Chapter Seventeen - A Shadow on the Heart

The three girls were sprawled on Leila's bed on a dark Friday evening, talking about family and school when Leila had the bright idea to stalk Leena on Facebook and see how she was doing over her horrible heartbreak with Khalid. Sabrina groaned, clearly not interested to see how desperate Leena was, and flopped her head on a fluffy heart shaped pillow while Emaan and Leila huddled in front of Leila's laptop screen. Facebook popped up and they scrolled through Leena's recent pictures.

"Gosh, she's such an attention seeker." Leila muttered, scrolling through dozens of pictures and selfies. 

"Why doesn't she just get over the fact that Khalid doesn't want her?" Emaan said, rolling her eyes. "Speaking of Khalid - he's totally out of it these days, hey?" 

Emaan was referring to Khalid's current state. He had been absent on Monday only to show up on Tuesday looking as if the life of him had been sucked out. He didn't laugh. He didn't talk too often and his face was constantly blank. He rarely smiled and when he did, it was hard and fake. Today he had passed by Sabrina and a cold smirk crossed his face as his eyes met hers. But he kept on walking as if he had other things to think about besides his hatred over non-Arabs. Sabrina suspected that he was over-ridden with guilt. After all he had nearly killed a guy - high or not.

Even Khalid had feelings.

"I dunno, he hasn't even updated his Facebook recently." Leila answered, her eyes glued onto her laptop.

"Yeah, cause updating Facebook after nearly killing someone and then announcing that you're about to drop out of a gang is totally normal." Sabrina said, dryly.

"I'm just saying." Leila sighed. "Wow look at this." She cried, tilting her laptop so Sabrina could see a picture of Leena leaning over her bathroom sink and making the most putrid duck face ever. The shot was ever so elegantly titled: 'Please don't judge me; and I wont judge you.oxox'

Sabrina raised her eyebrows and blinked. Her eyes felt as if they were burning from sheer horror and disgust. Leila laughed at her reaction and turned back to her laptop.

"She is so boy-crazy." She snorted.

Something about the way Leila said that statement made Sabrina look up. She wasn't one to backbite - or speak badly of things she did herself.

"Uh...if I remember correctly, you had Omar Al-Gala as you screen saver for, like, at least three years."

"Woah, what now?" Emaan snorted, appalled.

Leila grunted. "Two years!" She said. "And puh-leese. That man has been blessed. Even you cant deny his beauty."

"All I'm saying is that you were boy-crazy once too!" Sabrina pointed out, crossing her arms.

"Okay. Okay." Leila sighed. "But all I'm saying is that there's a reason he was deported from Saudi Arabia for being too handsome."

"That was a rumor, you weirdo!" Sabrina exclaimed, throwing a pillow at Leila.

"A very likely one." Emaan joked, just as there was a knock on the door

Sabrina and Emaan scrambled to make sure they had their hijabs on - in case an uninvited male intruder happened to walk in. It just so happened that the uninvited male intruder was Leila's father. He strolled into the room and after greeting Sabrina and Emaan, turned to his daughter.

"Baita, I just got a call from that man who was hit by a car a few days ago. He wanted to personally thank me and I was thinking you could come along and ask those questions about volunteering at the hospital while I'm there." He glanced at Sabrina and Emaan. "I'm leaving right now, though, so your friends are welcome to come along."

Leila turned to her friends with a so-do-you-wanna? look. Emaan stood up. 

"I have to leave soon anyway. So: sorry, I'll pass." She sighed.

"I'll come." Sabrina chirped beforw turning to Leila. "I didn't know you were planning on volunteering at the hospital, Lee!"

Leila's dad interrupted and told them to get ready. He left as Emaan began to put on her coat and Leila and Sabrina chatted about volunteer experience. 

* * *

Peace River Hospital was a large, mint green building about ten stories high. It had long, glossy windows and gleaming floors. The main floor had warm inviting coffee shops and little shops so people could sit down for quick refreshments. Nevertheless, Sabrina shivered as she walked down the cold, white halls. She disliked hospitals and the eerie sadness that floated down their corridors.

There was hope, though. Faint, yes, but there. This was a place of life and death, after all. People died here. Whether from old age, a failed surgery, or a fatal condition, people died. This was the place where they took their last breath. This was the place where their souls abandoned them. But there was also life. This was also a place where babies were born, where life emerged. And that was why hope still lingered. The walls Sabrina walked through now, had heard more prayers than the walls of churches. According to an anonymous person, at least.

They entered a well lit room and Leila's dad headed over to a man who was lying on the hospital bed. Sabrina and Leila had decided to meet with the man and wish him well.Then they would head back down to the main floor and question the ladies at the front desk about the volunteer programs. So they sat down, with shy smiles and listened as Leila's dad talked to the man like he was reuniting with an old friend.

They learned that his name was Bradley Turner. He was a calm, quite man in his mid-forties. He greeted Sabrina and Leila with a small nod and a tight smile. They also learned that before he was hit by Khalid's truck, he had had an open heart surgery just two months before. Bradley chuckled at it, though. He looked around and shook his head. 

"Back here again, and this time I was nearly run over." He said, dryly. 

But there was no denying the pain in his eyes. The unfairness of it all. The anger towards the person who had nearly ended his life. And worry. Sabrina wondered at that deep worry in his eyes. She didn't have to wonder long. Bradley suddenly sighed, staring at his hands.

"I'm a single father with three young daughters, you know." He murmured, as if he was talking to himself. "What would have become of them if I died? My mother is taking care of them now, but she'll be gone one day too. What then?" 

He stared down at his clenched fists, his face twisted in anger and worry. "I hope they find him. That person who nearly took away the father of three innocent young girls." He growled through his teeth. "I have a word or two for him."

Besides her, Leila tensed, and Sabrina turned to see her best friends fighting emotions of her own. Her face was hard and she stared at her phone in her lap as if she wanted to call the police right there and confess. Guilt gnawed at her expression. Someone once told Sabrina that guilt was a shadow over the heart. She felt that shadow now, in her own. She was as guilty as Leila was even if she hadn't seen Khalid with her own eyes, she still knew it was him who had committed the crime.

Sabrina cleared her throat and as Leila looked up, she nodded towards the door. Leila gave a small nod in understanding and got up, telling her father that they were going downstairs to speak with the ladies at the front desk. He nodded and Sabrina followed Leila out, leaving the two men behind as they talked of injustice and crime and sorrow. It warmed her heart to see the two different races, an Indian and a Caucasian man, relate to each other. They were different, yes, but they were both human and that made them one and the same. They spoke of something that all humans could understand, something that made us all the same: emotion. 

Sabrina and Leila were silent as they strode down the white, polished halls. They passed people both young and old, healthy and sick. They took the elevator down to the main floor, squeezing between a couple that fondly gazed down at their young child. As they stood at the front desk, questioning the polite ladies about volunteer work, Sabrina excused herself to go to the bathroom. She stared at her reflection in the mirror, her mouth moving as she recited the dua that should be read when gazing upon oneself. She always marvelled at the definition:

"Oh Allah just as you have made my external features beautiful, make my character beautiful as well."

Allah made us all beautiful, from the inside and out, she thought. We've been so blessed and we don't even realize it. She thought of Bradley, with his three daughters. They were so young and innocent. They didn't deserve to lose their dad because of someone else's stupid decision to go driving while they were high or drunk. They deserved to live a long, beautiful life. They deserved to look in the mirror and feel blessed. 

Guilt burned at Sabrina's heart. She decided to tell Leila to call the cops. Right now. They had too. She rushed out of the bathroom just as she saw Leila walk up to her. 

"Oh, you're done?" She said, her voice flat. "So am I, lets go."

"Listen, I have to tell you something." Sabrina began as they entered the elevator. "I was just thinking that we should-oh!" She gasped, her hand rummaging her coat pocket for her phone.

"My phone!" She cried. "I must have left it in the bathroom."

"Its alright, we can go back." Leila said, just as the elevator door opened to their floor. 

"Oh, I'll go ahead and get it." Sabrina sighed. "You can get back to Bradley's room, I don't mind."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, just go."

Sabrina pushed the button that would take her down to the main floor, as Leila walked out. The door closed as Sabrina tried to suppress a groan. She had just gotten her phone back from her mother and she'd absentmindedly left it on the bathroom counter. What if someone had taken it? She closed her eyes, praying no one had. Not only that, but she hadn't even told Leila to call the cops. It had flew out her mind the moment she had discovered her phone was gone. Over a piece of technology, she had withheld a man's right to know who had nearly killed him.

As she entered the bathroom, she was relieved to find her phone still on the bathroom counter. With only the slightest bit of annoyance she slipped it into her pocket and headed back to the elevator for the second time. But not before catching a glimpse of movement that unexpectantly caught her attention. She turned and from across the hall, saw a tall boy with a green hoodie. 

Khalid. 

He was pacing the hall, his face twisted with worry and...some other expression that Sabrina had never seen on his usually handsome face. He scowled fiercely at the floor and a few feet away a man who resembled him was yelling on the phone with a desperate voice. Sabrina, intrigued, found herself walking closer towards the scene. She had always been curious by nature and her eyes told her that Khalid's mother was missing from the scene in front of her. The conclusion? His mother was in the emergency room that Khalid and his dad frantically paced in front of.

Her mind jumped to conclusions. Had his gang harmed his mother out of anger of him leaving? She almost stopped in her tracks at the thought, her own mind swirling with images and thoughts and crazy ideas at Khalid's murderous expression. Was that why his eyes glistened now? Was that the hidden expression on his face that she couldn't decipher earlier? 

Guilt?

Two nurses exited the room, making Khalid pounce on them and bombard them with questions. Sabrina inched closer but still couldn't make out the conversation. The nurses, blunt and unwavering, answered them all, making Khalid's face drop. He sat heavily on the floor, causing Sabrina's heart to jump into her throat. Khalid's father sat beside his son and seemed to whisper words of encouragement. Sabrina on the other hand, came to her senses and followed the two nurses who were rushing down the hall.

"..needs blood fast but she has a B- blood type." The nurse said, shaking her head. "We don't have enough blood for her."

"We'll see if we can get a donor." The other replied, sounding worried.

Sabrina's own blood surged wildly through her veins, as she made an almost involuntary decision.

"Wait." She called, as the nurses turned around. "I...Can I donate my blood to her? That's my friend's mom." She said, even though that was a lie. But they had been friends before. "Please! Maybe my blood is compatible!" 

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized that she didn't have to do this. She shook the thought away. But she did. If she had a chance to save a life, then she had to take it. The nurses eyed her and shared a look.

"Okay." They decided. "How old are you?"

* * *

Sabrina hated needles. Ever since she got her first shot, she squirmed at the sight of them. Anything that pointy should not be entering into your skin, she thought. But she bit back her fear and watched it pierce into her skin and draw out her blood. She watched the bag fill with the red liquid and recited a couple of short surahs under her breath to calm herself down. Within ten minutes it was over and the needle was gone. Thank fully.

The nurse smiled and wiped her arm. 

"Take this to the lab while I tend to her." She told the other nurse, handing over her blood, and turning to Sabrina. "We'll find out the result and see what your blood type is. Hopefully its O- or B-." She smiled and handed her a cup of water.

Sabrina took a sip and stared down at her arm. What if its not the right blood type? She wondered. She stood there, nervously draining the cup of water. After what seemed like an eternity, the nurse checked her pulse and blood pressure, assuring her that everything was fine. Just as she was explaining to her that Sabrina might feel a little dizzy from the blood loss, the other nurse came in wearing a wide grin. 

"She's a B-!" The nurse declared happily. "This is incredible!" 

"Incredible, indeed. That's the compatible blood type." The other nurse said, in wonder as she turned to stare at Sabrina. "You may have just saved your friend's mother!"

Sabrina felt joy surge through her heart. Yes, she thought. Finally something goes right! She laughed happily and jumped off the chair she was sitting on, exiting the room she was in. She walked down the hall to the room where Khalid's mother was in and peeked into it. Khalid stood over his mother while his dad stood beside him, gazing at her in silence. She saw her blood in a bag beside her bed, making its way into her veins. She stepped back, preparing to leave. The nurses walked in and announced that the kind girl who had so sweetly volunteered her blood was waiting outside. 

That was when Sabrina's eyes widened in horror. She turned to leave but not before Khalid came rushing out, his hair flying over his face, his eyes red and glittering with tears. He stared at her in shock, his mouth falling open. Sabrina realized that this was the first time he ever regarded her without malice burning in his eyes since grade school. It made her heart ache and she longed for those happier times. Time had made him even more handsome, she realized and blinked, lowering her gaze.

"Sabrina..." He whispered. "Thank you."

With a start, Sabrina realized that a couple of years had passed since she'd heard him utter her name. She stood, frozen to the spot before she gave him a tentative smile.

____________________________________________________________________________

Is this it? Does Khalid finally accept that Sabrina doesn't hate him and all Arabs in existence? Wanna know what they have to say to each other? Update next Friday, inshaAllah :)

If you liked it, please don't forget to vote and comment! Also this is dedicated to FoerverMuslim for the awesomesauce cover she made for the story!! Give her a follow, and make me eternally happy :)

surahs: chapters of the Holy Quran (the Book of Allah)