Unorthodox Therapy Methods.

Shyra felt a little bit at ease when she spoke to Dr. Saalim Yahya at her first appointment, even though his methods weren't 'professional-like' and they did help her.

She tried to do the exercises that he had given her but they were getting harder and harder because of how her mind works.

Even though the ones she was always smiling to were Ayra and some of her other classmates and when it came to writing something good about herself, she was stuck.

It was as if her mind was on pause and didn't want to start.

"Shyra, what's wrong?" Ayra asks her when she noticed that Shyra didnt respond to her questions.

Ayra has been having weekend sleepovers at Shyra with her father's permission, of course, but it wasn't enough as Imran would always check on them from time to time.

"I am just thinking about the good things in life..."

"Well, for starters, you are alive, Alhamdullilah, you should be thankful for that. And also be thankful that you have people in your life that love and care for you. Me and dad included," Ayra says while looking at her. "I included Dad because he would ask me to take care of you," she added surprising Shyra.

"Thank you. You are grown up for someone who is eight years old. And you seem to know alot of things maybe you could teach me afew things..."

"Really? Okay, I could try but I am not that good of a teacher, you could ask my dad to help you. But if you want we can both help you," Ayra says smiling. "Sometimes we someone to help us even though we don't ask for it, right?"

"Thats true and thank you for being here with me," Shyra says.

A few days later, Shyra received an email from Dr. Saalim Yahya about the address where Imran should take her but she didn't want to be a burden and wanted to ask Raya to drive her.

But she didn't know that Dr. Saalim had already told his son to take her to her destination. Imran was just waiting for Shyra's confirmation about the time.

Shyra knocked on Imran's apartment door hoping that he won't be home but unfortunately for her, he was home.

"Asalam aleikum, I..."

"Waleikum salaam, I understand. I will be down in a few minutes. I just need to finish lunch and then we will go," he says making Shyra nod.

"Okay, I will be waiting at the lobby," she tells him walking away and going to the elevator.

Shyra took a deep breath and took her phone to call her friends as it was a much-needed conversation.

"Asalam Aleikum, how are you doing, Shyra?" Iman asked her friend as soon as she picked up the phone.

"Waleikum salaam, I am good alhamdullilah. How is everything there? The wedding preparations and Saira, Hanan, and Hannah plus Armaan," Shyra asks her.

"Everyone is okay. The wedding preparations are done. Saira and Azaan decided to get married on the same day as me which made Mum and Aunt Sameera happy. And what about you? What is new?".

Shyra explained everything that happened in the last few weeks plus how she is seeing a therapist. And about Ayra who has captured her heart without realizing it.

"The strange thing is that Ayra is like an angel especially when she has that soothing aura in her. She is calm and always happy Ma shaa Allah. I wish you girls could meet her, you would love her too," Shyra says smiling. "Where are the other girls?" She asked because it was normal for her call to be put on speaker whenever she would call.

"Hanan is at work, Saira is with Mum, and Hannah is also working and studying..."

"What do you mean by Hannah is studying and working?" Shyra asks worriedly. "Didn't she get the scholarship from Uncle Aayan's company?"

Hannah was Iman's cousin. Her mother and Hayat are step sisters even though not by blood. But Hayat always considered Jameela as her sister.

Iman explained Hannah's situation to Shyra who was shocked to hear that their friend doesn't want anyone to help her even if they considered themselves family.

"But thankfully to Inaya that she recommended her to her older brother, anyways how are you doing?" Iman asks avoiding the topic of Hannah. Because she didn't want Hannah to feel like they were gossiping about her.

"Everything is going good alhamdullilah. I am just heading to my next session now," Shyra explained as the elevator came to a stop. "I will call you when you are with the others, okay?" she asks her friend.

"Yes, sure. I will let you go but let me know everything. In shaa Allah everything will be okay..."

"Is that Shyra?" Someone asks Iman.

"No, it is someone else. Why Samir?" she asks the other person revealing who it was.

I can't let him know where I am. Because he deserves someone who isn't broken like me.

"Anyways, I need to go. I will talk to you later, Sara," Iman quickly says, hanging up before Samir can ask any more questions.

Shyra couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

Alhamdulillah.

"Are you ready to go?" Imran says, making her jump. "I am sorry I didn't mean to startle you," he added, raising his hands, making her smile. "I got you to smile. Let's go."

"It is okay. Yeah, I am," Shyra says as they walk out of their apartment building. "I want to thank you for everything that you and Ayra have done for me. It was like you two are angels that Allah sent you to me," she added.

"It's our pleasure. And as for Ayra, she is something else. She was the first one to want to help people," Imran says opening the passenger door for Shyra.

And then he walked to the driver's side and got in. Imran then turned on the car and started to drive to their destination.

"Can I ask you something if you dont mind? If the question offends you then you dont need to answer me," Shyra asks him.

"You can ask me anything," Imran says.

"How old are you? But you dont need..."

"I am almost 27 years old. I enrolled late to the university because I used to live in a different city and I had to take care of Ayra especially when she needed me most of the time," Imran explained to Shyra. "I was 18 years old when my sister died and when I got Ayra's custody. Thats thanks to my dad, he helped me with that," he added smiling.

He is seven years older than me. And he has a responsibility to his niece Ma shaa Allah. May Allah grant him and Ayra happiness the need and deserve. Ameen.

After a few minutes, Imran packed the car in a huge building that had a faded sign in front of it.

"We are here. I know that my father's therapy sessions are unorthodox but they do work. And he isn't your normal therapist, so bear in mind that sometimes he might get you to do things that will seem weird," Imran tells her while getting out of the car.

"I understand but why are we here?" Shyra asks while going into the building.

Imran was about to reply when he saw his father approaching them.

"Asalam Aleikum, How are you doing?"He asks Shyra.

"Waleikum salaam. I am fine alhamdullilah..."

"Imran, you might go or stay. Your choice," Dr. Saalim says to his son and then turns to face Shyra. "Come one, let's get you geared up for what we are about to do," he says leading her to a room where one of the female instructors was waiting for her.

"She will help you and I will be waiting outside for you," Dr. Saalim tells her.

"Okay."

As Dr. Saalim then leaves her with the female instructor.

"Hey, let me help you with putting on the gear and then we will go to the room, okay?" she tells Shyra who nods. "You can keep your hijab on," she added holding the jacket for Shyra to put on.

After five minutes, Shyra was all done putting on the gear and then walked out to find Dr. Saalim changed into the same gear as hers.

"Come and I will show you what you need to do," he says leading her to a room that was filled with junk. And then he handed her an axe which confused her. "I want you to let your anger go and hit everything and anything in this room," he tells her.

"You can imagine whoever you want to and hit the item until it gets out of your system," he says nodding for her to go into the room.

Dr. Saalim then closed the door but he continued watching on the glass window.

I hope this method works for you, Shyra. If it doesn't then I am not giving up until I find something else that does.

Shyra could feel the anger rising when she remembered that night that everything happened to her. She raised the axe and started hitting a broken TV that she had pictured his face on.

She then started yelling at it while hitting it.

Meanwhile, Imran watched from afar how Shyra's therapy was going. He knew that his father's methods were very unorthodox but they were effective.

Shyra needed to get angry because all the anger she had inside would only hurt her if she didn't let it go.

They watched as she hit every single object and yelled while tears ran down her face.

"I hate you!! You ruined my life, I wish you were the one I was hitting!! I wish I never met you!!"

This continued for almost half an hour thats when Shyra felt her arms getting tired but she needed to release everything she had held inside for all this time.

Imran watched as she fell on the floor holding her head and tears coming out of her eyes. She looked defeated yet stronger tha she was before everything.

"Dad, are you sure this was needed?"

"Yes, very much. She needed to get angry because thats the first step of getting better. Shyra is a strong girl who needs to know how strong she is. This is a break through in her heart," Dr. Saalim answered his son while pointing at Shyra who was on the floor looking defeated.

Being angry inside is like poison for the mind, soul, and body but getting angry on the outside is also poison but it can be managed compared to the one on the inside.