Blue ✓

♠ two ♠

Suhayl expertly concealed the bar of chocolate in his sleeves – pity he had no pockets – and followed his mother through the automatic door. His mother nodded at the receptionist and took a seat while he made his way up the stairs and down the corridor that had begun to become familiar to him. Pausing near the door at the end of the corridor, he knocked and waited for the habitual soft 'come in'.

Swinging the door open, he chirped, "Assalamu Alaikum, Appi.*"

The person on the bed giggled. "Wa alaikumus salam, Suhayl. How was school today?"

"Absolutely horrible. I got a ton load of stuff to do, but..." his tirade ended in a singsong tone. Taking a seat on the chair beside the bed, he leaned in eagerly towards his sister. "I got a present for you!"

Aiyla raise an eyebrow. "You didn't try to sneak in another burger meal, did you?" She had once made the mistake of saying how much hated hospital food and craved takeaway. After that, Suhayl made it a mission to get her a burger meal. Naturally, he was busted by the nurse who came to check up on her.

That was near the end of the first week of her stay in the hospital, Now, she was entering the third.

Suhayl coloured lightly and coughed in embarrassment. "Well no. But..." he took out the bar of chocolate and gently placed it in his sister's hands.

"What is it?" Aiyla asked, turning the bar over in her hands discovering through feels. "Chocolate?"

"Yep!"

A wide smile broke out on Aiyla's face. "Jazakallah Khair, Suhayl but you know you're not supposed to bring me any junk."

"If you don't want to eat it, I'm always here. You know how I love Galaxy cookie crumble."

"What, no! I'm having it." Galaxy cookie crumble was her favourite, not his, and Suhayl knew it.

Suhayl looked around the hospital room. It was bland and white. The only colours were the flowers in a vase that Ammi made a habit of replacing, a fruit basket next to it, and some books. He winced knowing Aiyla must be bored to death. He noticed the water bottle was nearly empty. "Let me get you a new water bottle and I'll read you the rest of the book, okay ?"

Aiyla nodded, munching on a square of chocolate.

Suhayl left the room heading towards the cafeteria, the water bottle was free and soon he was walking back. As he reached the stairs, his eyes fell upon a burqa-clad figure. His mother was following Dr. Smith, the ophthalmologist assigned to Aiyla. He hesitated, hands gripping tightly around the water bottle before surreptitiously following his mother and Dr. Smith. They both entered an office, and Suhayl stopped outside. He glanced around before moving closer to the door.

As he stood near the door handle, from which fragmented voices were filtering out, he could only be thankful that the hallway was rather empty and isolated. Otherwise, he wasn't sure how he would have explained himself. Crouching a little, he put his ears close to the keyhole to hear better. It was clearer than before, though bits were still missing and unclear.

"...what... her x-ray..." he heard his mother say. There was a silence and shuffling of paper.

"...her retina... alkaline... surgery... glass..." Suhayl gleaned that the doctor was referring to the surgery Aiyla had to undergo immediately after arriving at the hospital, and alkaline in her eyes? That did not sound good.

In his musings, he missed the rest of what Dr. Smith must have said.

"So," he heard his mother's voice, slow and strange. "She may never regain her sight?"

The floor disappeared from beneath him. Never regain her sight...? The surgeon who was responsible for the initial surgery had comforted them that there was a possibility that she will recover. But if he heard correctly, that doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

There was a chance that his sister may never see the light again.

She would never see him grow up.

Suhayl staggered back, mind uncomprehending. Disbelieving. He turned around and ran. He ran until he was panting in front of Aiyla's room.

He couldn't let Aiyla see him like this. Well, his mind stuttered, she wouldn't be able to see him. But, she would know from his breathing that something was wrong.

He took a moment to try calm himself down trying to ignore the rapidly increasing despair and sadness inside him.

He entered the room, unable to look at his sister without remembering what he heard and went to the stand to pick up the book right on top.

"Suhayl?" Aiyla asked as she heard him sit down.

"Yeah? Do you wanna read now?" He asked, trying to muster as much cheerfulness as he could in his voice, all the good feelings he wasn't feeling. "We can finish the series today." He fiddled with the Deathly Hallows book in his hands.

Aiyla smiled widely and Suhayl felt his heart drop.

Did she know that she would never be able to read her favourite books with her own eyes again?

Even as he read the ending prologue of Harry Potter, trying to make it sound as uplifting as possible, the void inside him remained, if not expanded. He glanced at the soft smile on Aiyla's face and his voice wavered. 

*Appi - Elder sister