Zahra

2: Tell that to someone who's not your twin sister.

In the name of Allah, the most gracious the most merciful.

And for chosen servants of Allah, these will have a known provision, fruits and they shall be honored, in the garden of bliss, facing one another on thrones, round them will be passed a cup of pure wine, sparkling white delicious to the drinkers, neither will they have any kind of hurt from that, nor will they suffer intoxication therefrom, and beside them will be chaste women, restraining their glances, with wide and beautiful eyes, as though they were eggs well preserved. ( Q: 37 V: 40-49)

The melodious and therapeutic voice of Sudais reciting was the first thing I heard when I awoke the next morning, that was most likely mom's speaker. I rubbed my eyes groggily and sat up on the queen-sized bed, muttering the dua one says after waking up as I looked at my new room.

Alhamdulillah hil'lazee ahyana ba'dama amatana wa ilay'hin nushoor.

(All praise be to Allah, who gave us life after death (sleep is a form of death) and to him will we be raised and returned)

Hannah wasn't kidding when she said I was going to like it. I silently thanked her again for picking it for me, it was really spacious. There was a large bookshelf that housed all my books and novels perfectly. It also had a walk-in closet and a window seat, the closet was my most favorite; I was able to organize my large amount of clothes and shoes easily, what can I say? I love fashion and shopping. Nadia and I were serious shopaholics.

Speaking of which, I realized I hadn't spoken to Nadia ever since we landed. Shit! I had promised her I would, I was too tired to even touch my phone yesterday. Knowing Nadia, she was probably already freaking out.

I quickly grabbed my phone and checked the time, it was 11:15 am, I sure slept for a long time, I thought. The flight really wore us out, mom practically dragged Zayd and I out of our beds for Fajr. 11:15 am meant it was probably 5:15 pm in Egypt, I connected to the Wi-fi and saw that she already Face timed me fifteen times, her face filled the screen the second I called her back. Nadia looked frantic, her blue eyes were wide open and dark hair tumbled down her shoulders, "holy crap you're alive! Thank God!"

I raised an eyebrow, "well hello to you too"

"Why didn't you call me? You had me thinking your plane had maybe crashed onto some abandoned island, or maybe the pilot had a heart attack and lost control and drove it straight into the ocean"

"You probably also thought we got lost in the Bermuda Triangle", I rolled my eyes as I played along.

"Nope, but I did think the plane crashed into a volcano"

My best friend is a psycho.

"Okay enough with the sadistic thoughts, I was too exhausted yesterday that I didn't even touch my phone, sorry"

"It's okay, just glad you arrived safely", she smiled, "how's it over there?"

I shrugged, "not bad"

"Did you just wake up? Your hair looks like a bird's nest"

"Thanks for pointing that out", I said sarcastically, "and yeah I just did"

"Wait what time is it over there?", she wanted to know.

"11 in the morning"

"Hmm, that's a six-hour difference", she murmured to herself

"Yup, how's everything back home?"

She shrugged, "good, but it's so weird without you", she replied and I smiled sadly, "yeah same here", we had been stuck together since we were seven and were almost always together. It felt really weird now that we were so far apart, like a piece of me was missing.