Chapter Six
I rolled the key in the keyhole and stepped in, closing the door behind me.
"Assalamu'alaikum!" I called out as I slipped off my shoes.
No one responded.
I made my way to the living room and stopped dead in my tracks.
Omar lay sprawled on the floor, his whole body shaking vigorously.
"Oh, God." I immediately fell to the floor, tossing my bag aside and caught his twitching hands.
I looked up at my mother. She was frozen to the spot, her hands on her mouth to supress a gasp, leaning against the wall for balance. No matter how many times we've seen this happen, we'd never get used to it or the terror that comes with it.
I turn my attention back to Omar. He was still shaking, his eyes staring at the ceiling and his mouth hanging open. I tentatively edged closer. The doctors specifically warned us not to come near him in these times, but I couldn't find it in me to see my little brother hurting and stand and watch. I wrapped my arms around his body. He shook so powerfully in my arms that I didn't know whether I started shaking then out of infection or just panic. I spun us both and moved backwards using my free hand so that my back rested against the leg of the sofa, then tightened my grip around Omar.
With his head on my shoulder, I could hear his teeth shattering vigorously near my neck. I inhaled a deep breath and ignored the drumming of my heart. With one hand tightly clutching his T-shirt, I moved the other slowly to his head, running my fingers through his hair.
"I'm right here, Omar. It's okay." I whispered in his ear.
From the corner of my eye, I saw my mother taking a careful step in our direction and squatting beside me. Taking Omar's shaking hands in hers, she started reciting surat Al-Ikhlas loudly. She recited it three times as I kept stroking his hair.
A short while later, the shaking stopped, leaving my brother's body as limp and weak as ever. I heaved a sigh of relief and set my chin on my brother's head. "Thank god. It's over." I mumbled.
When mother let go of his hands and stopped reciting the Ayat, I stood up and, supporting him against me by keeping a hand around his back, I led my little brother to his room.
After I made sure he was in bed and wrapped the covers around him, I walked back into the living room, where mom sat at the table with her back to me.
I hesitated before I sat across from her. She didn't look at me or say a word for a long time, lost in her own thoughts.
Or trying to avoid my eyes.
Clasping my hands in my lap, I look at her legs under the table as it bobbed up and down restlessly.
"He'll be okay, you know." I said in a low voice, though not too low for her to hear.
My words only made her legs shake faster.
"I-I don't know, anymore." She whispered.
My heart clenches. I'm wishing she wouldn't start crying.
Hesitantly, I look up at her. And I'm relieved. She's stressed. She won't be crying. Good, that's good for now.
She's rubbing her forehead with her palm. "I mean, what if he doesn't? The doctors said—"
"The doctors are wrong! They know nothing!" I snapped before she could finish her sentence. She looked up at me and we locked on each other's gazes. We both knew that was only what I was saying to reassure her as well as myself. Because the truth is too painful, too unwanted right now. But the truth is real. What the doctors said are real. And no matter what I say, I wouldn't be able to change or deny that fact.
YOU ARE READING
Void - Finding Islam (EDITING)
Teen Fiction"It's irrevocable. But I can't help but think that if it all never happened, we wouldn't be like this. My mother wouldn't be so distressed all the time. My father wouldn't be so irritable. And I wouldn't have grown so quiet." ...
