"Her house was some where around here," I told my dad, almost sure of it, "But she parked a few blocks away from her house so maybe we should get out and walk, maybe than I can remember,"
"Ok," Dad said turning off the car engine and getting out of the car.
We started to walk past the box shaped houses but I simply couldn't remember which house it was.
"Maybe we should head back to the car," Dad suggested, "It's getting late."
"You're right," I agreed. But it turned out we walked much further away from our car than we thought.
"The street lights should turn on now," Dad said as it was beginning to get dark, but they didn't.
"Maybe the electricity went out here," I guessed.
"Maybe... Let's just get back to the car," Dad said.
We began to pick up our pace when we heard the muffled rumbling of a motorbike.
Dad started muttering Ayat Al Kursi, (The verse of the Throne), a few verses from a chapter in the Quran for protection.
"There is no God but He,
The Living, the Everlasting,
Slumber seizes Him not, neither sleep,
To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth.
Who is there that can intercede with His, except by His leave?
He knows what lies before them and what is after them,
And they comprehend not anything of His Knowledge save as He wills.
His throne comprises the heavens and the earth,
The preserving of them fatigues Him not,
And He is the All-High, All-Glorious."
The rumbling seemed to have stopped, now we could hear footsteps, they seemed to be coming closer to us but they weren't heavy footsteps. We saw the silhoutte of a biker coming towards us from behind the mist.
"Oh my God!" The biker squeeled, a girl's voice, the biker was a girl, she took off her helmet revealing her black braided hair and dark skin which contrasted beautifully with her aqua green eyes. "Oh my God your like copy, paste! You must be Mr Ahmad, hi! Nice to meet you!"
"Who are you?" I asked, wondering how many times I'd asked that question in the past year.
"Oh, my bad, I'm Lakisha, you know, you met Alex the other day, well I'm her uhh house mate I guess.. I didn't think you would look this much like your mom!" She exclaimed, "Can I hug you?"
"Umm sure?" I said.. Ok, Lakisha was a bit weird, but for some reason, I liked her.
"Sorry, I'm a big hugger," She grinned. "Anyways, we should get in, it's pretty dark."
We followed her to Alex's house..
"Alex, Alex,Alex!" Lakisha shouted as soon as we got in. Alex came rushing down stairs.
"What is it?" She asked anxious
"Look who I found!" Lakisha said brightly hanging her leather black jacket.
"Jesus Laksh, I thought they caught us," Alex said letting out a sigh of relief.
"They?" Dad inclined.
"Don't worry about it Mr Ahmad.. Nice to see you again Maydah," She smiled at me.. I just realised this was the first time I had seen her smile, she was one of the most serious people I had ever seen in my entire life...
"So what brings you here on this fine night?" Lakisha asked.
"This," I said holding up the USB.
"Aaaah," Lakisha said, "I don't really get it?"
"It's one of my mother's old posessions, we think it might have the information needed to hold Daniels accountable-"
"Great let's check it out!! Finally we may be onto a lead, this is so-"
"Let her finish Laksh," Alex shut her up sternly.
"The only problem is that it's locked with a thumbprint scanner." I said bluntly.
"Oh," Lakisha said, her mouth still shaped like the 'O'
"Let me see it," Alex said.
"We thought maybe since you have access to the authorities office, they mey have the right equipment to read the USB," I said handing it to her.
"That's possible but we don't work in that sort of posts to be able to have access to all those equipments.." Alex replied.
"And plus, we have to be extra careful because one of our people where discovered and killed a little while ago," Lakisha added.
My eyes widened, "Killed?!"
"We'll see what we can do with this though," Alex cut in, "We know a very skilled technician who may be able to work this out,"
"Yeah, his name's Sanjay, he can figure out anything," Lakisha said.
"That's great, but whatever happens, do not involve my daughter in this." Dad said sharply.
"Dad! I-" I began to protest but he put up a hand to silence me. "Ok?" He said to Lakisha and Alex.
"You have nothing to worry about Mr Ahmad, Maydah's role in this is non existant."
"But I-"
"Thank you," Dad said and looked at me so sternly I decided not to argue any more... For now.
Lakisha walked us back to our car and we headed home in silence.
"I know you are upset but it's all for the best, right now your focus should be on education and on school." Dad broke the silence.
"If that's all we should focus on than there's no way on God's green earth that we'll be able to change the world and if we do it will be when we're thirty something,"
"Watch your tone young lady," Dad scolded.
"I'm sorry Dad, but this is what mom did, this is what I have to do."
"Do you even know what happened to mom? Do you know what these people are involved in? This is more than your imaginery playing hero, this is the real thing." Dad said.
"And you think I'm not capable enough?"
"I never said that. I am saying that I am trying my best to give you the life a normal teenager should have." Dad cleared out.
"And so far you've done a great job at that." I said, "But maybe I don't want a normal teenage life.."
"This isn't your fight Maydah."
"But Dad-"
"End of arguement,"
आप पढ़ रहे हैं
Journal of a Teenage Muslim.
किशोर उपन्यासMaydah Ahmad was never a normal girl. Ever since she was a young girl, it was clear to tell she was made for something bigger, something better.. But than her mother died, leaving Maydah and her father to cope on their own. After that her life was n...
