Of Fallacies And Fate

26 | absolute mayhem

 "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
-Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Robert Frost.

❢ t w e n t y s I x ❢

TWO MONTHS LATER

Chaos.

Samairah's life had come to a standpoint where everything suddenly seemed to dissolve into nothingness or rise high high up and shatter, shatter into countless pieces right in front of her. Pieces she felt she couldn't assemble back. Not now. Never.

It had been two months.

Everything went down spiral since she returned from her impromptu trip. Two months, since her best friend Sana's life over went a hundred and eighty degree change. Two months since she had stopped going to college. Two months since she properly spoke to anybody. Two months since she had left her home. Two months since she felt human.

Two months since her uncle died.

It was two months since her mother had eaten anything properly, deeply mourning the death of her brother. And to exacerbate the condition, her brother Ibrahim, fell prey to drug resistant strain of pneumonia. On the top of it, the excruciating sadness that engulfed her mother as she was in a fight with Samairah's father because he refused to fly back to India to support her.

It was a terrible time for Samairah.

She barely spoke to her other best friend Saba, who informed her that Sana wasn't allowed to speak to anybody or leave home to college after the fiasco with her sister, who caught Sana on a date with her boyfriend. Saba seemed pretty sympathetic and offered to come meet Samairah, which she politely declined.

Don't forget to take care of yourself amidst taking care of everyone else -Saba.

Samairah read Saba's recent text over and over. Not having the energy to reply, she just continued to stare at the screen, until her eyes welled up and started blotting the screen with salty water. Lately, all she could do was find a corner of house, away from everyone else and cry silently.

Having lost her grandparents at a very young age, Samairah had only her uncle, from her maternal side of family, to look forward to. He didn't have any children of his own, his wife was suffering from cancer when he married her knowing too well how it would turn out. And after his wife's demise, he never remarried.

He was one of the softest of souls she had ever known. And Samairah was closest to his heart and so was he closest to hers. He had a special place in Samairah's house not just because he was the only maternal relative or that he loved Samairah immensely but also because Samairah was in awe of his character.

He was the kind of person who would understand people's sorrow and help them in times nobody would. He would be the first one to spot sadness in someone's eye or the wavering in their voice. No matter how well a person tried to hide it, he would understand and help them out in mysterious ways, without letting the person know he helped them.

And that, that was what Samairah inspired to become.

She couldn't belief the fact that he no longer existed, that she could no longer run to someone whenever she was sad, that there wouldn't be anyone who'd come cheer her mother when she fought with her father, that her mother's only blood support crumbled.

Samairah's grief knew no bounds. Her heart grieved not only for her own her but for her mother's too.

The sizzling noise of milk being spilled over the stove, treading its way along the kitchen counter, pulled her back to present. She put off the flame and without bothering to clean the mess, ran up to her room and started crying into her pillow. She cried and cried until her tear ducts ran dry and her throat felt parched and she was drained of whatever little energy she had left.