Betrayal

Ameerah’s point of view:

I quickly threw my bag and books on the bed and ran to Aabira’s room. I opened the door quickly and found her lying on the ground turned to the opposite side. She was hugging her knees close to her body, and I could hear the faint sound of her sobs. I ran to her, and as I got closer I noticed that she was lying on a Musalla.

“Aabira,” I called her as I sat next to her. She stopped crying and looked up at me with her red, swollen eyes.

“What’s wrong Aabira? You’re scaring the hell out of me. Did something happen? I heard you scream. Are you okay?” I asked her frantically, my heart beat drumming in my ears, as I thought of a hundred different possibilities of why she was in this miserable state. She got up to sit and wiped her tears with her hands. I was becoming increasingly concerned by every passing moment.

“I ... I had a horrible nightmare,” she was finally able to speak out, and then started to cry more hysterically than before. I was really worried at her reaction. I hugged her close, “shh… It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s over now. Relax.” She continued crying with hiccups.

“Get up, sit on the bed. I’ll get water for you.” I took her by the arm as she walked towards the bed. I poured a glass of water from the jug on the side table and handed it to her. She took a sip and calmed down a little. I sat down beside her and looked at her carefully concern and worry evident on my face.

“Ameerah I ..I want to tell you something. It is horrible and maybe you’ll hate me for it. I ..I am supposed to be your elder sister but I could never be a role model for you. You are smarter than me and I know you have and always will make wise decisions no matter what.” She looked down at the glass in her hand. Her hands were shaking, and I took the glass from her hands. Tears kept flowing out of her eyes, and her lips quivered when she spoke. I grasped her hand tightly, and lifted her chin to look at her face.

“Aabira, whatever you tell me can never make me hate you, however horrible it is. I love you and you have been a great sister always. I will always be with you no matter what.”

She wiped her tears again and took a deep breathe.

“Almost a month ago, I met a guy at the national library. I had this assignment that I had to submit so I went there almost every day for two weeks. We met on my third day there. I was looking for a book, which he was holding, so I went to him, asking for it. He gave it to me politely after I explained why I needed it. He asked me which university I went to and we began talking. He was so charming and I got blinded by his looks and sweet words. He asked me to have coffee with me after we had talked for about an hour. We went to the nearest café, had coffee and talked more. He made me laugh so much, and I felt so happy and alive with him. We exchanged numbers and I felt so ecstatic about it. He complimented me and made me feel so good about myself Ameerah; I was so stupid,” a sob escaped her trembling lips and she sniffed loudly.

“Aabira, It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it. I am here for you. You can tell me when you are comfortable with it,” I said rubbing her back, trying to console her.

“No no, I want to talk about it right now. I want you to know,” she said desperately.

“Okay okay.” I passed her a tissue and she wiped her face with it.

“We began talking on the phone. We would spend hours talking on the phone. When we were not talking, we texted. I felt a happiness that I had never experienced before. I had fallen hard for him. We even met a couple of times and he was always this gentleman, so considerate and caring. I told myself that I could not find a better person than him.” She looked at me, tears threatening to fall again from her eyes, as if asking for my permission to continue. I nodded slightly and squeezed her hand gently.

“We always decided a spot, and he would pick me up from there. One day, we had dinner together and I asked him to drop me back home as it had gotten really late. He was awfully quite that day. I didn’t realize that it was the calm before the storm. We got into the car and he started driving. He took a different route and explained that there was traffic block on the one we usually took. I didn’t suspect a thing, I was that naïve. We got on a road that was isolated and it was really dark there. He stopped the car on the side of the road. I panicked for a second but he explained that there was something wrong with the car. He got out, opened the bonnet of the car and began looking inside. I calmed down realizing that there was actually something wrong with the car. After about two minutes, he sat back in the car and shut the door. He said that he had called the mechanic who was the closest and he would be here in five minutes. After that he would drop me home. I argued that it would get really late and for him to just find me a taxi to get home soon. He took my hand in his and promised me that it would only take about ten minutes for the mechanic to fix the car. In about twenty minutes, he would drop me back home. The big idiot that I was, I agreed. Ameerah, everything was telling me about the danger that lay ahead. The dark road, the fact that it was only our car on the road, and his constant excuses, but I didn’t listen to the constant nagging that my brain did. I trusted him and that was the biggest mistake that I ever made.” She started crying again hiding her face in her hands. By now, I had reached the worst possible conclusion, and I sat there frozen and wide eyed, my own firm resolve betrayed me as I couldn’t even say one more word to console my sister who was crying uncontrollably, her whole body shaking violently, hiccups escaping her mouth repeatedly.