10
HELL OR HEAVEN

When the people burns your world peace

The demons create a path in between for yuh

Under the canvas of a cloudless sky, a sunny day unfolded, showering a golden glow upon the world. The air was carrying whispers of a gentle breeze that rustled through the leaves of that one tree that stood in the middle of the garden. The fragrance of blooming flowers lingered in the air, as Noor stood amidst the beauty. As she stood in the heart of the garden, her eyes reflected the beauty of the moment. A soft smile graced her face, illuminated by the sun's gentle touch. Birds added a melodic touch to the symphony, their songs harmonizing with the rustling leaves, seemingly at one with the garden, observing the dance of butterflies and the busy flutter of bees. This cool sunny day etched itself into the girl's memory, a snapshot of serenity and beauty. Some specific flowers were planted in sequence, roses, jasmine, lilies and sunflowers. The only flower she loved to watch wasn't there, tulips.

She moves to the right side of the garden where the bale of grapes covered the complete wall with grace. Bunches of grapes were hung on it. She was wearing a purple dress which enlightened her presence. Her eyes squinted when something hit her mind, a whisper escaped from her lips, "Why?"

She got ready an hour ago and was waiting for Hadia because they decided to go for an outing.

"Assalamualaikum!", a familiar voice hit her ear.

"Waalaikumsalam! You here?", staring at Sahin she asked.

He came towards Noor and said, "yeah, how's it going? lavender!!!"

She got confused and surprised at the same time by the name he gave her, "what did you just say?"

"Lavender!", he carelessly said it again. She stared at him with a questionable expression.

"You, Lavender!", he confirmed again.

"What?", that's the only word that slipped out.

"It's immoral to say you HELL even if it's your name. But I can tell you HEAVEN if you want-", she understands the boldness in his words but at the wrong time. Noor already had a PhD in misunderstanding things, words and people.

"Hadia!!!!", she shouted to show her frustration.

"Wait what you said?"

"Hadia!"

"Who's Hadia?", he asked her with confusion.

"Are you fooling me?", she knows that he knows but he's not showing.

"No, I'm just asking- Who's Hadia?"

"Hande is Hadia", she said with a wide smile.

"Who said this?"

"I- any problem"

"No, so how do you get to know this?", he secretly asked her in a low tone bending to her ears so no one can listen even when there's no one because he's a responsible person.

"In truth and dare, I asked her some questions that revealed her real name." she also told him in the same way, secretly.

"Oh! Great, you're intelligent." he said, winking at her.

"Yeah, I'm", she replied proudly.

Hadia came in and was wondering whether Noor will be annoyed with him but to her surprise she wasn't even when her face was covered with purple veil Hadia can easily figure that she wasn't annoyed, she was happy. Who knows-.

"So, where are we going? ", she asked Hadia while opening the front door.

"I don't know, it's Sahin's plan, not mine," she replied.

"What??? Is he going with us? ", she prolonged.

"Yeah!", she carelessly said.

"Whyyyy????, she questioned her own existence, and Hadia just wants to disappear on the spot because she knows they're going to start again. She closed the front door and went to the right back door.

"He asked to spend the day out so I thought it's better to enjoy then caged in the house", she classified the situation. A big smile appeared on Hadia's face obviously under the veil.

They both sat in the backseats and waited for Sahin who was on the call with a man, "Is everything ready? He said on call, who is talking Hadia?", she asked

"How could I know, I can't even hear it from here", Hadia said while focusing on Sahin's lips so she could get any hint about it.

"Focus, you're near to his side, you can listen."

"Noor!", she looked at Noor with guilt.

"It's wrongdoing. We are trying to overhear his conversation."

"Hmmm, you're right but why did you agree?" she asked, making puppy eyes. "You know he always tease me with things- I hate him."

"Yah, I know but he's my very dear friend, I can't deny and I don't want our bond get affected by all this- You know I met him after a long time so I hope you understand."

"I either don't want this but you can say no to him no", she indulged.

"Maybe I can't- You'll know this soon-"

"INSHALLAH!", she said.

He looked at the car and got confused. Then ignoring his own confusion, he opened the door amusingly, the only thing he did was to tease her, so he asked Noor with innocence, "Together!!!" while trying hard not to smile, but not get successful in it. She gets easily teased by him saying together and then that smile he tried to hide but couldn't. She stared at Hadia to scold him but she blinked her eyes twice to say "I'm sorry" without saying. "Ufffffff", she opened the window and started exploring out while after Noor faced out Hande hit Sahin's head to stop his nonsense at which they both chuckled making Noor confused. "What happened?"

"Umhm nothing it just his face", this time Noor and Hadia chuckled at Sahin's confused face.

Noor was hanging half in the window and watching the trees recede in the rearview mirror creating an illusion of continuous motion. Just like the time those passing bushy trees will never come back in the way forward. The shifting landscape creates a sense of movement and passing time in the artist's eye, of her own life. The sky, a blue canvas above with some stroke of white cloud's, almost invisible- whether it's a moment of tranquility, melancholy, or anticipation. She turned a little back to see the trees from the window. She gazed upon the sunlit sky, marveling at its unexplainable beauty, yet feeling a different sense that it's somehow beyond reach. She captivates the celestial body display until it gracefully hides itself in the gushing tree's which passed by, leaving her with a contemplative awareness that it now witnesses me.

"I really struggled for this"

"For what?"

"Ahan! You're tricking me little flower", she denied by nodding off when he saw her turning backward. Noor again started to gaze out of the window when he saw her from the back mirror while setting it over her. Her beautiful brown eyes between her hijab and veil were portrait in the mirror. He sees them after every five minutes.

After 15 minutes they stopped at a Petrol pump so they wouldn't get stuck in the way if it's finished. "How much?", the man asked him.

"3 liter", the man nodded and dialed the figure on the machine.

After falling out, he put the car on the road and saw both of them through the mirror who was busy looking out of the window.

"Girls!!!", he addressed them.

"Yes!", said Hadia.

"It's feeling awkward."

"What's feeling awkward?", Noor wasn't interested to listen him until he said "it's feeling awkward"

"What happened to him and what makes him feel awkward", she thought and her brain started giving her non serious answers. She bites her lips to not laugh and be serious.

"Yar, driveroon wali feel aa rai" (it's feeling like a driver), he said making an innocent face. They both laughed at him.

"Girls it's not a joke, it really felt like I'm your driver", finally he expressed his confusion because no one sat in the front seat.

"Okai okai! We understand. It's okay if such things happen", as Hadia completed the sentence Noor again chuckled at him.

"That's so rude", they were still laughing at his nonsense which was bothering him.

The place they were going was almost an hour away from Istanbul. It was 2 pm when they got into the car. They had just done breakfast in the morning around 6 am and now they were getting hungry. Sahin stopped the car near a Restaurant and asked them to come along. They went in and moved to the corner table with the window. Sahin waved at the waiter for the order. As the waiter came, Sahin told her the decided meal.

Noor took her phone out of her tiny cross body bag. She was typing something when Sahin noticed the price of paper stuck inside of her transparent cover. It was a drawing of a little girl holding the hand of a little boy. It clearly seemed that the drawing was of a little child. His eyes glittered at that pointless drawing while he listened, his words echoed, "Nonsense!"

Noor's inner child was still alive and Sahin knows it but that drawing surprised him that she caged a pointless drawing in her cell phone cover.

"Lavender!"

"Where?", Hadia asked with excitement, opening her camera to click the picture of lavender. Noor figured out immediately that he was addressing her. Sahin pointed at Noor.

"Oh!", Hadia got disappointed when she couldn't find the lavender. Noor looked at both of them, then Sahin asked, "What's that?", and pointed at the drawing.

"It's a drawing", she gave a straightforward answer in a soft tone not letting him think what she's thinking about it. He was a mind reader and she had to be aware.

"Yeah, but-", before he could complete his sentence Noor said, "It was made by someone dear"

"Someone dear?", asking her with the trick he always uses to get further information without asking much.

"Yeah, from my childhood"

"It's beautiful maybe it has a meaning"

"Meaning!", she saw him with no emotion in her eye's which scared Sahin to depth. Hadia never interferes between their conversation about something deep, yet she skillfully gives hints to Noor for a better answer when she wants help.

"Like ummm- there are two figures holding hands in it, I mean that dear person maybe wants you to be with you forever- I hope he's with you forever." A glimpse of sadness passed from his eyes when he said these words to her. She was somewhere else, she didn't know.

"Forever!"

"Yeah, maybe forever."

Noor's head snapped back into place when she said, "I have read that forever could be just a minute." Her eyes got sad as she looked out.

"What if forever is about Jannah."

"Jannah?" She looked at Sahin.

"Yeah! Jannah", he nodded while saying.

"But what if we lost them?" she asked him, like only he could answer her.

"Every lost thing will be given back to us in Jannah", he was determined on the view of lost things.

"Who says it? I can't believe people's words-", she was on her way to complete it when he said, "Allah said it". These were the words that calmed her down, these were the words she wanted to listen to, these were the words of consolation she wanted.

"Is this whom you once said you wrote something for him?", Hadia indulged. Noor nodded, looking at the picture. That was the moment when Sahin decided that one day he'll ask her.

They went silent. After a few minutes two girls entered and sat after two tables. They were listening to the gossiping girls who just came in. They were loud enough to listen. Sahin and Noor smiled at the gossiping girls and Hadia hit both of them to stop when Noor immediately said, "Hey you mister! stop laughing, you are overhearing it and it's a wrongdoing", Hadia smiled at her remembering the recent same case that happened in the car. Noor winked at Hadia with a victory appearing in her eyes.

"I wasn't"

"Don't lie, you were even smiling on their convo"

"You were also smiling little flower"

"No, I wasn't smiling on them"

"Then whom you were smiling for"

"I smiled at you because you passed a smile", she continued "And how do you know I smiled back"

"Your eyes smiled", their eye's met for a second, something appeared in Noor's eyes. Her face was getting crimson and eyes started glittering. Noor immediately turned her face towards Hadia to avoid him while Sahin was still seeing her. Hadia saw her with a question mark on her face, figuring her situation, she winked at Noor to use the trick she used just a second ago to save from his stare.

"I smiled because smiling is Sunnah", she said without making the mistake to see in his eyes. He nodded while smiling.

"Why does this idiot have such a charming smile?", obviously she thought she wouldn't want to do any other blunder.

Noor gazed at the sky and asked without addressing anyone, "How much Arsh-e-Rehman is far from us?"

"It is said,

Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal (may God have mercy on him), was asked:

What is the distance between us and Arsh-e-Rehman?
He said:
Of a true call from a true heart!"

Those words echoed in her ears and she went into trance admiring the lonely sky standing up on their head. Some birds flew by there in sequence without breaking the chain. Two birds hit each other and flew down to the parking area. Both were looking more concerned about the other, if they'll be lover, they'll be same concerned for each other but if they would be human, they will kill each other, they would hold each other collars rather than apologizing each other because this was present human nature. Maybe they were lovebirds "Çalıkuşu". 

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Happy reading!!!
Browneyedsoul ♡
Binte Naeem (Zefanya Gul)