be sad. Okay? We all are there for you.” Every word of principal fastened her heart rate. The principal took Noor’s palms into hers.
“Noor, you have a favourite cousin. Right?”
“Yes. Fahad”
Noor looked at her mother. Hearing his name, her mamma broke down. Noor felt a block in her throat. She felt a pain in her stomach. She suddenly felt pain all over her body.
“What happened to Fahad?”. Noor looked at her parents pathetically.
“Noor,”, the principal continued. “Fahad has met with an accident. He is fine. You should go with your parents to the hospital”.
Noor felt numb. She felt as if her heart stopped beating. She looked at her mother with so much pain and she broke down. She rushed to her mother and hugged her. “Mamma, is Fahad okay? Tell Mamma”. Noor’s mom took her to the lap. She brushed through Noor’s hair and face. “Listen, dear, Fahad is okay. He is in the hospital. We just thought you might want to see him. That’s why we came here”. She completed her sentence, hiding her tears and pain. “Yes mamma, I want to see him. We can go quickly”.
It was pouring heavily. But the downpour could not even catch up with Noor’s tears. She stared blankly at the moving buses and cars on the road. Noor loved to count cars by its number or by its colour some times. But today, everything was different. Her favourite person was in the hospital. She didn’t know what has happened to Fahad. She felt that her parents were hiding something. She couldn’t wait any longer to meet Fahad. Every single roadblock annoyed Noor. She just felt to scream at every person on the road. She wanted to meet Fahad at the earliest.
Fahad, Noor’s best friend. Her most favourite cousin. Noor and Fahad were born within a gap of 3 days. They were literally born together, which they boasted to everyone who came across them. They spent the first three years of their lives together since both their fathers were out of town because of work. They stayed with their maternal grandparents and mothers at their beautiful village house. They crawled for the first time together; they walked for the first time together; they even spoke for the first time on the same day. No one would believe they weren’t twins. Even after they went to their father’s place and joined schools, they missed no vacations to come to the village. They would run to each other the moment they met and hug each other and jump all across the place. Noor and Fahad roamed around the village at all times, they played and fought, and even fought with other cousins for each other. Every vacation ended with their loud yelling to not to go back. They never wanted to remain separated. They called every weekend to each other’s house. As their moms tell, “They spit out every single incident that happened in their life to the other person”. From homework, friends, the account of holdings and beatings from parents to even the number of chocolates they had in the entire week. It’s super hilarious to listen to their phone calls.
The car took a right from the road and entered the hospital complex. Noor woke up from her thoughts. Her heartbeat raised seeing the hospital. For Noor, the hospital is just to take her routine injections. But this time it was very different. She was there to meet her best friend. Noor rushed with her parents to inside the hospital. They climbed the stairs and reached the first floor. As she reached there, she saw her cousins, uncles and aunts. Her parents immediately ran to her uncle. They talked about Fahad. Noor couldn’t move. She just got horrified by seeing the huge ICU board in red bold letters. Her parents continued with their enquiry. Noor could only understand that something bad was going on. She could sense the tension and sadness on their faces. “Where is Sara aunty?” Noor looked around for Fahad’s mom. But couldn’t find her anywhere.
Her cousins came to her side. They all looked tensed. Noor could definitely understand the depth of trouble life is about to throw at her. Aaliyah came closer to Noor. She didn’t utter a single word. She just came over and hugged Noor. That was the point Noor could not hold her piquant face anymore. She fell into Aaliyah’s hands and cried out. She stayed there for some time. She felt a hand over her shoulder. With tears still rolling down, Noor turned back. It was Imran. The only individual permitted in the world of Noor and Fahad. He is the second cousin of Noor. Imran lives near their maternal house. He was four years old when Noor and Fahad were born. Imran is the one who took them to nook and corner of the village. Since birth, during all the time they stayed at their maternal home, Imran was on their guard. Noor felt immense pain seeing Imran. She looked at him and whimpered. “Will my best friend be okay?”
