Tears of Zubaida.

•••••TEARS OF ZUBAIDA••••• •••Chapter Sixteen•••

Zubaida cuddled into her blanket as she shivered with her sweat dripping from her forehead to her upper lip, she kept quivering her lips making some of the sweat drip to her mouth.

The room's curtain was pushed aside welcoming a new breeze into the room, Zainaba walked to Zubaida and gently patted her leg; making Zubaida shiver from the touch as Zainaba's palm was cold.

"Zubaida, are you okay?" She asked though she didn't expect a reply.

She yanked the blanket off Zubaida's body and noticed as she sweats and shivers.

Inna lillahi wa inna ilaihi rajiun

"What's wrong with you?" She panicked.

She kept pacing around the room muttering every prayer for her daughter's recovery, she heard it on her radio that workers are on holiday.

Malam Musa whom just came back from the mosque for subh prayers walked into the room seeing the curtain flung open and was hanged on the top of the room's door.

"Zainaba, what's wrong?" He asked.

Hearing no reply except the murmur of prayers made him shone his torchlight towards Zubaida and noticed how she was shivering.

A sense of déjà vu rushed to his memory, as he remembered few years back, his first daughter Ruqayyah was in such condition at the same time of the year. When they went to the hospital, she was diagnosed asthmatic.

In fear of something like that happening again, he quickly left to his neighbour's house whom they had just parted ways from the mosque, the neighbour is a pharmacist and owns a medicine store with the best medicines and treatments granted in the whole village.

"Assalamu Alaikum!" He yelled atop his voice, that's a way of announcing the presence of a male visitor before he is welcomed into the house; if necessary.

Malam Hassan walked out of the house to see whom the visitor is at the early hours of the morning.

"Malam Musa, lafiya dai? We just parted ways now." He questioned.

"Not all is well, my daughter is sick, I think it's a high fever. Please come and check her."

Malam Hassan excused himself and went back to the house, he wore back his sweater which he had already removed and trailed behind Malam Musa as they entered into his house.

"Zainaba, I'm with Malam Hassan, he will treat her for now, cover her hair."

After some checkups which he only placed his palm on her forehead and felt her temperature, he prescribed some drugs for her which Malam Musa was going to collect during the day as the store is not opened yet.

"Its just a high fever, then tiredness. I will have to give her an injection to lower her body temperature and another one to make her sleep as she seems tired." Malam Hassan said.

It was after zuhr prayers when Zubaida woke up, the sedative injection did played a great role in helping her sleep for that long. The rays of light that shone through the curtains of the door and windows of her room made her quickly sit up.

I've missed my subh prayers.

With that thought she rose to her feet and took a step forward, she felt her head spinning which made her quickly rest on the framework of her bed, after some relaxation, she took another gentle step and this time around; there's was no head spin.

"Zubaida, ya jikin?" Zainaba asked coming out of the kitchen with a food flask.

"Da sauki." She answered staring quizzically at the three large stones that formed a triangular shape with some burning woods and a three legged pot of about size 2.