CHASING MARWA

12-HORRIBLE PAST

OMNISCIENT

Marwa was tongue-tied. As for Hidayah, she blinked several times to make sure that she wasn't dreaming. Their mother wants to marry their only paternal uncle and that too, he has a wife and two children who are close to them. No, something must be wrong somewhere, their mother was never the one to decide without asking for their consent. Marwa saw the look on her mother's face earlier, even now, she was trying so hard to look like she wanted the marriage to happen but Marwa saw right through her. They know what they have gone through together.

"There is no way you're going to marry that man, I don't care if he is my father's brother, let him not lose the respect I have for him," Marwa uttered in a defiant voice, feeling the sudden rush of emotions that made her dizzy, flashes of traumatizing images started reappearing but she pushed them to the back of her mind.

"I am your mother, so you have to do as I say and obey me, not the other way round. I will get married to him in three days, don't even think of stopping it," Nafisa used that motherly voice on Marwa, the scolding type of voice.

"Hidayah, go to your room now," Marwa commanded in an authoritative voice she never knew she had, the voice alone scared her because she was dead serious.

Hidayah, who was sobbing with trembling lips, tried protesting but the alarming look Marwa sent her had the girl recoiling, she knew that her older sister and mother wanted to bring up a topic about their past, something that happened before she was born.

"Mami, why are you doing this? Aren't you tired of suffering? Are the two of us not enough for you that you need a husband? Tell me what it is that you are sacrificing this time!" Marwa ranted, her chest heaving with anger and fury. She hated that she can't do anything to help her mother, she tries to work her ass off and get some money for them but that is not sufficient, her mother always ends up sacrificing something for them and she hates it.

"Marwa, don't you dare talk to your mother like that. I will get married and that is my final decision!" Nafisa screamed and blinked back the tears that were threatening to fall.

Marwa is helpless. She is about to emotionally blackmail her mother because only that is the way out, it was the only way she would stop talking about that damn marriage. Marwa inherited that stubbornness from her mother, after all.

"Oh right! It is all because of that monster that you are still adamant about not telling me his name, huh? That stupid douchebag and mistake of a man that you kept doing so much for, the person that never appreciated you. The person who ruined both of us humiliated us, and made us walk away in shame! You keep trying to coax me into not talking about him but not this time --" Before Marwa could finish, the sound of a resounding slap was heard. Nafisa slapped Marwa with so much force that it left imprints of her fingers on Marwa's soft cheek.

"Marwa!" She let out an ear-piercing scream that made Marwa stagger backwards, thinking that her mother was possessed because she had never been that loud in her entire life. Hidayah, who was in her room, became afraid of the commotion happening in the living room. It broke her apart to see her sister and mother having a misunderstanding.

"Get out of here," Nafisa let out yet another scream, her eyes yawed red, the pain and unwavering love for that person enveloping her once again.

Marwa knew better than to argue so she took dejected steps to her room. Immediately she locked the door, Marwa slumped on the floor and let the tears flow freely like a river, her emotions were all over the place, and she let all that she had been bottling up for the past fifteen years flow in her tears.