I Was Created Like This

The girl who laid on a small bed peacefully sleeping looked nothing short of 18 summers. The room was quaint yet cosy and it had the aura of a typical girl's room. It was obvious from the small bed, wooden closet and the cracked mirror that the room belonged to a girl who wasn't financially endowed. The wooden door made a creaking sound and a woman who seemed to be in her mid forties entered the room with her hands at akimbo.

She furiously tapped the sleeping girl on the shoulder and Hayfah just groaned before turning her face towards the opposite direction albeit yawning. Her mother yanked the bedsheet she used as a substitute for a duvet off her. "Wake up. You ought to be at school by now yet here you are, lazing around". The woman thundered in a voice which clearly expressed her annoyance.

Hayfah's attempt at greeting her mother proved futile as she was cut short by the angry woman "Dare you not utter a word. I'm not ready to listen to your foul voice just get your lazy self off bed this minute." That being said, the woman stomped out of the room.

Hayfah could not control the tears which threatened to fall. She was tired of all the drama, why was she only getting to experience the bitter side of life? She didn't cause her predicament, she was created that way.

'Why can't Umma understand that?'. She wondered. She wiped off her tear stricken face as realisation dawned on her that it wasn't the first time Umma criticised her, neither was it going to be the last. Family was supposed to be about having each other's backs at all times but no, Hayfah's family were always to poke fun at her.

She got rid of her clothes and tied a faded ankara wrapper round her petite frame and hastily had a quick shower. It was already pass nine and her exams was to start by 9:30 that morning. On her way back into her room, she came across her father. She gently went on her knees whilst using her hands to cover the bare skin around her chest. She had always been a shy one. "Good morning Abba," She greeted in her deep and husky voice she resembled that of a man's. Her Abba was the only person in the family who has never humiliated her. He loved and adored her despite her flaw; a flaw which he found unusually beautiful.

Her Abba was a peace loving man basking in the glory of being in his mid fifties. He was tall structured, with pointy nose and a mop of dark hair which was slowly turning grey. Abba was a typical fulani man. "Good morning Hayfah, had a great night?" He asked smiling lovingly at his daughter whom he loved so much. The way her mother treated her made her his favourite. "How's your exams going?" He further enquired.

"Yes Abba, Alhamdulillah," she said standing up. He nodded and made his way out of the house and headed straight to his place of business. He sold vegetables at the market.

Taking hasty steps, she was in her room applying the well known baby and mama vaseline over her delicate skin. It took the specks of her white powder, her kohl and a spritz of her perfume to complete her look of the day. She smiled at her reflection on the mirror, dabbing her white lip balm over her pink lips.

Hayfah was a fulani lady basking away in the vast beauty of fulani culture. She has fully arched brows that meet whenever she was confused. Down there, she has round doe like eyes that glisten and hide away her pain whenever she smile at the world. Her long thin fulani nose tells the world the culture she came from. And she has lips that could sweep off even the feisty man off his feet.

Her eyes glanced over the old wall clock pinned up her mirror, and her eyes bulged like a saucer. It reads 9:40am, and she was sure today wasn't meant to be her day. What in the whole world made her slept like she did? And now she has to face the consequences all alone. She palmed her face and muttered a supplication.

Sliding her bag onto her shoulder, she glanced over her bed and stretched the squeezed lines on it. In nothing flat, she was out of her room.

"Good morning, Umma." She walked past her mother, whom was picking up dilapidated beans on the tray. She knew she would only get a nod from the beautiful woman whom relish the pleasure of being in her mid forties but have a beauty of the twenties.

Hayfah knew she would leave nothing out of her Umma's face when she turns her age. What what baffles her was, who humiliate his own child and make him or her a prank for jokes? Who gives others the face to harass his own child and would laugh alone with them just because she has a raucous voice?

Expect her Umma.

•

She stood skeptically on the hall's veranda, not having the courage to enter the hall. The invigilators were roaming around the hall while her classmates had their necks deep into their geography answer sheets. What is she supposed to do? Lift up her heavy legs and get into the hall at the cost of being humiliated and laughed at, or she turn her back, and that means her loosing her geography exams.

A tall fair man, whom stood burly with broad shoulders walked towards her. He has a gorgeous smile playing on his purplish lips as he stopped inches close to her.

Hayfah took a step backward.

"Are you here for the exams?" He asked, the smile on his face growing wider and richer in gorgeousness. He couldn't remember his eyes getting a view of something as beautiful as the nervous ladies fiddling with her long sculpted fingers is.

Deep into her breath, Hayfah muttered an 'Innalillahi' and gulped down a lump. She knew nothing could stop her from being embarrassed this morning. Ya Allah.

She nodded her head as a yes and yawed her gaze away from his face. From the looks on his face, he was yearning to hear her voice like the guys she had met in her life. But she knew it would only take some minutes before he become disappointed.

"Which subject do you offer? Geography or Commerce?" He asked. But Hayfah knew better at the kind of persuasion she had gotten from men, to hear her voice.

She shook her head as a no, and nodded for a yes. Which meant, she offered Geography not commerce.

He wondered what's stopping her from opening her lips to answer him back. She's wasting her time here and draining out his patience too. "Why don't you talk to me like I do? Or do you naturally answer everything in gestures?"

Hayfah knew the time has come, when laughter will reverberate through the walls of this hall, from her classmates. She looked at him in the eyes and wished he could see her plea from within, but when he frowned, she knew he hadn't. "I offer geography, sir."

Something in his heart shook, and he couldn't close his hanging out. Was she the one that spoke? Ya Allah.

And it came, within a swift of a second; there was an outburts of laughter which started from the students at the window. Smhands were pointing at them, some banging their desks because of how hilarious it seemed.

She had always promised herself to be strong, not to let her vulnerability showed to anyone, but every time she tried, she failed miserably. Today is one of those days and moments, because she has tears rolling down her cheeks, while she used her hijab to muffle her cries.

"Adyan! What's happening over there? Why are the students laughing and pointing your way?" Another invigilator asked, and she thought for a second-Adyan. What a nice name for a handsome and shrewd guy. There was a sarcasm.

"Take this." He handed her the question paper and her answering sheets before she walked over her desk with a deplorable heart.

Ignoring all the chuckles from her ears, Hayfah sat down and ruefully smiled at her best friend, Fareeha, whom was flashing her a melancholic look. She looked down at the words written on the paper and set to write. She had always been passionate about her studies, because she believed one day, it would be her way to success.

•

Hayfah and Fareeha were walking side by side towards the school gate. Everyone of them was so engrossed in his thoughts they didn't even noticed their way blocked by him.

Fareeha was the first to notice, he spoke to her through his eyes and she changed her way.

Hayfah looked at him with a questioning glare, having her brows to make an arch.

"Look...What should I say? You're beautiful." She had to look into his eyes for a scrutiny, and there it was, the sincerity she failed seeing in thousands of eyes.

She smiled at him, not the painful smile she was used to gifting away to the world. It was a smile with a part of sincerity in it. She turned to leave when his voice halted her again.

"I'm not staying here. I came here for my brother and will be leaving tomorrow. Can I know your name please? Just your name?" He had his thumb and index finger brought together to show her how little telling him her name should mean to her. It shouldn't be something huge.

Oh, is this guy playing to be gentle and break her heart at the end of this very day? She shook her head as a no.

"I'm begging you please, should I kneel down so you could know how sincere I am?" His knees broke and were moving south when Hayfah let out a gasp and he stopped midway.

She looked at him and felt as tears pooled the brink of her eyes. He's the first person ever in her life that heard her voice and still cared to have a second look of her. He's the first person that heard her voice and still used a loving and soothing words towards her. She felt an ounce of self worth from his gesture.

But she isn't going to let him entice her, he might've just know his way and have a wand of chivalry. He might be like them.

Frustration softly whispered to her heart, and the expression on her face toughened. "I don't know you, and that wouldn't let me judge you or drag your actions into conclusion. You might've not look anything like them, but deep down, who am I to know your true intentions towards me?

Are you here too, to make sure your ears weren't lying when they send an inbox of a husky voice of a very beautiful lady to your brain? And that made you cornered me for clarification?

I don't mind whatever reason brought you here. Be it that or anything else having the privilege of hiding under the thick layers of your skin. I would still be me, and nothing would ever change that.

I'm Hayfah Talhah Muhammad. Leave, go and rejoice with the tons of curious men and women that had the grace of knowing the name of this lady standing before you. As I've always say, and would keep on saying until the day my words were proved right by the almighty; I was created like this, and I believe it's a blessing in disguise."

With no other words attached, she turned to her heels, trying so hard not to let her tears take the best of her inner strength. Because the last thing she would want to happen was for her to slump on the bare ground of her school premises.

Being thrown into a tizzy by her words, Adyan watched as she got lost from his sight. He got lost and the beginning of a throbbing headache began seeping into his skull, he couldn't grasp meaning from her words. What happened to her voice? Because man, he loves her voice!

I'm here with another saga, completely different from downhearted.

So... what do you think about the book? Should I continue? Or I should just delete it?

Tag as many people as you can please.

Don't hesitate to vote, comment, and share.

Thank you.

Ayshatou👑.