✿when it happened again✿

☆"The kitchen floor was cold.
Mahira sat with her back against the wall, her phone pressed to her left ear.Her eyes burned.
Tears slipped down her face faster than she could wipe them away.
Each breath felt wrong. Too fast. Too deep. Too difficult.
As if someone had reached inside her chest and forgotten to leave enough air behind.
The call rang once, Twice, Three times.
Then it connected.

"Hello?"

Mahira opened her mouth.
Her throat felt packed with stones.
She tried again. Another breath.
The sound of her own breathing echoed through the phone.

"Mahira?"

The voice on the other end sounded confused now.

"Mahira, what's wrong?"

The voice came from the other side.

"Wait... are you... crying?"

Concern at first. Then panic.

"Paani pi bhai, sab theek ho jayega. Kya hua? Bata mujhe."

Her hands wouldn't stop shaking.
Mumma was asleep in her room.
Her siblings were in theirs.
The whole house was quiet.

"Vo... vo..." She tried to speak.

The words got stuck somewhere between her chest and her throat.

"Bhai..."

Another sob escaped before she could stop it.

"Kaise bataun?"

Because where was she supposed to start?
Even if she told her the reason, she wouldn't understand.
Not because she didn't care.
Because there was too much.
Too many things that had happened before this moment.
Explaining it would mean answering a hundred questions.
And mahira didn't have enough energy left for even one.

"Bhai, paani pi pehle. Tension mat le. Main hoon."

Mahira pushed herself up from the floor.
Her knees nearly gave out beneath her.
The room tilted for a second.
She reached for the bottle on the counter.
One sip.
Then another.
Then another." ☆

✿Mahira used to believe lightning never struck the same place twice.

Life disagreed.

~When It Happened Again~