Starting Over (Islamic Fiction, Z.M)

Chapter 15 - (Racism)

"Zayn?"

"Hey Maggie." he sighed, was he sad? He can't be, we just left him a few hours ago. What could have happened in that short period of time? "I hope you don't mind but I saved your number on my phone when you ringed yourself." oh so that's how he got my number.

"It’s okay, what's up?" I asked with concern, his voice was not withits usual happy tone or even the protective jealous tone he used in the hospital.

"Nothing, I just needed to talk, that's all. Are you busy?" he asked, obviously he was hiding something.

"No not at all." I waited for him to spell it out. I was dying to know what was wrong with him and why he called me out of all people.

"Is jawaad and the girl with you?" Did he really call to check on his sister and cousins?

"Yeah, Jawaad, Waliyha, Aaroosa, Bella and Layla are all setting in the living room. I'm in the kitchen, making lunch." I said quickly as a thought came to my mind; maybe he wanted to tell me something that he didn't want anyone else to know. so I reassured him I was alone.

"Good," he sighed," Maggie, I know how you felt today in the hospital." he said out of no where.

"huh?" I was confused, what did he mean by that?

"You know, when that nurse came to give you your phone back." I panicked, what reminded him of nurse Helen? And what did he mean by saying he knew how I felt? Did he know my secret?

I kept quit as he sighed again, I didn't know how to react. Should I confess everything now?

But what exactly did he know? And how did he feel about it all now that he does know?.

"It’s not easy dealing with racism," What? Racism? What was he even talking about? I had always known that Nurse Helen was racist but that never bothered me, I never cared for that part of her big mouth, "You feel like people are judging you for your religion and believe, without even knowing who you are."

I didn't understand how did Zayn gather that I was dealing with racism from what happened earlier today but being a used-to-be-fan of one direction, I knew that Zayn got lots of hate for his religion and maybe he was going through that now, maybe he needed someone to talk to and thought that I understand what he was going through. So I decided to try and comfort him as much as I could, "Yeah, people can be really ignorant some times."

"Yeah, and I know that some people say mean things to get a reaction but their words really hurt." his voice was weak, almost like he is trying to suppress his cries?

"I  know. Words do really hurt more than knives." I sighed, I didn't know how to change his mood and get him to be happy again. I didn’t know how to get him out of this state; I hated hearing him like this.

"Yeah, I never really understood why people would say horrible things like they were nothing? Why is it so easy to call someone a terrorist?" his voice broke and I heard a ghost of a sob. Was he crying?

"I don't know Zayn. I guess people are just pathetic." he was still trying to suppress his sobs, but I heard him and it broke my heart. "Zayn don't let anyone or anything get to you. I bet some pathetic person called you those horrible things to get a reaction and make a headline out of it." The words just flow out of my mouth when he broke into tears.

"It’s just so hard to ignore when it’s all you see and hear. That’s all people talk about.”

I stayed silent as I didn’t understand anything. I knew it had to do with another rumor but as I didn’t keep up with everything, I didn’t know how to reply to him.