Chapter 54 34: Death

She knew it was high time for her to get accustomed to the pain, because she had been in so much pain since she was a little girl. But Fareeda wondered why it was so different when it came to Mujaheed, like she didn't have the control of her emotions whenever it came to him. She had cried like never before, screamed and begged for Allah to mend things back to how they used to be. She didn t know what she was going to do anymore, he wasn t even ready to listen to her for her to tell him her excuse, everything had been choked up for her. If only he would listen to her, but she knew from the way he looked earlier, listening to her would be the last thing he would ever do. She looked up at the clock and it read more than thirty minutes past midnight, Fareeda wondered where he must ve stayed this long. This wasn't the first time they fought, and he always came home before it was midnight even though he might not utter a word to her and no matter how much she would beg him, he will act nonchalant and pretend as if she wasn t in the chamber anymore. She picked up her phone and dialed his number but it went directly to voice mail and Fareeda wondered what was wrong with him. She sent him a text and even though it was delivered, there was no reply and despite the fact that she wasn't expecting his reply, she felt disappointed. She became hungry because what she was cooking was left untouched since he dropped the bombshell on her. With her bloodshot eyes finding it hard to have a clear vision, Fareeda trudged to the kitchen made custard for herself. She was taking the custard in the kitchen as she tried so much in preventing Mujaheed s wall form echoing through her mind as they did throughout. She was staring through the window, stifling back more tears and wondered where he must ve been. She picked her phone and stared down at time, it was only a few minutes until one in the morning, Mujaheed had never stayed out this late and she knew he wasn t in charge of the gate as much as he was before. 'Mujaheed, please don t avoid home because of what happened, I need to explain to you. I know you have all the right to be furious at me now, but please come back home. After you calm down, we re going to have a peaceful conversation, please don t do this, okay? You don t have to worry about me, I'm safe and I'm taking my dinner now. And incase you won't come home tonight, I'll take off my glass before falling asleep. Please take care of yourself and I'm sorry. More tears gushed down her cheeks as she hit the send button knowing he wouldn't act as if he had noticed it. Looking back at the window, she saw a shadow walking and she thought maybe it was one of the guards. It might even be Mujaheed coming back after he had seen her message. She stood there in the kitchen as she waited for him, because she didn't want them to sleep with this huge wall between them. She cleared her tears when she heard the knock on the door and wondered whether he had left his key home. She cleared her tears but more gushed down when she was standing in front of the door. Trying to clear her tears while more cascaded down her cheeks, Fareeda realized that she was only going to waste more time, but no one could stop her tears but the one that made her shed them. She unlocked the door and before she turned the doorknob to open it, he pushed roughly and she fell on her back, yelping out loud as she had strained her ankle. Instead of Mujaheed, she saw four huge men walking into the living room with their faces covered with a mask. She stumbled backward until they cornered her in the middle of the room, without an iota of mercy on their faces. "What are you doing here?" She managed to ask, hearing the sound of her heart in her ears and she secretly dialed Mujaheed s number again, but it went to voicemail this time too. It was as if he had blocked her number. They all found spots in the living room and sat down, one of them, the one that looked like a rock and which she was sure didn't have even an iota of mercy in his heart looked at her, "What we re doing here? We re going to kill you, do you have any problem with that?" His voice was huge like his figure, and it sent a shiver down her spine. She wanted to cry but it was as if everything had been stopped in her body the moment they came into the living room. Where is Mujaheed? What happened to the security of the house?! "What have I done to you? Please?" She begged, feeling nearly suffocated as they had an eye contact with one of the men. Her heart throbbed, sweat formed on her forehead and she wanted nothing but to wake up from this terrifying nightmare. She was about to scream when one of them approached her and the huge guy spoke with a tune that was able to shake off all the strength she might have had, "Don t you dare scream on us, okay? We didn't want any trouble that s why we re going to give you the most easiest death, we re going to strangle you. If we had wanted to cause any commotion, we would ve brought a gun with us. So, shut you mouth up." She palmed her mouth and slowly tears began to sprang onto her cheeks. She had only one resort left, that was Alhaji. He had always been the first person she called whenever she was in trouble, that was why she had put his phone number on her speed dial. She can count the number of phone calls they had, but whenever she was in a deep trouble like she was now, he was the only one she could think of. But that changed after Mujaheed came into her life, and now that he wasn t responsive, she had no choice but to look for Alhaji. Meticulously, Fareeda hit the number one on her speed dial and keep the phone by her side as she felt her throat being choked up in a swift, she tried to fight him off but he with one painful smack, her glass was smacked off and she had no choice but to slowly begin to give up on life. She didn't know whether her father had picked her call or not, whether he had left her line responsive or not, but all she knew was, as she began to feel the way her heart was slowly trying to give up, her lungs tired of trying to breathe for her, she felt more tears on her cheeks. She wished to see Mujaheed for her last time on earth, she wanted to tell him something. Maybe she wouldn't have died with regret in her heart. She wanted to apologize to him, explain the misunderstanding that had happened this evening, and also tell him he was the most amazing man she had ever seen in her life. She wished to tell him all the things she loved in him, all the things she loved it when he did and much more of his amazingness. And Nana, she knew Nana would cry until her eyes turned red. She knew she would have sleepless nights praying for her comeback which will never happen. She knew she would have to beg Mujaheed to bring back her Ya Fareeda because she wouldn't easily believe she was dead. Her Nana will try as much as she could to see that she looked for her and tried to look for a way to bring her back which couldn't work. Dahlia. Fareeda knew she might cry tomorrow in the morning before she would be taken to her grave but that will be all, she wouldn t care after that. And Ummah, apart from Asma u whom she was sure sent these people to her, Ummah will be the second one to be joyful about her death, at least no one would trouble her anymore. And Alhaji...she felt as he tightened his hold on her throat and something made a sound within her, a crack, a painful crack that took away all her consciousness and she felt herself being throw over on the floor and that was all, she knew she was dead and no one had to tell her that. Under hypnosis, she heard the voice of a woman, the voice of a lady. Whoever it maybe, because they dead tend to mistake the things about the world. "Are you sure she s dead? I don t want any mistakes, okay?" The woman spoke and they all stood up as they nodded their heads at her. "Didn't you hear her neck crack, Hajia? She's dead, I can assure you that." Then a cold voice spoke, "I ll transfer the rest of the money when her death is confirmed by tomorrow. Let s go and get you guys out." A lady that was so heartless she didn't mind seeing a dead body in front of her eyes. A filthy body discarded at last, a body unworthy of love and care, a body not worthy to be cried upon when it s going to turn to dust. A despicable body whose soul lived a dirty life, whose soul was a a disaster, who lived a life full of regret and hatred. ... It took him moments before he realized what had happened, he looked around the mosque and noticed it was pitch outside and he immediately pulled his phone out to check what time it was. Almost forty five minutes past one in the morning. His thoughts immediately wandered to Fareeda, he wondered if she had waited for him or had just slept. He was so angry at her, didn't want to see her even, but there were things he had no control of in his heart. Rubbing the remains of sleep in his eyes, Mujaheed stood up and walked back into the house. He noticed the door to the chamber was slightly ajar but he thought she must ve left it open for him. He pushed the door open and closed it behind him while he turned the flashlight of his phone because he didn t want to turn the lights on. Tilting the phone to the longest sofa he knew he would sleep on, his eyes fell on Fareeda lifelessly slumped on the floor in a position that he was sure she hadn't slept off as, it looked as if she was thrown over onto the floor. With cold feet, Mujaheed walked over to her body, afraid that what he was seeing was merely but a dream and he was still sleeping in the mosque, he would have to wake up very soon. But when his knees went south while he firmly held her lifeless body, he realized he was awake, and that was the reality. He tried to shook her body a little, afraid that if he shook her roughly she might be harmed.