Chapter 56 35: Soul Re-awakening

"She told mesh loved it whenever you kissed her forehead, she told me you were the first person to ever do that to her and it s a gesture she so much loved. I don t know why she told me that, but I think she wanted me to wake her up because I revealed her secret." Mujaheed broke into tears and felt a tightening in his chest, "Fareeda..." He trembled, moving her hands to his lips, "Please wake up, Fareeda. I'm begging you, please wake up. I love you, Fareeda, I've always been in love with you. Wake up please, and I promise to always listen to you whenever you want to explain to me about something, I will always kiss your forehead until you tell me it s enough. Please don t leave me with this feeling in my heart, please don t turn my heart to a stone. Fareeda please wake up for me, please." He was jerking as he cried painfully and Nana closed her eyes, her head still on her chest. "I think you two should please give us some time, we have to perform the bathe for her, she needs to be taken to her grave as soon as possible, that s the sunnah of the prophet." One of the women spoke, and as Mujaheed lifted his face up to ask her to get the hell out of his chamber, Nana immediately jerked upright as though her soul being taken away herself. "Ya Mujaheed! Wallahi tallyho her heart beat! It s faint, but Wallahi I've felt it!!!" Her whole body trembled with shock, fear and nothing but her immense hope for what she felt to be real. He was already on her side while he shook his head, he didn't want the scintilla of hope he had paid for just a moment to be nothing but Nana s illusion. "Nana, it can t be. Are you sure?" He didn t want to believe, but Nana had her ear on Fareeda's chest so intently that he wondered if she even heard him. "I'll feel it myself," he slowly lifted her up when she didn t answer him because he knew he couldn t wait any longer. And as Mujaheed leaned his ear to her heart, his heart lost a beat when he felt the weak beating of her heart. Her heart beat was something he could never forgive just like he could never forget her voice. She had felt it when she was full of live and with the barrier of her garments, and he felt it today, when her body was still cold with death and darkness. It was the faintest heartbeat he had ever felt in his entire life but it was ironic how this faint heartbeat was the only ray of hope he had. "Nana! Call Alhaji, she s still alive!" He wondered if the way he spoke hadn t been heard by the people that were outside his chamber. He watched as Nana scrambled out of the chamber and he took Fareeda into his arms, rushing out. "Get the car!" He screamed to no one in particular and it took less than a minute before a car was brought and he drove it to the hospital with Nana and Alhaji in the car. She was taken to ICU as she was being helped professionally by the doctors. It took them over thirty minutes before the doctor came out and they rushed toward him. "What's wrong? How is she? Is she still alive?" They asked in unison, Nana could only look at him with nothing but tears on her face. He smiled and nodded his head, "She was strangled, she have seen the mark on her neck. She got an attack that was why she fell into unconsciousness and everything stopped in her body. I can say it s just the will of Allah that brought her back to life, but she would ve died long ago, if not for the stranglement, then for the attack she had in her heart. But she s under our care now, she will be fine, Insha Allah." With tears on Alhaji s cheeks, he shook hands with the doctor, "Thank you, Dr, thank you so much, Dr." The doctor smiled at him, "I think you have to go home and dismiss the people there, because you won t be able to see her until after 12 hours, which will be 8pm Insha Allah. But she ll be fine." Since when the doctor had told them she was indeed alive, Mujaheed felt dizzy and he went to the far end of the corridor and and slumped down, resting his head on the wall. He had never been swarmed by so much emotions all at once until today. He had never been this shocked, frightened, terrified and hopeful all at once. Thinking back to the body of Fareeda laying lifelessly on their carpet in the living room, fresh set of joyful tears cascaded down his cheeks. A chance was given to him by Allah, a chance to amend his mistakes, to love her in all the ways she deserved. He watched as Nana cried with a smile on her lips as she kept jumping up and down while muttering 'Alhamdulillah excitedly. That was when he knew what he was supposed to say. And he began chanting Alhamdulillah as new set of tears kept gushing down. He had never thought he could feel as much pain as he did from the time he found her body until now. It was so strong that it nearly knocked him out of his breathe but he stayed strong because there was something that kept telling that she might wake up and if he lost consciousness, how would he know she had woken up? Alhaji walked up to him, his cheeks wet with tears as his body still trembled from the shock. "Mujaheed, Jibril is here to take me home, I'll have to go back and explain everything to them, okay?" He managed to utter and he only nodded his head because he didn't know if he could be able to say something to anyone, unless he saw Fareeda opened her eyes. He watched as Alhaji leave and Nana came to where he was. She took his hands and guided him to a bench where they sat down. She was still crying, but from the relaxed expression on her face one could tell that she was relieved, happy even. He stared at Nana and wondered how she would ve felt if Fareeda turned out indeed dead. What would have happened to her, how miserable she would feeling how long it would take for her to grieve. She turned to look at him with innocence dripping from her eyes, "She s going to be fine, right, Ya Mujaheed?" She inquired and he palmed his face to steady himself and also clear his tears before he nodded his head at her. "Yes, she ll be fine, Nana. She won t leave us like this, will she?" Nana shook her head while her tears intensified, imagining the tremor she had felt just a few hours ago. They stood there in silence, intensely staring at the room she had been taken into. Their hearts filled with hope and prayers for her to be able to wake up soon, even sooner than the doctors had predicted. ? It was getting to night and Nana was still there, Ummah and all their relatives that came had already left but the two of them. "Nana, I'll call Jibril to take you home, you should go and take your bathe, eat and then you can come back." She stubbornly shook her head, "I don t want her to wake up while I'm not by her side, Ya Mujaheed. You can see, everyone that comes left, all Abba s relatives, even Asma u left. How can someone recover from death and you won't be there for him? Aren t they so cruel to her?" "It s their choice that they doesn t see her for the great person she is, Nana, which doesn't mean just because they doesn t see it then she wasn t one. She has me and you by her side, Alhaji might not be here now but I can assure you that his heart will always be here. We re enough for her. Now, you should do as I say, you ll have to check for her glass in the living room even though I'm certain it has broken but it might still be useful before she gets a new one." "I will only go back for her glass and also to bring some of her clothes because I know that she hates wearing these hospital gowns. Call him so I can come back early. What will you like me to bring for you?" "Nothing, except my tea things." He smiled painfully when he remembered it was Fareeda that taught him how to say 'tea things. He looked up at the room and his heart felt even more anxious, he didn't know what he would feel if she turned out being truly dead this time around. Pushing away that negative thought from his mind, he dialed Jibril s number and told him to come and take Nana back home. Even after Nana left, his eyes didn t waver from the room until the nurses that took turns in taking care of her rushed outside and she smiled at him, "She s awake, Alhamdulillah. But you can t go in to see her yet, I'll have to call the doctor to check up on her first." He kept pacing to and fro while she went to call the doctor and even after they were inside the room. To him, those minutes felt like eternity an he had to rebel a part of his heart that urged him to just barge into the room, she was his wife after all. But when the doctor came out and told him that he can finally and see her, Mujaheed felt all his anxiousness trying to consume him, but he mustered the remaining strength he had and walked into the room. She was laying weakly on the bed with the Iv and some wears attached to her body. She looked pale, but at least there was a sign of life on her skin, on her face, in her eyes that were now opened even though all she could see was pitch blackness. He felt as his knees went weak when he saw strands of tears rolling vertically to her ears. He didn't have to ask, he knew he was the cause of those ears. Maybe there was more to her tears, but what he did was among. It was only the mighty power of god that took him to the bed and she felt someone s presence beside her. "Nurse? Is there no one here for me?" She managed to voice out, her voice so low and weak that if not for the eerily silence in the room, Mujaheed wouldn t have heard her. Instead of an answer, he felt more tears rolled down to his cheeks. So she thought no one would be here for her? She answered his unvoiced question when she spoke again, "If I have no one here for me then it means those people brought me here, not my family. Because if someone from my family knows, even if no one comes, Nana would have been here, I'm sure of that. My husband..." She let her words trailed off as more tears kept rolling down vertically, unchecked. He slumped on the chair beside the bed and carefully took her hand in his, it felt good to feel it all warm not that gut wrenching coldness he had felt before. He kissed her hand and his tears kept dropping into her palms, "I m so thankful that you re awake, Fareeda. You have no idea what this means to me." It was so hard to be able to understand what he had said because of the way his words were coming out in hiccups with his tears amalgamated. "Mujaheed?" She whimpered painfully, unsure about whether or not he was the one by her heart.