Possession by Laila Ali (young adult books to read .txt) 📗

And for the last 5 years, continuous harassment and her parent's negligence made her nature introverted. She no longer was an extrovert girl who wanted to live her life to the fullest. A feeling of dread always crept over her nerves whenever any male was around. She did not trust anyone easily especially men. The harassment led her mind to create a haunting perception about men in her mind and she always tried to get away when any unfamiliar person was around her. She judged all men with the same eye. The eye that was born as a result of the harassment.

Regarding males, she only trusted her father and Daniyal.

"Amarra sab thk ho jaye ga, Allah par bharosa rakho"

(Amarra everything will be fine, have faith in Allah)

Right now, they were sitting in the drawing-room and her aunt was sitting beside her mother and was consoling her.

"Neelam, sab thk kaise hoga akhir? mein apnay mujtaba k beghair kia kru gi? mein tw uss k beghair kuch nahi kar pao gi." Her mother cried on her sister's shoulder.

(Neelam, How will everything be alright? What will I do without my Mujtaba? I will not be able to do anything without him)

"Allah par bharosa rakho. Sabar Karo." Neelam consoled her sister.

(Believe in Allah. Be patient)

Zahra came and sat beside her mother on the couch to comfort her but tears again brimmed in her eyes making a sharp pain in her nose indicating she is on verge of crying, at last, she couldn't hold her emotions and salty tears cascaded down her eyes soaking her cheeks. She only wanted to be strong at least in front of her mother but her emotions could not seem to get in control.

Her father was her life and she never once thought what her life would be without her father. The mere thought of it always made her depressed but now her life took the biggest turn leaving her in a blind alley. Currently, she had no goal nor any will to live. And she was praying for her death in order to meet her father.

"Ammi, please stop crying," she beseeched, while she herself was crying her eyes out.

Her mother laid her head on her lap and gently caressed her long brown locks to ease her. But Zahra didn't have it and begin to cry out loudly. Her body shuddered with big sobs flushing her face red. She cried her heart out on her mother's lap and at last sleep engrossed her.

..........................................................................................................................

Her eyes fluttered open and she found herself in her room. Her head was aching so bad while her whole face seemed to be frozen. Then reality hit her hard and what she thought was a dream happened, her father was no more with her. Before her emotions could control her, she heard unfamiliar voices coming from downstairs. She thought that they must be the people who came for condolences but their voices and the vicious way with which they were talking tell another story.

She grabbed her dupatta and headed downstairs. She was halfway through the staircase when she could hear them.

"We want the rest of our money back," a goony voice demanded.

"How could we even give back this much money when you know that all we have is this house. Why don't you go and ask Asim?" the desperate voice of her mother had her eyes widened. She didn't know what was happening and what money were they asking for.

"Asim told us that you have the money and all the papers had Mujtaba Shabbir Syed name, not Asim's" another voice snapped.

"Asim made us sign those papers we only demanded 1 million not 20 million, which we ourselves know we are not able to pay."

"We don't care our boss only wants the money and it's up to you to pay back us our money in the given time"

"How could we gather this big amount of money, it will almost take a lifetime to pay back the rest. For the last 5 years, we made all possible efforts but it is next to impossible to gather this much money in such a short span which you are asking"

"Either you give us this house or return our money" After hearing this Zahra was left bewildered and immediately ran toward the TV lounge, from where the voices were coming. She was hysterical at the moment and didn't care about the outcome. She only did what she wanted and what she wanted was for those people to leave her house, immediately.

"NO!! LEAVE US AND OUR HOUSE NOW!" she shouted frantically.

All the heads immediately turned towards her. Her mother, her aunt, Shoaib, and Daniyal were there. Those two goons eyed her lustily and exchanged glances with each other showing that a mischievous plan hit them.

"Zahra, go inside" Daniyal seethed after noticing those two men exchanging glances.

"NOW!" he boomed. Zahra jumped but didn't back off.

"First ask them to leave our house. NOW!" she said with the same intensity.

"Let's make a deal," one of those men suddenly said.

"What deal?" Shoaib asked.

"Either you give us this house," he looked around.

"Or what?" Neelam challenged.

The men looked at her then at Zahra,

"or hand over this girl to us"

Everyone visibly gasped out of shock.

"Now it's up to you what you would like us to give"

"Take this house but don't dare to even look at my daughter. I will claw your eyes out." Amarra deadpanned looking straight in their eyes.

"Two days," he raised his two fingers, "we give you only two days to leave this place." and with that those two men left the house.

Zahra was traumatized, it was a thunderbolt for her. She never knew such inhumanity exists. She stood baffled at her place for good two minutes. But her aunt's question took her out of her trauma and now she was anxious.

"Where will you go, Amarra?" Neelam asked.

"You can stay at our house, khala," Shoaib said.