LOST II

Chapter 95: "Processing the Storm"

To the people who still remember me, Assalam o alaikom. Hi there! Post your reactions as you read 😋

Salma hastened her feet. Her vision blurred over by tears. She blinked back rapidly, taking deep breaths to stay calm. Her head was spinning and heart seared with anguish. She was blindly racing down the corridor, away from Zayn, hoping to get far from the crowd before the cracks would rip open and blast into pieces. Salma wiped her eyes to clear her vision. Up ahead, Niall and Claire rounded the corner. Both of them looked pale and sleep deprived as they hurried in her direction. Salma panicked. Biting her quivering lip, she tried to contain the storm and impulsively stepped behind a tall couple that was walking next to her. The two passed her by and Salma broke into a run in the opposite direction. It was becoming harder to put a lid on her unruly emotions.

Her throat constricted painfully. Broken, shallow gasps escaped her lips. She had trouble breathing. The floodgates opened. Salma could only bite down on her lower lip to hold back the loud sobs. The pressure in her chest increased as the pain in her heart intensified exponentially. She barely avoided crashing into random people, multiple times. Blinded by the tears, she rounded the corner hastily and slammed into, what felt like, a solid wall.

A hundred tongues of fire whipped at her stomach. Salma bend double in pain. A tortured cry emanated from her throat. The impact with the bruise on her stomach was excruciating. That was it. Although a pair of hands was holding steady, all her control crumbled. Her knees became weak, unable to hold. Tears streamed down her face, unchecked. Tormented sounds escaped her lip, unabated. The physical pain from the bruise on her abdomen spread and resonated with the suffocating, stabbing pain of her sliced heart. She broke down, sobbing bitterly.

The person tried to hold her up.

"My God!" said a familiar voice. "Sally?" She felt a shake. "Sally?!"

Salma looked up, despite her distress. His green eyes moved at a dizzying speed as he took in her distraught appearance, looking absolutely panicked.

***

A flash of recognition crossed her anguished eyes. Salma tried to find her feet underneath her but she was too far gone to help herself. Will held her steady. He had no idea what was going on and it scared him. Was there another attack? Was she threatened? Did she run into Toryal again? Or had another painful confrontation? A thousand questions were floating his mind.

"What happened --?" he cut off, as his eyes fell on something behind her.

There, sitting upon one of the benches, at the end of the corridor, was the crumpled figure of a man he once detested. Niall and Claire were crouched around him, each having put a consoling hand on his back. Harris. It was not too hard to realize he was the answer. But he too looked devastated. Putting two and two together, Will put an arm around Salma, supporting much of her weight against him. Her whole frame was shaking with bitter, soul-shattering sobs. She could barely stand straight. It terrified him.

"Mum?!" He looked around for his mother in desperation. "Mum?!"

Anne, who was confirming R.K's room number by the reception, turned to her son. Her face paled when she saw Salma's broken figure supported by him.

"My God!" she cried, dropping whatever she was doing. She raced towards the two. "Sally?" she gasped, quickly enveloping Salma in a more comfortable embrace. "What happened? Sall—"

"Let's just get her out of her first!" Will said urgently, grabbing his mother's shoulder and steering her around towards the exit. "She needs to get back home."

Will noticed Anne throwing him a questioning glance, but he figured she caught the urgency in his tone and Salma's heartbreaking condition made her decide against probing him about it. She quietly followed her son to the exit.