LIMITLESS

Chapter X

Rayan quietly snuck back into her house and ran up the stairs. She threw herself onto her bed and immediately began to sob. Omar and her father were right about her all along, she was way too far gone. Everything  that she had done could have been reversed, except this. All she ever did was repeatedly disrespect herself and her family. Her stomach had been turning continuously since the second it happened. No matter what anybody told her, she would never look at herself the same again. Her virginity was gone and now so was her self-worth.

                               …

Asad drove home in complete silence after dropping Rayan off. It was his first time too, and he felt just as terrible as she did. He was mad at himself for letting the situation escalate to the point that it did. Asad didn’t mean for it to happen this way, it was something that occurred in the spur of the moment. But that didn’t make him feel any better about it. He had betrayed his friend, a guy that he saw as his brother. Asad felt like there was truly only one way to make this right, and he had no option but to do it.
                             
                                …

Rayan didn’t sleep that night. She stood up as soon as the sun rose and looked in the mirror. Her eyes were swollen from crying and her entire face was red. She left her room so that she could go to the bathroom. She then bumped into Omar. He stopped dead in his tracks as soon as he saw her.

“Were you crying?” he asked

“No.” she shook her head. “I just don’t feel well.”

“What hurts?” he asked.

“Just my stomach and head.” she said. “I’ll be okay, though.”

“Do you want me to bring you some medicine?” he asked. His kindness only made her feel worse. She couldn’t believe that she had done this to her brother.

“Excuse me.” she quickly said and ran passed him into the bathroom. She turned the water all the way up so that he wouldn’t be able to hear her cries. Omar stood in the hallway confused.

“I’ll never understand her.” he muttered to himself and shook his head.

Rayan sat on the bathroom floor and tried to calm herself down. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She hoped that it was Asad, the only person that she could talk to this about. But it wasn’t.

“Hey Rayan, I know that you’re probably really upset with me but I miss you a lot. Can we talk about this tomorrow at school?” a message from Hani read.

“Can you come over right now?” Rayan quickly replied. She needed to be with somebody right now, nobody better than her only best friend.

“Sure, if it’s okay with your dad.” Hani replied.

                                …

Rayan opened the door from Hani and let her into the house. They went upstairs to her room where Hani sat on a chair next to Rayan’s desk. Rayan sat on on her bed.

“I’m sorry for kicking you out.” Hani began. “But I want you to understand that I did out of love, Rayan. That was the only way you would go back home.”

“I understand.” Rayan said. “But I had my reasons for running away. I wasn’t lying when I said that they’re trying to marry me off.”

“They are?” Hani asked, she had no idea that Rayan was being serious.

“Yeah, it’s a long story.” Rayan began. “But I’m sorry for lying to you and dragging you into all of this.”

“So are you getting married?” Hani asked, ignoring Rayan’s apology.