Road to Jannah

Chapter Twenty-four • Something Just Like This

There was a long blank silence, either I had zoned out and drowned back into unconsciousness or Khalid had left. But then steadily, his voice rose again, breaking through the stillness with a sharper clearity andl I could sense the remorse and sincerity in his tone and if I had been more sane, I could have said there was also regret laced in his tone.

"He's been good to me you know, we've been no less than brothers, but I turned my back on him and chose Zara over him. I chose to support her and..." I held on but he didn't finish that sentence, he only tsked and changed the subject. "But you know, I really won't lie, I would do that same thing again, and again and again. Love's as selfish as it is evil afterall. But in my case, this facade I've created has outdone itself. I never imagined it would actually be a success but here I am, married to the love of my life for almost a year though it did come with a price; losing my bestfriend. Did he mention to you by any chance that I got him drunk? No?" he laughed darkly but also fondly.

"You and whatever it is you've done to him have really done a huge number on him. I mean all my time with Ahmad Sambo, I've never ever successfully gotten him to touch a single drop of liquor but that night, immedietly I mentioned you, he drained out three bottles of scotch like he was some viking in Valhalla. He got totally wasted and I realised that he was the type that confessed all their deepest darkest shit when they were drunk. He told me stuff I'd rather not know, his tormented relationship with his pops was a fact I was already aware of but his three suicide attempts? That caught me off guard, I always knew he had it rough but not that rough that he'd actually want to kill himself. Then there was that even more depressing detail of Farida dumping him when he turned blind and now, when he's found happiness with you, he had to give you up. He let you go because according to drunk Sambo, he was ruining your life. I don't know exactly how but drunk people don't make sense do they?

"What came after that was more ramblings that I didn't understand but yeah, talks of you and weirdly the colour yellow too, were pretty much the bulk of it. When his confessions were finally over and he passed out, I had to take him back home and definetly that brought back memories of when he did the same for me back in our uni days. Yeah, good times, good times.

"Anyways, I won't be kidding myself anymore and pretending like your brain isn't out cold and you actually can hear everything I've said. But you know Jannah, even though Zara forced me into being part of the team that treated you, there's an advantage to this. I atleast get to have these talks with someone I know won't judge me and think me a villian. Someone who for once would understand that Zara..." again, Khalid didn't finish that sentence, before going on to another "And hey, get this, your breathing machine's taken off and Dr Ebele said that today might just be the day you wake up so today might also be the last installment of these little chats of ours. Sad for me, yay for you, you won't have anyone torturing you with talking about nonsense anymore.

"So where did we leave off yesterday? Oh yeah... I told you about your crazy ex fiance being apprehended for arson. Yep that dude is crazy as hell. He actually got a gallon of petrol and thought he could burn down a whole house with no one noticing? Anyways, you're lucky for not ending up married to that nut case. Being burned on the eve of your wedding day is way better than being burned for the rest of your life.

"Which kind of steers us back to Sambo's case. He's been beating himself up and blaming this whole thing on himself. It feels uncomfortable and awkward running into him everyday and having to talk to him since he really won't let me be without hearing updates on you even though everyday, it's the same thing; medically induced coma, IV fluids intake, this that, blah blah blah. But he's still here eventhough him being anywhere near you would make your brother grant him his deathwish. You know, I feel sorry for the guy... this really isn't how I wanted things to turn out... if only Zara didn't..."