Heaven From Here

seventeen

Remember those walls I built; Well, baby, they're tumbling down

And they didn't even put up a fight; They didn't even make a sound

Halo, Beyonce

Hanna kept herself occupied all afternoon by making all the necessary calls to change her address from the local doctors' office to her Boot's membership. She felt antsy as she sat at the dining table looking out to the garden. She felt incredibly uncomfortable in the house alone. Like she was trespassing on private property. She wished she had taken up Fatima's offer of coming 'round, but she didn't want to burden her friend. They had gone above and beyond with all the help they offered for the wedding.

Once she was done with all the phone calls, she grabbed her coat and her scarf, and she sat outside on the deck. It was a simple garden area, there was a wooden deck that was large enough to hold a BBQ pit and a few lawn chairs. Hanna sat on the steps that lead to garden and watched as the sky turned a beautiful pink. A wave of longing washed over her, she longed for her own home. She longed for the comfort of her father, to have him wrap his arms around her and imbibe her with his strength. She even missed his scent, the one that followed him around after a long day of cooking; the scent of saffron and cinnamon that permeated not only his clothes, his skin as well.

Hanna missed the comfort of her own home, her own bed. Even though it wasn't fancy sheets like the ones she woke up on, she still missed her Primark cotton bed sheets and the pillows that usually surrounded her. As the sky grew darker and the wind picked up, Hanna rubbed her hands together in an effort to chase the chill away. As she huffed softly standing up, she could see her breath dancing in the air in front of her. The simple act of seeing her breath in the cold air had at one time filled her with such joy that she would have giggled in glee. But this time, Hanna just smiled half-heartedly.

She went back into the house and saw another text from Saif. He would be coming home late, he informed her. Not bothering with a reply, Hanna fixed up a cup of tea and buttered bread, her first meal of the day, as she looked on outside. Once she was done, she switched off all the lights and headed back to her room for an early night.

The next couple of days passed by the same way, Hanna barely saw Saif. She exited her room when she was sure he had left for work and she went back into her room before he got home. Hanna was aware that Saif would check in on her as she laid down in the dark room, but he never spoke a word as he stood at the door. It was Friday and unable to stand the quiet and the loneliness anymore, she went to Layla's house. As she sat in the living room the lively noises completely engulfed her. Layla's younger brothers were clamouring to get her attention once they saw her in their house and with a laugh Hanna sat down and attempted to play FiFa 2018 with them. Suffice to say that she lost spectacularly and took the ribbing like a good sport.

Hanna had taken the bus to Layla's house and since it was getting a bit dark, Layla forced Hanna to get into the car to drop her home.

"Thanks, Lala. You didn't have to do this though," Hanna said again, as she twisted the ends of her scarf around her fingers.

"For the millionth time, it's totally fine," Layla said exasperated. "Plus your new place is only like 10 minutes away."

Hanna hummed in response her eyes looking out the window. Tracing the corners and edges of the houses that they pass.