Zahra

31: I should consider becoming a nun

I stuffed the remaining bread in my mouth, feeling tears threatening to spill down my cheeks. I swallowed thickly and nodded, "yes Mom, we're here, we're all here"

"Speaking of you and Zayd, the mood between you two has been off for a while. Is everything okay?"

"Oh well...", I trailed off, hesitating. Should I tell Mom about Zayd and Lucia? She was much better now. Besides, it wasn't like we could hide it from her for long, it was surprising that she even took this long to ask.

"What did Zayd do?", she asked, "did he use your face wash to wash his hands or something?"

I'd skin him if he did, "no", I laughed, "also why did you assume that it was Zayd that did something? I could also be the one who made him mad"

Mom rolled her eyes, "please, I know my kids", she said, "if it were you, you would have apologized shortly after and the matter would have been buried. But Zayd is as stubborn as a mule, he isn't one to admit he's wrong just like that, whenever the two of you have fights like this- he's usually the one at fault most of the time", she sat up and stretched her arms, "but then again, I might be wrong"

No, she was right. I should tell her before Zayd went too far, he wasn't listening to me and I had no idea what to do anymore. To hell with the consequences, he probably wouldn't talk to me for a while but whatever.

"To be honest Mom, the thing is-", I started, before I was interrupted by a yell.

"You damn feline!", Zayd's angry voice boomed from upstairs, followed shortly by Tabitha scurrying into the kitchen; a chicken nugget in her mouth.

Zayd burst into the kitchen seconds after her, he glared when he saw her munching on the nugget in a corner, "you stupid cat", he stormed towards Tabitha, "if you steal my food again I'll pull out your fur"

Tabitha saw him coming and bounded to the safety of my lap, I stroked her and scowled at Zayd. Seriously, what was with his timing? I was about to tell Mom finally, dammit.

Mom sighed and shook her head, "Zayd, are you seriously threatening a cat?"

"She stole my nuggets!"

"Maybe you shouldn't put them where she can see them", I told him with a raised brow, "what did you expect? Cats like chicken, don't blame her"

Zayd grumbled, "that was my last one"

"Boohoo"

He glared at me, and I scratched my forehead with my middle finger. Mom glanced at us and signed, then she turned to Zayd, "you're all dressed up", she mentioned, "going somewhere?"

"Huh? Oh yeah", he nodded, "I'm going to hang with Brian"

I narrowed my eyes at him, "are you really?", I asked, if he was lying again.

Zayd pinned me with a withering glare, "yes really", he snapped, "you can call him if you want"

"Sureeee", I dragged out the word, why was he mad? He shouldn't blame me for being suspicious when he was the one lying all this time, "I'll come with you then"

"What?"

"I haven't seen Hannah since the last time", I said and stood up, "I want to check up on her, this weekend is a good time"

"Mel told me what happened", Mom frowned and shook her head, "so horrible"

Zayd's brows shot up and he glanced at us, "am I the only one who doesn't know what happened to Hannah? What happened?", he wanted to know.

"To put it simply, her boyfriend was a dirtbag", I told him. I heard that the police finally caught him, and when they investigated further, it turned out that Hannah wasn't the only one he hurt. The guy had a history of assaulting his girlfriends and had done it like three previous times. It was horrifying and enraging to think he had been getting away with it, a case had been opened in court against the guy already. I hoped it wouldn't be long until he was thrown behind bars fro a very long time.