Mymoonah POV:
Leaning my back on Halima's bed in her darkroom, I sat there curled up on the ground waiting for her arrival with my arms around my knees. The night breeze blew the curtains from time to time whooshing them in and out from the open window. The night outside was dark, only accompanied by the little shimmering moon which allowed the night to glow.
I have been waiting for her for hours, the whole night. Where was she? Where had she gone? If she was on an adventure, why did she leave me behind? If she was in trouble, where would I find her?
No, what am I doing?
I needed to alert mommy and daddy, what if she was in trouble?
"Mommy, Daddy--" I yelled.
Nothing. Were they deep sleepers, or... were they gone too leaving me behind?
Suddenly a chilly cold hand clamped over my mouth. I tried to struggle against it writhing around, but it didn't work. I was held still under the caging hold of my kidnapper.
"Shhh, why are you waking them?" Halima's voice hissed in my ear before she let me loose. I turned around gazing at her with sheer joy and relief, extremely happy that she was fine. However, I had a lot of disappointment bottled up inside me too.
With tiredness, she slumped on her bed with her hands covering her face in silence.
"Where did you go?" I asked her sternly, breaking the silence as I placed my hands on my hips.
"None of your business," She grumbled through her hand-covered face with a long sigh. A sigh of regret perhaps? What had she done?
"What the heck?" I whisper-yelled, fisting my hands at my side, unconsciously my voice exceeding the whispering limits and rising. "I've been waiting the whole night for you, so you could come home. I even thought about waking mommy and daddy. You know what? I am snitching!"
"You are not!" She removed her hands from her face to dangerously glare at me. "Why can't you leave me alone? I did what I wanted to, and I will do what I want. That's none of your business--"
"Like you ever leave me alone?" I argued sarcastically, rolling my eyes with aggravation. "Fine, then I'll do worse too. I'll start making guy friends, I'll go out at night just like you, and I'll party--"
"Suit yourself in Jahannam!" Halima shrugged, throwing off her cloak and hijab before finding her pillow in the darkness and lying down, closing her eyes while throwing a blanket over her all in a swift motion.
"Ugghhh!" I gritted through my clenched teeth, fisting my hands. How did she get so on my nerves? How did she just win every argument?
No, how did she win everything in life? Even mom and dad's love and attention?
She was such a fake, yet no one knew that.
I officially declare it, I hate her.
"MOMMY, DADDY!" I screamed with aggravation, my rage taking a toll on my head. "Halima was outside all night. MOMMY!
The floors creaked, silent footstep treaded, and I knew mommy had woken up since she was a light sleeper. Her bedroom door slightly opened and she groggily narrowed her eyes at me with annoyance before rubbing her eyes like a child to remove the sleep away. Her hair seemed to be a bird's nest pointing in every direction. "What happened? Why are you in Halima's room looking like a Grinch?"
"No," I growled, angrily pointing at Halima. "Halima was outside all night, she just came home right now!"
Mommy slowly sauntered towards me yawning, tiredly peeking inside Halima's room before glaring at me with annoyance. "She's sound asleep for once. Are you out of your mind? Why are you waking her up? Halima, already has sleeping troubles? You should be glad she's asleep. Go to your room now!"
Mommy even babied Halima by entering her room and tucking her blanket in, and kissing her forehead saying, "I love you so much!"
Why was Halima favoured so much?
She just put her weak act on, and everyone loved her to bits even though she didn't love them back.
With fury, I stomped in my unwelcoming room with fisted hands before banging the door shut.
"It's midnight. Stop making noise!" Mommy yelled at me from the corridor. "Behave!"
"No, I will not!" I snapped, throwing one of my pillows at my closed door, pretending it was her as I slumped on my bed laying down.
Without realizing it, I was silently sobbing with my arms hugging my knees, tears trickling down my eyes.
I wish I wasn't the second child.
Why was I always treated as a non-existent person? A literal child?
I hated everyone.
But first not least, I hated myself.
*******************
Musa POV:
"Guess who came back?" I made my grand entrance at the morning's breakfast table, walking in like a runway model with my hands on my hips, batting my eyelashes at my parents hoping they would acknowledge my existence.
Wow, if I tried, I could make it to the red carpet with my celebrity moves!
Dad laughed and so did Grampa Yusuf who apparently came over yesterday to stay over for the month at our house. Mom tried to hold in her laughter with a stern glare which failed real bad, and Harun just rolled his eyes and focused his attention back on his stack of syrupy pancakes.
"You are in so much trouble, Musa!" Mom yelled, glaring at me.
"What?" Grampa Yusuf narrowed his eyes at Mom, slamming his fork down. "No one is getting in trouble while I'm here."
"Dad," Mom sighed wearily staring at Grampa Yusuf, ready to plant her face directly in her plate of syrupy pancakes. "You aren't making things any better. This boy just camped in his car for the past few days--"
"So what?" Grampa Yusuf childishly jumped up from his chair with a smile, and I smiled back with sheer joy. "I and Musa will go camping again and do whatever ridiculous things we like. Harun, you in?"
Yes, finally someone who supports me!
Harun raised his brow, staring at me and grampa weirdly. "Alhamdulillah, all praise is to Allah who has blessed me with sanity. I am not losing it anytime soon. No thanks, but jazakallah-Khair for asking anyway."
I sighed dramatically extending it as long as possible, pretending to mourn. "Harun's undergoing a severe incurable illness that causes him to hate me. I understand, I understand!" I patted his back pretending to muster my sympathetic face, Harun glared at me and swatted my hand away with the annoying roll of his eyes.
"Anyways," I announced, pretending to be the MC in the room. "I brought Umme Q home!"
"Oh, he's bluffing!" Dad muttered with disinterest as he picked at his pancakes like a kid. "Stop being a monkey, and sit at the table and have your breakfast or else you'll have to eat alone when everyone's done."
"I'm not joking, she's in her room." I tried to reassure the family, my hand nervously stroking the back of my head. "Just... don't bombard her with questions, okay? I don't think she can handle questions right now."
"Oh, you're serious?" Mom asked, getting up from the chair prepared to climb the staircase to Umme Qulsum's room. "I swear, if I don't find her in her room, you're grounded for life."
"I know, " I grumbled under my breath, my shoulder slumping with disinterest. "You've said that phrase the moment I was born, and here I am, Rapunzel locked up and grounded in his tower. Oh, poor me!"
Within minutes, everyone in the household was crowded around Umme Qulsum, in her room hugging her and crying tears of joy. Mom and dad hugged her tight with no sign of letting go, and of course, they did bombard her with a question even though I have warned them. Maybe, I shoudn't have told them!
Umme Qulsum started tearing up since she was still sensitive about this topic, and mom and dad didn't make it any better with their wailing and shooting questions.
"Free tissues?" I advertised, flagging and passing on the floral napkins to everyone that I had bought from the convenience store earlier specifically preparing for this celebratory wailing event. I knew snots, and noses were going to be blown everywhere, and tears were going to be blasted. Oh what a flooding event!
Thank god I was prepared!
*******
Halima POV:
Early morning classes were the worst.
Sleep clung to my eyes and I placed my hand several times on my mouth to stifle my yawn. Every once in a while, I tried to keep myself upright, but I was ready to collapse anytime soon especially if the teacher blabbered even more than required.
"Halima, did you and Jacob work things out?" Mr. Gabir loudly banged his hand on his desk to get my attention. "I've been calling you for the past few minutes now."
I immediately sat upright only to realize I was leaning my head on Jacob's arm, my nieghbour sitting on the adjoining desk who pretended to seem unaware of my existence. Jacob's eyes were glued to his paper as he tried to maintain a nerdy stance in front of the teacher. He didn't seem to care about me, nor did I, in fact, I felt a rage boiling itself up inside me ready to explode for no specific reason.
"Did you two start your project?" Mr. Gabir repeated, glaring at me for dozing off.
"Yes, sir. We're done halfway through it," Jacob replied smoothly, his eyes narrowed on the teacher with seriousness as he tapped his pen impatiently on the edge of his metal desk.
"Halima, I do not want to see you like this again."
"Oh, she overworked herself for the project!" Jacob lied bluntly with a straight face, leaning back on his chair like the bad boy he was with one of his legs carelessly kept on top of another.
"I want you to work Halima, but no overworking." Mr. Gabir chided, shaking his head with disappointment. "It's unhealthy, don't do that ever again which is why I give you assignments a month prior to the due date.
"I did not need you to back me up, I could've done that on my own." I hissed at Jacob, once Mr. Gabir had moved on to question some other project couples.
"As if," Jacob snorted, gazing at me with a mocking smirk from the corner of his eyes. "He was calling you for ages, and you seemed at a loss of words. More like dozing off!"
"Now, look at what you've done, we have to finish this before next week or we're doomed." I cried worriedly, planting my face straight on my desk with stress. "We haven't even started yet!"
"So what, we'll start!" Jacob said with a 'duh' voice, scribbling on his desk with a permanent black marker like the desk was a wall for freaking graffiti. "Meet me at Rose Cafe tonight, we'll talk it over."
"Oh, do you mean my fiance and your whole gang would be there instead, and we'll be planning something totally different like my engagement?" I rolled my eyes sarcastically, turning my head away with annoyance.
He met my eyes and raised his brow questioningly, "Sure, if you'd like, but I was actually gonna talk this project out."
"Fine," I answered doubtfully, agreeing to his request anyway. "I'll meet you at seven after evening prayer."
*****
After class, I was whisked out of the class along with the sweaty and tired throng of students. My eyes felt like leads ready to close any minute, yet I still had four more classes to end the day. It was still morning, and the clock seemed too lazy to move its hour hand.
Six more hours to end the day, I repeated to myself. These thoughts made me wearier and seemed to slow down my brain which was ready to shut off any minute. Why did I even come to school, to begin with?
Oh yeah, because as a Muslim, I am blessed to tell the truth. That means no bunking classes or faking sick days to take my day off at school.
It sucked, but Allah and Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W)'s laws were the best.
The best possible option right now was to get into my car and get some shut-eye, that was all I could think of instead of humiliating myself in a class by snoring my head off.
Too dissolved in my thoughts, I hadn't realized a hand shooting out from one of the doors with a speed like a hook, clamping over my mouth and aggressively pulling me inside. I fiercely fought back, but in the thickly crowded hallway hardly anyone noticed that I was kidnapped, shoved, and locked inside a small dark room.
The light switch was flicked on and Jacob looked at me with disapproval with his arms crossed. I realized we were in a janitor closet, a cramped room with the faded green paint peeling off. Shelves after shelves lined the walls with cleaning products and immobilized cleaning machines.
"What was that for?" I kicked Jacob hard on the shin, and he howled in pain. For some reason, I felt utterly satisfied. "You know how many times I had fantasized about kicking you,"
A smirk appeared on Jacob's face, and he immediately pounced on me, kicking and punching me. I did the same, thumping and smashing him in order to earn my escape from this cramped room before my sanity left me.
Maybe it was a bad idea to challenge a man from a prestigious position because before I knew it, I was overpowered, and aggressively shoved onto the floor with him on top of me single-handedly choking me. My niqab was long gone, and we were both staring at each other's eyes in the tense silence. If he wanted, all he had to do was squeeze my throat, and I was gone. Dead.
"Still want to challenge me?" Jacob smirked, his tight grip on my throat.
"Forever will!" I croaked, trying to struggle out of his grip, scratching his hand with my nails which was an utter failure.
"Your fiance will most likely choke you and abuse you like this, what would you do?" He stared at me through his narrowed, serious eyes.
"I'd knee him," I tried to knee Jacob, but he had an utter grip over me with his weight balanced over my legs immobilizing them.
"You know you look like her, right?" He was too strong. I was losing my breath, my lungs were giving out, my eyes were blurring up, and I was going to die.
"I... know,"
"You haven't changed much. You're still a bursting volcano. You need more training to beat your fiance off. I like your guts to challenge me, but you need to consider I've trained my entire life with no freedom and so did your fiance who is known as the worst mafia boss--"
The door burst open and Harun gazed at us with wide eyes, his eyes immediately meeting my struggling yet watery ones. Jacob immediately let me go and shoved my niqab in my hands, turning my head away from him snapping me back to reality.
Crap, Harun just saw my bare face!
Facing the other way, I immediately struggled to put my niqab back on, and Harun began yelling at Jacob's smirking face ready to throw his first punch. Harun clearly was stupid enough, he had no clue who he was speaking to, someone who could easily kill with a snap of his finger.
"What the heck is going on here?" Damien interrupted, peeking his head from the doorway, clueless about everything. He took his blasting headphones off his head and placed them around his neck to solve our arising complication, shoving his black-gloved hands into his jacket with his backpack slung over his back.
"That's my question as well, what the heck were you doing to her?" Harun glared at Jacob's smirking face, holding him by the collar, ready to kill him off any minute.
Silently, I got up from the floor shoving the dust off my abaya and readjusting myself. Keeping my voice low, I turned to glare at Harun and pointed at the door, "Get out, I can fight my own battles!"
He better be kidding me!
I needed no man, and especially not him!
"Yeah dude," Damien shoved Harun off Jacob aggressively, "Who the heck invited you? Why were you touching my older brother?"
"Your brother was choking her, you gotta be kidding me if you think I'd let you two go after he had just choked my cousin?" Harun argued, resisting the pushing Damien was doing to kick him out of the room.
"Get out!" I hissed at Harun angrily, pointing at the door, my anger raging into a volcano. "I don't need your help ever again! I am not your cousin, I am no one to you. Just get out, and you are the last person I want to see."
Hurt crossed Harun's face, he pressed his lips observing me for a few minutes before his eyes left my glaring ones, then connected back with Jacob and Damien's frowning eyes, before he entirely left out the room with the door silently shutting behind.
Finally!
Sinking to the ground, I hugged my knees and placed my head on top of it. I could already feel Jacob's glare at me, "You know that jerk?"
"No," I answered, not lifting my head from my knees. To be honest, I didn't. As children, I and the Huzaifah twins never connected. They avoided me at school, and I avoided them for the rest of my life. I even abstained from going to their house, often showing my disinterest towards them and their parents whenever mom and dad wanted to visit them. So, why was Harun trying to help me right now, especially when I didn't need him?
"Yeah, you better not!" Damien gazed at me worriedly, joining me on the floor and sitting next to me with his backpack on, slinging his arm around my shoulder. "He's with that idiot prince, Prince Daniel, and he is bad news. The prince wants you. He'd do anything to get you, and you never know, the prince may use him to surrender you to him."
"I know," I whispered into my knees.
"Helena, you disappoint me!" Jacob shook his head with disapproval. "Why are you acting so weak? Stand up for yourself, fight back? Don't just lament over it? You're strong, believe it!"
He was right. I had to be strong, I had to believe in that!
"Bro, wait?" Damien asked quizically, scratching his head as he looked between us with narrowed eyes. "Why the hell are you two in the janitor's closet?"
"He choked me!" I glared at Jacob, lifting my head to glare at him.
Jacob shrugged with boredom, "She challenged me, and I showed her her place."
"Oh, yeah, and I thought you two were old and mature adults." Damien scoffed, "I thought you would 'talk' things out. I can't believe you two are still kids. Fighting isn't the first step of greeting someone, it's talking! It's embarrassing, I can't believe I'm the youngest and I'm teaching some old dudes greeting lessons." Damien frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. "You both are so in trouble with Uncle P once he comes to pick us up from school--"
"Nooo," I hissed at Damien, "You will not tell him anything."
Damien smirked, patting my shoulders. "Oh watch me, I will!"
*****
"Why were you two fighting?" Paxton asked with his eyes narrowed at us with disappointment, glaring at me and Jacob with intensity. "Do you know what consequence you would have faced if the prince caught you?"
To say the truth, Damien was a snitch, he did give me and Jacob out to Paxton. At the back of the school building, next to the dumpster, I and Jacob stood with our arms crossed over our chest and faces turned away grumbling as Paxton lectured us. Damien stood behind us, jumping around and making silly faces with his headphone around his neck.
"He choked me," I kicked Jacob on the shin once again since my raging anger conquered my head.
"Oh yeah, it's quite a shame that you won't even know how to fend off your abusive fiance, considering he's a mafia boss." Jacob kicked me back, and I gulped as the bursting pain spread over my knee. "He'd do worse than kicking and choking, I'm merely preparing you--"
"This is not how you prepare someone, Jacob!" Paxton screamed at him, narrowing his eyes on him with his arms crossed his chest. "I thought I've taught you better, and why inside school properties? Do you know how many dangerous eyes are lurking in there? I thought you would understand out of all my nephews, but I guess you don't."
Jacob looked away, keeping his eyes leveled on the ground engulfing himself under a tense silence and so did I. I was pretty mad at him, to begin with, and nothing could make it up to cure my raging anger at him.
"You're never mad at her!" Jacob scoffed at Paxton, pointing at me. "It's always us boys--"
"Because she doesn't disappoint as you boys do," Paxton spat at him, and for some reason, I felt a smirk creeping up on my lips. Maybe, I could rub this statement on his face someday!
Jacob groaned with annoyance, pulling his hood up from his leather jacket to hide his face. "Why the heck are you here?"
"Oh, your dad gave me picking up duty, I have to stuff all the kids in the van and drive you all to the palace. You know family night!" Paxton smiled for the first time as it was some good news was dawning upon us.
Damien immediately started coughing, spitting out his gum and holding his chest with shock. "Family night? Shit, I forgot. I hate those!"
"Too bad kiddo, everything depends upon your father's rules." Paxton sympathetically patted Damien's shoulder who sulked with his hands on his face.
"Hey, Uncle P!" A gang of high school students clad in gangster black treaded toward us. I noticed Xander's dangerous smirk that lit his killer eyes and mohawk hair as he fist pounded another guy for sharing a similar joke. A few girls sulked in the back wearing revealing black tops and tight pants; Shaelyn and Katelyn perhaps talked animated keeping one of the bruised girls excluded. Who was she again? I forgot.
I even spotted Jonah who waved at us vigorously for our attention, jogging towards us with excitement. "Jacob, Damien, my besties!"
"Eeew, we're not your besties, we're your brothers!" Damien cringed his nose with disgust, gazing at Jonah's figure.
Without a warning, Jacob had pushed me behind the dumpster, forcing me to crouch down. "Listen," He looked back at his group of family members before meeting me dead in the eyes. His hands were tense on my shoulders, his lips rigidly straight. "Do you want them to know you?"
"Never," I whispered, gazing at his chocolate eyes. I knew the amount of trouble his family was, they were murderers and assassins. If I ever got involved, I'd be drowned inside their bloody work with no way of surfacing back to normal life. I'd be closer to death!
"Then stay here until they are gone!"
Just as he advised, I did stay hidden as they all exchanged jokes and waves of laughter around Paxton, exchanging their greetings with him. Jacob, Damien, and Paxton pretended they never knew about my existence.
"Wait, big bro, I thought you just had a girlfriend? Wasn't she like right here?" Jonah asked cluelessly, scratching his head as he glanced around looking for my presence. I facepalmed my face and Damien choked on his spit calling Jonah an idiot repetitively under his breath.
"Nah, Jacob's never gonna have a girlfriend," Xander smirked dangerously, and Jacob glared back at him. His fists tensed, and he was prepared to punch him any minute, but he didn't.
Exhaling, Jacob neutrally calmed, his shoulders slackened and he gazed at Xander calmly. "You're right, I've got a kingdom to run, younger siblings to look after, unlike you, I've got no time to lay around. And by the way, next time, make sure you notice how you speak to me. Or else, kssh," He made a killing motion over his neck with his gloved hands, "It's off with your head, and I don't care if you're my cousin or not--"
"Okay, in the van now!" Paxton interrupted, loudly clapping his hands to gain the gang's attention before a murder did actually happen in front of my poor eyes. Paxton herded the entire crowd down the road until their voices drowned from my ears before they entirely dissolved into thin air.
Damien was the first to give me his hand, and I took it getting myself away from the dumpster grumbling. "I hate you Jacob--"
"Not again," Damien whined, throwing his head back. "Can't you two get along?"
"Never," I grumpled with my arms over my chest as I glared at Jacob who was busy staring at the ground and the pebbles with his hands jammed inside his leather jacket.
Jacob sighed, at last, turning around and walking away from us without a word. "I'm going home alone in my car. Helena, if you want, you can come. I'm not gonna ask twice."
I turned around the other way and walked away as well with rage. "Never, in this life!"
_______________
Comment, vote, hope you enjoyed this chap!😅
Ramadhan Mubarak to all, 😁
Ramadhan is divided into three parts; In the first ten days, Allah reflects Mercy. In second ten days, Allah bestows his forgiveness. In the last, Allah provides safety from hell. Thus, we have to continously make dua, and gain whatever we want because inshallah whatever we ask, Allah grants.
We have to set ourselves more in ibadah, and ask Allah more of the hereafter and the nearness to him than this world. Don't ask Allah for an iphone or something cuz that'll probably just lead u to the hell-fire😣, ask Allah for something bigger. Something WORTH IT! Ask Allah to be your friend like he was with Musa (A.S), and I swear Allah will and that'll be so much worth it. Allah will never change, he is the same Allah from the time of Musa, Isa, Muhammad (S.A.W). If you have Allah, you have the world and the hereafter wrapped around you fingers. You have EVERYTHING!
Until next time...✌