Life (here and hereafter)

the curious case of the new girl

The blue sky sent a cool breeze across their anticipating faces, and the birds were joyfully chirping as they welcomed the bright morning sunshine. The bell rang, signaling the commencement of the first day of school. With smiling faces and determined glances, the girls formed neat lines awaiting the Principal's address.

Farah spotted Amina, joyfully squeezed her into a tight hug, and together they began searching for Asma; whom they found after a while peeping through the crowds trying to catch a glimpse of her friends! Their classmates were all familiar to them, except for one new girl whose name they later found out to be Zaynab. It wasn't just them, but almost everyone in their class was staring incredulously at the new girl. Her features were abnormal, and it appeared like she was suffering from a mental disorder, as she was constantly talking to herself in soft whispers...

No one expected the new girl to do well in her studies, including the teachers, but she took them all completely by surprise. She excelled in all subjects, yet it was her remarkable recitation during the Qur'an class that surprised them the most, for she had a beautiful voice and a captivating recitation that only manifests from a deep connection with the Qur'an. She became the talk of the school, praised by all her teachers until many of the girls became envious of her.

The girls that were jealous of Zaynab started spreading rumors about her. It was said that she was proud and that she felt superior to others, and thus they shot her glances of contempt and looked in her direction with resentment. It was as if she was the innocent, peaceful dove that all of a sudden turned into a detestable creature.

*****

Farah, Amina, and Asma just couldn't figure it out; they were sitting together during break time tirelessly squeezing their brains in order to solve a Mathematics question but to no avail! As they were looking around and scratching their heads helplessly, Farah spotted Zaynab sitting by herself as always, and after serious contemplations, she decided to seek her help. Before she could walk over to her, Zaynab got up from her chair and was heading outside of the library, but Farah called over to her: "Zaynab! Zaynab!" But Zaynab was nowhere to be seen, she had already left.

"Did you see that girls!" exclaimed Farah, full of rage, "She completely ignored me! They were all right; she's so proud and haughty!"

Amina and Asma both nodded their heads in agreement, shocked at what had just occurred before their eyes.

They finally had their doubts answered by their teacher, when they went to her class during one of the break times. The teacher then added:

"You can go to Zaynab and ask her too when facing issues, she is always ready to help!"

"Is she?" replied Farah, remembering their incident with her, "she was leaving the library the other day when I called her to help us with this question, but she completely ignored me, she didn't even turn her head around to see who was calling her."

"Were you calling her from a distance Farah?" Her teacher asked with a skeptical look.

"Umm, kind of, why are you asking?"

"Because Zaynab has a hearing defect Farah!" replied the teacher with a reprimanding tone, "she can only hear those who are very close to her, which is why I always raise my voice when speaking to her in class if you noticed!"

Amina and Asma were shocked, and Farah looked down with shame. Apologizing to the teacher, they quickly rushed out of her room.

"I can't believe we thought so negatively of her, we judged her without being aware of her situation," confessed Asma.