Love Incarnated.

• 11

Asiya.

I twist and turn.
I've been doing so since I decided to sleep. I keep having this nagging feeling but I'm not sure if it's because I'm not used to Abdullah being away.

He's just been gone a few hours, how do I miss him this much? Maybe I should try calling him to see if he's asleep, he always finds it difficult to sleep in unfamiliar places.

I call but his phone is switched off.
I couldn't sleep no matter how hard I tried.
I sigh curling up on the couch in my bedroom sipping my tea. Maybe it will make me sleep.

And I was so sleepy earlier in the evening and now it's all gone, I feel wide awake like I took an energy drink.

I decided to pray.
I sat aside watching as Aya slept peacefully, she always preferred sleeping in my bed.

My phone starts ringing and I hurriedly pick it up but unfortunately it's not Abdullah, it's Aisha.
"Aisha, what happened? Are you okay?"

"Yes" she says sounding like she's been crying.
"Are you sure? What about Nasir? And the children"

"They're okay"
"Have you told her?" I hear Nasir ask before she shushes him up.

"What's going on? You're scaring me"
She takes a deep breath "Did you hear from Abdullah?"

I shake my head smiling "Is that why you're asking? Abdullah is safe, he just went to Abuja"
"Did you talk to him?"
I shake my head "No, his phone is switched off but he'll call me back when he puts it on"

"Asiya—Abdullah—Abdullah is dead"
I couldn't help but laugh, sarcastically "You mean the Abdullah I was with earlier today? He's fine, he just went for a meeting"

"Asiya?"
"Just wait, I'll calm him and when he picks up I'll call you back"

I end the call and quickly calling him, back to back. I get up and start pacing the room, rejecting any call that came in.

"He'll pick up" I keep repeating "He'll pick up"
That's how I kept calling for over thirty minutes until I heard a knock on the front door.

I rush downstairs and check before opening.
Abubakar and Aisha looked at me with sad faces, with pity and I can't deny that it annoyed me.

"What are you two doing here by 4am?"
They enter and close the door.
"Asiya?"

I shake my head "No. You cannot expect me to stand here and listen to your lies. I know you two never really liked him"
They look at each other then back at me "Asiya"
"Stop it. I'll keep calling him"

"It's just a meeting and he told me he might not be able to reach me, it's okay. It's normal so there's no need to panic" I smile "I'll call Habib, they traveled together" I said while my brother and sister watched me worriedly.

Aisha tries to put her arms around my shoulder but I push it away "You can't joke like this, it's not funny"
It rings out but there's no response so I called over and over again.

My body felt limp and suddenly everything goes dark, like pitch black.

::

The next day I had no choice but to accept the fact that I had lost my husband and didn't have a body to bury. Apparently he died not long after our call, still in the outskirts but the hospital had no way of contacting his family because his phone wasn't found.