MILK & WINE

CHAPTER 40: A FEW THINGS TO BE TAKEN CARE OF

PRESENT

KARACHI, PAKISTAN

She was in a daze as she dried the dishes and placed them on the rack. As her mind traveled back to that day.

"Why did you tell her? She could have died from a heart attack!" She registered the words as she felt her senses coming back but couldn't recognize the voice. 
"She has every right to know. If she has to go, she must know why we are sending her back. I won't have her misunderstand our intentions." It was Furqan Bhai. She felt her head starting to ache as a buzz in her fingertips.
"Well, you could have been a little calm with it, you can just walk up to a person and say that her father was murdered and so were her whole family. She hadn't healed from the incident yet you scratched her wounds again." Saima Bhabhi spoke. 

Murdered...

"She had to know and no one was willing to tell her. I couldn't sugarcoat the incident. I had to just let it out." Faurqan Bhai retorted. 
"You could have told her slowly so that it could have been easier for her to accept the news." It was Nafisa Khala's voice. 

"There is no slow way of telling the news. Everyone was just pushing her away." Furqan Bhai replied. 
"You caused her to end up in a hospital bed, are you happy now?" It was Nafisa Khala. 
"Do I look happy? Am I laughing?" Furqan Bhai raised his voice but paused. 
"Furqan, you shouldn't have done that... She is expecting too... what could you have done if the child was hurt?" Saima Bhabhi spoke softly. 

She opened her eyes and looked at the hospital ceiling. Everything came crashing on her. 

"According to what you have been told, he had a mild heart attack while he was driving and the car swerved, resulting in the accident that killed him."

"Actually, he had been poisoned and the car swerved after being hit thrice." 

Her eyes started to tear up. 

She felt people rushing to her side. But she couldn't stop herself from sobbing. 

"Fatima... Fatima!" Nafisa khala tried to console her but she couldn't relax. Her whole body was shaking. 

Murdered... Murdered... Murdered... The words just kept echoing in her mind. 

She couldn't stop herself, she wanted to scream. 

Nafisa Khala pulled her into her embrace but the familiarity between Nafisa Khala's and her mother's scent made her cry more. 

After a few attempts, everyone gave up on trying to stop her crying and just let her cry on Nafisa Khala's shoulder. She wanted to cry all the grief, all the pain out of herself. She wanted to cry until she felt nothing.

Alas, the shock was too sudden, too massive to just cry it out. 

Pretty soon, her body gave up. She was exhausted. Sobbing reduced to mere whimpering but the pain didn't mitigate. If anything, her body burning out made her feel more suffocated. She hadn't cried enough. It was as if a heavy boulder was placed on her chest, crushing her lungs, making it impossible for her to breathe. 

Nafisa pulled her into her chest and rubbed her back. 

Maybe she wanted her to breathe easily or maybe she was encouraging her to cry, but it didn't help. 

Saima poured a glass of water and pressed it on her lips. She let the cool liquid down her throat. It did make her feel better but didn't wash down the exhaustion or pain. Saima pulled away the glass only when it was empty.