"to live a better life is to change your way of thinking and accept the truth, rather than neglecting it - gabriel."
Warning : slightly triggering .
Afra had returned to her room , feeling fresh and alive . The smile on her face remained unfaltered and she kept dancing around in her room in circles humming the tune of a Barbie movie she had watched with the triplets .
"I can't believe I had so much fun with those girls ." She talked aloud , dropping down on her bed and swinging her legs back and forth .
A moment later , she sat upright with an idea that popped up in her head . "Their roof paved way to a massive television ! Does my roof have a hidden TV in it too ?" She exclaimed , hopping to her feet and examining the roof with a hand at her waist and a finger on her chin .
"Does my roof have a TV too ?" She pondered aloud , humming thoughtfully . "The triplets too had a chandelier in their room , but that did move along with the roof and hardly seemed to have moved , posing no threat at all ."
After examining the roof and having craned her neck too much , she winced and rubbed the back of her neck . "Allah , my neck ."
After shuffling into her bed , she pulled her niqaab off and unbuttoned her abaya . It had become her routine to stand at the balcony and watch the stars or the moon , chewing on a lot of the chocolates she had packed for herself .
Aside from that , it was very relieving to have the whole mansion encased in high boundaries that prevented even the moon to peep through sometimes . The boundaries had a lot of electrical wires securely placed over the high points .
She pulled her hair out of the bun and shook her head , freeing the tangles a little . Wheb she had handcombed through her long locks , she changed into a comfy set of pajamas and got a handful of candy .
Standing at the balcony , she let the moonless night fall over her .
"So ," she began , wanting to talk to herself for once . Inaya would probably have gone to sleep after a lot of struggle with her nightmares . Afra didn't have the heart to awaken her.
At this point , no matter how eerie she sounded , she didn't care . Because it was the night and her . Just the both of them .
"So ," she unwrapped a candy unconsciously while staring at the sky and popping it into her mouth . As she sucked onto it , a peaceful smile spread over her lips . "I played a lot of games with the triplets . And I learnt a lot about them too . They were the same age as Mahreen's . Well , I had guessed that they were six but they're seven too . That was cool ." She stood straighter , crossing her arms over her chest .
"The TV that was fitted into the roof came off as the bestest Surprise ever . We could just lay down and relax while the screen played right above our heads . It did come off as a little unsettling especially since the large chandelier in their room had to move along with the roof shifting away . I was extremely nervous while the triplets didn't even care to give it a second glance ."
She popped another candy and puckered ."Allah , I sound scary ." She stiffened in her position . A second later she shrugged it off ." Nah , who cares ."
She chewed on her candy while trying to recollect where she had stopped . "I happened to question the girls about their names . They seemed very unreal names to me and I felt my curiosity get the better of me . The girls indeed had different names . Dandelion was Rida , Jazz was Nida and Kat was Huda ." She laughed lightly , her hair flying around with the gentle wind .
"I forgot to ask them on how they got their nicknames . That movie.......what was it called again - hmmm , it was something called Singing Clouds . Whatever the name , I absolutely loved the movie . Animated movies are the best anyway but this one got me very happy ."
She sighed through her mouth and smiled ear to ear at the sky . "Life is so beautiful . A lot of the times , the life I live made me hate it . The fact of the matter was that I felt happy after spending some time with the kids . They sometimes teach their elders what the elders have forgotten in their years of growing up . Thank you very much Allah , for showing me to those girls . It has been an absolute honour to have watched the twinkle in their eyes and the wide smiles on their faces . Well , except for Jazz . The girl hates me for some reason . Have to solve the mystery soon . In shaa Allah ."
She brought her hair to a side and played with her strands while recalling the other things they did . "Oh !" She exclaimed with pure astonishment . "How could I forget that ?" She shook her head . "I know it wrong from my part but nonetheless I asked the girls about their father . Surprisingly , they didn't know any such person whom they could have called as a father . All they ever had was Silk . I did feel very unsure about asking them such a sensitive question , but they hardly were bothered Alhumdulillah . Much to my relief ." She sighed , resting her chin against the heel of her palm .
There was a brief silence before she cleared her throat , a small smile on the edges of her mouth .
"And.....I asked them what they called their brother Silk . Not that it was any of my concern , but just curiosity was what made me ask that ." She laughed lightly ."Apparently he has the silkiest hair ever and the girls often played with his hair when he had them in a long cut , something like a Zulf . But things change and soon he had changed too ."
She pursed her lips and sighed . "Ah ! It bugged me to think that the girls had no one to share and create their memories with . It was no secret that something was wrong with this family , but they didn't deserve such isolation no matter what the scenario . I was thinking of asking Mr Sulaaymaan to bring in Mahreen to have some fun with the Triplets . In shaa Allah , hopefully things would work out ."
"Finally , there was the password they'd used . I tried figuring them out but if kids could call their brother Silk just because of his hair , then the possibilities of cracking that password were insanely unpredictable ."
She had turned to walk away when a rustle behind her and a faint sound of footsteps alerted her .
She could sense her heartbeat resonating in her ears but ignored that to cross check .
Another faint sound .
This time she gasped a little and steadily took a step towards her room . The balcony was pretty large and she had not even come midway . All the more as to why her hands and legs were trembling .
She could hear whatever it was grow closer with the voice distinctly being heard . It she knew something it was that she would not be able to make it into time with taking cautious baby steps .
She had to run !
Slightly relaxing , she prepared her legs and took in slow breaths to calm down the feeling of queasiness in her . As she leaped , she shut her eyes tight and focused her mind on making it to her balcony door than the loud steps behind her .
There was someone for sure .
Just as she was about to run through the door , a hand wrapped smoothly across her waist and pinned her to the wall beside . Her body tensed and it was a couple of moments more before she figured what was going on , horror lining her features . She tried pushing away the figure towering over . She peered into the darkness but found herself looking at someone covered in black clothes and a mask that revealed a small smile on its lips .
It was a man !
"Let me go !" She shrieked , but the figure only strengthened his hold on her waist . Edging a little more closer .
She bit her lip hard and had a difficult time keeping her tears from falling .
"You talk so beautifully , Princess ." His voice was dull and low . Perhaps with the way her body was jerking and screaming for help , she wasn't giving any attention to what he was saying .
But her breath hitched a moment later .
He had been hearing her talk for the whole time !
And she was unaware . Unaware of a man's presence in her balcony .
"Let me go ! Somebody help ! Somebody help me ." She gasped , when he placed a finger across her lips .
"Don't shout sweetheart . I'm not going to hurt you . Hell , I can't even watch those tears right now !" He spoke sadly and Afra cringed ,trying to shake his arms off of her .
"Let me go please . Please ." She begged softly , her heart hammering loudly in her chest . The deep pit forming in her stomach was bad enough to control with him trying to corner with his body .
He didn't talk but shocked Afra as he glided his fingers across her hair and cheek . She severely shuddered and broke into loud sobs .
"Please , l....let me - me go....ooo ." She wrapped her arms around her stomach and watched the man pout a little .
"I will let you go for now , beautiful . But I'll be back soon . Wait for me ." His face edged closer and Afra ducked her head lower and lower , until his lips brushed against her cheek . She puckered her lips and kept her intensifying sobs in . She attempted on stepping away but he had her trapped from all sides .
"I love you sweetheart ."
And with that , he was gone . Afra couldn't care less , as she slid down to the floor , brought her knees to her chest and sobbed heavily . No bits of strength was left in her legs that felt numb to even be able to carry her to her bed .
The last thing she remembered was the bright light pouring down on her and the muffled voices of somebody .
It had been a few hours since Mr Haamid was gone , after having cried with shock . Everyone around him was endangered and by whom he didn't even know . It was Haaroon today , it could be even Mr Haamid tomorrow . And for that reason , he had made sure to hire more security agents . After giving the address of Mr Haamid's residency he had assigned twenty four hour protection to him and his family .
Mr Haamid had been a very helpful figure who had more information than what Sulaaymaan harboured . And that meant , he was the most vulnerable as a target other than Afra . Both of whom required careful and secretive shielding .
His security team had been working for him as long as he could think of . Anytime of the day , they would be ready to charge . For years , Sulaaymaan had depended on them and they never failed him . All of them were his family . He distinctly recalled the times they had a men's sleepover and a birthday party for one of the orphans , Omar .
It was a shock as to how fun and outgoing those men had turned out to be . They hardly expressed any emotions when on duty but outside their professional lives , they were the silliest group of people he had ever met . They'd watch Disney and Ben 10 and fight over chocolate chip cookies . Often times , they'd bet over who would run faster for fetching the juice jug and eventually end up having a bath in it .
Time surely made them the strongest of the gang and Sulaaymaan had extremely been greatful for their presence . Well , except for then they'd be gone crazy for a while and try to attack Sulaaymaan with an army of gems and mini sneaker bars .
He chuckled lightly , brushing a tear away from the corner of his eye .
Haaroon , was one of his favourites when it came to logical reasoning and intellectual discussions . He could track down the weirdest of codes that would leave your head spinning . And he had amazing weaponry skills . That would probably not be sufficient for his glorification , but the guy had won against two Japanese Sumo wrestlers . Sulaaymaan had almost fainted there gawking at the size of those opponents .
And during the times out of his professional line , Haaroon had developed it as a hardcore mission to taunt and mock and irritate Sulaaymaan . He had even hired a few other guards to assist him .
Sulaaymaan did have a lot of men on his side too , but most of them betrayed him on the last moment and he ended up being shoved under a pile of chocolates or forced to eat a thousand Reese's toffee that he hated .
Nonetheless , he loved being irritated by them .
Now , sitting on his bed and staring at the celling , Mr Haamid's words rang mercilessly in his ears .
"Sir , he had been as usual , guarding the left wing of the mansion . Mahmoud , Qaasim and Taaher had all been there too , taking their walks down the road and along the sidewalks . When they returned to their usual spot , they found Haaroon in a pool of his own blood , a small bullet wound in the centre of his forehead . The boys said they had not walked far away . All they did was circle around the place . When they returned a few minutes later , he was......" He swallowed hard ," dead ."
Sulaaymaan shook his head vigorously . It was all his fault . Everything that had befallen over people he loved or who cared for him had been his fault all along . The threatener was well aware that Sulaaymaan wouldn't be able to tolerate the deaths of people he loved even though he put up a brave front .
It was hard enough to cope up with the deaths of so many people around him . Haaroon did not deserve to die . He didn't deserve to go through such circumstances . Nobody did .
A tear slipped down his eye . He threw his head back and wiped a few tears that threatened to fall . Ever since he broke down a few days ago after several years , he had started to cry more often . It had almost become a daily routine . He didn't complain but , the new change wasn't something that he was capable of embracing at this sensitive point .
He shuffled to his feet , rested a palm against his forehead hoping for the pounding to cease and walked up to his table . Looking down at the reports and information he had gathered , nothing was making sense .
And for that particular time , an idea popped up .
He chose to go for it .