Chapter 2
Sharifah flipped through the pages of
the thick economic textbook.
She yawned. The words in the book
were dancing around.
‘I need a haircut,’ she thought
running her hand through her short curly hair. Sharifah or Ifa for short, shook
her head and slap her cheeks with both hands. ‘There she goes again,
concentrate on your text,’ a voice
scolded in her head. For someone who was fast approaching the big 21, she had a
concentration span of an eight year old. Her mind would be everywhere except
study. One minute it was on the economics equilibrium chart; the next it would
wander to a movie scene she had recently watched or to some handsome guy she
had bumped into at the campus.
Sharifah sighed and walked across the room to the balcony;
carefully watching her steps so that she would not step on her housemates
sleeping peacefully in the living room. There were eight of them. They were all
sprawled all over the room, kicking their blankets and sleeping on the cold
marble floor to get some cool comfort from the heatwave.
The living room was
lengthy and spacious, with only a run-down sofa at one end of the room and a
small television at the left hand corner; it was enough to fit all eight of
them.
. Sharifah stepped
onto the balcony. Sharifah squeezed
underneath the row of clothing lines. Seated, legs cross, she leaned against
the wall and stared at the stars.
Ring!!!
Sharifah was jolted to reality by the telephone. She wasn’t the only one…..Aida and
Rina nearly bolted up from their mattress. Who would call them at 2.00 o’clock in the morning?
Drowsily, Aida got up and answered the telephone.
Sharifah didn’t hear anything nor could she see Aida’s expression.
It was dark inside the flat. Rina had
already gone back to sleep.
Aida put down the phone and crept back to her mattress.
She didn’t go back to sleep, she just sat there hugging her knees.
“Is everything
alright?” whispered Sofia
Aida didn’t answer her. She just shook her head. Sharifah
put her arm gently on her friend’s shoulder. She wasn’t the huggy feely person.
A mere pat on the shoulder or a gentle squeeze on the shoulder was the only
emotion that she knew. Aida took a deep breath and slowly released it.
“It’s, Rafiq,” answered back Aida.
“Who’s Rafiq?”
“He’s my cousin.” Aida didn’t continue. Her voice was shaking
with emotion and she wiped the tears trickling down her cheeks.
“What’s wrong
with him?” asked Sharifah gently. She felt sad for her Aida, out of all the
seven girls, the two of them are more comfortable with each other.
“He was in an
accident a few weeks back. He was hit by
a car and flung off his motorcycle. It was a hit and run case. His left leg was
shattered but the worst part is ….,” said Aida softly “He never gained
consciousness. He has been in a coma for a month now.”
“I’m sorry. You
must’ve been close with him?” said Sharifah sympathetically.
“We were….but
somehow we lost touch” Aida twirled her blanket. Sharifah didn’t say anything,
Aida was clearly upset.
“That
phone was from Pak Ngah. He wanted the whole family to gather at his house this
Thursday. They want to do a prayers for
Rafiq. I’m just worried. It wouldn’t be nothing if my uncle called so early in
the morning. I’ve never visited him since the accident but I have a bad feeling
about this. I just feel that I should go and visit him tomorrow morning,” said
Aida nervously. Sharifah looked at her
International Economic book and looked back at her friend. Aida didn’t have to say
anything, the state that she was in at that time showed that she didn’t want to
see Rafiq alone.
“I could follow
you. I don’t have any classes tomorrow,” said Sharifah. Aida nodded, mumbled a
‘thank you’ and laid her head on the pillow, pretending to sleep. Sharifah went to the balcony and
opened the book. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day, she might as well try to
get something into her head. Sharifah managed to get to the third chapter
before falling asleep dreaming of flow charts and gigantic telephones.
Rina found her the next morning, with the book tuck as a
pillow under her head, sleeping peacefully at the balcony. It was almost 10.00 o'clock .
Aida was already getting ready to go to Kuala Lumpur General Hospital
The two girls got on an IntraKota bus headed towards Silang Street
took a Metro bus to the hospital. It wasn’t hard to find Rafiq’s ward, there were signs at every corner
of the hospital. Rafiq was located on the third floor. A long white curtain was
drawn around his bed.
Aida pulled the curtain and looked at the bed. Sharifah
was standing behind her and couldn’t see Rafiq’s face.
“Sharifah, I’d
like you to meet my cousin Rafiq,” said Aida stepping aside so that Sharifah
had a clear view of Rafiq. Aida noticed the frown on her friend’s face.
“What’s the
matter?” asked Aida. Sharifah shrugged her shoulder but she was still frowning,
trying to remember….
‘I’ve seen him
before, where have I seen him ?’ thought Sharifah to herself.
“What?” asked
Aida unsatisfied with her friend’s reply..
“It’s just that
he looks familiar,” said Sharifah not taking her eyes off Rafiq. He was a strikingly
handsome young man. His face and eyes looked swollen, Aida told her that it was
caused by the medication and water pump into his blood stream. The first thing
that anyone would notice of him was his frame. It was big. He looked like a
masculine version of Snow White sleeping on the tiny dwarves bed. There were
faint signs of bruises and cuts on his face. His right leg was cemented.
Sharifah looked at his chart’s pretending to understand what was written on it
but could only see scribbles.
“What’s wrong
with him?’ asked Sharifah looking at Aida who sat beside Rafiq.
“He had head
injury, the doctors said he had a concussion, his left leg was shattered.”
“Concussion
doesn’t take almost four weeks to wake up from. Brain damage perhaps?” asked
Sharifah.
“The doctor did
a CT scan. We haven’t got the result yet.”
Sharifah looked around the ward.
“What are you
looking for?” asked Aida.
“Isn’t his
family supposed to be here? Where are they?”Aida didn’t answer her friend.
Sharifah left Aida and her cousin alone and wandered off by herself. They
stayed with Rafiq for 30 minutes and then headed back to Shah Alam. Aida was
quiet and didn’t talk all the way home. That was fine with Sharifah, she was
trying to memorize what she had read last night, trying to remember the charts
and examples for the essay section for tomorrow’s Economic test. She couldn’t
shake the nagging feeling that she had met Rafiq before. Where did she see him?
No comments:
Post a Comment