"Why didn't you call me when you were with her then?" My mother asked for what seemed like the hundred time today. She called me later that night after I left Ella and no matter how many times I assure her Ella was fine, she wouldn't believe me.
Of course she wasn't fine. She was far from fine but I couldn't tell her that for many reasons. First of all Ella made me promise not to tell a soul, and secondly I don't think I could even repeat what I found to my mother. She would try to help Ella and probably put her in some deeper trouble with her good intensions.
"I forgot mom. You know fasting is taking its toll on me." I sighed already done with this conversation.
"Why isn't she answering her phone then?" My mom insisted, not dropping the subject.
Sighing, I ran a hand through my messy hair which I was letting loose for a change, "I don't know mother. I told her you were trying to reach her and she promised to call you. Maybe she is just busy."
"Too busy to pick up the phone or send a quick message?"
"Maybe. How should I know?" My patience was running really thin. This woman is too stubborn.
"Don't talk to me with this tune young lady. I may be pushing you a little but it's because I just know you are hiding something from me. And I am still your mother, you know." She said sternly.
"I'm sorry mom. I'm just tired and I promise if I know something I would tell you, okay?" I said softly hoping she would be convinced.
"Okay baby. I'm sorry too. It's just, I feel something is off and I'm worried. But you are right, she is probably just busy." Oh you have no idea how right you are! "Anyway, you said you were tired? Aren't you eating well? You know fasting is hard, you must eat well and drink at least eight cups of water."
My mother's big heart literally amazes me. Just a second ago she was worrying about Ella and now she is worried about me. "I try my best to eat well."
Hearing the line go off for a second with a little peep sound ever few seconds, I noticed I had a call on the other line. Checking the caller ID, my smile grew wide so fast I couldn't contain myself, "Mom, Zayn is calling on the other line. Would it be okay if I called you back?"
"You are getting ready of me to go talk to your hubik?" My mother chuckled making me flush a little.
"Are you done embarrassing me? The line would get cut off." I said a little annoyed but jokingly.
"Alright, no need to be so polite. Tell Zayn I say hey. Love you, baby." Finally she ends the call and my fingers move too fast on that green button swiping it to the right accepting his call.
"Hey babe." I said biting on my lower lip preventing my silly smile from appearing. I even got some butterflies in the bottom of my stomach. We hadn't talked for a couple of days as he was too busy so we settled for texting but it never feels the same as hearing his voice.
"Oh, I was just about to hang up. Thought you went to bed." He chuckled.
"No, I'm here." I said turning down the T.V volume to have no distractions around his beautiful voice.
"Good. I missed you." He said slyly.
"Me more."
"You can't imagine the week I had, babe. I had to literally fight to not get any extra dates added during Eid. It's my only request of them, to respect my need to spend this holiday with you and my family but apparently that was too much to ask for." He said getting a bit worked up just talking about the subject. I could tell he was really angry about that, and he should be.
"So, does that mean you won't be able to come for Eid?" I asked dreading his answer. These past few days being around Aaroosa and Kaliq made me miss Zayn too much. I wanted him to be here, really here not on the phone. Our calls barely cover anything. I feel like I haven't had a proper quality time with Zayn since forever.
"No, I'm coming. I told them I don't care if we were meeting the queen. I'm going home to my queen." He said sheepishly making me feel heat rushing to my cheeks as I looked down at my hands, my smile small and a thousand tiny butterfly exploded in my stomach. Thank god he couldn't see me right now.
"I really do miss you, Zayn." I said consciously feeling myself turn into one of those clingy girlfriends which I refused to be but I couldn't help it. I really do miss him.
"I know babe. It's just two more weeks. Let's not talk about how much further I had to put up until I see you or else I'll get my bags now and get into the next flight to London." He chuckled.
"I wouldn't mind that at all." I smiled sheepishly.
"You want me to get fired, don't you?" He said chuckling yet again.
"Not fired. But I wouldn't mind you taking a really long time off work either." I smirked to myself. I knew he loved his job but I wasn't that much fan of it. Honestly, it did nothing good to our relationship but take him away from me and put me on the spot light to get hate. I would never word my thoughts to him though, I knew he loved it too much and if he had to choose, I wouldn't want to be the one he lets go of. So until we figure out how to deal with all of this, I had to tolerate it.
"I wouldn't mind that either, but I'm saving that for our honeymoon."
"We haven't even thought wedding plans and you are already talking about the honeymoon? Someone is a little impatient." I teased him knowing that he was properly dying to have some of romantic intimacy between us. I was too but I was more thinking of just being in his arms and having him with me.
"I'm actually dying for it. I have it all planed out." He said a little too eagerly.
"Is that so?" I chuckled wholeheartedly at him. "You set the plan without even setting a wedding date?"
"It's just an initial plan in my head. But I was thinking something like a private hut in Bora Bora. I've been doing a little research and found some amazing huts there, totally private and just too beautiful of a place as a whole. Just the clear water, beautiful mountains and our own kind of fun." He said, no hint of innocence in his voice making me blush a tomato.
Of course I knew Zayn was thinking of those kind of stuff, he was a man after all, but it just made me too uncomfortable. After being really strict on following my deen for so long and learning that most of what we thought was innocent intimacy was Haram. I avoided even thinking about anything so, to have this talk with Zayn now when I wasn't even mentally prepared yet was more that awkward for me.
"You even did a little research? You seem to be having a lot of time on your hands." I chuckled nervously. Not being too comfortable with the topic, so I decided to just change it, "Maybe you should just plan out this Eid first and try to spend some time with my family. My dad had been saying he never really got to know you well enough considering you are his future son in law."
"I was planning on visiting him when I come back." Zayn defended, "I know should probably make an effort to talk to him and your mom a little more, but I barely even get a chance to talk to you and my own mom."
"I know, Zayn. I'm just teasing you." I said fast feeling bad for putting pressure on him like that.
"I know your dad is traditional and of course he would want me to be around more. It's just I don't have a specifically traditional job, is all."
"I understand, Zayn. And if you don't have tine this Eid, there is always next time you come to the UK." I was trying to make it out as nothing even though to my dad this was serious but I didn't want to pressure Zayn just because my dad had the mentality of a caveman.
"Don't say that. I want to be on your dad's good side." His words reassured me a little. Taking off a small load that I didn't even know I was carrying.
"It would sure make things a lot easier if you were." I chuckled trying to lighten the mood once again.
"Don't worry. I've planned everything."
"Oh god. Now I'm actually worried." I chuckled teasing him.
"Hey! My plans are rally awesome. Remember our engagement party? Huh?" I could almost see that smirk on his face, winning this one.
"Yeah but what I remember more clearly, you torturing me for two weeks making me feel so horrible to make your plan better. Those were the worst two weeks of my life." I felt down just remembering those days.
"I'm really sorry babe. I didn't know you still were hung up on that. I really just wanted to make the surprise better." He felt bad, I could feel it in his voice, and he should. Those days were the worst. I get goosebumps just thinking about them.
"I don't want any surprises if that the price." I said now getting actually sad again for no apparent reason. I didn't even know why I was being this dramatic but it just made me feel somewhat gloomy again.
"Now I feel like a jerk. I'm really sorry babe. Promise no more surprises."
----
Walking home after Taraweh, the street was too dark. The light on the street was too dim that you could barely see in front of me. It reminded me of those scary movies where the girl walks alone at night and gets followed by some creep all the way till an even darker alley where she gets brutally murder and the last thing she sees are his blood-shot eyes taking her life away.
Chills ran down my spine as I passed an empty pitch black alleyway, I didn't even spare it a glance as for the first time I was actually scared. All I wanted was to go home and hide under my warm covers.
My mission was almost successful as I saw my building just at the end of the street. I picked up my pace trying to run so I wouldn't attract any unwanted attention. Just as I was a step away from my doorway, I heard a scream. One I knew too well to ignore.
Widening my eyes, I dropped my bag and ran back to where the scream was coming from. It was that damn alleyway. I hesitated for a second, not wanting to go in there alone. My heart clutched just being outside of it and I felt like walking back to the safety of my own home.
"Please stop." Hearing Ella's screams for help, I drop everything and ran into that alleyway.
It seemed like it was never ending. The darkness consumed me with every step I took as I ran inside of it and the screams I was following stopped. My heart picked up pace. Why did she stop screaming? Was she killed? Did someone kill her? Was it Eric?
My blood boiled, anger rose inside of me when I thought of Eric hurting Ella. My legs were numbing a little form all my running. That alleyway was too long and I was never reaching anywhere. It was too dark to see anything and without a voice guiding me to where I was going it seemed like I was just a drop in a never ending sea.
A dim light afar gave me hope as I could make out a figure under it. I ran as fast as my legs could allow me. When I reached the only source of light in the place it seemed to have blinded me even though it wasn't that shiny.
Trying to adjust to this new source of light, the shape under it slowly became clearer. It was a person who gave me their back. It was a girl. Her features weren't clear but she looked worn out; her teeth were a little wooden, her hair although it held no color seemed dry and having a lot of nots, her body was too thin showing her skeleton but the absolute worst thing about her appearance were her eyes. She had dark bags under them that were too scary.
Taking a step toward her, I tried to see who that was out of curiosity. And suddenly, her hair was blond and her features become more recognizable to me. Sarah.
Feeling bad for her, I took yet another step to her. I wanted to make sure she was okay and maybe get her home. No matter how much I hated her, she didn't deserve to be left on the street like that.
Suddenly her eyes open showing me she had no pupil and no whiteness in it. it was black, almost demonized. I was scared, too scared to process what was happening.
She jumped in a supernatural way from her position on the floor to stand on her feet. She held my collar tight making me almost a few inches away from her nose.
My heart was beating like crazy inside of my chest. I was too scared to move away from her tight grasp.
Her mouth opened making me want to gag. Her breath smelled like something died in her mouth, but I didn't dare move an inch. It was like I was frozen in place by some sort of magic. words a creepy smile appear on her face her black eyes getting inside my soul making me want to hid in a corner and cry. The voice that came out of her mouth was definitely not hers, it was demonized, just like everything else about her. "Just wait your turn."
And just as she spoke those. An ear piercing scream was hear from afar towards us making my heart pound like crazy in my chest. It seemed like it couldn't go this fast. It wasn't possible. It was about to explode in my chest when suddenly..
My eyes opened.
***
A/N
This was actually fun to write :D
I hope you guys enjoyed it as well. Some drama coming their way soon too. okai I'm too excited lol.
If you guys want. Go ask me stuff on my ask user Marwaamalik. It can be anything from any of my stories to how is my school going lol. I don't know.
Love you all loads :*