Chapter Four – Memories from the past

It was half past 11 when Alaya reached home. She felt exhausted as she closed the door of the taxi and turned towards her house. Not once did the thought of that stranger leave her mind during her long ride home. But she was forced to forget, as she saw the door of her house. Through the windows on the side, she could see that the lights were still on. A fear crept into her heart when she remembered the lie she had told her dad. Group study at Lilly’s place. Dad can come pick her up at 10. Goodness! He must have called her a million times by now. Alaya looked for her phone in her handbag. It was way deep under all the other stuff and when she took it out it was sticky. It took Alaya a while to realize that it was her leaked lip gloss. Disgusted at her clumsiness, she unlocked her phone to find 13 missed calls from her Dad. Shit! This was it. This was Alaya Mahmood’s end and she hasn’t even written her will. What was she going to do? There was no way she was entering that house. To face her furious Dad’s face in a maxi dress! No way! She has to find another way out.

As she was thinking of another way, she heard a cat’s meow from right side. When she looked in that direction, she saw her nephew’s pet, Larry. She saw the old white Larry walk to the back of the house. That was it! If she was lucky the back door might still be open! Alaya quickly scurried behind Larry towards the backyard. As she reached the door, she let out a sigh and made a silent prayer. Larry meowed once again for her to open the door. Alaya reached for the knob, turned it to see that the door was unlocked. Her heart filled with gratitude when she saw the dark kitchen with no lights. Larry ran into the kitchen and got in his basket near the counter when Alaya got in the kitchen, closed the door behind her and walked through the kitchen with the help of the flashlight on her phone. With silent steps, Alaya walked through the corridor of rooms in her house and got startled when she heard her father’s voice.

“Hello sir! We need a little help….our daughter has gone missing and we can’t even contact her.” Alaya’s eyes grew wide when she heard her father speak. Is he calling the police? Or a group of hooligans with tracking intelligence? Who knew? She gotta hurry! Alaya quickly slipped into her room silently closing the door and she changed her dress into her pajamas as if it was an international changing marathon. She was literally out of her room in less than 3 minutes.

“Dad!!!” Alaya called out loud going into the living room as she caught her breath.

“Alaya when did you come back?” Mahmood asked in a concerned voice as he walked up to Alaya.

“I…was back at around 10:30 or 45 in Lilly’s car. Didn’t see you or anyone around so I thought everyone slept. So didn’t bother disturbing you. Hehe…” Alaya said, laughing nervously and praising herself for the reasonable story she made on the spot.

“Really dear? I was out the whole time but had to go in to search for my phone. It was perhaps around that time. You could have informed me darling I wasn’t even able to call you all this time.” Mahmood said.

“Oh my phone was switched off and I just switched it on. Was studying a bit even after coming home.” Alaya said, seriously considering the fact that people might inherit traits from their best friends. Because lying was never her thing until now.

“Oh….I was so worried about you dear. Hadn’t told anyone else that I didn’t know where you were. Your mom would have gone out of her mind if she knew. Please keep us informed of where you go and when you come back will you darling? I had all kinds of crazy thoughts. Like you were kidnapped or something.” Mahmood said.

“Don’t worry dad. I’ll never do that. Will always keep you informed of where I am.” Alaya said.

Mahmood smiled at Alaya and bid her goodnight. Alaya went in her room and lay on her bed, contemplating everything that has happened in this happening night that came to be in her not-so-happening life. She thought of how she had gone to prom for the first time in her life. And what happened at the prom made Alaya consider for once that her parents and her sister might be right. Maybe prom wasn’t a good thing for her. She’d never want to go to a place like that ever again. Never! But the memories of that stranger made Alaya’s heart beat a little faster. Who could that be? Was that in fact the man from her dreams? Could he be “the one” made for her? Will she be ever able to see him again?

That question that popped in her mind then again reminded her of her sketch. She was so disappointed when she came home to find that her sketch was no longer in her file. She’d thought of making such a sketch again but hasn’t found the time due to exams. Oh well! If she can’t see him from a sketch, she’d rather see him in a dream. Hugging her heart shaped pillow against her chest and smiling, Alaya closed her eyes in hope of seeing that face again.

The next day, Alaya woke up with that same smile. Not because she saw the man in her dream but because his memories both from her dream and real life were so beautiful. No matter what anyone else might say, Alaya convinced herself that the man who saved her must be the man from her dream. She was making up a whole story in her head where one day he would come and say that he loves her so much. And he would confess that was the reason he had saved her from Max. He’d say that she is the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen though he had seen many girls on his long drives on his Range rover. He’d come to meet her father to ask him for her hand and she would shyly agree to the proposal. They’d get married and still act like new lovers. All of it is just going to be so awesome! And for this awesomeness to happen, she needed to find him. She went to school that day, planning to share all of her feelings with Lilly and ask that detective friend of hers to find out about the guy for her.

But Alaya didn’t realize that Allah’s plans for her were more beautiful than even her own dreams. And that she didn’t need to force things in her life to happen, for them to come true.

That day, Alaya caught her bus at 7:15 as usual. She sat on the seat she normally sits and started searching for her headphones in her handbag. To her disappointment, she did not find them. Giving a huge sigh and cursing herself, she eyed around the bus. Just then, she saw a magazine on the floor of the bus right near her feet. She picked it up as an alternative to her playlist and flipped through the pages. She wasn’t paying attention until she saw a close-up picture of a man’s face, along with a bold title. Though Alaya was always one who’d eye and swoon over any man’s picture, it was not the picture that caught most of her attention. It was a name in the title.

“Raphael….” her breath paused as she whispered the name. Within seconds, memories from the past engulfed her.