chapter fifty four

"Khair!" I heard Ahmad called and I carefully turned my head to the direction I was hearing his voice from but I wished I hadn't turned cos I felt a mallet being hit on my head several times.

From the beeping sound,white room and the comfy bed,I realised I was in the hospital.

"Khair!" He called again.

"Yes?" I answered and again,I wished I hadn't talked. Just imagine your lips being glued together by the strongest gum then you're forced to open them.

"How are you feeling? Hope you're okay? Do you need anything to eat? Why didn't you tell me all that was happening? Forget that one first. Are you fine? Should I call the nurses? Is..." Ahmad ranted and I almost laughed. Almost.

"Calm down. I can't answer all that questions at once. One question at a time."

"How are you feeling?" He asked and waited for me to reply.

What was I even feeling? Anything but happy.

"Sad?"

"Uhm,I mean physically."

"Oh. I'm fine. Its just that....no I'm not fine."

"Its just that what? Pls tell me." Ahmad said worriedly.

"Never mind. Just body pains and one annoying headache." I said trying to sit up.

"Pls lie down. You aren't suppose to get up." Ahmad said pushing me back down.

"How's uncle Haroon?" I questioned tiredly.

"He's....." Ahmad started but I didn't let him finish whatever he was going to say.

"OH MY GOD UNCLE HAROON!" I shouted sitting abruptly on the bed,remembering everything.

"Khair calm down. He....." Ahmad started again but I interrupted

"Calm what?! How can I calm down. I just remembered he got shot by...Maya." I said bitterly tears filling up my eyes.

"Is he alive?" I asked wiping my tears and forcing the tears back.

'Why forcing your tears back? Remember you haven't cried properly since when all these started so let it all out girl. Let it out' My mind convinced and I just did as it said. I let my tears flow freely without making any sound.

It seemed Ahmad forgot my previous question that's why he didn't answer me so I repeated"Is he alive?"

"....." He said nothing.

"Talk" I urged him

"Well....I can't tell if he's alive orrr....." Ahmad nervously trailed off.

"Innalillahi. Just tell me the truth. If you can't let me go and meet him." I shouted removing the syringe on my hand getting ready to sprint up.

"Khair stop. You're injuring yourself." Ahmad shouted back at me but did I listen to him? No!

"Sit down let me tell you the truth." He said and I glared at him. I don't even know why I did that.

I stayed glued at my spot refusing to sit.

Ahmad sighed and said "The doctors haven't said anything yet but he hasn't been breathing since he was brought here. He will be fine insha Allah."

Uncle Haroon isn't breathing?! If someone is not breathing doesn't that means he's dead?

"Oh no." I panicked and hyperventilated at the same time. I held my spinning head with my bloody hands as my body shook in fear.

"Uncle Haroon is dead" I stated the obvious myself and with that confession, I fall on the ground numbly.

Ahmad who was busy shouting my name and pressing the emergency button at the same time was also panicking.

From there,I didn't know what happened again.

.......

Third person's POV

Smith who was still struggling from the hold of the cops finally got handcuffed.

"I'm not the only person involved in this. There's a girl with me." Smith yelled.

He can't be the one taking all the blame despite him not being the murderer.

"Where's she?" One of the cops asked.

"I don't know. She ran away when she heard the sirens. She must be somewhere here in this house." Smith snorted with annoyance.

"Search every nook and crook of this house fast. She should be here and hiding somewhere." The inspector barked out.

Meanwhile.....

As Maya picked up her backpack which she had most of her important stuffs in,she ran away from Khair who was busy raining attacks on Smith.

She speed walked to the fence close to the garage. She looked up at it and gathered her confidence.

"Okay you can do this. Sumayya you can so this!" Maya confidently said breathing in and out.

She took many steps backward before running forward with all her strength. Like a skilled ninja,she climbed the smooth high fence. She stood on top of it catching her breath.

"Nice." She complimented herself and clutched her bleeding arm.

She saw the policemen rushing inside the house from the gate. She gritted her teeth and jumped down the fence. She can't get herself caught. She personally planned hard for this day.

"Oww." She winced quietly as she jumped and fell down on the other side of the fence. She studied the bushy surrounding and focused her eyes on a path she was sure she could escape from.

Tiptoeing to the path, she ran like her life depended on it. Well, it kinda did.

She ran and ran constantly jumping and dodging fallen trees.

"Oh my Lord." She breathed in dry air as she fall down and came to a rolling stop.

"I didn't know the land will be sloppy here." She groaned and sat up. She removed her sneakers which seemed not to contain her swelling feet again.

"My legs." She cried out in pain but stopped when she heard scrunching of dried leaves behind her.

"Who's there?" A firm male voice boomed inside the forest.

"Shit." She cursed,wiped her tears and wore her sneakers. She got up and continued her forced marathon. She thought it was a cop but it was actually a forester.

After running and resting for several minutes,she sighted group of people. Some chatting,some walking about while some sat lonely on the old benches.

"Finally. I never knew it would take this far." She said holding her knees in tiredness. She walked slowly to the people.

"The train station." She smiled to herself. She bought a train ticket and waited impatiently for the next train.

When it finally came,she walked inside and sat at the far end of the train. The train started moving and she started smiling triumphantly like the freak she was.

......

"Sir! Sir! There is no one in this house." The cops who were rushing out of every angle of the house said in uniform.

"What nonsense are you saying Mr? Don't turn us into fools." The inspector yelled at Smith who was busy fuming.

"Take him away boys."

With that other being giving,the other cops carelessly dragged the stubborn Smith into their van and took him away.

To Smith, there was no way those cops were going to punish him without his partner in crime. He even wondered where the hell that girl hid herself.

'Wait,why was she asking me about the forest behind my house and the places after the forest? Is it that she ran inside the forest or something? But how will she get out when the cops were surrounding my house? Did she jumped the fence? No that's not possible. The fences are pretty high and I don't have any ladder around. That girl seems smarter than she looks so maybe she found a way to make herself invisible so that she can get past the cops. Smith Gaulten what are you thinking?! Invisible? Seriously? Ughhh.' Different thoughts clouded Smith's mind.

"The surveillance cameras." He shouted getting up from the metal bench he was sitting on.

"Uh?" The cops there gave him a questioning look.

"The cameras at my house. You can see the girl I'm telling y'all about."

"Okay. You,inform the inspector." A cop said and one left to summon the inspector.

"Cameras huh? Let's go back to your house." The inspector said and made his way outside.

"She's the one?" The inspector asked smith pointing at Maya on the screen.

"Of course." Smith rolled his eyes.

They both focused on the screen when they saw Maya coming out of the garage with her backpack on her back. They saw how she jumped the fence with ease and fall down on the other side.

"Oh my God!" Smith exclaimed.

'Just how the butt was she able to do that risky thing at a risky time?' Thought Smith.

The inspector gave orders to the cops and talked to other people on his walkie-talkie.

"You should all drive to that forest and search everywhere thoroughly. Anything you see,you have to report back to me immediately." Said the inspector.

Smith was taken back to the cell while the cops tried there best looking for Maya. Unfortunately for them, she was already out of San Fransisco.

.......

"God!" Khair groaned opening her eyes.

"Khairee." Ahmad sighed in relief standing up from the chair he was almost dozing off on.

Khair removed the oxygen mask from her mouth before sucking in fresh air.

"Uncle Haroon." She croaked out.

"He's fine seriously." Ahmad assured.

"Okay then,help me up. I need to pee." She said and tried to sit upright on the bed herself. Ahmad held her carefully.

"Let me call the nurses to remove all these first." He pointed at the drip on her hand.

"You mustn't call them." She said and removed the drip skillfully.

"Uh?!" Ahmad was loss of words.

"Perks of being a medical student." She smiled.

"Now help me up." She reminded Ahmad who was smiling back foolishly.

"Should I call the nurses now?" Ahmad asked Khair after he helped settle on the bed.

"Yes." She simply replied and tried to block away the thoughts that were finding ways to enter her mind.

'Not yet. I have to specially sit and prepare for this thinking.' She said in her mind.

"You're awake." The blonde nurse stated the obvious.

"The doctor will attend to you soon and oh,don't worry about the guy you were brought here with. He's receiving just the right treatment and doing fine." The nurse said and without waiting for any reply, she left shutting the door gently.

"Did you hear that? He's doing fine." Ahmad said slowly trying to make Khair understand.

"My eyes are twitching." Khair complained.

"Sorry. The doctor will soon be here but before then,you have to rest."

"Right." She agreed with him. Just as she was about to close her eyes, the doctor came inside.

"Darn!"

"Hi." The doctor waved her hand with a smile and they both waved back.

She went forward and checked Khair's vitals and focused more on her eyes.

"You're doing great but your eyes have some minor problem. I would have asked how you got chloroform and soma in your eyes but since you were brought here from a crime scene,then anything can happen. I'm not an eye specialist so I'm going to refer you to the hospital's optometry where you will know whatever is wrong with your eyes. After your eyes examination, you will be given drugs or glasses or worse,get surgery performed on your eyes. A nurse will take you to the optometrist now." She smiled and wrote something down on the notepad she was holding.

"But doc,nothing is wrong with my eyes. I'm seeing just fine." Khair said with confusion.

"Are you?" The doctor tried to joke.

"Yes. I am."

"Its because the room is dim that's why you're seeing just fine. Trust me,you will not like to see the light."

Khair swallowed nothing in fear.

"But hey,don't be nervous or scared. It isn't your fault and I pray its just a mini minor small problem." The kind doctor said stroking Khair's head with a smile. Khair smiled back but the doctor's word didn't stop her nervousness. Instead,it increased.

What if she has to get operated in the eyes? What if the operation didn't go successful? What if? What if? And what ifs was what filled her mind.

A while after the doctor left, two nurses came in with a wheel chair.

"Ma'am, we are to help you get seated on the wheelchair." One of them said.

Khair almost laughed and said "what? I can walk."

"It is doctor Judy's instruction. She said you might be too weak to walk or stand."

"I'm fine. I don't need it." Khair argued.

'I should go and seat on wheelchair just like that as if its a serious case. Its not like my legs are amputated.' Khair thought.

The nurse who had been quiet all those while walked out with the wheelchair. The one who had been doing all the talking went forward and removed the drip from Khair's hand.

"Pls lead the way." Khair said to the nurse after she stood upright.

"Alright. Follow me."

Both Khair and Ahmad walked quietly behind the nurse, each of them having wild thoughts in their minds.

Just as Khair stepped out of the room she was kept in,rays of light greeted her eyes. She shut them and opened them carefully. She left them half opened so that she could see well.

"So this was what the doctor was saying." She said to herself.

Walking left, right,taking a sharp corner to the right,then to the left,they reached the elevator. They entered inside it and the nurse pressed a button.

"Innalillahi." Khair whispered and stayed at her spot using both her palms to cover her eyes immediately they reached outside where they can see the clear sky.

"Khair." Ahmad worriedly called and walked back to her. The nurse also turned and rushed to Khair.

"Are you okay?" Ahmad and the nurse asked at the same time.

"No. My eyes are on fire."

"Well let's get back inside first so that I can get something you can use to protect your eyes from the sunlight." The nurse said and held Khair back inside. She sat on a chair and held her head in her palms while the nurse scurried away to get whatever.

Ahmad was wondering what he will say to her to make her feel slightly better but he himself was confused about everything.

'If I should say I wish you quick recovery,it will sound as if she's really sick. Then what the hell am I suppose to say?' Ahmad thought.

"Sorry Khair. It shall be well." He finally said after too much thought.

"Here. This should help." The nurse handed Khair a pair of sunglasses. She collected it with a thanks and put it on.

It helped a lot but she still has to squeeze her eyes to have a clear view.

"Let me help with that." Ahmad said to the nurse collecting the small umbrella she held over Khair's head.

The nurse left it with him and she walked forward to continue leading the way.

After what it seemed like a short tour around the hospital, they arrived at the optometry.

"Hello Sir." The nurse greeted the optometrist.

"Hello to you too. What do you have with you?" The man wasted no time in asking. Instead of the nurse to reply him,she handed him a folder which contained everything about Khair's medical condition.

"This is serious. Bring the patient here." The man said not raising his head up from the folder he was flipping.

"I will wait for both of you here. You can go in now." The nurse told Khair.

"Let's go." Said looking at Ahmad. He stood up and walked to the door first with Khair behind him.

"Hi." They said in uniform to the optometrist.

"Salam to both of you." The man smiled.

Khair and Ahmad looked at the man in surprise before answering his salam.

"You both looked surprise." The man laughed.

"I'm a Muslim so are you so what's the need of hi?" He added.

'The man looked absolutely nothing like a Muslim but astagfurullah' Khair thought.

"Pls have your seats." He urged and they sat down.

"I'm Ahmad Asharifi." The optometrist introduced. Khair and Ahmad looked at each other and let out small laugh.

"I'm also Ahmad." Ahmad smiled stretching his hand to Dr Ahmad.

"Nice."

"Ummul Khair, mind removing your sunglasses for me to take a look at your eyes?" Asked Dr Ahmad more like an order.

"Its too light in here and it burns my eyes." Khair said truly not wanting to feel the five seconds pain she felt while ago.

Dr Ahmad understanding her point,got up and walked to the light and reduced the light's brightness.

"Better?" He asked.

"Yes. Much better." Khair removing the sunglasses.

"How and why did it happened?" Questioned Dr Ahmad. Khair immediately understood his question and she narrated almost everything to him. She said she was held captive by some people and they punched her in the face whenever they want her unconscious.

"I heard of one them telling the other one to hand him the carisoprodol. I think that's what they use to make me faint." She added. She also told him how she felt after being punched.

Ahmad didn't know where to keep his shock and calm.

"What?! Why would they do that? Wallahi they must pay for what they did. And Maya..." Ahmad who has lost his temper shouted.

"Ahmad pls." Khair shouted at him.

"Not now. Pls seat." She pleaded but he wasn't even listening. After much plead from Khair and Dr Ahmad, Ahmad sat down and kept quiet not because he was willing to.

He was already planning a hundred and one way to murder Maya and Smith.

"That's so cruel of them. I don't think they even have heart. Anyway,let's check your eyes before it gets out of hand." Dr Ahmad said and stood up from his seat.

"Pls follow me." He said and dialed a number on his telephone.

"Meet me at the examining room." He simply said into the telephone and kept it back in its position.

He led them into another room. He switched the lights on and dimmed it before Khair stepped inside.

"Hello Dr Ahmad." A lady said walking inside the room slightly bowing her head to him.

"Hello." He said and gestured his hand for Khair to sit on an armless chair. She did while Ahmad just stood beside the door.

The lady went to God knows where and brought a tray of equipments back with her. She stood opposite Dr Ahmad and display the equipments in his front.

Dr Ahmad looked for what he needed on the tray. He picked up a very small flashlight and on it. He shone the torch directly inside her eyes and she immediately closed them scrunching her face.

"It hurts doctor." She said her voice shrinking.

"You know I will have to take a look right? So just give me a minute and open your eyes. I know it will hurt but you have to be patient pls. Try not to close them." Dr Ahmad said in a convincing voice.

After making series of prayers in her mind,Khair finally opened her eyes,her heart beating as if racing horses were stepping on it.

"Ow ow ow ow." She sang out of pain. Her eyes pained and burned like hell. She was not seeing anything again at all. She don't know how bee sting felt but she knew the pain she was feeling hurts than bee sting.

Dr Ahmad did his thing while Khair was on full crying mode.

She cursed Smith and Maya for all that pain.

"I'm not seeing." She cried. Dr Ahmad has already off the torch but Khair saw nothing. She wasn't seeing seeing pitch black nor pure white. She saw extreme blurred figures that she can't tell if its human or log of tree.

"Wipe her eyes and rub this on her eyelids." Dr Ahmad instructed his student.

"Ummul Khair don't open your eyes until I say so. Sherri pls hold her and lie her down here." Dr Ahmad said and his student Sherri, did as he said.

Khair lied on the bed like a living dead,thoughts churned up in her mind.

"I need your tears." Dr Ahmad said writing down something on his own notepad.

"Why didn't take them when I was crying?"

"Er I don't know. You can open your eyes now."

"Will you produce the tears or should we provide you with.." Dr Ahmad haven't finished what he was going to say when Khair bursted out in tears.

Sherri who was prepared and holding the tube in which the tears will be collected inside quickly moved towards Khair and placed the tube near her eyes.

Things were too much in Khair's mind so crying wasn't that hard since that was what she planned on doing after leaving the optometry.

"It's okay now. The tube is already full." Sherri told Khair but Khair didn't know how to stop.

Ahmad walked to her and tapped her back in comfort. Dr Ahmad and Sherri walked out of the room to their lab.

"Cry out how you want. It might help you feel better." Ahmad quietly said and as if his sentence was a fuel to Khair's tears,she cried harder that she knew she will have a bad headache for sure before sunset.

Dr Ahmad and his student returned after ten minutes. Khair has already stopped crying and was letting out heavy breaths.

"I have found out the main ingredient in your eyes." Dr Ahmad started.

"Doctor pls stop making it sound bad." Khair croaked out.

"Pardon me." He chuckled and continued. "From your tears and how i saw your eyes earlier,we found out that there's excessive carisoprodol and chloroform in your eyes."

"You know chloroform is what's actually use to make people lose consciousness. Just like you see in films,a villain uses an handkerchief to cover the innocent person's face and boom,the innocent person has collapsed,yeah it's all the work of chloroform being inhaled into the body. Chloroform mostly gets to the eyes when its liquid and splashed on someone's face. But in your case Ummul Khair,you were punched with a handkerchief containing chloroform so the particles falls in your eyes each time you were punched. It causes burning pain and chronic irritation."

Dr Ahmad paused,Khair taking that moment to register everything the doctor just said.

"Carisoprodol is normally a muscle relaxer that blocks pain sensation between the nerves and the brain. An overdose of carisoprodol can be fatal especially when taken with other drugs that can slow your breathing which in this case is chloroform. The effects includes vision problems, confusion, hallucination, shallow breathing, fainting, seizure and coma. Now yours is vision problems. Carisoprodol can cause serious vision problems like sudden vision loss,blurred vision, eye pain and swelling which are all happening to you now. This is bad and you need immediate eye medication. Give me a minute."

"Dr Ahmad, the other doctor mentioned another thing. She said chloroform and soma. I hope its not another kind of drug that has affected my eyes." Khair said all hopes lost.

"Soma is the brand name of carisoprodol so its literally the same thing. Excuse me." With that said,he went out with Sherri behind him.

"I'm as good as useless." Khair said her voice shaking.

"No. Why will you say that? He will just give you medicine or glasses that's all. Don't take your thoughts too far and beside,you're praying for yourself and I'm praying for you so did you think Allah isn't listening to us? Just keep praying. Everything will be okay." Ahmad said and Khair held back her tears. He was right as always.

"What if I had to get surgery performed on my eyes?" She suddenly blurted out.

"I don't pray so. Don't take your mind there."

"And what if it goes wrong? Does that mean I will go blind? Forever blindness? Oh my God." And Khair started crying.

"Khair pls."

"Salam." Dr Ahmad said entering the room.

"Ummul Khair." He called and Khair looked at him with her puffy eyes.

"I have talked to Dr Judy, the doctor who referred you here and you have to go to the Opthalmologist before tomorrow. I'm sorry." He said and left again.

"Opthalmologist? They are eye doctors who perform medical and surgical treatment for eye condition. Why the hell did I need to go there? Unless....." She trailed off.

Ahmad just kept quiet not wanting to rub salt on her wound.

"Unless I'm getting operated in my eyes." She said her voice sinking and shaking.

"Shikenan. Mine is over." She whispered and painful tears made their way to her swollen face.

......

"What am I suppose to say to her?" Khair asked herself and Ahmad. She was about to call her mum and tell her about the surgery.

"Do you want to let her know about everything? Including about Maya and Smith?" Ahmad asked her.

"No. She will go into permanent shock and I don't want that."

"OK how about this? Tell her you somehow got something in your eyes during your lab practicals." Ahmad suggested.

"Or,what if I say.... Just forget. Mine won't make sense so I will go with yours."

"But she will be like,is it that little particle that will make them perform surgery on me?" Khair said.

"The effect of that something in the lab mixed with your former eye problem so it became worse anddd surgery has to be performed."

"Nice one Ahmad. You're a great liar." Khair complimented

"Heyyy. You're insulting me indirectly Miss woman." He glared at her and she laughed.

Khair called her mum and told her about the surgery. Just as Khair predicted, her mum panicked and went into temporary shock.

"I will call your dad immediately so that he will book a ticket to US for us." Her mum said in all seriousness.

"What? Noo. Is not that serious. Its just a minor surgery. I will be perfectly fine in two days. Beside,I will come back home next week cos we're on holiday." Khair convinced her mum and herself.

"OK but where's uncle Haroon?" Her mum questioned and Khair gulped. She is not use to keeping important things away from her mum. Khair put in on loudspeaker so that Ahmad can be hearing. She didn't have answer to that question.

"Uhhh,he's busy with work." She lied and Ahmad face palmed himself. He had a more suitable lie.

"Work? What work? He accompanied his friend to a graduation so what work did he have to do there? Ummul Khair tell me the truth."

"Work mum. Signing my papers here and there. You know he's the only family I have here this moment so he has to busy." Khair said.

"I need your prayers." Khair added. That was the main thing she called her mum for. Her prayers and blessings.

"I'm always praying for you my baby. You will come of out of the theatre room healthy and fine. Nothing will happen to you insha Allah." Her mum prayed and bursted out crying.

"Pls mum. Stop crying." Khair said and started crying herself.

Ahmad couldn't stand the emotional outbreak between a mother and her daughter so he quietly went out before he joins them in the crying competition.

After fifteen minutes of crying and praying, Khair finally hung up. Ahmad came in just as she hung up.

"Two hours to go but before that,you need to rest your eyes and body." Ahmad said and Khair did as he said.

She slept in worry and woke up in worry. She stared at the wall clock and her worry increased as the clock ticks.

Sherri entered the room and announced to her that she has twenty minutes left before entering the theatre.

"Pls where's Ahmad?" Khair asked Sherri. Sherri who knew who she was talking about said "He went to the mosque with Dr Ahmad."

"I'm sorry I'm bothering you. Can you show me where the toilet is?"

"Of course. Let me help you up." Sherri smiled and helped Khair up. Khair told Sherri that she wanted to pray so she helped her with a praying mat that she saw Dr Ahmad always use when he prays.

Khair performed ablution and prayed the prayers she missed that day. After praying maghrib,she performed two raka'a nafila and poured out her heart to God. The two Ahmad came in and met her crying and praying to her Lord. That was an heartbreaking sight for Ahmad.

They both waited patiently for her to finish praying. After she did,Dr Ahmad announced it was time to go to the Opthalmologist.

All the energy she saved vanished in a second and fear took over.

Sherri and two other nurses held her weak self and helped her to the Opthalmology.

She was laid on a bed and Sherri left to her own department.

"Khair, remember prayer is everything. I wish you success in this." Ahmad said not wanting to look at her face.

Khair whose throat was dried and hot as sahara couldn't do anything except to cry silently.

She was pushed inside the theatre room ever so slowly. The place where her vision will be changed, for better or for worse.

_____________