F i f t y  E i g h t

This one is for bilqees24
:)

Sometimes Allah takes
away our Yusuf
from us so we can
develop the love
and yearning
of Yaqub.

☆

Mashal

The tall house erected in the middle, patrolled by Alnihayya guards on all sides. It seemed to rise higher than the grey clouds of smog the war had left behind.
Its numerous rectangular windows and a huge balcony with a podium sticking out, gave the effect of a Victorian fortress. Brightly coloured banners with baba's pictures could be seen everywhere. They brought a bit of colour to the otherwise gloomy air.

The metal gate we had come through, opened every now and again, letting more people in. It was a claustrophobic sea of humans. Noise of weeping children, distressed parents, people angrily pushing over one another. A disgusting odour of sweat lingered in the air. I struggled to make my way towards the front. I had to shove a woman out of the way. I wish I could stop to say sorry but I needed to reach baba inside the building or else we all would be very sorry.
I pushed past the last cluster of people when it all went silent. No more children wailing, phones ringing, people shouting. I stopped, looked around me. Everyone had their eyes fixed on the balcony of the building. It was previously empty but now there was baba, an Alnihayya soldier and another man who seemed far from being an arab. Cameras flashing on them. Everyone including me, waiting for them to say something.

Baba stepped on to the podium and scanned the crowd. His eyes didn't catch me but I stared straight at him. Maybe I was shocked or maybe I was relieved to see him safe or maybe both.
"Assalam o alaikum." Baba said. "Peace be upon you" The Alnihayya soldier translated
to English.
Hushed whispers of walaikum salam rose from the crowd and from my own dry throat.
I was glad there was a translator. I really wanted to understand baba's speech.

"If you're not sure if I'm talking to you or not, I am. I am addressing every single person across the globe who now witnesses this free land. Every man is our brother, every woman our sister. Every girl is our daughter, every boy our son. You rub cake on your face and wonder why someone starves? You steal someone's resources and wonder why he's poor? You kill someone's homeland and wonder why he is angry? You see someone in need of help and just shrug saying, 'poor him' with false sympathy. Well he won't be poor if it wasn't for your own self. Stop kidding yourself by saying things like 'over population', 'less food'. There IS enough food. There IS enough space. A species who managed to reach the outer space doesn't have enough food? Yes we do. But its not for the dying humans obviously. Its for the pet dogs and cats of the rich." Baba ran a hand over the Alnihayya brooch on his coat as the emotional audience cheered and cried for their losses and social injustice. He knew how to act like a leader. "I gave you all the option of fighting to gain freedom. I said freedom is precious than blood. Here I stand today to apologize because although there's no more Israeli occupation, you are still not free. You all lost loved ones. The children who saw this are scarred and traumatized for life. Their whole life and even after they will be considered nothing but war survivors for the world. People will send donations from across the world, sympathetic speeches would be made, you will be shown fake empathy. I ask, do you want that?"

As expected the answer was a big, unanimous "NO!" with an outburst of emotions. I could hear cheers like, 'Long live the leader. Long live Alnihayya.'

Baba raised his hand to silence everyone. "That's why we have Mr. Konstantin here today. He has offered to open factories in Palestine. Loads of them. We won't need to beg for help from other nations! We won't need donations! We can rebuild our own Palestine. Every single person can get a job in the factories. No one would have to starve again."
A cacophony of applause, cheering and clapping charged through the air.
That's where it clicked to me. That foreign looking guy with baba was the Russian dude who wanted to open the mind control gun factories in Palestine! The people were happy, unaware of what the factories were going to be about. Baba's speech was a brainwasher for them.  The camera drones recorded everything and I was positive the speech would be live all around the world.

I wanted to do something, run to baba and tell him the Konstantin guy was just fooling him around! That the factories would make mind control guns which could then be used to control the people of Palestine. They would never be free if this happens! But my screams calling out for baba were dissolved in the deafening uproar of the crowd.
Then out of nowhere, Ibrahim's voice was heard. "So first we had Israeli occupation and now you want to gift us with Russian occupation?! No we don't want that!"
People turned their heads around frantically searching for the person who dared to say this. I could not mistake Ibrahim's voice! It had to be him. My eyes darted wildly searching for him. Being 5'3 was a disadvantage.  He was in the middle of the crowd and I could tell his statement made everyone rethink.

He was safe!
He survived the helicopter crash!
Ya Allah I'm so glad!

"Arrest him and bring him to me." A calm order from baba and the guards ran through the silent crowd to get to Ibrahim.
"No! You can't! He's my brother." I shoved through people, getting everyone's attention. Especially baba's.

"Bring her to me as well." He glanced at me briefly and muttered the order.
A female guard pranced at me before I knew it. Me and Ibrahim were dragged past the crowd, the door of the building was opened and we were taken through while everybody stared.
"I don't want to say anything else. Dismissed." I heard baba's angry voice before he turned back to walk inside from the balcony. Konstantin and the translator guy followed him.

"Mashal you're alive!" Even in that grave situation where our own father ordered us to be arrested, my long lost brother's face lit up with a smile.
"Bhaiya!"

"You are not allowed to speak." The guard holding Ibrahim spoke up. I tried to make eye contact with Ibrahim but my face was pulled straight and I received a kick in the knee. The kick ignited the wound on my leg I had received from the helicopter crash. I winced in pain and gave up trying, letting them drag us handcuffed.
As soon as we entered, the door of the house closed behind us. The inside was a maze of rooms and corridors, every inch being recorded by cameras. The light was too bright for my eyes and it didn't help that the floor was of shiny tiles. I couldn't see any humans other than me, my brother and the two guards who were supposed to take us to baba.
I could feel a nervousness creeping in but Ibrahim seemed calm as if everything was under control.
Seconds later the female guard holding me suddenly fired at the cameras, kicked the guy holding Ibrahim and took off her face mask that the guards had to wear.
"Salams sista!" Minahil winked at me as she shot the security guard with a paralysis gun. "Missed me?"

I looked at her dazzled, my eyes blinking rapidly. How did they both survive the crash?!
"Oh come on! Don't tell me you already prayed my janazah? I had a parachute you silly!" She gave me a brief hug before quickly pulling apart. "Ew! You smell of blood and death."

"I- I..we.."

"Don't worry. I've got an emergency  life saver in my pocket." I watched her take out a tiny perfume bottle and spray it all over me.

"Minahil for God's sake." Ibrahim sighed and pulled her away from me. "Mashal why are you limping? Is your leg hurt?"
His voice was so soft that I felt I was wrapped in a blanket of his care. I felt safe after so long. I hate myself for forgetting all my training and crying at that moment. The tears spilled down my face, the fake dam I had built couldn't hold them any more. Before I knew it I was in my brother's  arms. I clutched onto him for dear life. "Z- Zeyara was bleeding and I didn't know w-what to do and they butchered a person in front of me. ISIS is so bad." Hiccup. "And there was a lot of blood and my knee hurts bhai. My whole body hurts so bad. I don't like wars and people dying. I want to sleep.  Zeyara is in pain. I dont want to see him. They kicked him in front of me! Tortured him so bad. Baba doesn't like me. He didn't seem happy to see me and.....I thought I lost you and I- I don't have a mother--"

"And aren't there glad tidings for the patient?" He interrupted me calmly.
I paused. Repeated those words in my mind. Glad tidings for the patient. A house near Allah. Zeyara with me, my mother as well. The more I thought about jannah, the more relaxed I felt. My sobs lessend. I didn't say anything more and listened to Ibrahim narrating me the rewards of patience. I felt so good and energized after that. When we broke the hug, I was much stronger.

"Where's your abayah Mashal? You know how jealous Zeyara is?  He wouldn't like this." He asked, examining the skinny jeans on my legs.
I felt a lot embarrassed now. Taking my abayah off was such an impulsive decision. "I used it to hide Zeyara. Sanan took him to the medical sector from the back door."

"Then we should hurry up before anyone catches us. Let's move to the medical sector." He said in urgency.
Minahil, who had been staring at us unblinking and speechless came back to the present world again.
"Who Sanan? What is happening here?"

"I would tell you if I knew myself ya noor al ayni." Ibrahim chuckled with sarcastic cheesiness.

"My dear Ibbi why do you expect me to know the meaning of random Arabic terms?"

"I don't expect you to know them."

"Ha! That means you called me something bad! Probably a mad woman!"

"Guys. We are in a situation where we might meet Munkar and Nakir if we don't move so can you please stop arguing?" I stepped in before Ibrahim could answer.

"Fine." Minahil shrugged. "I'll keep firing the cameras so they don't find us."

God. I missed them.

We rushed through the numerous corridors, Minahil shooting the cameras and Ibrahim guiding the way. We had to dodge the guards too but we all had enough Alnihayya training for our benefit. At one point I heard an interesting conversation between the couple as I followed them.
"So...you know how you said Zeyara has a lot of gheerah over Mashal." Minahil whispered to Ibrahim, probably not wanting me to hear it.

"Yeah?"

"So um... don't you have it over me?"

Ibrahim glanced at her, "I do. More than you can imagine. I just don't want to force you. Besides your hijab should be for Allah, not for me."

Her expressions were priceless and I guess she was trying to smile but instead she ended up coughing.
I had completely forgotten about her cancer.
I watched as Ibrahim helped her with an inhaler. Concern and worry all over his face until she was okay again as if nothing was wrong.

"Minahil are you alright?" I forced myself to ask as we rushed up another flight of stairs.
As always she smiled it off in her own badass way. "I survived a helicopter crash lady! These minor coughs can't take down the queen."
Ibrahim's sorrowful face said otherwise but I didn't ask any further questions. The air was already gloomy enough.
I did, however, tell them about Malaika, the radiation gun factories and baba's misunderstanding of Zeyara. They also told me their side of the story where they were made to believe that Zeyara was the bad guy and that he and Malaika had killed me. I couldn't understand why baba would say something like that. Zeyara had always been so sincere to Alnihayya.

When we reached, the medical sector was buzzing with Alnihayya doctors, nurses and injured soldiers who were being treated. We seemed to blend in the atmosphere so well that no one noticed we were to be arrested. We went from room to room searching for Zeyara and the others. There was a possibility that they might have got caught before reaching here but I didn't even want to think of that.
Ya Allah please let hem be safe.

"You try getting up one more time and I swear I'll do something illegal."
Malaika's voice. The three of us glanced at each other knowingly and rushed towards the room where the slightly humorous threat came from. I was hoping the person receiving the threat was okay.
The door opened without a creak and I saw my husband's eyes determined and open like a child. Malaika, Sanan and a few nurses surrounded Zeyara's hospital bed. They were desperately trying to attach him to a glucose IV but he kept pulling his arm away. Hence, Malaika's threats.

"Zeyara." I barely mumbled, directing everyone's attention towards me. Seeing him awake and conscious of his environment after so long was already a blessing enough but when he called me "zawjati", it was a spring breeze for me. Warm, scented and beautiful. The nurse quickly attached the glucose supply while he paused momentarily to just stare at me. His hair was wispy, his smile crooked but he was finally able to make proper conversations.

"Yeah cool now you're just going to smile bro? " Sanan dejected incredulously. "A second ago you were ready to murder us all!"

"Its so hard to give him medicines Mashal. I'm never doing this job again." Malaika said in frustration.
I smiled through their complains and Zeyara's innocent shrug but that was the end of our little emotional reunion because the next  second, the door flew open and Alnihayya guards flooded in. Loaded with their black armor and heavy weapons they surrounded us in an instant. As if they weren't daunting enough, baba and Konstantin's heavy footsteps followed. Up close Konstantin's tall stature and white hair topped off with green eyes looked nothing but cruel. He didn't speak a word when baba was giving the speech earlier and even now he didn't say anything. His manipulative smirk never wiped off his face. He was scary. 

His eyes shift to Zeyara and he stares at him with utmost disgust. Probably because Zeyara was the one who figured out his evil plans. I move in front of Zeyara's bed so he no longer sees Zeyara but sees me instead. Sees the fiery eyes of a woman whose family he was tearing apart. His smirk widened when he saw my fury which nauseated me.

"Baba he's a fraud!" I find myself saying. "He wants to use Palestine for his gun factories." 

"I expected better from my own daughter. I guess I was wrong." The unassailable confidence in baba's words scared me. It didn't seem like I would be able to convince him. He would trust Konstantin over his own daughter. "Oh I know. That husband of yours must have played the trick to get you against your own father." 

Baba smiles coldly and I have a sudden feeling he would hurt Zeyara. Then he does it. He signals the guards and they point their guns on us. All of us. On his own daughter as well.

Sanan swears. "You bloody ol-"

The guard pointing his gun on him fires. 

We scream as the gunshot is heard. I close my eyes and then I open them but no there's no blood! Sanan is in one piece but the floor has a hole in front of his feet.

"This was a little preview of what might happen if anyone tries to interrupt my conversation with my daughter." Baba says. "And yeah, next time the bullet won't hit the floor but your sick head."
I was aware of my hands shaking and suddenly I'm aware of Zeyara holding my hand, sharing his warmth with me, sharing his courage. No one else speaks after that, they just stare at me. As if I could even form words at that point.

"N-no baba. Zeyara has proof!" I gulp the doubt in my sentence. What if Zeyara doesn't have proof?

"Oh really. What proof?"

I glance at Zeyara expectantly. "Malaika give Mashal the thing I've been working on." He mutters with surety in his voice. It seems like he knows what he's doing and I trust him.
Malaika walks over with an 'are you kidding me?' expression on her face. She hands over a gun to me and walks back to her previous spot.

The cold metal of the gun in one hand and Zeyara's warmth in my other hand. I give Zeyara the same 'are you kidding me?' expression that Malaika gave. Its nothing but an ordinary Alnihayya gun. Its not even a paralysis gun or the tiny mind control gun. Its just a gun!

"Wow. How interesting is that." Baba chuckles. "What next? You would shoot your father?"

"No I won't!"
Just as I say that I hear Zeyara's voice. "Shoot him."

Baba laughs and I look back at Zeyara in disbelief. Maybe I heard him wrong. Maybe all of us heard him wrong. "W-w- what?"

"You heard me Mashal. Shoot him."

"My poor little daughter. All he wants is for me to die and for you to go to jail so he could lead Alnihayya. He doesn't love you. He loves the power."
My stomach churns uneasily and I notice that Zeyara's hand is pinching into my skin. I suddenly have pearls in my eyes and I don't know what to do. Who to trust.
"Mashal don't listen to him. Just shoot." He says again.

"Yes Mashal shoot him!" Malaika joins.

"Oooo! This girl used to work with Zeyara right? Maybe they are togeth-"

"Shut up old hag!" Malaika doesn't let baba complete his accusation. "I don't like mommy's boys like Zeyara."
Now I know this was a grave situation and it wasn't a time to have girly fights but, "Heyyy! How dare you talk about my husband like that?!"

"What? I'm telling the truth. He's such a baby. I like tough guys like this big guy over here." She points at Sanan and he flushes, uneasily scratching the back of his head. "I don't even like muftis like this one." She says, pointing out Ibrahim.
The next thing I see is Minahil punching Malaika. "Don't point at my husband!"

Malaika punches back and baba constantly demands for silence but they don't stop. I fail to understand why Malaika and Minahil were fighting like this until Zeyara whispers to me, "Zawjati Konstantin is controlling your father. He used the mind control gun on him. This gun in your hand is the anti-rad gun!"

Suddenly it all made sense. How baba was behaving so coldly and how he hated Zeyara so much and how Konstantin didn't ever speak a word because he was speaking through baba! Malaika created the commotion on purpose so Zeyara could talk to me without Konstantin hearing him! 

"Enough!" Baba fires a gun in the air which goes through the ceiling. Malaika and Minahil stop fighting and I see Malaika winking at me. She mouths "Do it".

And I do it.
And I shoot baba.

No blood.
No wounds. 
He shakes a little as if he just got struck by lightning. Within seconds, however, baba speaks like my real baba.

"Arrest this brute!" He orders as soon as he gets his senses back. Konstantin tries to run but lets just say it was a bad try. 

The last thing I remember from that day is baba getting mine and Zeyara's walima invitation cards printed at the Alnihayya headquarters.  The whole Jerusalem was invited and so were Uncle Suleiman and little Marwa. Even Minahil's parents. Minahil was given the duty to design the cards because everyone liked her taste in decoration since her own wedding.  Malaika didn't leave this opportunity to embarrass me;

 Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim

Alnihayya cordially invites you to attend the walima ceremony of  Mr. Zeyara Suleiman and Miss. Mashal Naeem. 

(Kindly please do note that this invitation card is for YOUR family only. Not for the family of your phupho, khala, mamoo, aunty or anyone else So don't bring them. Please only eat as much as you would eat normally at home, don't eat like a cow which you do at other weddings. Also, please don't bring bags to sneakily take the food home. AND DON'T FORGET TO BRING GIFTS FOR THE BRIDE AND GROOM YOU BAKHEEL/ KANJOOS PERSON.)

RSVP,
Mr. Naeem Ansar and the Alnihayya family

The headquarters was buzzing with celebration and Humna wasn't allowing us any privacy so Zeyara sneaked me out in the middle of the night. He was walking on crutches due to his injuries and had that infamous balaclava mask on his face which I hated.  We sneaked out of Alnihayya headquarters and sat on the mountain above it. 

Soft city lights glittered below as far as we could see. Phosphorous moonlight spilled across the black star speckled sky of the holy city. Zeyara pointed at the golden dome of Masjid-al Aqsa and I smiled seeing it free. Palestine slept peacefully that night. No bombs, no threats.
Zeyara's arms encircled my waist and my head rested on his shoulder. 
He suddenly chuckled. "I don't believe this. Alhamdulillah."

"I do." I smiled. "I said I do for our nikaah and I'll keep saying it forever in sha Allah." 

THE END

☆

There will be an epilogue coming soon in sha Allah. This got me too emotional.
I'll miss you all. All I can say is JazakAllah khairan kaseera.♡

-Muskaan