Zahra

34: She's my favorite thought

In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful

Yet, indeed, your Lord shall fully recompense all people for their works. For as to all that they do, He is, indeed, all-aware (Q: 11 V: 111)

ZAYD

The next day rolled by, and Zahra still hadn't opened her eyes. I spent the entire morning and the majority of the afternoon praying, drowning in my thoughts, checking up on Zahra, ignoring Lucia's calls and wallowing in misery and guilt. Though I had at least gotten rid of the hospital clothes and changed into the clothes Mom brought for me, I still refused to go home even though I was already discharged. It was a surprise that they hadn't kicked me out of my ward yet.

My guilt increased tenfold when I was scrolling through my messages and saw that Zahra had sent me a message the day before the accident. I clicked on the link and a Tiktok video popped up- a man was talking about haram relationships, my gut twisted as I listened to his words.

"Haram relationships is not an option, a lot of the time it doesn't end well. Anyone you love for other then the sake of Allah swt, or you prioritize them over Allah- that person is bound to hurt you in a matter of time... you are left heartbroken and hurt, because you did the wrong thing"

Oh God, I've been such an idiot.

"Astagfirullah", I murmured, bringing my knees up on the chair in front of Zahra's room. Ya Allah, forgive me, I thought, I've been so stupid.

I didn't realize how long I was sitting there, till evening descended and Zahra's friends arrived, Kamilah was holding a bouquet of flowers and Hailey and Adam were carrying grocery bags. There were three other guys with them this time. I recognized one of them as the volleyball player Zahra recently hung around a lot, I think his name was Hassan. It didn't take a genius to know that she had a crush on the dude, I'd seen the way she smiled around him, and from the terror stricken look on his face- it seemed like he felt the same way.

The other two guys were a dark skinned guy as tall as Hassan, and a shorter guy with hair dyed green. I stared at them curiously, and Adam came forward and introduced them.

"These are Hassan, Aiden and Easton", he announced, "they're also Zee's friends"

I nodded in greeting at them, wondering how Zahra met them. She wasn't exactly a social person and preferred to stay in a small circle, back in Egypt she only hung out with that brat Nadia, so it was a little surprising how many people she knew here. It seemed like she had grown a lot since we moved here, which made me feel like shit, cause it further proved how I'd been ignoring her and barely paid any attention to her at school. I didn't even do anything to help her when Valentine and her friends were bullying her.

When Zahra woke up, I was going to grovel at her feet for a month.

"I didn't know she had other friends", I wondered out loud, looking at the three worried guys.

Hailey pinned me with a scathing glare, "how would you know?", she asked frostily, "when you were busy shoving your tongue-"

"Hailey stop", Kamilah silenced her with a frown, "that's enough"

Hailey huffed and crossed her arms, muttering something in Japanese. I heard the word jerk several times. I wondered when Henry and Josh were coming, I left my phone in my ward cause Lucia kept calling, so I couldn't contact them.

Hassan stepped forward, "is she still unconscious?"

I nodded, "yeah"

His face fell even further, if that was possible. He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled an agitated breath, the two other guys looked equally worried, and the Easton dude looked like he was going into shock.