'Finally, maybe someone will be able to save her from all this.'
Those were the words that kept ringing in Zaid's mind as they drove her to the hospital while she cried and begged them to take her back home, she couldn't afford for him to come back and not see her at home. They ignored that, of course, but with each whimper of her tears of physical pain and agony, Zaid wanted to lay his eyes on that rascal she called her husband and give him an earful.
They arrived at the hospital and she was taken to the ER instantly while they waited in the lobby. Anas turned to him after he had heaved a sigh out of exasperation and hissed softly. "What do you suggest we do, Zaid?"
He looked into his eyes for more than a minute. The pain was there, as raw as he had ever seen Anas's expression of pain as he ducked his head down. "I don't know about what you can do and what you cannot, but there's no way I'm going to let that man go. Didn't you hear what their neighbors were saying? This is a usual for her, Anas."
"I know, that's why I want to bring an end to all this. What should I do?"
"I'll make a few calls and have him arrested." He didn't even wait for Anas to approve of his plan or not, because he knew whatever the case, he wasn't going to let this woman continue to live with him, whoever he was.
He came back a few minutes and when he didn't find Anas there, he asked the nurse there and she told him the room number she had been taken to. With each step he took towards the room, his chest tightened and anger kept clouding his vision. He didn't know why he was immensely feeling her pain, but he was.
He was about to turn the doorknob when he heard the way she was crying while she narrated everything to Anas, and by Allah, he swore his heart dripped along with her tears. She didn't even have to voice a word out for one to know that she had been in so much agony and still lived in one, just the way she was hopelessly crying was enough.
"He wants me to sign Waleed's adoption papers, Anas. How can I do that? I know we've been married for five years now, but there was never a day he looked at Waleed with even a slight of fatherly softness. How could I? I was never treated right by him..." She stopped midway and Zaid imagined it was to collect herself.
He didn't want to interrupt them, so he just stood by the door and listened to her. While his heart ached for her, reason unknown to him.
"You know, whenever we have an argument with him..." She chuckled, the kind of chuckle that was mirthless and showed how much one had gone through. "I mean, there was never a day in those five years that we had lived peacefully, I've tried all I could, but he never appreciated or even acknowledged it. He beat us both on days he felt as though I were a burden on him. I can't even begin to talk about all that I've gone through in his hands. But you see, I have to provide a home for Waleed. A home where he could have both a father and a mother living with him. And I can't be divorced twice, I can't face the society that way, Anas."
It took her some minutes while she cried, and from the way it was sounding, Zaid needn't be told it was coming directly from her heart. His heart burnt for what she had gone through and was going through.
"That's not even what's bothering me now, because I know he'd never divorce me and that, at least, is a relief to me. But I can't bear seeing Waleed getting maltreated by him. The occasional beatings of us is normal, but this? Wallah I can't live witnessing this. And now he has taken him away, claiming that he wouldn't bring him back until I sign the adoption papers for him. And I can't, Anas, because I'm sure he has a hidden motive for this, he'd never do that without a motive."
He heard the breath Anas had taken and waited to see if he would likely speak some senses into her. Where was the self love he thought all women had? The selfishness that he thought had filled every woman's heart. Who was this woman and why was she thinking so low of herself, her entire being and that of her son? Relieved that he wouldn't divorce her? What sort of mediocre mentality is this?
"Sabeeha, can you calm down for a bit? Your head must be hurting and the doctor told me you have a concussion from where you banged your head, I won't ask you how it happened because the answer is all over your body. But for now, let's talk about you..."
"Waleed, Anas, please help me bring him back. Or, call him for me so I can apologize and beg him to bring my son back, will you?" She was begging with both her tone and tears and that was the highest Zaid could take.
So, he turned the doorknob and walked into the room, all their eyes turned on him and he walked directly to the bed. "I'm sorry, but I heard your conversation. And I've called the authority on him, right now wherever he is, they'd be there to arrest him."
She nearly fell from the bed. "Arrest? Who are they going to arrest?" She turned between him and Anas, her eyes bulging out as though they were a saucer and one could tell the panic raging her entire being from the way she was shaking violently.
"Your husband. So, all I need from you is his name and maybe where he usually frequents if you know." He was speaking with so much anger that his words were barely audible, but she was looking at him as though he had grown horns on his head.
"What is he talking about, Anas? Who is he going to have arrested? Not Dahiru, right?" She turned to Anas, asking him with her hands shaking and her eyes watering even more. "Please, don't get me into an even bigger trouble than the one I'm into. What is all this? Did I tell you that I want him to be arrested? Just get my son back and..." She was vehemently shaking her head as though she had recalled something. "No, don't even do that, I'm sure he'd pity me and bring Waleed back home. Don't do anything that will anger him."
She got down from the bed and nearly stumbled before she held the metal head of the bed. "I need to go home, he'd be pissed if he comes back and I'm not there, I can't afford the punishment he'd serve me." She was wiping at her tears while she spoke to herself, as though she had gone a bit crazy over the fact that he had called the police on him.
"Can you call the nurse so she can remove this?" She turned to Anas and asked, pointing at the IV fluid attached to her left wrist. When they all ignored her and were just watching her as though they had seen a new creature that turned them speechless, she wiped at her tears once more and shook her head. "Wait, I'll remove it myself."
She was trying as hard as she could to remove it when Zaid spoke to her with a voice laced with authority. It held so much power into it that she had to pause with what she was doing and looked up at him. "What do you think you're doing? Get back on the bed before you hurt yourself some more."
She chuckled, this time, with amusement. "Anas, whoever this friend of yours thinks he is, tell him to get out of my way and call whoever it is he had asked to arrest Dahiru to abort the mission." She said and pinched the IV out of her vein, making a rush of blood down her fingers.
She turned around until she saw a cotton wool and pressed it on her wrist before she staggered forward. He was just watching her, his heart boiling with pain, anger and pity for this woman that was clearly not in her right mind. Who acted this way over someone that maltreated both him and his child? Was she protecting the husband? Or the marriage she so wished not to revoke?
"Anas," he called out and Anas that was silently shedding tears looked up at him. "Ask your sister or cousin or whoever the hell she is to you to come back to this bed or I'd be forced to do all that I have in mind tonight. Can't you see what she's doing to herself?" He roared, his anger blaring out of him and she turned to look at him with unbelievable eyes.
"Thank you for your help, but I don't need it. I'm okay with the life I live, please don't make things harder on me." She spoke through gritted teeth. She winced when she took the next step to the door and before she could take the next, Anas was standing in front of her and he took a hold of both her hands.
"Beeha, you can't act like this. I know that I haven't known what was going on in your life, I wouldn't have left you to continue living this way. But now that I do, I would do everything I can to make sure you're no longer suffering."
Tears had stopped rolling from her eyes, instead, her bloodshot eyes now did the job her tears used to. She stared into his eyes with so much agony before she flashed him a rueful smile. "What will you do, Anas? Yes, you're no longer a teenager but what power do you have now? Please, just do what you've always done to me, cheer me on from the side and just be there for me, will you?"
"You need to stop living this way, Sabeeha. You're basically living with a monster and here, help has come to you but you're acting this way? Why?" Anas asked with a voice choked with tears and she removed his hands from hers and took a step further.
"I can't be divorced twice, that's one. And believe me, this hell I'm living in is much nicer to me than the one I'd fall into when he leaves me. Can't you see he's doing me a favor? He's feeding me and my son, offered us shelter and the protection only a man could provide. This isn't huge, I can endure it. I'll go and beg him to bring Waleed back, that was the only reason I called you."
They had already forgotten that Zaid was in the room until they heard him speaking on the phone. "Please, just come to the hospital then. I'm sure she'd tell his location with y'all here." His voice had turned sour and from the look Anas was flashing him he knew that Anas understood what that meant. The old Zaid he knew was resurfacing and nothing and no one would stop him from doing what he had intended to do.
∞
Sabeeha watched him with keen eyes, she couldn't believe what was happening to her life. Just some hours ago, everything was normal to her, as normal could ever be. She knew it was like a curse for her to be happy like every other person was. And ever since she felt that happiness she did when she saw Anas, she knew something bad would happen, and it did.
And right now, she couldn't believe that there was someone who had it in him to make things worse for her, and he's doing that as though he had some power over her entire being. And no matter how she begged Anas to speak to him, none of them had listened to her until the police arrived and now, they were forcefully taking her statement.
She didn't know what she would do now. How would she begin apologizing and begging Dahiru that all this was done against her wish? He might never believe her, oh Allah! What would he do to her this time? The last time, two years ago, when their neighbors reported him to the King's Palace, when they came back, she had to live the next two years of her life in misery because of that. And now, it was police. That was pretty worse, wasn't it?
She looked at one of the police officers who was a woman and wiped at her tears. "Can you please listen to me? You're a woman, so you will probably know my kind of pain. Please don't arrest him." She folded her hands in a begging manner and they were all staring at her with pitiful eyes, as though she were someone to be pitied.
Yes, her life had always been full of agony but she was certain that nothing could compare to the agony she'd feel in Dahiru's house after all this was over. What would she do? How would she endure that? What if he started punishing Waleed as well?
"Sabeeha, right? You need to calm down, okay? Nothing will happen to you, we'd make sure to protect you and for your son, we'd make sure he's safe and sound together with you." She spoke with a cajoling voice but that wasn't what Sabeeha wanted to hear, she wanted someone to not just listen to her but to understand what she was trying to say.
She broke into a peal of tears when she heard the officer called his other team members and told him all Dahiru's informations and asked him to bring him to the hospital, they should make sure he's together with a ten year old boy. She kept on crying, feeling her heart squeezing with so much agony and helplessness. What if this prompted him to divorce her?
How could she go back to the society living and be called 'Bazawara' and now, she hadn't just been divorced once, she would be divorced twice. That thought made her break into more tears and none of them seemed to care about that. They had stayed like that for over thirty minutes until she heard a commotion outside the room and instantly flinched. She heard his voice, there was no way she'd forget his voice even if she was drowning and was about to be hugged by death.
That voice that had said more hurtful words than the ones she had ever heard in her entire life. That voice that barked at her and called her all sorts of names. That voice that insulted her while he punished her whatever way he deemed fit, how could she ever forget that voice?
Without knowing how, her entire body began to shake and she began shifting back on the bed, hugging her hands around her body. She was shaking her head while her tears intensified. And when one of the officers pushed Dahiru into the room and their eyes met, she didn't know when she wailed softly and stumbled down on the floor.
She knelt and lifted both her hands into a begging manner. "Wallah I didn't call them on you, I'd never dare do that. Please don't punish me! Please bring Waleed back to me, I promise I'd never do anything to anger you, please..." Her words turned to a hiccup as she cried in so much pain while begging him with all her heart. She knew the man she was married to, and right now, Anas's friend had intentionally dug her grave for her.
Waleed walked in next, his face so red with the tears he had shed and he rushed and hugged her. "Ammi," he whimpered, hugging her tightly.
Sabeeha collapsed on her feet and hugged him back, crying painfully. "Waleed, let's beg him, okay? These people called police on him and you know what he'd do to us, right?" She wiped at her tears and lifted him up from her body. She made him kneel as they faced Dahiru that was staring at them with so much hatred and anger she had never seen on his face, and that was when she knew that she was in a deep shit.
She crawled to where he had been dumped onto the floor and lifted both hands in a begging manner, waving at Waleed to join her. "Dahiru, you have to please trust me on this, okay? I have no idea. I didn't tell them anything. Please don't divorce me, please? I'll drop all the charges they wrote against you, please, I'm so sorry."
Waleed could only cry as he knelt beside her while he lifted his hands too in a begging gesture.
"You dare come out without my permission and call the police on me?" He said through gritted teeth and his gaze roamed through the room. "And who are these men, you filthy woman?!" He thundered and she was certain the whole hospital shook with the echo of his voice. Or maybe, it was just her body trembling and his words resonating through her hollow being.
"I'm so sorry, Dahiru. Please, I'm begging you not to take any action, please." She was crying and while both Zaid and Anas watched her, with Anas shedding tears he had no idea how to stop and Zaid boiling with so much rage and the only thing stopping him from throwing himself on this man being the police around-she tried touching his hand to beg him and he flung her on the floor, having her head hit a metal and without a second thought, she rushed back to her initial kneeling positing and broke into even more tears.
"Please don't divorce me because of this, please..." She pleaded, her voice barely a whisper and she was about to continue begging when Zaid thundered at her.
"Sabeeha! What do you think you're doing to yourself?" His heart churned and his fingers curled into a fist. He was ready to commit his first murder.