She was a Mirage.

PART 10- Silence...

"Adaab..."
I noticed that it wasn't Ayesha's voice but Maha appi's voice.

"Maha Appi what's wrong?"
" Adaab..." Maha Appi couldn't even continue talking without hiccups or tears interupting her.
"Appi bolein na kya hua. Batiye" ( sister, please tell me what happened)
"Adaab...  Appi aap phone mujhe dijiye." ( sister, give me the phone)
Someone else took hold of the phone.

I heard some shuffling noises on the receiver's end. Someone was trying to shush Maha Appi. Then whoever had taken the phone started talking

"Hello who is this?" they asked.

"I am Adaab, Ayesha's best friend. What is wrong? Why was Maha Appi crying?"

I was so tensed I didn't realize I was shaking until Waad held my shoulders.

"Ayesha Appi used to talk about you." She paused to sniffle again and I couldn't take it anymore. She continued,

"I am Hafsa. I am her 2nd cousin."

"Hafsa please tell me what's wrong."

"Adaab, today was just like any other day where all of us enjoyed breakfast and  each other's company, had lunch and just laughed and played, little did we know it would all be gone quickly. It would all be snatched away from us."

"What are you talking about?" I asked almost irritated at her avoiding the question. Waad patted my shoulder to calm me down.

"Ayesha went for a nap after lunch, we thought she was feeling unwell since you know she never liked sleeping in the day, but she brushed it off. All of us went to relax after lunch as well but then by Maghrib everyone woke up, however Ayesha Appi didn't. We thought she must be really tired and ill because she did sleep late and was awake since Fajr. When it started to get too late Chachi went to check on her and..."

My throat choked up I urged her to continue while shivering

"She tried really hard to wake her up, but to no use. She didn't wake up Adaab."

I had never known how people always spoke about other people's words, breaking their hearts and just leaving them shaken up, but their I was standing with tears running down my face and my throat, refusing to make any sound.there it was.
Those words broke me. With a silent sob that choked my throat I fell to the ground while wheezing loudly almost as if the oxygen level in the room had dropped suddenly and I wasn't prepared for it.
As if the silence in my room got too loud. The faint sobs coming from my phone that was thrown next to me on the floor, the thunder that was crackling outside, all of it almost too loud in my ears. There was a ringing in my ears.

I couldn't hear anything else. I couldn't see anything else. I didn't realize Waad was holding me.I didn't realize that tears were now falling in streams down my face. I didn't realize when all my family had gathered in my room and Waad was informing them of what had happened. I couldn't see anybody there. All I could see was Ayesha's face in my mind, our memories playing in front of my eyes. Her green eyes when they softened when giving advice.. Her sharp canines that showed when she genuinely was happy, which she was proud of.
The scar above her left eye that she loved as it was reminder for being brave during her worst times.
Her gentle smile every time she watched others laugh so genuinely that the breath was knocked out of them. The turn of her lips when she would sit in the corner just observing people. Her habit of clenching her left hand all those times she was reading the climax of a suspense filled story, and when she used to rub her palm during nervous times. I was in too much of a shock to even understand what had happened.

The only thing I could think of was that I lost the one person who understood me better than I understood myself.
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