AFTER DARK

Chapter 3

Waiting at the lounge of Allama Iqbal International Airport, I watched the planes land and take off through the window; all passengers going about their business.

Everyone in here had to go somewhere -- the travellers were all in pursuit of a destination -- a journey that might change their lives for good.

On the look of it, I was going to Dubai to clear my head, and maybe even for a change in setting, but deep down I actually wished to experience something beautiful in life. And they say 'You attract what you think', perhaps, that's the reason why fate was about to open such a beautiful chapter in my life.

At the moment though, I was only attracting fear. I had never feared being in the aircraft flying high but today -- I don't know what it was -- but I felt terrified of being up in the sky.

My fear soon came to pass when the pilot made an announcement, alerting us to the approaching turbulence.

Hastily, I wore my seatbelt, and took deep breaths in; panicking about something that was about to happen ... something that hadn't happened yet.

"It will be alright," Daria said, placing a firm hand over mine. "Have faith!"

I listened to her, and even though I felt a little reassured, I remained fearful of something bad happening. There was so much bad that had happened in my life, that for a second, I presumed this would be another bad experience in my life.

Soon, the turbulence hit us, but nothing serious happened. We were just thrown a little off our seats, then everything was fine.

With a reassuring smile, Daria looked at me and nodded. "The scare is over," she said, reminding that it was alright to let go of the seat-belt I was holding so tightly.

For the remainder of the flight, I sat in silence. I stared out the little window, as I was ashamed of meeting eyes with my little sister, the ever-so-strong Daria.

Upon arriving at the Dubai International Airport, I broke the awkward silence with Daria, asking her if she was going to book Uber for the two of us.

"Already done that," she said, showing me the screen of her mobile phone.

I replied with a closed-lip smile. She was always two-steps ahead of me in everything.

"Ride's here!" She said, pacing forward.

As we stepped out of the airport, I cramped up, intimidated by the sight of high rise buildings towering over us. I've been here before with my family, but I never felt this suffocated.
What's wrong with me? Ah' this yearning to be liberated ... I can't seem to shake it.

We checked into our hotel around noon, I wasn't exactly tired but I still wanted to rest, but Daria had different plans.
"Let's go somewhere!" She said, buzzing with excitement.
"But we've only arrived just now..."
"So? We've gotta make most of our time while we're here."

With a weighted sigh, I nodded.

We took the Metro and arrived at the first stop and that was the Dubai Mall; no surprise there, since my sister had always been a shopaholic.

I knew shopping would not fix the void inside me, but I still went along, hoping that somewhere along the road, I find the one thing I'm searching for: a way back to life.