Her escape!

Fatima's Pov:

Love.

What is Love?

What does it mean to love someone or to be Loved?

People say, "Love can take you to different places, make you feel safe and protected. Give you butterflies and make your day better. Love can save lives."

But why is the Love I have seen so different from the love people have seen?

Why is the Love I have received so different?

Love has brought me nothing but pain, sorrow, depression, anxiety, a broken heart, and a craving to be cared for.

The Love I have seen was nothing but emotional blackmail, manipulation, selfishness, guilt, shame and control.

In my eyes, Love is the most powerful weapon to break someone.

So really, what is Love?

Is it worth it to fight for it to the point where you are tired, and all you would want to do is take your life so that maybe the pain would lessen?

Today, what they call Love is making me want to run away as far as possible.

Huh, (scoff)

Can you believe it?

I am running away from the two people that are supposed to love me the most in the whole world.

I pick up all the stuff I need.

I have to hurry, or else they will wake up before I can even go.

It is night, and it is the only time I have the chance to get away, but I have to be quick because my parents wake up early in the morning.

My name is Fatima, and I am 17 years.

I have lived with my parents till now.

I wanted to attend one of the best colleges, but my parents didn't allow me. Well, more my stepmother.

My mom left me when I was 5, and my father remarried after that. My stepmother doesn't like me and does everything she can to make my life hell.

My father and I grew apart after my mom left.

He always takes her side whenever my stepmother says something about me or when we are arguing.

Of course, it doesn't make me hate him no matter how much I want to because he is my father.

All these years, my goal was to get away from here as far as I could, but when I told them that I wanted to go to a college a couple hours away, my stepmother said no and because she said no, my father agreed with her.

That is when I knew no matter what I did, he would never believe me. No matter how much I tried, he will always take her side, so I thought of escaping myself since I couldn't save this relationship anymore.

I had to live with depression, abuse and anxiety all these years, and now I want to be free from it. I want to live as I want. I don't want to live fearing what can happen anytime.

I am tired of living like this. I want to live a carefree life now, so I decided to escape and attend the college I had dreamed of attending for years.

When Fatima has finished packing up, she looks around and can't believe that she is close to being free from her stepmother.

She takes her luggage and first opens the door of her room to see if her parents are still sleeping. Seeing no one, she quickly goes downstairs and goes out the door.

She sees her best friend waving, and then she goes to her.

"Salam, you decided to take your time. I thought we would be late for the train," says Aisha, rolling her eyes.

You even dare to tease me at this moment, I say to her.

I feel so nervous and anxious. What if my parents woke up while I was packing up? I had never done this, so I was sweating because I feared getting caught.

Aisha laughs hard and puts her arms around Fatima's shoulders.

"Welcome to the Evil world! Also, you didn't reply to my Salam," she says while still laughing.

Knowing that Aisha was teasing her, Fatima picked up her luggage with difficulty and put it in the back of the taxi.

Wa'alaikumussalam.

Let's go, or we will be late for the train. I say to Aisha.

We go into the taxi.

Aisha tells the driver to start driving.

Freedom! Here we come!! Says Aisha while I just laugh, feeling a little bit scared of the future.

I think about what my parents would do if they found out about what I did. I remember the last time I went out with Aisha, my stepmother made a big deal out of it.

*Memory*

Where did you go? Didn't I tell you to come home straight away??

She looks at Fatima like she is disgusted by her.

"WHAT?! So now you are not going to listen to me?" says her stepmother.

No, mom. I was just studying with Aisha. That is it. I didn't do anything else, so I came straight home.

Well, explaining to her didn't make anything better.

Noora goes to Fatima and grabs her hair like it is nothing. She shakes her and bangs her head on the table.

Fatima couldn't take the pain, so she stayed on the ground and grabbed her head because it was spinning badly. There was something wet on her hand.

She slowly puts her hand down to her eye length.

Blood!!

SHIT! I am bleeding, she says to herself.

"If you disobey me again, I will do something worse to you.

Do you understand me!!?"

She didn't get any answer from Fatima which made her furious.

"I SAID, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!!" She screams at her.

Yes, mom. I do.

I am sorry for what I did today. It won't happen again, says Fatima.

"Well, good, and remember, NO word to your father about this. If you dare to say something to your father, you will know the consequences," she says with a smirk on her face.

I know. Don't worry about it, I say to her.

*End memory*

Fatima knows how much pain she had to undergo because of that. She doesn't want to experience anything like that again. she has thought about this plan for many months.

She felt guilty towards her father but knew this was the only chance she would be free from her stepmother.

After 30 minutes, she sees they have arrived, and they both get out of the taxi.

They go to the back of the car and pick up their luggage.

"Let's go. It is almost time," says Aisha.

Yeah, Let's go, I say to her, still doubting this idea.

Aisha sees that and comes near me.

"I know what we are doing is not the best choice, but I know how much pain you had to undergo. I can't see you getting hurt like that anymore, although I would say no to this idea too. I know you have a good reason for it and believe me, your father will understand you too. There will come one day that your father will finally see your evil stepmother, so just get everything out of your head and look at that door."

She wises at the door of the train.

"If you go in that door, know that your life will change. You can finally live as you want, and you don't have to be afraid anymore, but if you don't go in that door and turn around, know that you will never have the freedom you want," says Aisha.

I knew Aisha was right, but I just couldn't move my feet. It felt like both of my feet were glued to the ground. It was because I could never make choices for myself, but now that I am standing here, I can, but I didn't know what to do.

I just don't know what step to take.

I was afraid that I would make a big mistake.

I was afraid that my stepmom would find me and do something even worse.

I was terrified of this thing that they called Love.

I look at Aisha and look behind me again.

What was I supposed to choose??

After having a battle in my head, just like the Battle of Badr, I take a deep breath and walk towards Aisha, that had a big smile on her face after seeing me walk towards her.

"You are not alone. You have Allah by your side so don't worry," she says while taking my hand in hers.

I smile at her and nod my head softly.

We walked towards the train we were supposed to take, not knowing what the future held for us, but we learned that we plan, and Allah plans, and He is the best of planners.

So with shaky legs, we gathered our courage and put our trust in Allah.