Wabasta | Complete ✔

Chapter 25

The sound of the gunshot was deafening. Everything happened in a matter of a few seconds, she didn't even realize that what was happening before her eyes was real, very real. As the bullet pierced through his chest, she let out a terrifying scream and fell on her knees.

"Aman..." her whisper turned into an outcry. "Somebody help! Call an ambulance please!"

His voice was weak as he called out to her, "Firdaus." She hastened to put her hand over his wound. The warm blood was oozing out faster than she could manage. He lay there, in her arms, looking up at her face like a mystified on-looker. As if he wasn't feeling anything at all. He just smiled, and she hated it.

Everything around her had become silent. It felt like her screams were falling to deaf ears. She couldn't fathom what she just witnessed. It was all playing out like a nightmare. Her heart wrenched and a pain shot up her body. The fear of loss, it wasn't something she wanted to go through again.

"You're going to be okay, you are going to be okay," she began a chant, unable to figure out whether it was meant to give hope to him or herself. Her arms wound around him a bit tighter when she started feeling a little breathless. Drops of tears rolled down her cheeks and landed on his face. She finally gave up the urge and rested her head on his chest.

Within seconds they were surrounded by police, who were now screaming into their walkie-talkies asking for paramedics.

Firdaus had turned into stone. All the voices around her were faded. The only sound that she could listen to was the beating of his heart. His shirt was turning darker as blood and tears completely soaked it.

"Ma'am, we need you to move aside. Ma'am? Ma'aam please, move aside!"

The paramedics rushed to pick him up. She didn't want to let go but someone had held her by the arms and pulled her apart.

"Ma'am? We're taking him to the hospital. You can follow the ambulance with us." An officer tried to communicate with her but she had turned into a ghost. After being asked repeatedly she finally could muster up the courage and nod her head.

On their way to the hospital, the only thing she could remember was praying under her breath. Every du'a she could remember, every ayaat of the Quran that she memorized. She recited all of it in one breath and kept asking her Lord to keep him safe.

The hospital wasn't far, one of the junior officers escorted her to the emergency department. The ambulance was parked in front, but he wasn't anywhere in sight. She stood in the middle of the corridor while the nurses updated the police. Their voices were low but she could pick up a few words.

'...lost a lot of blood...'

'...barely missed the heart...'

'..condition's not good...'

She forgot how to breathe. All the muscles in her body tensed up. Nausea hit her all of a sudden. She wanted to run away, pretend it was all a nightmare. But couldn't.

"Excuse me ma'am? Are you alright? Your face is bleeding, I think you need medical attention."

Firdaus gaped at the nurse who had approached her with a blank face. She touched her face and looked at her hands. It had blood.

"I'm...I'm okay. It's not my blood." She answered in a barely audible, raspy voice.

The nurse patted her on the shoulder. She looked around, saw the police and probably understood the situation.

"It's alright. The bathroom's are that way, you can go clean up there." She smiled, turned around and left.

Firdaus took a few steps behind until her back hit the cold wall. She grasped the railing with her hands to stop herself from falling.