Scarred

PART II

Chapter 36

“Behind every trial and sorrow that he makes us shoulder. God has a reason.”
-Khaled Hossieni.

The room was drowned in eerie silence except the beep from the monitoring machine attached to the patient lying on the bed, the rhythm was steady and systematic, telling the story of lost battle and a worn out being. In the corner of the room, a mother was sitting on the prayer mat begging to the almighty for granting her the life of her youngest child. She prostrated and again her eyes started flooding with tears and then those tears falling and seeping into the prayer mat. 

For past ten days her daughter would be in and out of consciousness. She still remembered the horrifying night when the news got to them. She remembered how the maid of that house came and explained to them. Her husband almost falling on his steps, her mind not ready to believe on the information. In their 35 years of marriage she had never stayed quiet, she and her husband would always find a way back but since past ten days they would hardly stay in the same room.

He hid everything from her.

He knew what was happening with their daughter. He didn’t know, he presumed till Daniyah told him. Her mind argued back.

She couldn’t become her daughter’s confidant.

The door opened and entered her elder daughter with bags, she looked at her younger sister, silently praying for her and then placed the bags she brought for her mother on the sofa. She quietly walked towards her mother and sat beside her on the floor.

“You need to eat something,” she was well aware that her mother had ended her prayers. She was now begging to Allah in the most human way possible. “Mama please get up,” she wrapped her arms around her mother and raised her bowed form, the mother rested her head on the chest of her elder daughter as she shook with pain.

Dua had never seen her mother like this ever before, it looked like all of a sudden her age had got to her, the wrinkles were more apparent around her eyes and forehead. Her lips which were never bare of color were pale and chapped. The woman who would never wear a dress for more than 10 hours, she was the same women who was wearing same dress since more than a day now. Farhana Shah who was particular about a lot of things in her life lost everything and every purpose she ever had.

“Mama, we can only pray, dad and Davar are doing everything they can—“

“They aren’t doing enough! They knew something was up with my child and look what it resulted us,” Farhana Shah seethed and furiously wiped her tears detaching herself from her elder one.

“Mama, they just couldn’t barge in their house and bring out Dani, you saw the dirt they were collecting—“

“They were fake Dua! They were fake.”

“Yes mama they were!” Dua agreed nodding her head, “But this world loves and believes a lot of things without even searching for reality. In this society being a woman is harder than being an animal,” Dua spoke with same anger, “They are Kirmanis mama, media and politics are their biggest strength. You saw yourself, despite our own sources the senior police officer denied taking our case. Everyone here is a pawn of Kirmanis.”

“May Allah avenge my child.” Farhana Shah shook her head and stood up to sit on the opposite sofa. 

Dua silently sat beside her mother and started taking out food and started serving her mother, both of them would momentarily look at Daniyah and then Farhana Shah after denying multiple times dejectedly started eating.