Zakiyah's POV
As I watched the bloody scene, my head began to literally bang and I could feel my heart beat faster. I couldn't take any more of the scene in so as I cried, I quietly walked back to the car and started it, driving my way as my body led me. Where I was going?, no idea. My head needed to be cool down and being around the scene wasn't helping.
The doctors said I was fine after all my months of therapy, where did that outburst come from along with this crazy headache?. I can't afford to still be ill, it was a mild attack and I was cleared. I can't be sick, I'm just shocked and overwhelmed by all what's going on, it's too much to handle.
Ameerah didn't deserve to lose her life like that, for crying out loud their relationship could have ended pretty peacefully if that evil soul hadn't intervened. Come on I'm sure Habeebah knew she was going to be caught at once if she appeared in Mr Abdulmalik's house. She couldn't have simply appeared only to stop the wedding by telling them the truth, it's not possible, she's too sly and coldhearted to let herself get caught because she tried to protect her children. Children she didn't protect when she had multiple chances too.
The only issue there was could have been corrected if only she hadn't intervened, Haneef out of crazy obsession did all what he did and Ameerah?, Ameerah only wanted to be loved. She had a taste from it with Haneef which naturally meant to occur since they're siblings and didn't want to let go, no matter what. Proving to them the right and calm way could have sorted things out better, Haneef seeking proper treatments would have been better to manage his condition but no, Aunty Habeebah's existence just had to ruin everything.
I know I and Ameerah's relationship wasn't the best but at a point, I honestly did consider her as an elder sister I never had. She was just a victim of her emotions, a victim of circumstance who tried to maneuver around life with a traumatising past. She grew up loved by her father and after the fire incident, grew up having to live being depressed by her father's sudden absence. She felt loved again by Haneef and she was willing to not lose him again at all cost, it was foolish and selfish but once in her shoes, all her wrong decisions were just a selfish way for her to be happy. She deserved genuine happiness, " she really deserved to be happy" I say to myself, trying to clean my tears as I stick my eyes to the road.
Once upon a time, my heart softened towards Ameerah, who knows, it would've happened again if things were properly sorted out. Letting out a scream from the sudden blow to the back of Saleem's car, I match my brakes as hard as possible.
The road is literally free and empty, it's a freaking quiet housing estate, so how did this happen for crying out loud?. Only someone high on something could've run into me so aggressively. I angrily get down the car, ready to give the drunkard a piece of my mind if he's still alive and that took an entirely different turn.
Saleem's POV
Holding on tight to Haneef was almost impossible, even I found it very hard to not break down as I watched Ameerah's blood soaked body fall lifelessly to the ground.
Everything that unfolded marked the end of all his struggle to be with her, all the crazy things he pushed himself to do because of his obsession with her, it was the end. Ameerah was declared dead upon her arrival at the hospital.
Haneef was stabbed with a tranquilliser to get him calm before we took him to the hospital. He's going to be transferred to the mental institution in Kaduna. At least the police now have Habeebah, and Mr Abdulmalik's currently preparing for her Janazzah. It's painful that this had to happen to my bestfriend, it's literally the cherry on top all of his problems. It's probably going to make his recuperation slower than intended. I was meant to meet Zakiyah back in the car but I couldn't find her and the car, she probably drove away before I could leave the scene with Haneef.
His hands and legs were cuffed to the bed as he slept, I can't imagine how he must be feeling. His mother wasn't the best but of course, he still loved her, a lot. His favourite memory of her was how she'd brag about how handsome he was to her friends all the time, at least when she did that, he felt loved and appreciated. He missed her and for her to come back solely with the purpose of ruining his life, it must be devastating. " Excuse me, can I come in?" A police officer asks, slightly opening the door to Haneef's room. " Yes please"
" I'm so sorry for your loss,.." he starts and I simply nod. " We found your car in the estate, we took a look at the camera footage around and noticed that a car had intentionally crashed into yours in order to kidnap the lady driving your car" you have got to be kidding me. " kidnap?" I snap. Which kain wahala be this now?. Ya Allah.
" We're trying to identify the car used to take her but it had no plate numbers and the men who took her were heavily armed with masks on" I told her to stay calm and wait for me and now look, oh my goodness. Why would anyone want to kidnap her?
I shouldn't even be asking that, but why in the world immediately after this incident?. " We're going to have to wait for them to call"
" did they hurt her?"
" she suffered a blow to the head from the butt of a gun and was unconsciously taken" this is seriously messed up. I probably should have considered listening to her outburst, she had a bad feeling about all this and she's paying the price already.
" is waiting the only thing we can do?, we can't locate where the car went?"
" unfortunately, not all the houses on the street had cameras that we could look at to know exactly the route the kidnappers took" he says and I let out a heavy sigh.
I can't believe I failed to protect her, Subhanallah. " We're going to keep you updated" of course.
I really shouldn't have left her alone. What's her father going to say?
I can't honestly sit here and wait, I really need to find her, they can literally do anything to her.
Haneef suddenly begins to blink his eyes and try to move until his eyes slowly meet mine. " Why are you here?" He manages to ask, voice laced with weakness. " How's Ameerah?" He asks again and I try to hold myself back from crying. " she didn't make it" I respond and watch him fix his eyes to the hospital's white ceiling.
" I thought I was the only one seeing her again" he says under his breath and I manage to pick it up. " seeing who again?"
" Mama. She has been coming to see me ever since I lost Ameerah back then, she'd sometimes cheer me up and tell me what to do. When things went wrong she became violent" Habeebah has been the imaginary person Haneef has been having to deal with, oh my, Subhanallah. " I was excited to see her again, even if no one could see her. So I was confused when she actually showed up and everyone could see her" I can't believe he didn't mention all this to me. Things wouldn't have escalated if he actually confided in me. " Ameerah's alive I'm certain, Mama just got angry with me, that's why she said we're siblings and tried to stop our wedding. We can still get married" oh no. " Haneef she really didn't make it"
" Then why's she at the door waiting to see me?" He says and I instantly turn around to meet an empty door. I really think I shouldn't be here now, things can get out of hand. " I should let you two talk then" I say, getting up from my seat. " Thank you Saleem. Thank you for always being there for me" Seeing Habeebah in reality again I'm sure has made matters worse for him. It's going to be hard for him to differentiate between what's real and what's not now. " I'm sorry you had to end up this way man" I say as I watch him smile at thin air.
He really deserved better.
I find the doctor that attended to Haneef arranging his transfer papers back to Kaduna right outside his room door, and my heart finally drops, making me fall to the ground, literally letting all the tears I've been holding back fall.
How exactly am I going to start searching for Zakiyah?. Is Haneef ever going to get better?. Is going back to living a normal life with my bestfriend ever going to be possible?. Oh ya rabb, it all hurts so much.
Right now, I can only hold on to our beautiful memories, with the hope of him getting better.
Minutes later, I find Zakiyah's father, our lawyer and Haneef's father rushing up the stairs to his room. They're finally here. " Saleem Where's Zakiyah?" Her father asks the instant my eyes meet his. " Saleem what happened to Ameerah?"
" how is Haneef Saleem?"
" What lead to all this Saleem?" Questions upon questions, I need more strength than I have now for all this. The doctor attending to Haneef and the police officer that arrested Habeebah finally approach us and I let out a sigh of relief, I won't have to deal with this alone. " Family of Haneef Isa DanLadan?" The police officer asks. " Yes, I'm his father"
" Saleem, Where's my daughter?" Zakiyah's father asks, pulling me away from everyone. Holding back my tears, I try to find my voice to speak. " We had reached Mr Abdulmalik's house when you called.." I take a pause. " she didn't have a good feeling about witnessing all what was happening and she had an outburst when I insisted on going to check up on them. I told her to wait patiently for me in the car but she followed behind me, while Haneef was being arrested, I couldn't find her again. I thought she had driven away from the scene to be by herself since I didn't see my car on our way to the hospital but" I stop, trying to loo away from her father's teary eyes. " But what?, she was kidnapped?" He says and I instantly look at him. " How do you know?" I respond and with a heavy sigh, he answers " Habeebah threatened me" I should have expected her to be behind all this. " When?"
" In the morning before the police called me. She found out I was the mastermind behind the plan to bring her to justice and she wants me to pull some strings and clear her name"
" There's no way that's going to be possible, the government is involved"
" she threatened to kill Zakiyah if I didn't make something happen" oh my Allah. She truly is insane. " It's my fault, I honestly shouldn't have waited this long to put her behind bars. I should have reported her when I had gathered all my evidence since. I put my only child in danger, I made her live with that psycho. What in the world was I thinking" he tries to clean his tears while pacing around and I'm left speechless. Pointing fingers is the last thing we should be doing right now.
" In Sha Allah, nothing is going to happen to Zakiyah. We're going to get her back unharmed"
" Habeebah is a psycho, she can tell her men to do anything to her"
" In Sha Allah nothing will happen"
" Ameerah didn't make it?" He asks all of a sudden and I nod. " We'll have to go to Abdulmalik's house to offer our condolences, he doesn't know about Haneef's condition. Does he?"
" I don't think he does. If he did he wouldn't have allowed the wedding push through"
" That's right, Habeebah was the one that shot at Ameerah right?"
" They were struggling with the gun Habeebah possessed and Ameerah got unlucky"
" Her mother ended up killing her. It was because of her I let Habeebah into our lives but look"
" Allah knows best. We can only pray to Allah to forgive all of her shortcomings and grant her Jannah. She really needs our prayers now"
" Of courses. May he lighten her grave, she had a beautiful soul honestly"
" Yeah" I say and we sight Haneef's father walking towards us with our lawyer beside him. " Saleem, Haneef has gone completely crazy" he starts before finally breaking down. " Why did I bring Habeebah into our lives ya rabb, why, Haneef doesn't deserve this wallahi. Me ya yi DanAllah?( what did he do for Allah's sake?). He was fine months ago please, meye haka? ( what's this?). Yanzu da kyar ya dawo hankalinsa, oh Allah ka taimake mu (now, it's going to be hard for him to come back to his senses, ya Allah please help us)" he cries as I find a place for him to take his seat. " Saleem you're going to have to leave your pilot job and continue what Haneef started, ni bazan iya ba na yi tsufa (me I can't do it, I'm old)"
" Maganan nan sai dai anjuma Baba ( this discussion should be left for later Baba). Yanzu ya kamata mu je gaisuwa, Ameerah ta rasu ( now, we need to go and deliver our condolences, Ameerah passed away)"
" Allah ya gafarta mata, very beautiful girl" trying to calm ourselves down before leaving to Mr Abdulmalik's house, our lawyer informs us about the man Juwairiyah saw Haneef talking to, they'd found him. He had also managed to get footage of how he attacked Juwairiyah but this case won't go far, we can't punish an insane person. Before leaving the hospital, Haneef's father signs his transfer papers and shortly after, Haneef is walked out with cuffs around his wrists and nurses surrounding him. It really had to come to this.
Before heading back to Kaduna, we drop by Mr Abdulmalik's house to offer our condolences and say some prayers for the deceased. Things wouldn't have escalated this much if she hadn't put their relationship to a test, astagfirullah, she's gone now.
Since my car was taken by the Zakiyah's kidnappers, I, Zakiyah's father and His lawyer drove together back to Kaduna, patiently waiting for a call from Habeebah's men. " So what do you plan on doing when they calls?" I ask my father-in-law. " the only obvious thing, trace their call. We can't give in to Habeebah's demands at all"
" I'm going to inform them to tighten the security around her, escaping prison might be very easy for her to do" Our lawyer comments and I sigh heavily. " isn't she going to go through the mental stability test?"
" Yes she is"
" But she's very sneaky, getting out of being confined in an asylum is easier than breaking out of prison" Zakiyah's father says. " she stole government funds so don't worry, EFCC won't let her out of their sight easily"
" I pray so, please put Zakiyah in your prayers, if anything happens to my daughter I don't know what I'll do"
" In Sha Allah. You'd need to calm down"
" I'll try"
Zakiyah's POV
It's hard to ignore the foul stench of whatever's around me as it stings it's way into my system. Trying to move on gaining consciousness, I feel a tight restriction around my wrists, legs and eyes. Bastards.
Screaming out of panic while lying helpless on the cold floor, I feel a sound shutting slap across my face and my eyes begin to water. " If you don't shut your dirty mouth" I hear a harsh voice snap, sending chills down my spine.
My heart's pounding against my chest harder than ever and breathing suddenly seems hard. Who could have thought that I would ever kidnapped?. Even though it's getting rampant in the country, I thought I was safe.
" Sheybi make we call her papa now?" A deep voice asks in the background. " Ehn madam say make we call am a day after, them for don calm down make we hear for them" it's been a day since I've been kidnapped?.
Subhanallah, how could I possibly have been unconscious for a day?.
But hold on, a madam?
They have a madam that gave them the order to have me here?.
" oya take, call am" I hear them say again and listen carefully as they dial a number, definitely has to be daddy's. " Hello?" Daddy, it's on hands-free. " You don do waetin madam say make you do?"
" I'm processing it" Daddy answers. " We sha no go give you your pikin until our madam call us" Habeebah, it definitely has to be her. But come on, she has been arrested. How's she managing to do all these even from behind bars.
She really wasn't joking when she said I was going to regret it.