Duplus

Chapter 39:

——Third Person's POV——

The polluted, fiery air made it difficult to breathe. A moment of silence dawned upon the camps, almost deafening the young men inside. Looks were being shared but no one dared to make a sound, until finally, an older buff man, in his glorious yet tattered chief General uniform cleared his throat.

"We pray for our martyrs today that may Allah bless them the highest rank of paradise and give them the status they earned by laying their lives down for their nation and people. They are not dead, as Allah has ordered us not to include the Shuhada (martyrs) among the dead, they are alive and we do not know."

A single tear trickled down the face of a young boy curled up in the corner, behind everyone else. Years of army training taught him not to show his weakness and vulnerability but, he owed this much to his friend.

"Our brothers Yahya Sohail, Yusha bin Ahmed, Nouman Yasir, and fifteen more on the list deserve your prayers as they are meeting their Lord right now. I'll be listing down their names one by one in front of you but not to encourage you to grieve their deaths, but to take inspiration and hope your names will be among the successful martyrs of Islam one day."

Then he started to recite the names. With each name he uttered, a boy from the audience would flinch. But the only name that stuck to Jaber was one; Yahya Sohail.

It repeated in his mind like a cassette stuck on one rhythm. He knew he couldn't do anything about it and that was what frustrated him the most. Their days together were short but he never imagined they would end so soon.

His heart burned. Burned with rage. And his blood boiled.

NOTHING could compensate for the loss he faced. After the death of his parents, there was only one person whom he looked forward to seeing every day. The one friend who turned him back to Allah, who stood by him patiently and laid his life on the line many times just so he could live and maybe one day, face good times.

The environment switched.

In his old, cold apartment, Jaber found himself all alone again. He was curled up against the wall and his body had shrunk. The day his parents had died flashed before him and he could feel the hurtful emotions again. It was like he was taken back to the past, reliving his greatest sorrows.

With his head buried in his knees, he sniffed. Tears started to flow furiously and the fifteen-year-old Jaber cried his eyes out. It was his only outlet. The only child of the country's two most influential people; he was left all alone and isolated. Where once he was surrounded by luxuries and crowds who admired his mere existence, he couldn't believe that he would topple to the ground so quickly.

"It's okay." he heard a soothing voice.

"No! It's not okay!" he shot back, raising his head to look at the intruder with wet, fiery eyes.

"It'll be over soon. Time heals everything. You have Allah." the girl in front of him continued. She didn't flinch as he glared at her, trying to break the smile on her face.

"You're wrong! I'll never be able to live properly again. Maybe Allah doesn't want me to have friends. Maybe He plans for me to stay alone my whole life!" he kept on looking at her, his gaze softening as tears started to flow again.