Muslimah by Name to Muslimah by Heart

The story of Ali's betrayal

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"Ever since I can remember, my brother and I had a game night every Friday after our parents went to bed. We'd play games, have snacks and then we would end the night with a movie. When I was 16 years old, my brother started acting kinda shady. He would come home late and he usually skipped game night with the same sentence, "I'm tired." I would wait up for him for hours but he wouldn't show up before 12 am. Eventually, I stopped, thinking that he was probably tired of playing childish games."

Sarah sat on Ayesha's bed as Ayesha narrated the story. The story of her past and how everything went downhill. Her eyes were red and puffy though she had stopped crying.

"One Friday night, I was drinking water in the kitchen when I heard the front door open and close. Ali was usually home after 12 am and it was only 10 pm so I tiptoed towards the door. There stood my brother, his face covered in blood and bruises, barely recognizable. I ran towards him. He tried stumbling away from me but I ultimately got him to sit down while I brought the first aid kit. At first, he wouldn't talk, only wincing when I cleaned his wounds, but then he told me that he got into a fight."

Sarah rolled her eyes, "Obviously he got into a fight. Where else would he get those wounds from?"

Ayesha shot her a look to which she apologized, motioning her to continue the story. Ayesha took a deep breath before saying, "Thankfully, most of the blood was not his, but the fact that he was out in the middle of the night, fighting thugs or what not had me completely frightened. Ali didn't say much that night and went to bed."

"The next few days were awkward. Ali acted like that night didn't happen. LIke I didn't witness him beaten up and bruised. I tried to get him somewhere we could talk but he tried everything he could to avoid me. I eventually stopped pestering him for answers. If he wanted to talk to me, he would've already."

"Weeks passed by and things were pretty much normal. Ali did come home late and still acted kinda shady but other than that, everything was normal. My dad even got promoted and my mother, who had arthritis was getting better. A few weeks after my 17 birthday, I caught Ali at the back of a coffee shop with a girl. I recognized her. She was my bully's elder sister and just as bad. I saw him handing over a bunch of dollar bills to her. Like A BUNCH!"

Sarah gasped. "Whoa. Why and Where'd he get that kind of money."

"Racing. Illegal Racing." Ayesha replied. "He raced for money. The same Ali I looked up to had been involved in illegal racing. So, it's pretty much like gambling. He would bet a few thousand dollars every time he raced and if he won, he got all the money. His own and his opponent's."

"At first I didn't understand. Why would my brother be racing for money? We may not have been rich but we weren't poor either."

"So why was he racing?"

"All because of that girl, Courtney. Apparently, she had to pay off some dudes whom she owed money too. When she started hanging out with Ali, she told him how the guys would beat her up for the money she didn't have. My brother, being the gentleman he is, used his allowance to help Courtney pay them off. When he ran out of allowance, he started gambling. That's why he came home beaten up...because he encountered the guys harassing Courtney and attempted to fight them."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Sarah asked, furrowing her freshly plucked eyebrows.

"How is that a good thing?"

"Your brother was helping a vulnerable girl by not only risking his life but also indulging in something illegal to save a girl from harassment. Who knew what else those dudes did to Courtney? Your brother was just trying to help."

Ayesha took a breath, calming herself before she replied, "Courtney was faking it. All of it. She just did that to get money out of him. I tried to warn him, I really did. I confronted Courtney first. She told me that Ali was involved with some dangerous men who would hurt him if I spilt the beans. So I Didn't.

Months passed by and of course, with winning, my brother had to face loss too. Huge loss. The loss that put not only him but his family in jeopardy. My brother still didn't know that I knew about his late night hobbies. But his so-called girlfriend kept me updated about his win and his loss. She rubbed it in my face. How I knew the truth but couldn't help my brother who was so deep in the hole that he had more than a lakh dollars as debt."

"Then one day, I had enough of the endless debate going on in my head. So, I confronted him. He was angry just as I anticipated but he realized what kind of trouble he was in. The thing about boys is that the good ones get easily manipulated by the bad girls. They let their emotions take control. The same thing happened to my brother."

Sarah didn't interrupt. She kept thinking about the same thing over and over again. Ayesha always seems all happy and out-going. Who knew what kind of demons she was fighting? What constant battles were going on in her head? How many times did she feel responsible for her brother's mess?

"Soon the men he owed money to started asking him to return the money. He didn't have 5 hundred grand. So, he did what anyone else would've done. He told my father. It was the worst night ever. My father's anger, my mother's sobs and continuous statements of disappointment, my brother standing in shame, and me, the girl who could've done something before the matter escalated so far. My father had to work two jobs, asked for a loan from his friends and had to face the humility brought to him by his own son. He still needs to pay back a few grand to his friend that lent him money.  My brother wanted to leave Canada, to get his life back on track, and my father didn't stop him. Instead, he kicked him out of the house, despite my mother's pleading." 

"Now he's back. It's been three years. I don't know why I am still so repulsed by my brother. Maybe because he betrayed his family's trust and let us all down or maybe because he reminds me of how I failed as a sister."

A knock on the door interrupted their pep-not-so-pep talk. Ayesha wiped her cheeks before nodding for Sarah to open the door. Kailey stood there, looking worried. Her hands covered in dirt and what looked like blood.

Ayesha got up instantly, tightening her hijab. "Are you okay?" she asked, despite how much she was annoyed by Kailey's tactics.

Kailey turned towards Sarah, ignoring Ayesha's concern. "It's Aiden. He's in trouble."  

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