Family
Page 9
***
The next day, Maryam wakes up to the cheerful chattering of children’s voices.
She gets up and looks about the room confused.
She remembers.
Mark.
She sits up more and was about to speak, when Mark comes to her excitedly.
“You destroyed the boogeyman, M! I saw you do it. You grabbed him in your hand like this,” he takes a piece of paper and crumbles it in his tiny fist, “then you took him out of the room, out of the building and you threw him away.” He tosses the piece of paper against the wall.
Mark jumps onto the bed and hugs her.
“Thank you, Maryam.” He kisses her softly on her cheek.
“You saved me.”
Maryam was confused. She was not sure what Mark was talking about. Before she could ask, Mark adds.
“Happy birthday, by the way,” Mark gestures to the rest of the children, “come on.”
They all start singing happy birthday.
Maryam didn’t know what to do.
Last thing she remembers was lying next to Mark, reciting the protection verses of the Quran over and over again. She couldn’t sleep and she still felt like she didn’t sleep at all. When she opened her eyes, she was still reciting the verses.
Did she fall asleep?
What was Mark talking about?
He did seem different though. There was more color to his face and his shoulders were less slumped in.
Maryam noticed something else too.
Mark was smiling.
For the first time since he came to Good Hope, he was actually smiling.
That alone made Maryam very happy.
Very happy indeed.
She smiles as the children continue to sing.
“All thanks be to God.”
تنوير
“Can you see?”