LOOK AT ME (Muslim Story)

He looked at me (40)

The next morning, I woke up extremely early, in fact, way too early to even get ready to go to school yet.

It was like 6 right now, when I felt a nudge on my shoulder in Fatima's bed. It was Fatima who was shrugging me and pushing me to wake up, "Emerald, get up. You have to come see this."

I had no clue why at this time in the morning, she was awake and she was waking me up. I groaned, wiping my eyes, "What is it?"

She only told me to meet her downstairs as she disappeared into the staircase. I got up, my feet making contact with the ground. I was wearing pyjamas, the ones that Fatima offered me. Their pretty comfortable.

I scratched my back and stretched as I made my way down the stairs to join Fatima. When I walked in the living room, I noticed it was the whole of Fatima's family watching the television in the dark.

I frowned, my eyes barely open and squinting, "What's going on?"

"Come!" Whispered Shouted Maryam, Fatima's mother. I noticed that the whole family's eyes were wide, facing the television and I felt extremely curious to see what was going on.

When I joined the room with them, I saw the news report on tv, and the new reporter speaking about—

About me.

"We are here right now, on Pemberton Road on Emerald Green's driveway. Here we have her father, Timothy Green, to talk about his daughter's rape case and accusations."

When I saw my dad pop on tv, I nearly cried.

"Mr. Green, did you know about the incident that happened to your daughter?" Asked the reporter, with red hair and a winter coat that looked like it costed a fortune.

My dad looked very uninterested like he really didn't want to talk to them, "Yes. She told me a while ago."

"Where is your daughter now?" She asked, shoving her mic up my dad's face, "Is she here? Is she in the house with you, can we speak with her?"

My dad pushed the lady's mic off, "Don't you ever shove something up my face like that again. And no, she's currently living somewhere else."

I smiled at my dad's reaction. That's definitely something I would do, and t kind of does show how much we really are alike.

"Why isn't she with you sir? Did you kick her out once found out about what happened to her? Were you ashamed—"

"I'm sorry, how's this any of your problem?" He glared at the lady and then looked at the camera, "If my my daughter is watching, she knows how much I care about her and how I'd do anything for her. Emerald, I'll be at the hearing on Saturday. I'm looking forward to seeing you."

I smiled at that, and whispered,  "can't wait to see you too."

My dad was really hard to understand and he's wrong in so many damn ways but the only family I know is him. The only family I grew up with was with him. He did everything for me.

My first time going on a roller coaster? He took me.

My first football game? He took me.

My first movie? He took me.

My first time riding a bike? He taught me.

I remember there was a camping trip that was going in in school in the fifth grade. They were going far away, and my dad didn't want me to go too far with other kids in my class. I was sad about it for a while but then My dad decided to make it up to me by taking me camping with him in the woods. We stayed outside for a few days, chasing animals, hunting things. He taught me everything I know.