At times, you wake up from sleep, and the first thing you do is try to understand your surroundings without opening your eyes.

That was what Laila was trying to do.

When she was young, during her islamiyya years, her imam had talked about death and grave more times than she cared to count. He had said, and she believed, when you die, you do not actually realize you're dead. After being buried, your soul is returned to your body, you gain consciousness again. Then, you open your eyes. You open your eyes to realize it was dark. You move your arms to realize it's tied. You wiggle your legs to realize there's no room for that. But, most importantly, it sinks in that you're dead. All alone. In the grave. With your deeds and only your deeds. Good or bad.

Laila moved her heavy arms to realize they moved. She willed her legs to motion a bit and they did. She exerted more pressure, wiggling her legs side to side to see if there was room. There was. Hmm. Okay.

Afraid she'd open her eyes to darkness, To hell, awaiting her, Laila slowly squinted her eyes open.

When her eyes had opened completely, the sun outside the high ceiling windows of her Mum's room was shielded by the curtains-even though still quite visible- from the room. Eyes blinked several times in adjustment to the light.

Okay. One good thing at least, she wasn't dead.

That was a start.

Laila scanned each corner of the room as best as her position could allow her. She was sure if she moved a centimeter, a part of her body would start aching, and, she wasn't ready for that.

Whispers of the S sounds hit her ears, yet, she couldn't decipher where or from whom it came from.

She was in the confines of her mum's room, so, no body could hurt her, right?

Ish-

The whispers became louder until they eventually stopped. At that, she felt even more unsafe before she gave herself the little, 'I'm in my mum's room, no one's going to hurt me.' Stupid pep talk. "Maa? Mami?" For a grown-up at the age of 24, Laila was really a big baby and a hypocrite for calling out to her mum whenever in trouble when sometimes, she did blame the woman for her troubles.

"Shhh.." Mami whispered, dropping the chasbih and racing to her daughter.

At her mum's frame, Laila brought her hand up and head up to reach for her mum.

"Laila..." she didn't like the pity lacing her mum's voice but still did her best at ignoring it by clasping her old woman's hand. "You're awake?" It sounded more like a question as if she didn't believe her eyes, "How are you? Are you feeling any pain? Should we get a doctor?"

Laila's eyes widened. For a person who went through a great deal of pain that was sure to last a few days, maybe a week, she was feeling oddly painless. Numb-ish. She shook her head. "No. I-I'm fine. I think..." her eyes scanned her figure to find herself squeaky clean of any blood or stained clothes. She had on a SpongeBob shirt but didn't feel any other clothing on herself apart from the socks sheltering her feet.

"How long was i out?"

Mami narrowed her eyes. "You were out since on Wednesday late afternoon. It's Friday morning."

Laila nodded, letting the new data sink in. She jolted at a new thought. "Have my doctors resumed strike?"

A wry smile took over her mum's frown, she squeezed her daughter's hand. "No. It's still indefinite."

Laila let out a loud sigh.

Thank God.

She couldn't imagine the pile of stuff waiting to crash upon her if she had missed even a single day at school.

She slumped back after she had finished caressing the IV wound on the skin of her hand.

Mami sighed. "I'll get you something."

Laila didn't need to choose a meal when it came to her mum. The woman always knew exactly what to make the maids cook as she supervised them. Which was why Laila wasn't a bit stunned-okay maybe she was- when her mum had a maid drop a tray with a platter of dished pearly tuwon shinkafa and miyan taushe on the pillow on her laps.

She gasped, lowly, and quite over-dramatically.

How did they dish that earthshaking meal in less than twenty minutes? Or did she zone out for hours? "Mami, did i...like sleep?"

"No. It was made for your dad. He asked them to make a new one for him and for you to have his." Laila's mood visibly soured up at that.

If he planned to try and apologize by giving up his favorite dish, which was also her favorite dish to get her to forget what went down in the past week then he was totally wrong. "I don't want to eat." She attempted to push the platter off her lap but ceased at her mum's raised palm.

"Zanci qaniyarki." She turned to the maid that was still watching them. "You can go now." And she left.

Mami used that as an opportunity to sit on the bed, just in time for numerous gunshots sound to come flying over the ceilings.

Laila's view flew from the food to the curtained-up windows. "Ya Umar yazo ne?"

Mami's nose crinkled, her expression giving way to the fact that Laila's deductions were wrong, "A'a. Kinsan babanki da jama'a. Some royal guest from Adamawa state came over the day you passed out. I'm not exactly sure who they are though. The whole palace has been in chaos at their arrival and we haven't met the man," She then gestured at Laila's plate, "Go on. You're going to need it. It's only a matter of time before we go see them."

Laila sighed, dipping her right hand into the bowl of lukewarm water before hoisting the plate a few inches up and diving in.

All stupid pride or whatever the hell was about to make her decline the food earlier flew out the damn window after her first bite. It had taken her less than 5 minutes to complete her meal with some residual.

"Ki cinye shi."

Laila shook her head, dipping her hand in that same bowl of water to rinse off. "I'm full."

Mami's hands flew in an instant. "Yamiki kyau. Ki cigaba."

Laila kept mum and a knock came on the door, after being answered, the door went flying open as if it wasn't a patient's room.

Laila grimaced at the sound, hiding her ears behind her palms away from the ugly sound.

At the sight of Laila grimacing, the woman responsible for the sound held a palm up, apologizing, "Na tashe ki ko mamana? I'm sorry, go back to bed." Hajiya Adama Amin, Alhaji El-amin's first wife, and the queen, waltz into her co-wife's room, straight to her stepdaughter.

Mami stood and planted herself on the sectional pieces couch on the opposite side of her bed to give the 2 some space.

She was keeping no beef with her senior co-wife. She was just minding her business and trying to avoid any sort of dispute; things could escalate.

Laila exchanged greetings and inquiries with her step mum, which went smoothly. But hey, who was she to complain? It was among her smoothest conversation of the year.

When she was gone, Mami produced a bag filled with medications.

"Mesa bakya shan magun gunanki?" Mami asked, casually sorting out the drugs for her Laila.

Laila pouted, "I take them. Who said I don't?"

"Your condition." Mami snapped, twisting to stare icily at her careless daughter. "You kept coughing blood, Laila. And, the doctor said it's because you're not taking your pills." She motioned at Laila's bag on the chest of drawers, "I found your barely touched pills in that bag. Or are you telling me that i am blind?"

Laila's eyes widened, her grip on the covers tightening at her mum's confession. "You were going through my stuff?"

"You were hiding everything from us for months? Sanda mukaji a waje?" Mami shot back.

Laila momentarily closed her eyes, opened them, and discreetly rolled them.

Of course, they'd go through her bag.

But instead, she changed the topic. Voice soft, Laila shook her head as she asked, "Why did you never come to see me Maa?" What she had done was wrong, but tossing her in a tomb were her monsters feasted on her? She couldn't forgive them for that.

"You think I didn't try?"

Laila scoffed, biting her lower lips hard to stop her tears from falling. "I don't know Mami. Did you try?"

Mami's lips and eyes went agape, hurt flashing her features as she slumped her shoulders. "I was on lockdown myself. Your father forbade me from seeing you. I couldn't-"

"And you listened to him?"

"-eat. I didn't sleep for the 2 days you were there. I kept begging him and he kept shooing me away."

2 days? Laila thought she was there for at least a week. It felt like an eternity and it was only 2 days?

As for Mami, it wasn't fair of her but Laila blamed her. If Laila had a child, she'd go against everyone to protect them even if it meant standing up to someone like her dad.

She silently sniffled, looking away and switching the hard topic again. "I'm better, that's why I wasn't taking them."

"Eh amma kinashan painkillers hadda na wasan banza ai ko?" Mami was referring to the stack of painkillers Laila had in her bag.

If you didn't know her well, you'd swear she did drugs with the number of painkillers she always had on her. But how could you blame her? She had a congenital condition and was a fourth-year medical student who was always stressed both physically and mentally, of course, she'd deal with drugs.

Her excuse was lame, but she'd go with it at any time.

She opened her mouth to rebel but heard the door knock. The door slowly slid open, her old man peaking his head first before his full figure.

Mami quickly threw a hijab from absolutely nowhere at Laila. Laila wasted no time in sliding the material roughly over her head and maneuvered it until she got it right.

Mami stood up, welcoming him in sync with Laila.

"Sannu da zuwa, Daddy."

"Sannu da zuwa."

He answered both of them with a small smile. Laila couldn't tell whether it was fake or not. But, she was glad as he didn't look like he came in to give her round 2 or to lecture her from now till she passes out in boredom.

Laila greeted her old man, all the while her eyes had found an interesting dot on her left index that she had never noticed before.

"Laila..." Daddy's stable voice came. The emotion in it; was undetected. "I want you to know that i do not hate you. I know something is telling you that i do, but I don't...In reality, i care about you enough to be affected by every little action of yours." Laila nodded keenly at his words. That was a start. But she still hadn't heard the word, 'sorry' and she was fatally waiting on it.

He took leveled breaths, his demeanor, nor his voice faltering. "However, i am a man of honor. Of my words. I can't have you," he gestured at the door, "Or anyone else messing with that."

The room fell into a deep, uncomfortable silence. Emphasis on uncomfortable.

Laila continuously shifted on the bed until the old man cleared his throat and stood up. When he was a few inches from his wife, he leaned down and the two whispered whatever it was parents whispered to each other.

He walked out and Laila immediately stood up from the bed.

No apology? She was stupid to expect one anyway.

"Ina zaki?"

Laila turned to her mum, then brought her hands to gesture at her anatomy. "I need a shower."

Mami shook her head. "No, you need a bath. There's wax in her hair." The woman gasped, recalling something. She pointed an index to Laila's face, or was it her head or the wall? To confirm all, Laila's hand rose to touch her face, there wasn't anything unusual. She turned to look at the wall. Still, nothing unusual. She raised a brow at the her mother, "Amma Laila bakya jin magana. What is this nonsense dye on her head?" Laila's palm flew to her forehead in an attempt to hide her baby hair that was black-as she didn't die her hair till her scalp- in an attempt to shield it from her mum's judgment.

She lied for the time being, "I'll wash it off."

Laila made sure to be across the room before stomping, picking up her bag, and searching for her phone. When she found it dead, she silently hissed and limped out to her room.

With Mami making it clear as day that Laila needed a bath and not a shower, you'd think the girl actually listened. She didn't. Her longest shower in history since she had joined medical school was 7 minutes.

This time, she didn't know the time considering she plugged her phone dead into the charger and she had no digital clock in the room. Still, she was sure she hadn't surpassed 5 minutes.

A light headache settled on the side of her head, so, she plucked out three painkiller pills from her bag and downed them with a full bottle of water.

By the time she had decided on which cloth to put on, considering you just aren't allowed to sit in casuals at the palace, She ended up jumping into a comfy Abaya.

Laila unplugged her phone and turned it and the wifi on before she proceeded to facetime one of her favorite people.

On the fourth ring, Laila was glad the person on the other line saved her from the misery of looking at her sick face on the screen of her phone.

"Hiiiii!" Loud people, Laila hated. Did she hate Maya? No. Was Maya loud? Very.

Laila hissed at the over-excited girl who hissed at Laila in return. "You call me and the first thing you want to do is hiss at me?"

"No. I for once wanted to see you. But you decided to be loud once again."

"Get out. Tell me, What happened? What did Daddy he say?"

Laila sighed, slumping back on the bed along with her phone. "What do you think Daddy did?"

It took Maya a few seconds, but she eventually answered. "I don't know...Daddy's usual thing?"

Laila couldn't see Maya, she didn't want to at the moment. She puffed out air. "Daddy's usual thing."

The call went silent for a while and Laila had to pick her phone up to see if Maya was still with her. She was. Except Laila didn't like the girl's expression. She scoffed, laughing lightly. "Come on. Don't talk to me like that. I survived didn't i?" She shrugged, sitting up. The painkillers were really doing great. "He handled it far better than I thought he would." In a robotic voice, she added, "I thought the almighty El-Amin Sunusi would've thrown me out by now."

Maya didn't like how Laila was trying to push everything under the rug like it didn't happen. She shook her head and Laila returned her gesture with a boring look. "You can't say that. He loves you. He gets-"

"He cares 10 times more about his reputation than his family, Maya. And you know that-"

Laila stopped mid-sentence at the sound and sight of her mother, picking up stuff to examine.

"What?" Maya exclaimed.

Laila angled the camera at her mum and Maya let out a loud 'ohh.' Then proceeded to greet Laila's mum who snatched the phone out of her daughter's hands and went off to chit chat before calling it a day.

"Family greetings. Come on." Mami waved Laila over as she walked to the door clad in a hijab.

Laila threw a jilbab over her abaya and trailed her mum.

When Mami said family greetings, she meant the greetings royal family members have to pass to their guests. And, by family, it meant only her, Mami, Mama Adda- her step mum and her elder brother; Shehu.

Every other sibling of hers was absent.

As usual, she was expected to keep a fake smile and go with the flow until the greetings were over and she could get back to trying to distract herself from her miserable life.

Laila sat behind her mum's in her dad's living room which was now occupied by her, her dad, her mum and step mum, her brother, and 4 of the guests with one seeming the oldest.

"Halima, when is your graduation?" Laila was taken aback by the question. It wasn't like guests had never tried to make conversations with her, it was just that they hardly asked further after finding out she was an MBBS student at Nile university.

"Um-uh. I just- i am in year four of medical school and will be in my final year after the summer break. So...my graduation will be in like...um-a year and a half, Insha Allah."

Eyes cast down, she could still feel the senior guest's attention on her.

"Allah bada sa'a. Allah nuna mana da rai da lafiya." His voice seemed to hold a hint of proudness.

A genuine smile took over her features as she briefly looked at the old man, "Amen. Amen. Thank you."

The room fell into silence until Laila felt fingers nudging her thigh. Her mum leaned towards her and whispered. "Go ahead" And she did so gladly.

Laila politely said her goodbyes to the guests and dragged herself back to her mother's room. She thought of what to do and settled on one thing, sleep.

It was going to be hard to sleep considering she was out for almost 48 hours and was high on painkillers. She opted for her best option, sleeping pills. She always had them. As such, finding and drinking them wasn't hard.

She hit the bed once she was out of her abaya and back into a random oversized t-shirt she found with a textbook in hand which she'd read until she slept in other to avoid thinking about life.

She didn't know when she fell asleep or how, but she was woken up by Mami who ushered her to wash her face and teeth, they needed to talk.

"Tin kina yarinya, I've always told you that everything happens for a reason. And Allah knows best..."

Laila didn't like the kick-off of the conversation but still nodded. A stubborn yawn left her lips and she lazily covered her mouth with her arm, mumbling, "Okay...yes?"

Mami took in a deep breath, clasping her fingers tightly. "Okay...Laila, i need you to take this with the utmost tawakkul that i'm sure you have. Will you do that?"

Laila nodded, fighting another yawn off her. She could fall asleep any second. "Insha Allah."

Mami took another deep breath, "Okay...Laila...your Dad married you off to-"

The sound faded as she felt her head sway. Her eyes surveyed the room but she didn't see anything. She took her sweet time in her head before she could pull herself back.

"What?" Even Laila wasn't sure that was her voice, considering she was acting like a bitch high as a kite a few seconds ago. "To the old man?" She couldn't exactly say all the sleep in her vanished, but some energy did hit her as she abruptly stood up, holding onto the edge of the bed.

Mami's hands raised in surrender as if scared of her daughter. "No. No. No. Laila, sit down."

Laila's leg involuntarily started to wiggle and it killed her that she was unable to stop it. Her lips parted but no sound came from them. She attempted again, to no avail. She opted for slouching unto the bed to let her mum's words sink in.

"He married you off to the prince of Adamawa." The old woman then pointed a shaky finger at the wall, sniffling. "The man you greeted is his dad and the Lamido..."

"Please tell me it is a joke. You're playing, right? You can punish me okay? Anything. Not this. I am sorry about what i did. Please. Tell me it's a joke." It didn't look like a joke, Mami just slumped her shoulders down. Okay. "And him?"

The mother cast her eyes down, "He's not here... but listen, he likes-"

"He will never like or respect me..."

"Lai-"

"I-I'd like to be alone, Maa. Please..." the woman nodded at the request. It was the least she could give her after that impromptu decision of her husband.

Laila's mother stood up and silently left the room.

Her head was going to fall off. Laila's hand rose to her head in slow motion to catch it.

Her fingers rose in the air as she analyzed everything and nothing in slow motion.

Okay? So, her dad got her married? To a damned prince? More like sold her with no respect? And where was the prince? Somewhere out there waiting for her to be delivered to him on a silver platter?

Great.

She uncomfortably hit the bed and curled her legs.

Why her? Why was this happening to her?

She wasn't a saint, but wasn't all this too much? She was trying to be good. Really trying. Was that not enough?

An idea clicked in. She rose slightly from the bed, her heavy eyes slowly and confusingly scanning the room. She had had this type of dream before. Closing her eyes, she braced herself before her arm on the bed's headboard. God damn, she let out a groan. That hurt. And then opened her eyes.

Same scene, no change.

Her fists hit the mattress numerous times. She ceased, feeling the moisture on her cheeks. Or, were they tears?

Laila slumped back onto the bed and let her tears fall on her nose and cheeks.

But wait, what if all this was a hallucination?

To answer her question, she pinched her ass and got no change of scenario again. She gently shook her head. No. She got out of the dark room. Where else could this film be shooting at?

Laila heard a notification from her phone. She crawled to the fully charged phone on the nightstand, unplugged it, and lifted it. She had hoped it was one of her colleagues texting to announce that doctors of BTH called off the strike. Turns out, it was from an app; Bloom. A therapeutic app that she downloaded when she was sure that she was losing her mind but didn't want to tell anyone about it.

It was one of her daily reminders that said; It's time to take Control of your life, Halima. Take a moment to yourself and your emotions. Tap for your daily check in-

Laila stared dumbfounded at her screen, pondering on what the app she thought was stupid made her realize.

For a person who was obsessed with Angelina Jolie even as a child, the actress would be so proud to find out Laila was going to follow in her footsteps.

Her still sleepy, but determined eyes swept across the room until the nightstand caught her attention. She walked to it and opened it.

Laila was hardly luck; until now. She caressed the green asset in the form of a journal, picked it up, and headed for the door.