#Chapter Eleven#

“Salam baba, I’ll see you in two months time insha’Allah.”

“Get ready for our next wrestling match. I know you need some time to train, unlike me, so I’m warning you!”

“Bye Sarah! Make sure you’re kissing this little munchkin for me everyday!” 

My glum mood increased drastically as I watched Samir say goodbye to our family. Now that he was leaving, I truly realised how much I would miss his presence at home. Even though he was the quieter one out of the two of my brothers, him being at home made the atmosphere ten times better. 

I knew I was being a big baby; after all, he’d be back in two months for his vacation.

I smiled when he picked up a crying Abir, flinging her in the air like both her father and grandfather did, her cries instantly morphing into squeals of joy. However, when he gave her one last kiss and handed her back to Sarah, the smile left and was replaced by a frown when he began treading his way towards me. 

I raised one eyebrow when he just stopped in front of me, not pulling me into a hug or bidding me farewell like he did with the others. “Bye?”

He crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Is that all I get?”

“Oh wait sorry, I forgot, let me just pull out the speech I made for your departure,” I replied sarcastically, pretending to reach for a paper in my pocket.

“Good one, sis, WOO!” Ziad hooted for effect. 

We both rolled our eyes, dismissing him. “You’ve never been fond of goodbyes, you know.”

“No one’s fond of goodbyes,” I stated.

“Stop being smart.”

“You know that’s out of my control,” I continued, just to annoy him.

“You’re just like Ziad sometimes,” he grumbled. He blew out a breathe and eyed me. “I don’t know what to do. If I hug you, you’ll cry and if I don’t…you’ll cry too.”

“No I won’t!” I exclaimed, yet even as the words left my lips, my eyes were already watery.  I was the most emotional one in the family and I knew everyone knew it, but I still tried to act cool. “I’m fine. You just go off and study; study hard and make us all proud. Have a safe flight and oh, make sure you’re eating right and don’t forget to-,’ I was cut off as Samir exhaled, before pulling me in for a gruff hug.

“When did you become Lia?” 

“Whatever,” I mumbled, punching his chest and failing miserably since he still had me locked in an embrace. He kissed my forehead and pulled away.

“Alright guys, I gotta love ya and leave ya! The car is waiting and if I don’t leave now, I’ll miss my flight.” 

We all gave another quick round of goodbye and waved at him as he jogged to the awaiting car. We watched on as he spoke quickly with Salem and some of the other security guards, finally jumping in a few minutes later and rolling down his window. 

“Salam everyone!”

“Be free, my child!” Ziad cried out dramatically. 

“Idiot,” I mumbled under my breath. 

The last thing we heard was Samir’s booming laugh as the car pulled out of our long, narrow driveway. The car halted as a guard pressed a button to open the tall gates and once they were gone, it closed in after them. 

“Ah well. Two months insha’Allah,” I spoke aloud, to no one in particular.

####

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the education centre and because it was Monday, I had been bombarded with a mix of students and admin work. Although I preferred to teach, I also had to make sure that the centre was running efficiently with no problems and if there happened to be any, I was usually called upon to fix it. 

Once I arrived home, I headed straight to my room since I knew baba was in another one of his late meetings and Ziad had gone to his in-laws house with Sarah and Abir. I contemplated calling Mira or another one of our friends to come spend the night with me, but I decided that I was not only tired but I had some marking and paperwork to do. 

Don’t forget all the essays that are coming up for uni!

Erkh.

I showered, prayed and had something light to eat since I had already eaten a big lunch at the centre earlier on. I sat down at my desk with a heavy sigh, wondering how on Earth I was supposed to get so much done in so little time. The paperwork had to be filed in by tomorrow and the marking by the end of the week. In two days time, I had a presentation for one of my classes and because it wasn’t a group work project, the complete load was on my shoulder. 

I not so calmly reminded myself that I had yet to start that.

After a few hours had passed by, I was beyond exhausted. My eyes jumped between the books laid out in front of me, to my bed. 

The decision wasn’t really hard. 

Leaving my books and papers scattered on the table, since I would most likely return to it tomorrow, I got up and stretched, whereafter I slid under my covers with heavy lids. Before I could even lay my head on the pillow, my eyes had fallen closed.

It felt like only five minutes later that I woke up. The sound of my phone ringing had awakened me and I took a few seconds to get up. Leaning on my right elbow, I reached over to pick up the vibrating phone off my night stand. 

I quickly checked to see who it was. 

Mira.

I wondered why she’d be calling at one in the morning, although I had a slight instinct as to what it would be. 

“Hello, Mira?” My voice came out croaky as I was still hazy with sleep. 

“Sameena,” came her choked sob. 

“Habibti, what’s wrong?!” I spoke, immediately becoming alarmed at her cries.

“What do you think? I’m outside you’re house right now. Can you come down please?” 

“Of course, I’ll be there in a minute. Hang on!” 

“OK.” She sniffed and hung up the phone. 

I swung the covers off myself and hurried to pull on a random abaya, grabbing another black scarf and wrapping it around my head quickly. I pulled on my furry slippers and took the steps two at a time. 

I flung the door open with apprehension and found Mira sitting on one of the brick steps, rubbing her hands up and down her arms and shivering slightly from the cold. I could still hear her sniffling and once she realised I was standing behind her, she got up and threw herself into my arms.

“What happened Mira?!” I asked with urgency as she started to sob again. 

“It was so bad, Sameena,” she wiped her eyes and looked up at me in desperation. “We have to get away from him. He arrived home late, drunk and on drugs. Because of how much he was stumbling, we thought for sure he’d just pass out and we’d have a night of peace but before any of us knew what was happening, he lunged at mum and began dragging her by her hair,-“ she broke off in tears again and I clutched her to my chest protectively. I sat her down on one of the small couches to the side, that was there more for design than anything.

I really didn’t like where this was going. I knew Mira’s father was bad, but if she had actually left her mother and sister home alone and came here…

“He hasn’t touched her or any of us in a long time, he usually just swears at us or orders us around but I don’t know what got into him tonight. He began to beat mum, yelling about how he never gets any respect. I wasn’t really listening because at that point, we were all screaming.” When she paused to take a shaky breath I flinched at the expression on her face. “Eventually I couldn’t take it anymore. I grabbed the nearest glass vase and slammed it on his head. He fell unconscious after that and he was bleeding pretty badly, but I didn’t care. As long as his filthy body was off mum.”

I gasped. “What happened next? Where’s your mum now?”

“I left her at home. I told her that enough was enough and that I was going to call the authorities. When she declined as usual, I got fed up and began arguing with her, but it was all in vain. She didn’t even let me take her to the hospital.”

“Ya Allah,” I whispered. 

“And then Houda started going off about how twisted we all are. She packed a bag and fled from the house. She said she was going to stay with a friend, but I know she’s actually going to see her boyfriend.” At this point, she was gripping my arm. “Sameena, he’s not good news either. Before she stormed off, I heard her talking to him on the phone, asking where she could meet up with him. I know that right now she’s at a hidden, underground club…with him. Sameena, Allah knows what can happen there, we have to find her right now!” 

“OK, OK,” I started, putting my hands up in a placating gesture. “First of all, I need you to take a deep, calm breath. Recite ayat al kursi in your head. I know what to do.” 

I tried to forget about the fact that all the three things, alcohol, drugs and clubs were banned in this country, yet still people managed to smuggle and recreate them. I pulled out my phone and called the first person on my speed dial.

“Hello?” came a deep, groggy voice from the other end.

“Salem, I need your help. It’s pretty urgent.” I felt Mira trying to grab my attention but I shook her hands away. 

“Who is it?!” he questioned with renewed vigour, his tone going from sleepy to angry in a split second. 

“Calm down, I’m fine. Come to the house and use your key to enter.” 

“I’ll be there in five.” He hung up and I sighed tiredly. As a condition of their job, all guards and security personnel had to live no more than ten minutes from our house, just in case of a dangerous or pressing situation. 

“What did you just do?!” Mira whisper-yelled. Everyone was still asleep so we had been conversing in hushed tones.

“Do you want to find your sister or not?” 

“Yes, but I don’t want Salem to know how screwed up my family is!” 

I grasped her hand in mine. “Mira, you need to forget about that for now. If there’s anyone we can trust right now, it’s him. My dad and brother would never let us do this and I’m running on high hopes right now with Salem too. But if there’s one thing you should know, it’s that he won’t judge you. He’s not going to think any lesser of you because of this.” When she remained quiet, I continued. “Salem knows the ins and outs of this city, like the back of his hand. You can trust him to find her.”

She nodded her head understandingly. We sat in silence for a while and I rubbed soothing circles on her back. “Meena, it was so bad,” she repeated, unexpectedly breaking down in tears again. 

Poor thing. I couldn’t imagine how traumatising it would be to watch your so called father hit his wife - your mother. I wished I could erase Mira’s memory of today, but I also knew that her trauma travelled far longer than just today’s event. The roots of domestic violence ran deep and it was the reason I constantly worried about her. She may have a vibrant and eccentric personality but it didn’t account for what was really going on inside.

I brought her face to the crook of my neck and held her there, wishing I could extinguish her pain, but knowing it wasn’t that easy.

Mira was crying so deeply, and I was so absorbed in my thoughts, that we both didn’t hear or see Salem walk into the house until he was standing right in front of us, his large frame blocking the hallway light from shining on us. I realised he was there before Mira, so as she kept her head hidden between my neck, I looked up at Salem and gave him a sad smile.

I could tell that he was conflicted; he looked like he couldn’t decide as to whether he should be angry or concerned, menacing or soft in nature. He eyes were resting on Mira’s convulsing form and after a few seconds he looked to me with questioning, yet tortured eyes.

“What’s going on? Why is Mira crying so hard?” 

At his deep baritone voice, Mira snapped her head up, quickly wiping away any snot and tears on her face. Despite the situation, she still blushed a scarlet red.

He glanced at her with worry, taking in her obvious stress; eyes red and puffy, bags beneath them, scarf disheveled and still shaking.

“We have a situation. And we need your help,” I started, praying that he would aid us in this.

####

Definitions:

Salam: Peace

insha'Allah: God willing.

Ayat al kursi: a verse from the Qur'an