Zakia - Episode 13

Iman was sweating profusely, the heavy breaths he was struggling to draw in was also apparent, as his hands wouldn't stop shivering either. 

It was difficult to process all that had happened within the last few minutes, it was difficult to accept the fact that the Amir (leader) was really dead.. He wasn't moving anymore, he wasn't breathing anymore, and for the first time ever, Iman was in tears. 

At that moment, I honestly found it difficult to shed a single tear, the Amir just didn't deserve that much from me, and my melancholy was only because of Iman; the real hero of this entire story.

However, we hadn't been spared enough time to mourn the death of his father, as an intrusive knock had suddenly landed on the wooden door. 

"Ya Amir (Oh Amir)," a manly voice escaped. He was most definitely one of the soliders of the Amir's large troop. "Is everything okay?" He inquired. 

The sound of the gunshot that'd escaped earlier was difficult to ignore.. Everyone in the vicinity must've perceived the sound too. Everyone must be curious already. 

"Iman.. what are we going to do?" I whispered anxiously. I could already feel my body getting numb like it usually does when I was beyond scared, and I definitely hadn't expected Iman to be so calm. 

"We are going to face every single one of them, and tell them the absolute truth," He responded as a matter of fact, pulling me out of the room with him, despite the fact that I was hesitant. 

On getting outside, the worried faces of the large troop of the Al-jihad sect was what welcomed us, and for the briefest of seconds, all we did was just stare back at ourselves.. 

Until one of them had gotten extremely impatient

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/zakia

. "Iman, what's going on?" He demanded.

And only then, did Iman decide to speak up. "What's going on is that the Amir (leader) is dead. He's dead because I shot him!" Iman dropped the bomb. Frankly, I'd thought the army would be so angry by the news that they'd tear Iman and I apart, but surprisingly, they seemed calm,- more like overwhelmed. And this was a cue for Iman to continue.. "I shot him because I'm tired of living this cursed life. Every single day, we go to stupid wars to fight people that haven't done us anything wrong. We kill innocent souls, young and old. For no reason, we hold young girls hostage, and some of us have even gone as far as abusing them.. Tell me, are all these really for Allaah's sake?" 

"Look at us, we turned ourselves into outcast in a world where it's so easy to fit in. We live in the forest like animals. And maybe it's because we are really just animals.. But you know, now that the Amir is dead, we all have two choices now: We can either choose to continue living like animals, or just put a stop to all these madness.."

"Because I, Iman Bn Younous, choose to put a stop to these madness. Who's with me?" 

And that was how this simple, yet complex question that Iman asked, put an abrupt end to the Al-jihad sect. At that moment, every single soldier dropped their weapons to the ground. They all decided to put a stop to the violence and seek repentance. The prayer that night had been different from the ones we'd been observing during the Amir's tenure. This time, we all prayed genuinely for Allaah's sake, we all desperately asked for His Forgiveness. And even the Baytu-Naheem girls prayed with us too. Amidst everything, Iman had released them from the dark room, and it felt absolutely relieving to see the sheer happiness that they all felt. 

"You have a really good heart," I'd told Iman genuinely later that night, when everyone else, but us, had retired to sleep.

But he didn't believe me. "Then what about the blood stains in my hands Zakia?" He interjected. 

"I'm sure God understands," came my simple, but honest response. And there was a brief moment of silence from that point on, however, it wasn't an uncomfortable kind. I guess we were both only trying to process our respective thoughts.

"What next Iman?" I'd suddenly blurted some few minutes later. It took a while for him to respond to my question, so long that I actually thought he hadn't heard me the first time, and I was about asking the second time, when the words finally escaped his lips. 

"I'll have to bury my father tomorrow, and after that, we are all going back to the world. I'll hand over you and the other girls to the security officials, whilst myself and the rest of the army, will turn ourselves in."

"What?" I yelled in disbelief.

Read " Instinct: The Sequel " by the same author ( Ishola Ubaydah )

. "You're not going to turn yourself in Iman.. You're all I have left..!" 

But his mind was sadly made up already. "Zakia, I have to. There's no way I'm going to live a normal life knowing I've killed a lot of people.. including my father."

"Then I'm going to turn myself in too," I said to him. 

"No, ZAKIA, no okay! I'm not going to let you do that! You don't deserve that!"

"Well, Iman you don't deserve that either!" I argued. 

"Oh Zakia," his voice softened, as he pulled me into his warm embrace. "Let me do this. Please, let me clear my conscience."

As much as it hurt to admit, Iman was doing the right thing, he was doing what's best for everyone. And I guess it was so hard to accept it because amidst the whole chaos, I'd grown to like Iman, he obviously liked me too, but with a story as complicated as ours, everything was bound to drive us apart. It just wouldn't work the way we wanted it to..  

"You'll be fine without me Zakia," Iman whispered to me. "I pray to Allaah that you will be.."