The Intruder

CHAPTER 14: INSANE

Munawwarah woke up to the beeping of machines. The room was almost dark, and the only source of light was coming from the open window.
Munawwarah hated the dark, especially these days that she didn't even understand what was going on with her.
She heard voices coming from the entrance  of the room and she tried turning her head towards the voices. Then she realized that she couldn't. It was as if her head had been glued to the pillow. She could feel raw fear crawling up her spine. She knew she was in trouble. Again.

As she tried moving her eyes instead, she couldn't do that either. Her whole body felt stuck. A shadow slowly crept towards her in her peripheral vision. She was so scared that she wanted to scream her head off. She realized her mouth could open after all.
And she screamed.

As much as she screamed, she knew no one could hear her. She was trapped in her own head.
The shadow kept on moving until it was directly above her on the bed. Then it wrapped around her body and Munawwarrah couldn't breathe.
She was going to choke to death.

As she struggled to fight for her breath, her life; she could hear someone laughing at her. Laughing evilly.
Suddenly, her vocal chords worked again, and she screamed with all her left over strength;
"Allah!!"
Then everything went blank.

When Munawwarah came to, she could hear voices again, but this time, they were beside her; and this time, she could make out the voices beside her, even though she didn't open her eyes, as usual. Her mum was crying, and her dad was arguing with someone. Maryam was also there, talking quietly to someone beside the bed.
Munawwarah felt helpless, even with everyone around her. Who was going to help her with what she was going through? She even felt ashamed to speak about it with anyone. She remembered the last time she was on the phone with Idris Babs; probably last night. As they were still conversing on the phone, Firi appeared in front of her; with a very angry countenance. She was shocked into silence, and before she could say something, he slapped her so hard she fainted. The left side of her face still hurt so bad, and it seemed swollen. She tried opening her eyes and realised her left eye wouldn't open well. She was having a very severe headache she felt like crying. Tears actually flowed from her eyes, and as she wanted to raise her hands to wipe it off, Maryam noticed she was awake.
"Muni, how do you feel now?"
"Terrible," she replied.
Then she noticed the person beside Maryam.
"Mr. Babs, so sorry you had to meet me again like this."
"Idris please, and don't be sorry, May Allah grant you shifaa." Idris replied.
"Do you remember what happened last night that led to this?" he asked.

Munawwarah looked into his eyes and felt she could trust him with her woes. Sighing, she asked Maryam to tell the disgruntled parents leave the room for a while. As Maryam did that, Munawwarah tried to raise herself to sitting position, albeit difficultly. Idris helped her up, and placed a pillow behind her. Munawwarah's heart was beating fast as she prepared to tell them about what was happening to her, and she tried her best to bury the shame and fear that was trying to engulf her. As the room became quiet, and it was just she, Maryam and Idris in there, she narrated her story to them from the beginning.
.............................................................

As they sat at the reception, Hajia Davies kept on crying. She felt what happened was her fault. She had left Alfa Anas's place yesterday angrily. He was his usual self, demanding her body in exchange for his services. This was part of why she had avoided his place all these years. He could do that to her, because he had her secret in his hands. But yesterday, she didn't care about the secret; she was so angry that the cleric could be so callous and without human feelings for her, for her child.

And she had told him that.

Now, her baby girl was in the hospital again. If Alhaji had not come in when he did, maybe she could have bled to death from where she hit her head on the floor. What if she had gone into coma? What if her brain had been affected? As she thought about these, she kept on crying hard. Nobody was even near to console her. Her husband and Umar's father were still arguing over God-knows-what. Sally was just pacing back and forth in the reception room, lost in her own thoughts.
Another voice in her head told her maybe she should have been patient with the Alfa. Maybe he would have helped her appease Munawwarah's marine society, and things would have been okay. Everything would have been okay, no matter the price.

Hajia Davies chided herself for such thoughts. She knew now that the solution with Alfa Anas would still have been temporary. She would still have to keep on sending money for sacrifices to him, and it would give him the opportunity to request dirty acts from her.
Hajia Davies remembered the Islamic lectures she had started attending over the years. She remembered how the Ustaz would sometimes talk about AsSabr was Salaah- Patience and Prayer. When you have any type of predicament, be patient, and keep on praying to Allah. With patience and prayers, you will eventually overcome your problems. If only she had been patient with Allah twenty five years ago. If only she had kept on praying to her Creator. After she gave birth to Munawwarah, Allah still blessed her with for more girls, including a set of twins; without any evil Alfa's assistant. If only she had been patient, she wouldn't be this heartbroken now. She wouldn't feel so wretched and dirty now. She wouldn't feel like a fake muslimah now.
And she wouldn't start wondering how to tell Alhaji Davies that Munawwarah was not his daughter.