Duplus

Chapter 31

——Amaani's POV——

Morning light seeped up to my face, hitting my eyes. I groaned and turned, only to feel the soft but burning sand on the skin of my bare arm. Slowly, my eyes opened and I couldn't help but stretch, wincing as pain shot up my leg.

"Ouch!" the pain was enough to remind me of the events that occurred the previous night and I straightened myself. My eyes ran around and I saw the sleeping bodies of my comrades as they enjoyed their deep sleep.

Except for Jaber of course.

Even in his sleep, his body was tensed up as if he was ready to defend himself the moment any sort of harm approached us. I chuckled under my breath at him and turned to my right.

The only person who was awake with me was Usama. He rested his head on one of the bags they had brought with them and his eyes had dark circles under them. I could see his remaining will waver as his eyes drooped and then opened suddenly, reminding him of the seriousness of the situation.

The fire had died out, leaving behind ashes of wood it was burning on. Hot smoke danced above it like someone had splashed water on it to wipe it out.

"Usama?" I called out, making him sit up straight suddenly. He almost jumped, startled. "Ms. Sohail? I didn't notice you were awake." He told me, turning his neck to face me.

"That makes me feel very concerned." I teased him a little which made him rub the back of his head nervously with a small smile. "What can I say? Staying up all night is tiring." He admitted.

"If you couldn't hear me, you probably couldn't hear any danger either," I told him, still grinning. He looked embarrassed but didn't say anything. His eyes shifted to the sky above.

It was an orangish-red as half of the large sun showed itself. "I'm sure Fajr time has passed." He stated which made me realize that I had completely forgotten about Salah. I panicked and quickly stood up, ignoring the pain in my leg.

"I can't believe I forgot! We prayed Maghreb and Ishaa last night but it completely slipped my mind to wake up for Fajr."

Usama nodded. "Let's wake everyone up then we'll pray in congregation." but it looked like we didn't need to do anything. By the noise of our voices, Jaber had already gotten up.

I turned around, just to meet his suspicious gaze as he stared at me and Usama, thinking about Allah knew what.

"Oh good. You're awake." I said, unfazed because the more I urged him to open up, the more he would hide things from me. I  limped towards Eileen and Junior. "Guys, wake up. We need to head back." I called and my voice echoed in the silent desert. A warm breeze flew by, throwing sand all over the place and making us cover our eyes.

"Prepare the van for the journey, Usama," Jaber ordered not a while later as he stood up and composed himself. He picked up the jacket he was using as a pillow and threw it over his broad shoulders, slipping his arms inside. With his hand, he pushed back his hair from his dark eyes and without sparing any of us a glance, grabbed the water bottle and walked off to a distance, possibly to make Wudhu.

"Yes... Boss..." Usama's somewhat tired and somewhat fed-up voice shook me out of my trance and I blinked. How long was I staring?!