The soft breeze with the morning dew,
the dim light and the igniting view;
The moments I spent through,
the thick and thin, reminds me of you;
The time is right, to take the light,
the divine is near, the hope is right.
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Short Story
She was bullied for her weight so much that when she got actual compliments for her beauty, she believed not. She diet, exercise, all to reduce her weight and when the numbers drop she receives compliments like, “Why are you so slim?”… “OMG! How did you lose weight? *eyeroll in disbelief* You used to be a bit fat—- Don’t mind please” .
When she dressed boldly, she was labeled “an out-cast”, “Awara” and when dressed modestly, called “An Aunty”..
“Experienced, educated people” told her that she was harassed and cat called because of her dress so she started wearing a hijab but that wasn’t enough… even the fatherly figures couldn’t resist her charm and adore her with beautiful words, starry eyes and sweet touches which she was too young to understand so she was irritated… Maybe, she was aromatic enough to attract some bees and houseflies.
She started wearing a full hijab (Abaya) but that did not change anything. She was attacked by the bees again and she decided that maybe it’s better to stay in, to stop going out. Obviously, it was all her fault. She was the culprit, why was she going out?
She couldn’t raise her voice, for her rights. She feared the rejection, the assault, the Murder.. She kept all to herself.
She married, she was a housewife, she chose it… what else would a lady do by working? Get harassed? being offered a bed full of roses? Huh! She demanded only rest after all the cleaning, cooking all day long was not tiring, was it?
The husband would have his female colleagues at home while she couldn’t call her relatives because she was busy with her kids and after all, ladies only gossip.
One day, the phone of her husband rang. He must’ve forgotten it at home, she picked it up thinking: it was maybe from work. A woman spoke softly “Honey, where are you, everyone’s waiting for you”, she told her “Mam, you’ve called a wrong number”, the woman replied “ no, it’s Arslan’s number, i’m his wife, where is he, you’re his assistant?” she replied, “no, im his wife” and the phone was dropped by the other side. It was his husbands’ the second wife. What a gentleman! Keeping his two wives at different places. How manly to manage two, what a Boss!
She fell on her knees, speechless, her 2 daughters came running questioning the bizarre state of their mother but she was not ready to answer, she kept asking herself, Why? Why? Why? Was I not enough? Why?—– I was not asked or informed —– she gathered herself. It was difficult yet she tried.
Her husband was late, she recalled, the other lady and her husband were going to celebrate something. She patiently waited, giving herself false solace, “there must be a mistake, i am just overreacting. He can—not do—this! He lov–es me, does he?” She was mumbling. She was distracted by her daughters, staring at her, tense, and continuously questioning “What is it mommy?, What is it mommy?” she smiled fakely, cleaning her tears and in a quavering voice she replied “They’re the tears of joy because I’m sooooo glad to have two beautiful daughters. You are the gift of God to me” (kisses both foreheads). She lied.
All night passed, her husband didn’t come, he was usually late, she kept on giving herself false hopes “He must be with his friends”, “ that girl was lying”, “ Was it true? No, No, No, it can’t be”. Her thoughts run wild. It’s obviously not easy for a girl to find out that her husband is not her husband, the one whom she shared her secrets with, her life, her body is not with her, not her anymore but she loved him so she tried to convince herself though all logics were against it. She didn’t sleep the entire night.
Around 4 in the morning, it was raining, someone knocked at the door, she ran toward it. Her husband yelled, “Open!”, she opened, he walked in, he was not alone ——- a lady carrying a baby stepped in.
She was dumbstruck.
She asked “ who is she?” With a smirk on his face he said, “your best friend”. She uttered, “I — didn’t understand”. “There’s nothing to understand” he replied carelessly, “She’s my wife, she gave me what you COULDN’T, YOU UGLY PEST! She gave me A SON!, YOU UNDERSTAND! A SON! UGLY BITCH!”, he shouted.
Her world collapsed before her eyes, all dreams, all hopes, crumbled, “It — — was — — true” she mumbled.
“Was I not good enough?” she asked. “Good Enough?!, You are STILL TALKING” , he shouted and started throwing things “ YOU WERE NEVER GOOD ENOUGH! You’re JUST an UGLY PEST who FEED ON MY MONEY!” he shouted “YOU ARE A USELESS TISSUE PAPER AND BELONGS BEST IN DUST BIN!” He dragged her by her arm and pushed toward the wall. She hit her head and bleeding started, she shouted for the first time “STOP PLEASE!” but his ego raged and he started beating her “YOU DESPICABLE BITCH, YOUR PARENTS TAUGHT YOU NOTHING, CURSE THEM — GET OUT!” and he threw her out, her daughters came running crying, the voices must’ve awakened them but they weren’t surprised, it seemed like a routine. It was the last day of routine for them as their father threw them out with their mother.
The Three were all alone — in the rain, no savior, body aching, the rain washing the blood. She had no option but to take her daughters to her deceased parent’s house, she wasn’t ready for what was about to happen next. When she told all her story to her brothers she was expecting sympathy. Funny, they started shouting and kicked them out without even considering where they would go.
Nowhere to go , she took refuge at a shelter. The shelter provided them food, clothes and band-aid them, also helped her find a job and a place to stay. She was managing everything and it seemed everything would work out but the universe had different plans.
After a week, she was doing fine and happy with her girls, packing their school bags, she heard some shouting coming from the main door of the shelter and it seemed that she might have recognized, a gun shot was heard —– her heart started racing — The owners went to check, she was scared, hugged her daughters tightly and froze in her place. Footsteps approaching her room rapidly, she could hear them and finally, they stopped, with a sudden BANG! On the door, it opened and the visitors came in like hungry wolves.
It was her husband and a few of his goons-relatives, they had weapons. He shouted “ YOU DESPICABLE WOMAN, YOU SHOULD HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT YOUR PARENTS BEFORE LIVING HERE AND DOING THE JOB, YOU’RE AN EMBARRASSMENT, AN UGLY BEAST, YOU BLOW US OUT” with that he dragged them all away and she uttered “Let them Go!”, he slapped her and shouted “SHUT UP!” while another man threw black ink on her face.
“YOU 3 HAVE HAD ENOUGH FUN now it’s time to clean the trash!” he said and a gun shot was heard, bleeding from her forehead she fell to the ground and all she heard was 2 more gunshots and it was quiet…
Who was the culprit, whose fault was it?
And there she was again, at the cross road between heaven and sin.
What if she choose not to make a choice,
Why can’t it just be?
And she forgot,
she was suppose to
stay away from it.
It was forbidden,
it was cursed,
it was evil,
So
it made her
evil too.
Always so near,
but still so far…
Life’s a poetry and you – a poet, so write the best poem and bless your life with eternal Bliss.
and that it is He who makes [men] laugh, and makes [them] weep (Quran 53:43)
Such an amazing verse to make us believe ourselves, trust that we are worthy and keep moving no matter what. Do your best and leave all to the destiny. Accept what is yours and let go what isn’t meant for you. Everything has a special place in our system and nothing is useless. you are precious, your existence is precious, you are worthy and you are loved.
Believe in you and work hard, leave the rest to the destiny!
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