Clueless Love

Three days have gone by and we know nothing more about Abeela’s whereabouts so far. We are still praying and looking. In Shaa Allah we will find her soon. I am driving home after visiting Fatima and her family. I have not gone back to work. I plan to go back next week.

The only thing we know for sure is that the video sent to Aisha was sent from Abeela’s phone. The phone’s location did not give us anything beneficial, except where to find Abeela’s car. The phone was dumped with the car, and other than that we have not found anything else.

I drive through our gates but see moving trucks parked at our front porch. What is going on? Is someone moving in or out? I quickly park my car in the garage and walk inside to find out what is going. I see Waheeda walking outside with a box in her hands. I walk towards her to find out what is happening.

“Good! You are back, could you help me with this box while I go and get the rest from inside?” Waheeda says. Before I even get the chance to speak, she places the box in my hands.

“Waheeda what is going on? Who is moving out?” I ask totally confused, taking the box from her.

“You didn’t know? Ismail is moving out today,” Waheeda says, looking shocked that I didn’t know.

“Ismail is what?” I say wide-eyed, dropping the box to the ground with a loud thud. I don’t wait for Waheeda to answer me before I take the stairs straight to Ismail’s room.

I can’t believe he is leaving. He did not even care to tell me. Is he leaving because of our argument in Iceland? Did what I did really hurt him that bad. I don’t even know what I did to upset him. Since Abeela has gone missing, Ismail and I have not really spoken much. My mind and energy have been on finding Abeela. I have been trying every means to find Abeela. I was even close to hacking NASA satellite to see if I could find Abeela faster, if not for Fatima stopping me. She said she did not want to lose another sister while trying to find the other.

“Ismail you are leaving. Why?” I say walking into his room, not even bothering to knock as the door was open.

“Umit, you are home…,” he says like he was not expecting me to be. Was he really planning on leaving without telling me? I can’t believe of all the times it’s now he wants to leave.

“Yes, I am home. Why are you leaving? Does it have anything to do with our argument in Iceland? Ismail whatever I did I am sorry. Please don’t leave,” I say feeling my heart ache from the fact he wants to leave without even speaking to me.

“Umit, as I said in Iceland, you did not do anything wrong. If anyone did something wrong, it was me. I am leaving because I want to protect you. I can’t bear to put your life in danger, you mean a lot to me,” Ismail says sincerely, sounding sad.

Why does he sound sad? What danger is he always talking about? Wait! This danger he is talking about, does it have anything to do with what happened in France and Iceland. Because if it does, maybe he can explain what happened.

“What danger do you want to protect me from? Does it have anything to do with what happened in Iceland and France?” I ask wanting to know for sure if I am right or wrong.

“Yes, it does, and that’s why I need to go away from you to keep you safe. You mean too much to me for me to risk your life by staying in this house with you. I have to leave to keep you safe as well as everyone else in this house,” Ismail says walking out, but I stop him by blocking his path.

“Ismail, what are you talking about? I don’t even understand a single thing you are saying. What do you mean you need to keep us safe, and what do you mean by ‘I mean a lot to you?'” I say getting more confused by his words but trying my best to understand everything that is going on.

What if he says he likes me by meaning I mean a lot to him or loves me? Would I tell him I love him back? I don’t even know if I love him. I pray I have the right answer to whatever he tells me. Or what if he just means it because I am family? That would just break my heart.

“The dangers I have involved myself in…, To keep you safe I can’t tell you. But what I mean when I say that you mean a lot to me is…, Umit, you are a very special person to me. Umit, I can’t…” Ismail starts to tell me, but stops talking when my phone starts ringing. I check and see its Fatima; it must be important.

“Ismail please could you hold on, it’s Fatima,” I interrupt picking up the call. I want to know what he is going to say but finding Abeela is also very important right now.

“As salamu alaykum Fatima,” I say answering the call.

“Wa alaykumu salam, Umit,” Fatima replies.

“What’s up, do you need something?” I ask.

“Yes actually, I am calling because I got another video from Liz, and I wanted you to check if you can find anything useful in it. I have sent it to you,” Fatima says.

“She sent another video? Are you okay? Do you need me to come over? No need to answer I am already on my way,” I say about to walk out. But stop.

“No need for you to come over Umit. I am fine, please just analyze the video and tell me if you can find anything that would help with finding Abeela,” Fatima pleads.

“Are you sure? Because I don’t mind coming back.”

“Yes, please run it and just get back to me as soon as possible.”Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

“Alright, I will. Bye.”

“Bye,” Fatima says and hangs up.

After I hang up the call, Ismail asks what happened. I explain everything to him. We quickly walk downstairs to the library where my workstation is. My workstation is set up with four monitors, a keyboard, and a mouse. It’s like a normal workstation for a programmer.

“Where is your phone?” Ismail asks, sitting down in front of my desk.

“Here. Will you be able to trace it as far as the first phone it was sent from?” I ask giving him my phone, while I take a seat beside him. Ismail plugs my phone into the system and does his thing.

“Yes, I should be able to,” He replies and starts trying to trace the location it was sent from.

Ismail can trace the video back to who sent it to Fatima before it was sent to me. The police can also do what we are doing, but we just want to do anything we can to help with finding Abeela. Maybe find something the police might overlook that will help with finding Abeela.

“Alright!”

“Play the video while I try my best and find out who sent it.”

“Okay,” I say playing the video, and like last time the woman is the first person we see. This time she looks a bit different, she looks disturbed. After bending her neck for a couple of minutes, she starts talking.

‘Hi, Fatima how are you doing. I am happy you paid heed to my message and came back. Now that you are back, the real business begins. My dear Fatima, if you want to see your sister alive you have to trade yourself for her. I am giving you two days to trade yourself for her, if not I won’t be responsible for what happens to her. I will text the details on how I want the trade to happen, and don’t bother trying to trace the phones. You won’t find me.’ she says and ends the video call.

Oh, my God! I can’t believe this. She wants to kill Abeela if Fatima does not trade herself in for her. Ya Allah, please let us find Abeela soon before this woman harms her. Ya Allah what are we going to do? We need to find Abeela soon because if we don’t, I know Fatima would trade herself for her sister in a heartbeat. But that is not the only problem. No doubt Liz will harm Fatima if we do that, maybe even kill her. I don’t even want to imagine that. But there is a big possibility that Liz will do that, thinking that is the only way Udar will finally be with her. We must think of a way to find Abeela before Fatima does the unthinkable.

“Ismail are you coming up with anything?” I ask standing up from my seat, pacing up and down the floor.

“The only thing I was able to come up with was the video was sent to Fatima yesterday.” Ismail replies.

“Yesterday? Are you sure? I thought Fatima just got the video?” I say confused by that fact. Subhan Allah (Glory be to Allah)! I pray Fatima is not doing what I am thinking.

“Ismail, do you know what that means?” I say finally understanding why Fatima did not want me to come over. I must go and stop her before she does something dangerous.

“Here take my keys. Go, before she does something stupid,” Ismail nods, throwing his keys to me.

I don’t even think twice before I run out of the house and start driving to Fatima’s place. Ya Allah, I pray I don’t get there too late. I can’t imagine losing Fatima. I don’t even know I am crying until tears drop on the steering wheel. I quickly wipe them off and decide to call Fatima to stop her from doing something that might kill her, but I left my phone at the house. I increase my speed praying deeply I don’t get there before it’s too late.