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1643 Words
Maya woke up after some time refreshed. She did not remember any of the dreams she had had, but she did remember having woken up in the middle of the night quite a few times.
Her stomach was grumbling. After freshening up, she went out of her room. She had cringed at the sight of her puffy eyes and dark circles. It was ten in the morning so everyone else would be awake. She gave herself some pep talk so she wouldn't sound depressed to her family.
She entered the kitchen but the lights were turned off. She roamed around the house and called for her mother but it seemed no one was home. She checked the bedrooms and they were empty too. Where was everyone. Worry gripped her. How long had she slept? A whole day probably.
She ran to her room and called on her mother's number but she heard ringing from her mothers room so she quickly dialed her brothers number.
The phone rang but no one was picking up. She impatiently waited as the call disconnected. After calling a few times again someone picked up.
"Hello Maya?" It was her mothers voice, not her brother's.
"Ammi? Where are you all?" She asked her hurriedly.
"We are at the hospital beta. The baby is born. Its a boy. But they have to stay there for sometime."
"Really? Is everything alright? No one woke me up."
"Alhumdulilah everything is fine. I tried to wake you up when I came home but you had fever and you were sleeping so I just left you."
"Oh. Ok I am coming. Can you text me the address?"
"I'll send it to you. And there's soup in the fridge bring that along."
"Ok. Allah hafiz." She said and disconnected the call. Tears of joy ran down her cheeks. Her nephew was born. Her nephew.
She rushed to her room and slipped an abaya on to cover herself better and took her keys and soup and hurried out of the house after locking it.
She drove the car to the hospital while muttering duas under her breath. She was scared to get out of the house alone, but she had to reach the hospital.
When she got to the hospital fifteen minutes later she parked the car and rushed inside.
After finding out the room number, she took the elevator to the third floor. When she got off the elevator she saw her mother with a child in her arms.
She rushed to them.
"Assalam-o-Alaikum." She said handing the soup to her mother.
Her mother carefully handed over the baby to Maya.
"He is so cute. Mashallah." She muttered kissing the baby's cheeks. He was sleeping at the moment. She wondered what his eyes were like. He had chubby cheeks and a cute little nose. Maya caressed the baby's soft fingers.
"He is so small!" She said as she cuddled the baby in her arms. Her mother chuckled quietly at that.
The baby held her finger tightly all of a sudden. When she tried to free it from his finger without waking him up he didn't leave it.
"Ammi look he isn't even leaving my finger." She smiled through the tears. "He looks just like bhai."
"Fawad thinks he looks like you. He was saying you were the same when you were born." Her mother said to her as she leaned into kiss the baby's forehead. Maya froze at that. Had he forgiven her? How was she supposed to face him right now? She wouldn't even be able to look at him in the eye.
"W-Where's Areesha? How is she?" She asked her mother.
"She hasn't woken up yet. The doctors are saying that she should be up by now. Fawad is getting very tensed. He isn't even eating anything." Her mother said worriedly. She handed him sandwiches in a plastic wrap.
Maya felt so guilty. Her family was so worried and she had not been there for them. Her brother was broken. Areesha was hanging to life with a thin piece of thread. What kind of sister was she? In fact what kind of human was she? She had put her sorrow, her worries in front of others. At least Allah had saved her.
She looked around to find her brother. Instead her eyes locked with Zayan's. What was he doing here?
He is Areesha's brother. Of course he would be here.
She tore her gaze away from him as she remembered the previous events.
Beside Zayan was his mother reading the Holy Quran. She found her brother pacing up and down the hall worriedly.
After handing the baby to her mother she took tentative steps towards him.
"B-bhai?" She said as she approached him with the sandwiches in her hand. Fawad whipped around to find his sister looking at him. He didn't have the strength to turn away from her. She had always been there for him. And now was the time when he needed her the most.
"Bhai she's going to be fine." Maya said with tears pricking her eyes.
Fawad didn't respond. Maya took that as a good sign. At least he wasn't on the verge of slapping her face now. She held his hand and lead him to the chairs by the walls where the rest of the family was sitting. Fawad silently complied too worn out to think on his own.
His head fell to his knees when he sat down.
"She is going to be fine bhai. Have faith in Allah." She said to him wrapping her arm around his shoulder hoping he wouldn't shake it off instantly. He didn't. Thank God.
She rubbed his back soothingly. With all of her worries thrown out of the window she comforted her brother. Telling him it would be fine.
"Bhai do you want to eat something? Ammi said that you haven't eaten anything since yesterday."
He just shook his head. He wasn't speaking at all.
"Bhai, Areesha wouldn't be able to look at you in this condition. You need to stay strong. Please eat this."
"It would be my fault if anything happened to her..." he broke of with a lump in his throat as if he couldn't bear to continue.
"No. Don't say that. Nothing will happen to her. Allah will save her. She is going to be fine inshallah. Just pray for her. Dua can do miracles." She said trying to reassure him.
"I-I am going to go and pray." He said and left Maya sitting alone.
A fear gripped her. What if Areesha didn't make it? She shook her head. No. Their duas and love had to bring her back.
She looked around and saw that Areesha's mother was sitting with the a copy of the Holy Quran in her hand sobbing silently. Her heart ached to see her. What must she be going through. It must be very hard for a mother to see her daughter fighting between life and death. She could only imagine what was going through her heart.
Impulsively she went towards her and sat down next to her.
"Auntie please stop crying. Areesha is going to be fine. Please pray for her. She needs your prayers more than ever right now." She said to her as she pulled her in a side hug.
"I-I can't lose my only daughter..." she broke of sobbing again.
"You are not going to lose her auntie." She said firmly. "Please pray for her. Duas do miracles. She is going to be fine."
"Ameen." Areesha's mother muttered at the dua.
"Auntie have you eaten anything? Shall I bring you something to eat? Areesha would not like it if she finds out that you have been neglecting your health like this."
"No h-how can I eat something when my daughter is fighting between life and death." She said and broke into tears again. Areesha helplessly looked at the broken mother in front of her.
How could she comfort her when the future was unknown. She remembered how she had met Areesha the first time and prayed to Allah from the bottom of her heart to grant her a new life.
She was such an understanding person. She had to get better. She couldn't imagine her home without her anymore. In this little time she had lived with them and she had gotten so used to her presence.
Unknowingly a tear rolled down her cheek. She didn't bother wiping it. She knew that Allah accepted the dua of a sincere heart.
As if she could feel someones burning gaze she turned slightly and caught Zayan looking at her. She quickly turned away as if she hadn't noticed him in the first place.
How could she face him? How could she when he knew everything that had happened? How could she look at him when he had seen her at her most vulnerable point. But God knew how much thankful she was to him.
Suddenly she heard a nurse. She looked up and saw her talking to Zayan. She hurried to them to speak to the nurse.
"How is she now?" She demanded.
"Ma'am the patient still hasn't woken up. She has lost a lot of blood. We need to check the blood bank to match her blood group."
"Can I please speak to the doctor dealing with her case?" Maya asked the nurse.
"Yes the doctor is going to come for a round in a few minutes."
Maya nodded.
"She is my sister. We have the same blood group." Zayan said from beside her. She had momentarily forgotten that he was right beside her. Instinctively she moved away from him.
"Ok sir. If you please follow me. We need to check the blood type first." The nurse said and Zayan went with her leaving her alone with her thoughts.
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- Writer
