THE TIMOROUS DUNYA✅

SIXTEEN

Be nice to people on your way up because you'll need them on your way down. ~W. Migner

Warning: very long chapter ahead!

Enjoy 💖

*****

Cities are places Maryam's friends talked about more often than necessary. For that, she had dispassionately heard many heaven-like stories about different places in cities. It never bothered her how Kandala or Dije gushed about it whenever they got the opportunity to. Though she never paid heed or fantasized about them, she clearly remember when Kandala had told them about the 'glass house' as she'd called it.

"I dey tell you! If you comot close to the house, the glass go shine. The shining wey go make you go blind. They say no pesin seen the end of glass house. Kuh! Ni ina gainin ya kai sama ta bakwai." Kandala had said motioning for her friends to move closer before whispering the last part, like a big secret. Her face spread into a satisfied grin at the ahh-s and ohh-s she received from her friends. Maryam pursed her lips then in thoughts, contemplating whether what Kandala said could be true or a mere lie. Maybe she just dreamed about it. Certainty what she said is ridiculously unbelievable.

After her little encounter with Zeenah, she awkwardly chewed at her nails. Her gaze not leaving the the flashing figures ahead of her. 8:50pm, it read. She quickly did a mental calculation in her mind. They had been driving for like five hours then. That is so far, Maryam thought. Was there any hope of going back?.

Her gaze then flicked to her right, staring ahead outside the car's window. She gaped at the view, doubting for a while if it's still night. The streetlights sparked everywhere and for once she almost believed all she had heard about cities.

She tilted her head backwards and glued her face to the glass so that the tip of her nose stay flat on it. Her eyeballs moved hence and forth from the previous lamppost to the following one. It's reflection cast a glint on her eyes. The view around, Ya Allah. It only made her to gape even more, perhaps an elephant could fit in perfectly.

Perhaps 'the glass house' really does exist.

*****

The room she's currently seating in is almost the size of her house. It's dim light illuminate the old king sized bed in the middle of the room. A large wooden wardrobe stood adjacent to it, with it's door creaking anytime the wind blows in.

She sat in an eerie silent, turning a blind eye to the breeze that send shivers down her spine each time it blew in. The ticking sound of the wall clock hung adjactely on the wall to her filled her ears. Her eyes moved in rythm with it. There was something about how it jerked itself forward that made her compare it to herself. The second hand didn't seem to procrastinate a bit, it didn't seem care about anything else. It just moved on and on. So did the minute hand, whenever the second thicked sixty, it shifted.

That is exactly how her life it, it just goes on and on. Not minding whether she's ready or not.

Just yesterday, the only thoughts that wander in her mind was how to get out of their house. But today, she found herself married to a complete stranger. She isn't ready, but who could ever care?

The sound of the door been closed jolted her out of the trance. Her gaze flicked to the person standing at the entrance of the bathroom. The droplets of water which slid down Zeenah's body confirmed she'd taken a bath. Her left hand gripped the towel around her while she used the palm of her other hand to swatt away the water on her face.