Rabiya

The next morning, the newlyweds finished their Walima (wedding reception) with only the witnesses that were present the night before, a small ceremony that also had to be kept secret from the villagers.

Though it was short and heavy on their hearts, Rabiya knew that she would always remember the moment fondly as a time that her family was willing to sacrifice everything to protect her, to keep her at a distance from the plague of greed that infiltrated her childhood home.

Word came a few hours later that Rabiya's beloved cousin, a man who shared the same ferocity and loyalty as her brother, Shakeel was hospitalized. Her family was beaten and bruised, their home a pile of ashes, yet he still used his last might to stand against the terror, to fight against the crooked truth. 

From what Tahmid had told her, Shakeel argued with a few villagers that continued to defile and spit on her grandfather's property until they pushed him so far that he had to leave to save his life. However, their cruelty did not stop there. 

Shakeel was riding his bicycle to meet with Adar and Rabiya for their small ceremony, but he never came. Instead, the route he took was already ambushed from the start, and a few villagers and their sons grabbed him as he passed by, knocking him out with a metal rod.

Word of blood dripping into the soil and the disgruntled groans of a young man whispered through nearby villages and communities, and no one lifted a finger to help him. No one batted an eye out of fear for what would happen to them for interfering.

So her older cousin laid on the dirt road as people who he used to see as his classmates and friends beat him, merciless and detached, eyes full of a lust for fame, for recognition, for power. They continued to hurt him until his wounds reopened and his eyes welled with tears from the grisly act, the sheer lack of humanity shrieking in unstable wavelengths. 

Her family did not know until Miraj came to the ceremony panting, out of breath, and sorrow etching his features. He found him and quickly brought Shakeel to a hospital. 

Now, as Rabiya stood beside the cold, metal beds of the hospital, her chest constricted at the state her cousin was in. Sobbing was heard from her Aunt Zaakiya and the silent tears of her husband Farouk, a man of usual quiet, law-abiding behavior now visibly shaken by the crimes against his son. 

The rest of Rabiya's family was at a courthouse, trying to find a way to defuse the situation and demand justice with the exception of her parents. Rabiya's parents were back at her grandfather's estate, the only ones left to stand among the black dusts of ashes, of a shattered legacy inking its grief into the sorrow. 

Their estate was gone. 

And as the villagers continued to roar around them, they could only yell back with all the voice left in their throats, even when the sound came out raspy, their determination was their last attempt. 

A warm hand grasped hers, coarse thumb rubbing circles into her palm before he brought her hand to his lips, a small, gentle kiss touching her skin and causing a warmth to flood through her. Her gaze lifted to his, watching the warmth flood the dark, brown of his eyes, the comforting specks of a dusky dawn, an awakening of hope glistening through his kind, affectionate gaze. 

Though worries still laced her expression, his love, his touch managed to give her the strength she needed to find her voice. "Look at what she's done," croaked Rabiya, referring to her uncle's wife. Her eyes glanced at her unconscious cousin, his shallow breaths striking a pain in her chest and the heart monitor's tune buzzing in her ears. "They were going to kill Shakeel."

"Allah saved him," whispered Adar. 

She nodded. 

"Rabiya," sighed her husband, voice low so only she could hear. "Your uncle's wife must be having a delusion or some episode from grief. We can't let her get away with this."

Adar's arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her against him. She welcomed his touch, eagerly leaning her head back to rest on his shoulder blade, trying to find a solution in the maze of incoherent thoughts that ran rampant.

She knew Muslims should never allow their emotions to cloud their judgment. When a fire of filth was seen, they fought with water to diffuse it. Yet her heart only spoke of mass destruction, of tormenting the woman who spurred all this until she felt the lingering ache that resided within Rabiya. 

But she knew that was not wise. 

"What made her do this?" asked Rabiya quietly. "How could a woman go from a loving family to destruction?"

Her husband's hand tightened on her hip as his body tensed. "A false sense of security. A torrid affair. A woman who lost all reasoning because of her greed," he seethed. "We need to go."

Rabiya turned in his arm to look up at him. "To where?"

"To your Aunt Tania."

Rabiya knew what her husband was hinting at. They needed answers for the destruction and trauma, and she was the only one to fill the missing pieces of the internal war, the only one who was still capable of recognizing her faults.

* * * * 

The second Adar and Rabiya stormed into Aunt Tania's current residence, the woman's expression hardened from her seated position, a mask of vulnerability beginning to contort her features, a usual scheme of hers. She always played the victim, pretended that she was innocent, and that leverage of hers allowed the villagers to manipulate and groom her into a little puppet of their picking. 

Rabiya's blood fueled with rage, eyes full of fury and distaste as the erupting wrath became an ugly demon within. She thought she would have better control of her emotions, but Rabiya was wrong. How could I ever think that?

What was forgiveness if the woman before her didn't care if her family lived or died, if she didn't comprehend the severity of what she had done? What good came out of Rabiya's gentle aura and kind gestures if the woman before her spat her efforts into her wounds?

Just as Rabiya raised her hand, a small, soft voice reined her effort. 

"Apu (sister)?" asked Zaina, emerging from behind a door frame. 

"Zaina," breathed Rabiya, dropping her hand. Tears glistened her eyes, and her demeanor crumbled. "You're okay. Oh Allah, you're safe."

Just as her little cousin was about to run into her arms, Aunt Tania grabbed her, roughly pushing Zaina to the side. "Do not move," her mother threatened. 

From the bruises on her arms and the faint sound of her brother crying in the background, Rabiya knew that her uncle's wife did not stop her torment. She continued to blame her children for the faults in her life, punishing them for her own sins. At this point, she was not capable of being a mother. 

Adar's deep voice resonated with a lingering threat when he spoke. "What did you do to the children?" he harshly fired at her. "Why does your daughter have bruises all over her body? Why is she shaking in fear by the mere sight of you?"

Aunt Tania's gaze shifted to him, a wry smile on her lips. "They are my children. After what your family did to us, they have reason to be fearful."

Rabiya lost it. "What my family did? Are you blind or deaf, Aunt Tania?"

"Watch your tone," she hissed.

Taking threatening steps towards her, Rabiya's lips were pulled back in a snarl, anger coursing through her veins and pumping adrenaline through her as determination towards that path of justice paved a road for her. She was livid with disgust, and the tone of her voice changed. 

No longer was it soft and quiet. Rabiya's voice was full of venom, raspy and loud. She wanted to be heard. She wanted justice. Her family lost everything, and Rabiya demanded retribution. 

"You have no right!" shrieked Rabiya, grabbing the collar of Aunt Tania's salwar kameez (traditional Bengali dress). The more her aunt fought, the tighter her grip around the cloth was. "My uncle and grandfather are dead. Do you hear me? They died! They were taken from me, and what did you, my relative, do? Tell me!" Rabiya used one hand to point at her younger cousin. "Can you look your daughter in the eye and tell her that you truly loved her father or that you care about her family?"

Aunt Tania pushed Rabiya, making her stumble. "Of course I care for my children."

Adar quickly grabbed a hold of his own wife as she made a lunge to attack Aunt Tania. Rabiya wasn't sensing reason anymore. The stressful events of the past few weeks finally burdened her soul, finally felt so suffocating and deadly that she was inconsolable. 

She felt her husband's arms wrapped around her waist, holding her tightly. Rabiya thrashed against him, her voice rising in volume until she swore that her voice would be gone. 

"How could you?" screamed Rabiya, tears streaming down her cheeks. She was tired, so very tired and hurt. Her heart was drumming against her chest as blood rushed to her head as her fury grew. "Your nephew almost died today! You were the cause of that. You were the one who instigated a path for the villagers to attack. What have you done?"

Small footsteps began pattering the floor, and her uncle's son, Karim, came into the room, sobbing as he witnessed the cold demeanor of his mother, not sparing her children a glance as she continued to glare at Adar and Rabiya. 

However, both cousins did not focus their attention on their mother. Their glistening eyes stared at Rabiya in horror and distraught, watching their beloved cousin fall apart, break down, and lose her sense of reasoning because of their mother. 

Rabiya's eyes fell on Karim, his gasping breaths as he wailed into Zaina's arms, too scared to intervene out of fear of the next beating their mother would give if they disobeyed. His dark skin was marred with scabs and scratches, purple bruises decorating his arms. 

Watching them rendered her immobile, left her frozen at the sheer lack of humanity a woman could have for her children. There was no discipline in her actions. As the children shuddered and cried in their fear, Rabiya's anger hit its peak as her blazing eyes met her Aunt Tania's.

Adar's arms continued to restrain her body, his voice whispering calming sentiments in an effort to bring her away from her emotions, but they fell on deaf ears. Her attention was purely focused on the woman before her. 

"Look at your children," she demanded. 

Aunt Tania refused, turning her cheek. 

"I said look at them!"

Her gaze switched to them, eyes softening for a bit. Even the coldest hearts could not deny the innate love a mother should feel for her children. Just as quickly as the emotion came, Aunt Tania masked it. A bitter, languid smile crossed her dry, cracking lips, an effort to show no weakness, to torture Rabiya more.

"Why did you come here acting like a wild animal?" she had the gall to ask. Aunt Tania crossed her arms. "You wanted to take my children away from me and to take away their rights to the property. Your family didn't want my kids to have any part of that estate!"

Adar's voice cut through the tension. "What estate is left? The villagers burned the house to the ground. The rights that your children had to that property have been stripped away by the very people you chose to align with."

Aunt Tania's eyes widened, staring at Adar in shock. "W-What?"

"Those villagers that you used to abuse and torture my family, they betrayed you," whispered Rabiya. "You say that my family would take away your children's rights, and you are wrong. They were willing to protect everything until Zaina and Karim came of age to inherit everything. We did not want our grandfather's property. We wanted your safety, their happiness."

"No... that... that is not true," trailed off Aunt Tania, frantically looking between her children and the young couple. "You are lying!"

"Go look at the estate! It is nothing but ashes now!" yelled Rabiya even through it pained her throat. She stopped struggling against her husband as she locked gazes with her uncle's wife, dark abyss of brown as dead as the men they lost. "You did that, Aunt Tania. You told the villagers to attack us over a lie that they fed you. You are the reason your children will have nothing that their father left for them."

"I would never do that to my kids!" she exclaimed, though her ambivalent visage betrayed her. 

Adar loosened his hold as Rabiya gripped his arm for support, the energy from her body fleeing. "But you did," said Adar. "You destroyed their futures because of greed. There is nothing left to inherit anymore."

"No... no!"

Rabiya pitied her. In her quest to obtain all the property value, Aunt Tania unknowingly led a village to loot her husband's legacy, and that mistake would now cost her children their futures. 

"Let me go," she said softly to Adar.

"Are you sure? You're stumbling."

She smiled tightly at him. "Please, Adar."

Nodding, he released his wife, giving her the freedom to walk towards her little cousins, whose cheeks were still damp. Rabiya knelt to the ground, embracing them as her heart clenched within her chest. She fought to protect them, yet she felt that she failed. 

Rabiya could not protect them from their mother or her allies. That was the harsh reality.

She placed a small kiss on both of their foreheads. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. "I wish more than anything to take you both away, to give you the lives that you deserve."

"W-Why can't you?" stuttered Zaina, grabbing her arm. "Please, stay. Don't leave us again!"

A lone tear escaped from the corner of her eye. "I can't stay, Zaina. Your mother's friends will hurt me," she said, voice low. "I'm so sorry."

Zaina furiously shook her head. "No, Apu! Don't go away again, please!" she begged, tears streaming like a river. 

Rabiya did not have the heart to tell her cousin the truth, to tell her the evil her mother was capable of. 

Pulling back, she glanced back at her Aunt Tania as she tried to grasp the severity of her actions. Rabiya stood to her feet, head high and mind clear. Rationality echoed within her mind, and the weight of Aunt Tania's mistakes hung in the thick, humid air. 

"Aunt Tania, there will be a time in this life that Zaina and Karim will understand what you did to their father's family and what your role was in erasing their father's legacy," spoke Rabiya in a haunted voice as she walked closer to her fearful aunt. Her footsteps were heavy. "They will know why their family is ostracized from them."

"They will know it was not my intentions."

Rabiya shook her head. "No, you're wrong. Right now, they are scared because they don't understand. When that day comes, you will explain the pain and humiliation you put their family through, and no matter how many times you attempt to brainwash them into thinking that we are the criminals, they will find a way to the truth."

"I-"

"She is right," interjected Adar. "What happened to their grandfather's estate is a story that even nearby villages will speak of, and all the lies you embed into their vulnerable minds will unravel. You will have no one but yourself to blame."

The room went silent, except for the noise of ragged breaths and disgruntled sobs as Aunt Tania fought against reality, fought against the damage that she initiated. She ruined their lives. 

And she could not accept it.

----

New cover, who dis? I'm lame, I know.

Some of you might be confused. Let me explain.

In Bangladesh, property value can make or break a child's education. There's not a lot of wiggle room to rise in social ladders, especially during a war.

Also, there is only so much a family can endure and do for the sake of others. It was mentioned in previous chapters, but if Rabiya's family continue fighting, their lives will be at great risk.

Sadly, it is a tragic reality.

Do you think Aunt Tania will change, and will a change of heart even matter?

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