When Stars are Hidden

Chapter 1

"Mama. . ." Naima muttered and held unto her mother's sleeves.

They were getting closer.

The rain was falling much harder than before.

"Habibti. Go inside and lock the door. Now." She said without looking at Naima.

"Let's go, mama." Naima tried to get her mother to move with her.

Alima turned. "Naima! Go inside. Now."

"But what if something bad. . ." Naima tried to reason with her.

"Nothing will happen. And if anything happens, Allah is there for you. Have Iman. Now. Go." Alima pushed her from her.

Naima run with tears welled up in her eyes straight into their house. She locked the door a second later and with her dripping wet clothes slid down unto the ground.

The thunder was roaring angrily.
A while ago, this was beautiful to her.

Now it was a raging nightmare.

She couldn't hear anything or see anything.

She heard the thunder clap furiously. She quickly shut her eyes and closed her ears.

She had to get up. Do something. Call for help.

But her legs weren't working with her. She couldn't get them to move.

The thunder clapped again.

Bang!

But it wasn't the thunder.

〰️

Naima's eyes snapped open in an instant.
A dream. . . nightmare, again. The third -same- nightmare that month. No surprise though...it was the month she died.

It had been five years now since then.

She checked her clock by her bedside and it was almost time for Fajr. (Muslim Dawn prayer).

She didn't want to miss Fajr.

It took her approximately 25 minutes to use the bathroom, perform wudhu and pray.

The only dua she said in her prayer was for her mother. Not for anyone else and definitely not for her cowardly self.

Summer break was over and today started a new academic year in school. Fortunately for Naima this was her final year.

Like a normal high school robot student she went through the normal routine of getting ready for school. This was why she couldn't wait to be done with high school. Following one routine was very tiring.

She picked out a few clothes from her closet and finally decided to go with a large white checkered shirt with shoulder strap jeans.

She looked through her scarves and decided to go with her light brown silk hijab today.

She held her dark hair -which she got thanks to her middle Eastern heritage- into a bun and fixed the hijab in a simple style over her head.