Something Fairytale-ish

Something Cinderella-ish (Part I)

Once upon contemporary times, in the free land of America, there lived a high school senior named Hanan. Hanan and her family were very religious people, and strove to be like the Ahlulbayt. The same could be said about their friends, which is why every day Hanan would spend time at her friends' houses after school. One of her friends, Amina, had an older brother, Amir, Hanan's crush. But, being Muslim, she could never really do much about it, so her feelings were kept secret, locked away somewhere in her heart to grow with great pain. She believed that to be her fate, loving a man in secret with no way to express her feelings, until one day,  Allah had decided that enough was enough. 

It was a normal Monday morning. The sun was bright and scorching hot, due to the many holes in the ozone layer. The birds were up and about, chirping praises for Allah in their bird language. The trees and plants silently whispered their prayers in the barely detectable wind. And Hanan was awake, struggling to keep her hatred for humanity and all things existing go away; Monday mornings had that effect on her. 

"Hanan, yala, breakfast is ready and you're going to be late for school!" Hanan's mother shouted from the kitchen, where the sounds of frying eggs could be heard, and unfortunately, smelled. 

Hanan groaned and slipped out of her bed. She made her way to the bathroom to freshen herself up, and afterwards made her way back to her room to change and grab her backpack. Her morning routine, no matter how ordinary, comforted her. It gave her time to forget her hatred of Monday mornings. 

She stomped down the stairs, in a totally unladylike manner, to release some more of her displeasure. "Subahul-khayr Mama," she greeted, kissing her mother on the cheek. 

"Subahul-noor hayati," Mama greeted back happily. Hanan went over to her father, who was sitting at the head of the table drinking chai and greeted him the same way. She pressed her lips against his temple, which made him smile. 

"Where are Sajad and Maryam?" Hanan asked him, inquiring about the absence of her younger siblings. Sajad was her 15 year old brother, and Maryam was her 13 year old sister. They were in 10th and 8th grade, respectively, and they were the life of the house. Sajad was very naughty and mischievous, and Maryam was very much the same. The two loved to prank their family members all the time, which was why Hanan was rather suspicious when they weren't sitting with the family. 

"Sajad is still sleeping, and Maryam is taking a shower," her father replied. Hanan hadn't heard the sound of someone taking a shower, but perhaps that was because she was too tired in the mornings to notice many things. 

"Subahul-khayr, Mama and Baba," Sajad greeted, yawning as he walked in. He was still dressed in his sleepwear, but what did that matter when all he had to do was slip on a shirt and a pair of jeans to go outside? Not like Hanan and her sister, who had to wrap a hijab around their heads as well. Oh yeah, and go through a hijab inspection conducted by their mother. Those took a while, so Hanan and Maryam had to get up earlier than Sajad. Damn double-standards. 

"Subahul-noor haji, shlonik, shlon-sahtik," Baba teased. He also thought it unfair that Sajad got to wake up later than his daughters. He was so feminist, Hanan often bragged about her father's forward-mindedness. 

"Zen, inte shlonik?" Sajad countered with a grin. 

"We're all fine," Mama responded, handing him and Hanan plates full of steaming scrambled eggs. Hanan wrinkled her nose at the strong smell. She wasn't in the mood for eggs, but she wasn't going to complain because her mother had already made it. While Hanan was considerate, Sajad wasn't, so he voice his distaste. 

"Why eggs? Can't we have something else?" he whined. 

"You can have a smack to the face if you would rather eat that," Mama countered. Baba nearly choked on his chai, so Hanan pounded his back to help him breath again. She and her father grinned at her mother's words. Despite her quiet and demure exterior, Mama was still pretty sassy and hot-tempered. She didn't take crap from no one. Just like Hanan, though Hanan wasn't feeling rather sassy at the moment.