Naureen

I walked further into space as darkness consumed me. I felt someone's gentle hand on mine. I looked up and gasped. It was her. She was wearing a sky blue hijab and she was smiling at me.

"Do u need something?" I heard her soft voice.

"Yes please. are you-"

Before i could complete my sentence, she was thrown away from me by force.

I screamed.

suddenly her voice came again," oh dear, what should we do?-" she was stopped mid sentence agaim but this time i heard her scream.

and suddenly my eyes shot open. I gasped.

Nightmare.

Again.
It's been so long since I had one. This was my longest without nightmares.

Allah, I tried my best but it was as if my mind wouldn't listen to me and it travelled back to that fateful day.

FLASHBACK

"Noor, breakfast is ready. Come quick" aunt Shaheen called out.

"Coming Aunty, just a minute" i replied
I pressed up last pin on my hijab, took my hand bag , glanced a last time in the mirror and walked out of my room

"Assalamu alaikum, Good morning" I said as I approached the dining table.

"Walaikum assalam, dear. Did you sleep well?" Aunty asked, setting out the breakfast.

"Um..sort of " i mumbled looking at my plate.

"Why?"

"Because, batman and superman wouldn't let me sleep"I said nonchalantly.

"What? " she asked, surprised.

" Yeah, Ali was watching batman vs superman till midnight WITH full volume." I explained.

"Oh my Allah ,that boy! I tell you if he scores average marks in his examinations I am so gonna beat him up."Aunty said. She is very concerned about his grades since he is very talented Masha Allah but he is too lazy to use his brains. That's what everyone thinks about kids now a days.

"Where is he by the way" I asked.

"Oh, he is still in his dreams" she replied.

I chuckled at her reply.
Just then uncle Usman arrived for breakfast.

"Morning ladies" he said settling on the chair and rubbing his hands together.
"mhmm....breakfast smells good, what is it?" He asked opening the lid of the breakfast platter.

"Oh my! Its chicken sandwich, my fav!" I peeked and said a bit louder so Ali can hear me.

Uncle and I started whisper counting "one....two...thre-"

"Did anyone say chicken sandwich or am I hearing things?" Ali peeked through his door.

"You heard right, our monkey has sharp ears must say " I joked.

He just made a face at me and closed the door but not before yelling" Don't finish all the food, fattie. Leave some for me too"

"Well,well. look who's back." I said when he arrived at the dining after getting fresh. He gave me a playful glare and sat across me. Besides him being 18,Some times he acts like a kid. Oh, and me too.

"This is called a real breakfast. Chicken sandwich and apple juice, mum why dont you always cook breakfast like this" he said stuffing his mouth with sandwiches.

"Hey Noor, pass me the glass of juice please" Ali said pointing to the glass beside me.

"Don't call me noor, only uncle and aunt are allowed to call me by that name" I said passing him the glass.

"Oh really and why is that?" he said with a mouthful. Gross.

"Cause it sounds weird from your mouth, because you say 'nhhoor' " I said stressing on the 'h'

He sticked his tongue out at me and i did the same at him. My phone buzzed and I picked it up. It was a message from Ayaan saying 'All the best'.

"Ohhho! Is that Aayaan?" Ali asked.

"No. And it's Ayaan not Aaayaaan" I tried mimicking him.

"hmph whatever," he sassed, "what does he say?" he asked clearly not able to understand what my 'no' meant.

"All the best" i said. All the while aunty and uncle had been staring at us, who were bickering like parrots.

"What for?" Ali took a sip of the juice.

"She's going to give an interview you dumbo? sometimes I wonder if you even live in this house" uncle said, flicking his head. He almost choked on the juice. I snickered.

I texted Ayaan 'Jazakallah and make sure you make dua for me' with a wide smile emoji.
I was about to go for an interview, on a post of mathematics teacher in a renowned Islamic school, which was in Mysore.

We finished our breakfast and then I took my belongings and necessary documents, said salam to everybody and left for my bus which will be at the Majestic Bus station at 8:00 a.m.

I need to hurry because if I miss it, I will miss my interview which is at 10:45 a.m. sharp.

I rushed to the station to see that the bus hadn't arrived yet. I sighed and sat on one of the waiting seats. I noticed a lady, about my age, sitting beside me.

She didn't see me so I started checking my files.

15 minutes passed and there was still no sign of the bus. I was getting worried.

Just then a lady announced on the microphone " The passengers of Bus no. M1, we are very sorry to tell you that the bus will be delayed for just 45 minutes. Please make some arrangements if in an emergency. I repeat-"

"Just 45 minutes?" I said through gritted teeth, looking at my ticket that said "ticket to Bus no. M1".

I huffed and was going to call Ali, when I felt a gentle hand on mine.

I looked up and saw the woman sitting beside me smiling at me, "Do u need something?" she asked.

"Yes please. Are you in the same bus as me? are you going to Mysore?" I asked.

" Yes I'm going to mysore and my bus is M3" she replied, taking a glance at my card.

"Oh it's okay. sorry for bothering y-"

"No, no why are you apologising dear, tell me are you going somewhere important."

" Uh.. yes..i have to give an interview at 10:45." I said.

"Oh dear, what should we do? wait-I won't mind getting there late as I have a business meeting in the evening. You should take my bus it will be here in a few-Oh! there it is!" she exclaimed pointing at a bus that just arrived. I was really very thankful to this lady. Alhamdullilah.

"JazakAllah khair- I'm so grateful to you. You owe me big time. And May I know the name of my helper?" I asked

"Razia" she smiled,"Razia Hamid"

She looked up from her bag, handing me her ticket while I gave her mine.
It all seemed normal but little did we know that we were not just exchanging the bus tickets but exchanging our destinies as well.

"Allah Hafiz. I hope we'll meet again" I smiled back gratefully and made my way towards the bus.

________________________________

I wiped my sweaty forehead as I sat in the waiting room in the
school.

There were four people who were before me-

Des-pa- CITO! Quiero respirar tu cuello despacito, deja que te diga cosas al oido, para que te-

I fumbled with my phone and finally succeeded in muting the stupid ringtone. I blushed. Everyone was straring at me weirdly. Even the little boy who was siiting across me was giggling.

Gosh! This is so embarrassing. But I had never set--Ali! that little turd! Im gonna kick his butt for sure when I get back home.

I picked up Aunty's call and came out in the corridor.

"Hello?"I said.

"Hello? Noor? Is that you? Are you alright?Ya Allah, I was so scared we were all worried! Where are you beta?" she bombarded me with questions.

"Im fine aunty. Alhamdulillah. But why were you so worried? I'm in the school right now." I asked, confused.

"Noor, what is you bus no? I clearly saw it was M1."

"Uh...aunty the bus was delayed 45 min so I exchanged seats with a lady. She was so nice you know-" I was cut off by aunty screaming.

"WHat? Ya Allah That poor lady! But at least you are safe. But no! She didnt deserved it either! oh my! " Aunty sobbed.

"What is it aunty why are you crying? what happened to her?" I asked, my heart racing.

"Miss Naureen Abbas? it's your turn." the receptionist poked her head into the corridor. I pleaded her with my eyes and signalled her to wait for a few minutes. she shook her head and went back.

"N-Naureen, the bus M1 got into a terrible accident. T-the driver had a heart attack and n-no one survived, Noor, not even a single soul" she cried.

The world crashed. I stumbled backward and held the wall for support.

Ya Allah! what have I done?

Did I-I kill her?

Astagfurullah no! Damn this interview!

Why did I even give her my bus. She might be having a family, people who care for her.

But me? Who do I have? I am hopelessly alone. It should have been me in that bus.

Astagfurrulah! im so ungrateful.
aren't uncle, aunty, ayaan and ali enough for me?

But that poor woman......please forgive me razia...

Aunty's voice got muffled and my blurry vision saw the phone's battery die.

The last thing I saw was the blonde receptionist's wide eyes before everything went black.

Third Person POV

Naureen was taken to the hospital. Her Interview left unattended, Her innocent self was cursed by the loved ones of Razia.

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So, the past is revealed. It's a shocking one. right?
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love,
TheHijabQueen