THE MASKED GIRL

39

I went back home my worries all gone, I surprisingly had a good time after so long. Sadeeq eventually joined us and we went on a book date together because I insisted on going to the bookstore to check out some books. The tension between Aliyu and Sadeeq gradually eased down when we started debating on either dining at a restaurant or going to the cinema. Yusuf and I were team going to a restaurant while Sadeeq and Aliyu wanted the latter. I know I am not going to eat even if we go to an eatery but I cannot stand watching a two-hour action movie with three men, they will drive me crazy.

We decided to play rock paper scissors to decide which place to go. Yusuf was okay with both but he joined my side for support so I was the only unfortunate one when they won over us, to spare me from the misery he called his girlfriend to join us.

She hugged me immediately when she saw us. "I couldn't wait to meet you after I heard so much about you" She was too lively and kindhearted but I would get used to it After all I lived with someone like her my whole life, my best friend that I shut out for almost three years. "I like your eyes" She comments bringing me out of my trance and I thanked her which resulted in a conversation. Her name is Zainab and she is twenty-two years old, in her third year of university. I thought I would be older than her for her petite figure but she was the older one, with two years.

The movie was not as bad as I thought because Zainab made it more interesting, The boys would have driven me crazy without her especially when they yelled or cheered at some scenes, thankfully it was the only five of us. We afterward went to a restaurant and got food before we all called it a night.

I met my parents in the parlor after Sadeeq had dropped me off, I joined them after I had greeted them.

"Have you finished packing your stuff?" Daddy asked me and Mommy answered for me, She was the one who packed everything for me even though she was not happy about my leaving.

"Hafsat?"

My dad called out again. He rarely calls me by my name since I was named after his mother but whenever he calls me with a name that is not Ummie, it means he is serious about what he is going to say. "What happened to you was very unfortunate and it affected us all the same way but that is qadr, Allah's way of testing us. He only tests the believers and accepting it or not shows how strong our faith is. Qadr is one of the six articles of faith we have in Islam and we have to accept it whether it's good or bad. Suhail is gone and you are not the only one who misses him but he is in a better place, Allah knows why he took him out of our life sooner than we thought and it is for the best. Grieving is okay but you cannot change your life because of that, he wouldn't want you to do that for him"

I was the one that the words of advice were being addressed to and I was already tearing up since he started but so was Mommy, she adored Suhail so much.

"This world is nothing, we came into it individually and we will go the same. We were created to worship and obey Allah s.w.t, he alone is in charge of how our lives go but some follow their selfish desires and disobey Him. If you take for example the four boys that killed Suhail and got away from being punished, they thought that was the end and nothing would happen and we were patient since it was out of our power and left them with their maker. They were all brutally killed by an unknown person and paid for their mistakes the hard way even in this Duniya, who knows what awaits them in the hereafter. I am telling you all these to get yourself back together and continue living. You do not know how much it saddens me and your mother to see you in this condition, the once jovial Hafsat that brings happiness and livelihood to us is the one that does not even keep a conversation with us anymore. It disheartens me especially your mother"

I moved from where I was sitting to where he was and hugged him. I have missed my parents and how we had been before. I was so busy hating my life and suffering that I didn't see the pain I was causing to them. What kind of a daughter I'm I?!

"I let you join the army not because you wanted to but for I hoped it would bring you back but you didn't. We let you go off again now and we pray you don't come back the same, please bring back the happy you"

Mommy joined our hug as she tried to hold her sniffles, this is family. I don't know what I would do without them. "Your father has said everything please take care and don't let us lose another person again. You know the things that bother us are only capable of doing so because we give them that power, once you learn to control them then that it is. Go and make us proud and bring my daughter back to me, bring Suhail's Suhailat back to everyone"

I am very thankful to Allah S.W.T for everything even though I am not happy about how other things turned out but I am forever grateful. I am happy with whatever He sees for me, I trust his plan. He brings greatness out of a great mess.

I didn't eat dinner with them since it was not long before I ate in the car but I stayed with them and caught up. They told me how they had been and I also did. I had a great time I haven't had in ages.

I lost pieces of myself at different places and I thought I would never get back together but slowly every piece gets back on its own to its original place. I couldn't sleep after I had everything set later that night, I lay on the bed facing the ceiling and thinking about how amazing my life was. I would have not meet my new friends if that hadn't happened, I would have not known what being in the army is like, and I would have not become who I am today. So much would have not happened if nothing had happened.

I now carry my pain with honor, Allah only test those he loves. Alhamdulillah.