Ismail ran as fast as his heavy booted legs could carry him, not minding that he was still wearing his work coveralls, or that his eyes were still heavy with sleep. He just ran through the hallway, down the metal staircase, ignoring the calls of his colleagues, till he reached his car. Even when his close work mate shouted from the balcony, ‘At least sign out na!’ He didn’t turn back. Getting a query was the least of his problems. 

His only mission was to get home, to his wife. But first, he needed to collapse, to react, without any witnesses. That was the reason why he ran to his car in the first place, for who’d want to see a gallant, military man cry?

On getting home, he didn’t bother to park his car inside the compound as it was already filled with
Barakah’s school bus, a white jeep and Sumayya’s blue Toyota Avensis. Even before he reached for the slightly opened door, he could already hear the low murmurs inside. 

This took him back to the day of Salsabil’s death: the filled up compound, the solemn crowd, the cries. He quickly shook his head to drive the memories away. This was not the same. Nobody was dead.
Barakah was only missing, and she’d be found soon. He knew so; He hoped so.

As he entered, the room hushed, as though the air he came with had rid them of their voices. He looked around, from Barakah’s class teacher to the two girls beside her. Finally to Hidaya with red rimmed eyes, Sumayya's head resting on her lap, Hajiya Bintu, Rose and Aaliyah.

Seeing them instantly calmed him down and gave him strength to smile. After a quick greeting and words of gratitude and appreciation, he hurried towards the stairs, wondering where Kauthar was, though he wasn’t surprised about her absence.

He found her in the girls’ room, on Barakah’s bed with her back to him, bent forward as though she was praying. But on moving closer, her face was shielded by Barakah’s white towel, but he could see the dampness and hear her low sniffles. 

He sat slowly and pulled her to him, but she resisted, even refused to raise her head. Sighing, he glanced at Hoor’s Sofia the First bed that was littered with a shirt, a blue short and one pair of sock. He picked them one by one, folded them into a ball and threw them straight into the laundry basket behind the door. His eyes moved to the blue formica wardrobe covered with stickers of various shapes and sizes, then to the widow with the curtains pulled down, but sun rays still poked through to warm up the room. Still, he went to raise the curtains, earning a loud hiss from Kauthar.

“Please put it back down.” She said.

“No, we need the sunlight.”

She uncovered her face and glared at him, “No, what I need is my daughter.” She said slowly, her puffy face crumbling again.

Ismail rushed to take her in his arms. “We’ll find her,”

“How? Nobody knows where she went. The only witnesses are two very unreliable girls who were arguing about seeing her with a lady in blue hijab or black hijab. They couldn’t even tell what the person looked like.”

Ismail blew out a puff of breath,  “Just calm down.”

“No! I cant.” She moved to the window. “Barakah is out there, alone, and I’m here, doing nothing. It’s not as if the school has CCtv cameras that we can check. We’re just hopeless. Hopeless!” She threw her hands in the air. 

Ismail stood akimbo, not sure of what to say. She was right, they were hopeless. 

“This is all my fault.”

He frowned. “what do you mean?”

Kauthar sat on the red bean bag across him, “I had a dream.” she whispered.

Ismail lifted his head to the ceiling and rubbed his face, “For God’s sake, Kauthar.”

“It's true,” she stood up, “This morning, that was why I was so down, so worried that I slept in the bathroom. You know I only do that when I'm stressed.”

Ismail gave her an incredulous look. “So what was this dream about?’ He hated that he was asking. But there was no other lead. 

Kauthar licked her bottom lip. “I saw Salsabil.” Ismail clamped his lips and sighed in frustration.

“Wait now,” she stood before him, “Salsabil was holding Barakah. They were talking and laughing. Then they started walking. I was behind them, shouting their names,” She shook her head, “Barakah's name, but she didn’t answer me. What if this is a punishment?” 

Ismail brows furrowed as he stared at his ridiculous wife. “What is wrong with you?” He shook his head again and freed himself from her.

Punishment, for what? He wanted to ask but he didn’t want to hear more ludicrous tales from her. It wasn’t helping at all. So he ambled towards the door, saying, “I’m going to call the intelligence unit so we can find a way out of this.”

“Wait,” Kauthar called, but he ignored her and opened the door. On his way to the staircase, she ran and blocked his way. “We don’t need them. Have you forgotten what happens to kidnapped victims when the military gets involved? We should wait.”
“For what?” he snapped, glaring at her. 

She winced, but still held her ground. “A call from them, you know kid-”

“Kauthar!” he shouted, then grabbed her arms, “Look around you,” he whispered. This is not a movie. Nobody is calling us, we’re not some kind of celebrities, neither do we possess any riches. What we need to do is investigate. And by that, I mean with what we know, not with things that are not real. Do you get me?”

Kauthar bit my lower lip and nodded. Good. He released her and continued walking. Now let’s just-” His phone rang, interrupting him. He hoped it wasn’t his boss or colleagues, for he was not in the mood to talk now. But it was an unknown number, he frowned and turned around. Kauthar was still standing by the door, eyes downcast, wringing her hands. Then he picked the call.
“Hello?”

There was shuffle, then a beep, followed by a faint “Hello?”
Ismail’s eyes widened in surprise. “Barakah!” Kauthar's head sprang up, mirroring his surprise.

She ran to him, almost knocking him off balance. She gripped his hand holding the phone, “Barakah darling, can you hear me?” He turned on the speaker.

  There was a sniff, then a low “Yes mummy. Help me Mummy.”

Kauthar let out a strangled cry and clutched her chest, “we’re coming, just hold on, where are you?”

Ismail glared at her like ‘are you mad?’

“Mu-’ There was another beep, then a low voice murmuring, following by a yelp.

“Oh my God!” Kauthar shouted, earning another glare from Ismail.

“What is wrong with you?” he whispered sharply, tempted to slap her. He turned towards the staircase, hoping no one had heard them. 

There was another beep, then a deep voice, “Hello Ismail.” 

The couple shared an expression of wide eyes and slacked mouths, before he swallowed and replied. “Yes, hello. Who is this?”

The voice laughed, low, seedy, and mocking. “is that what you should be asking, hmm?”

They shared a look again. Kauthar gave him pleading look. Ismail frowned. What was he supposed to say? “Okay, what do you want from us?’

The voice laughed again, “It’s not money, in case you’re wondering. In fact, I’m in a bigger position to give you money, as I have a lot of it.”

Ismail rolled his eyes. Cocky bastard.

“Anyways, that’s not the case right now. The thing is, you owe me. Both of you.”

They shared a confused look before Kauthar asked, “what do you mean?”

“Ah, forgotten so soon I see?”

Ismail sighed, “Please, whatever it is, I'm sure we can talk about it. you didn’t need to take my daughter.”

“Actually, I do, because she’s right in the middle of it.”

“In the middle of what?” Kauthar asked.

There was a bit of silence before the voice spoke, “Tell you what, if you can recall your offense, then you can increase you daughter’s chances of coming back home.”

Kauthar furrowed her brows, “But we don’t know who you are na, so how can we know what we did?”

“That’s for you to find out then. Recall your offense and I’ll think about letting her go, else…” The call cuts off, leaving only a static whoosh in its wake.

  Ismail ended the call and turned to Kauthar, who was now leaning on the wall, breathing heavily.

“What the hell was that?’

Kauthar raised her head, “You mean who the hell was that?” She pushed herself off the wall, eyes trained on Ismail. “I told you we were being punished.” She turned back, heading towards their room.

“But by who?’ Ismail called out.

Kauthar turned and said over her shoulder, “That is for us to find out and make sure the intelligence unit doesn’t get involved.” She opened the door and shut it gently.

Assalamu alaikum!

We're back with another update.

Hope your week is going well.

Feeling really sorry for Barakah.

Do you also believe that Kauthar is being punished?

And can you guess who the kidnapper is?

Put on your thinking cap and...well...think! And let me know all about it in the comments.

Don't forget to tap that lil star before you go.

❤❤❤