Blue ✓

♠ seven ♠

Her body should have frozen up, her insides should have tied into knots and her voice should have been muted. All of those things and more should have happened. What should not have happened was her saying 'Jazakallah Khair' and a distinctly male voice replying 'Ameen' followed by disappearing footsteps, leaving her standing there.

Well, he wasn't a kidnapper at least.

Nor someone intending her harm. At least, her mind could be at peace about that.

But her mental storm kept raging on. Even if the fear of being kidnapped of removed, there was still a feeling of unease and unfamiliarity. Her shoulders burned in the shape of a pair of handprints in agreement.

Yet, there was a thrill in it too.

She should tell Ammi, but she felt like a little child hiding a mystery from the adults and trying to solve it all by herself, like the kids in the CHERUB series she'd been so addicted to in her early teen years. It felt like a game, without the element of danger.

She felt unbound. The weeks in the hospital were stifling, and suffocating in every way possible. The few months at home, while less stifling, still suffocated her. The fragile-glass treatment from the two regular people in her life left her feeling less than herself.

She wanted something out of that fragile care. An area of her life which was less strangling.

She let a gap take place, before going to the garden. Her mind immediately honed on to his presence. It stayed there, every time she went out, until it was imprinted.

"I'm sorry my love," her mother spoke up once after dinner. She had gotten hang of moving around and feeling things by touch, until her mother finally let her help out on minor chores. Now she stood in the kitchen drying the dishes Ammi washed.

Aiyla turned towards her, brows furrowing. "Why?"

"Both Suhayl and I not home in the evenings. You must be so bored and lonely."

Aiyla bit her lips. Yes, she was bored, she can't deny that. Suhayl hadn't had the chance to read any new books since he entered mosque, and in the weekends, she went to the local RNIB office for braille lessons. But progress was slow, and the books she wanted to read are probably not even available in braille anyway.

So, yes, she was bored.

Ammi continued working on her usual two jobs, a fact that confused her. Moving into this house was supposed to reduce their expense, yet, Ammi was still working two jobs. The 'why' was at the tip of her tongue, before she forced it back.

She thought back to her little game, her own little mystery to keep her occupied and smiled. "Don't worry, Ammi. It's okay." But, she really missed her books. "If it's okay, can you read me something tonight?"

She felt Ammi pat her head. "Of course, darling. Whatever you want." She said, a smile evident in her voice.