The Wishing Flower

Chapter 24

My heart still had a slow and painful ache. It was weird because I still couldn't believe Sajal was dead, but at the same time, I was happy to finally know what had happened to her. Since we really didn't have any other family. Very few people attend the Jannazh, her funeral prayer. A few acquaintances and locals in the neighborhood, Sajal had met over the years. Sajal was always a friendly person, and when she found out a store clerk or a neighbor was Muslim she always made sure to great them with a Salaam. Saying Salaam to another person, tells them you're coming to them in peace, she told me.

"That's how we, the common folk, can spread peace throughout the world", she told me when I asked her why she was always nice to the owner of corner deli.

Once the prayers finished, the few people who went to the gravesite for the burial, I decided to stay back in the Masjid and sit by myself. Just the thought of her body being put six feet inside the ground reminded me of my own mortality and I don't think I was ready to handle that just yet.

I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. I wondered who else would be coming to the Masjid at this time. A figure of a woman appeared in the doorway, I couldn't see her face but I was able to see a dress the color of the midnight sky that reached her feet. She slipped off her sandals and walked into the prayer room. I quickly looked away when the woman entered, I didn't want her to think I was staring at her.

"Zee", the woman called to me. My body jumped with a startle, the voice was eerily familiar.

I looked up to see a very familiar face with sad smile across and teary eyes were wet with tears. She looked exactly the same from when I last remember her, except for the black scarf that wrapped her hair, covering every strand.

"Manal?" I said confused. I hadn't seen her in years.

She ran over to me and enveloped me in an embrace. "Zee, oh my God. I am so sorry. I am so sorry for everything"

I felt her tears soak into the back of my shirt as she kept repeating her apology.

"Manal", I looked at her trying to comprehend what had just happened, "Why are you sorry? You haven't done anything wrong".

She sat down in front of me with her legs bent underneath her. She clutched at her heart as the tears ran down her face.

"Zee, I am sorry I was never there for you and Sajal. In highschool we made a promise to always be there for each other, but then we started to drift apart as our lives began to look very different. I went to college, she didn't. I married a doctor, she didn',t I had two kids, she didn't. I always thought me and Sajal would do everything together, but then in some way, I started to believe that I was better than her because I thought my life was better than. I let my ego get the best of me, and I abandoned my one and only best friend. And the worst part is I never realized my own stupidity until it was too late. And even then, Zee, I was too afraid to come out because after all I had done I thought I had no right to try to comfort you. I am so sorry"

I hadn't thought about it much before, but after Sajal graduated highschool I saw much less of Manal and once Sajal got married and moved out, I don't think I even saw her once I felt an anger surge inside of me, Manal was right, she had abandoned my sister. I wanted to yell at Manal for her selfishness, but then I remembered the day I graduated highschool I told Sajal how much I hated high-school because of all the horrible people, and that I would never speak to any of them again. Sajal, looked at things differently.

"Instead of hating the past for what it is, create a beautiful future for yourself. A future filled with love and forgiveness. Firstly, forgive yourself and then forgive others and let go of the burdens you hold. You'll be surprised at how much easier things become once you do that"