ABOUT THIS BOOK
Description
I stretched and covered my mouth with my hand as a wide, uncontrollable yawn escaped me. Slowly, I began to straighten my legs from the position I had kept them in for hours—they felt sore, even making slight cracking sounds, but I endured and stretched them while sitting.
I reached out and rubbed from the back of my neck up to my head, feeling a strange ache in my bones from exhaustion and the long time I had spent bent over.
I moved my eyes around, scanning every corner of the room, wondering how night had completely taken over without me even noticing. Then I leaned back, trying to recall what had happened.
Different voices echoed noisily, each saying something different. I shook my head as it suddenly felt heavy, like a stone. I followed the direction of the noise until I focused on where I heard the voice of the woman I had been staring at earlier, leaning against the wall.
"Is poverty madness that should destroy the life of an innocent girl who neither hears nor sees? Just because she has no choice and life has turned against her, people follow their selfish desires to hurt her. Just because she appears as if she doesn’t seek happiness, they want to kill her life while she’s still alive. I swear by Allah, I will not leave MAILAAH in this dark house that looks like a chicken cage. Just because Allah tested her with illness, they treat her like an owl among people. Wallahi, she will not stay in this house under the name of marriage—I will take her somewhere no one will ever hear her cries again."
The fair, elegant woman—whose body showed comfort and wealth—said this as she untied her veil and wrapped it around her waist, shaking with emotion.
"Haba, Hajiya Munubiya, please leave them with their daughter to do as they wish. Allah knows your heart and your intention to help her since she was little. This is not the time to raise voices or fight. Just pray for her and make supplications—may Allah make this marriage a means of changing her destiny. Please be patient. Everyone knows how much you love MAILAAH and treat her like your own child. Now, advise her on how to live in marriage."
"Hajiya Umma, you don’t understand how I feel. You don’t understand how deeply I pity MAILAAH. It pains me how they are wasting her life just because of her condition. This girl has suffered since childhood, and now they follow their selfish desires to give her this kind of marriage. Look at the house they call her husband’s home—Wallahi, even their gatekeeper lives better than this, let alone her."
She spoke while crying, her eyes red and swollen.
Among the women standing there, one clicked her tongue and said:
"Tsk! Useless talk. If you pity her so much, why didn’t you marry her to one of your own prominent sons? Now that her guardians have married her off, you come with your fake sympathy, crying hypocritically."
That statement provoked Hajiya Munubiya even more. She turned on the woman and fired back at her. The other woman didn’t hold back either—they began exchanging harsh insults, and soon the small bridal room turned chaotic as a fight broke out.
I was sitting on the small, simple bed in the room. Ever since they sat me there, I had been bent over, staring at the white bedsheet spread before me. Their noise kept disturbing the peace of my mind.
Suddenly, my body began to tremble. My hands and legs started shaking like someone being electrocuted. The louder their voices became, the more confused and overwhelmed I felt.
Then, a piercing scream escaped me—so sharp it felt like it reached deep into the skull of anyone who heard it. At once, I jumped to my feet and started running, screaming loudly.
Before anyone could react, most of the people in the room had already rushed out in panic.
As I was about to reach the exit, I felt someone grab me from behind, lift me, and then drop me hard to the ground—thud! My head hit the floor.
Everything went silent.
The noise inside my head stopped.
Darkness covered my sight—the world faded away as if no one existed in it anymore.
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