Stairway to Heaven

22. Breakthrough

"—Dr. Hajra? Are you okay?"

Her knuckles clutching at the hem of her shirt had turned white with strain, but tears continued to drip down her chin, as she gasped for breath between sobs escaping her lips.

Her voice cracked with hiccups, as she opened her mouth to ask Professor to repeat his question. But sitting there in front of her examiner, she could do nothing to stop herself from breaking apart.

The events from before were still raw in her heart and she couldn't bring herself to separate herself from it like every time before.

No matter how much her brain willed her to grab a hold of herself, she couldn't work up the strength to regain her senses.

Sniffling through tears, she brought a shaky hand to rub away the tears streaking her cheeks and making her vision blurry.

Her lips continued to quiver with unvoiced sobs, as she looked back at Professor through tears. Hajra could see his mouth moving, but couldn't make out the words leaving his lips.

She just continued to sit there weeping from the weariness washing over her existence; until finally the weight of it all had come crashing upon her like a mountain crumbling down and burying her underneath its weight.

Professor Amjad had got up to come over to her seat, while she sat there with her face hidden behind her hands, as she sobbed bitterly into them.

It was over. She couldn't stand up to him. He had won. Mateen Abbasi had managed to do what he had set forth to do. He had broken her spirit and left a pathetic, wailing, broken mess in her stead.

And almost as if an optical illusion had shattered, Hajra could now clearly see how truly weak she were. More than him, she was finding herself to loath her own self. From crumbling and breaking down because of the likes of Mateen Abbasi.

She walked out of the examination room a few minutes later with a wearied existence and a tissue paper clutched in her hand. Her eyes bloodshot and swollen, which complimented her ashen face.

Feet heavy with exhaustion and eyes downcast with despair; she crossed the short distance to the waiting room. Her heart crumbling in defeat, manifested in her gait.

She pushed opened the door and a hush fell over the room. Yet, she didn't once glance up from the floor, while grabbing her bag. Until a snicker fell against her eyes.

"—looks like someone got into a lover's spat."

Without intending to, Hajra halted in her steps at Eshal's snide remarks.

"Of course. There's no smoke without fire. The innocent looking one's are really the ones to watch out for. They attack when no one expects—" She hadn't even finished yet, when Hajra turned on her heel to face her. In one swift move, she raised her bag high above to bring it over Eshal's head.

With a shreik, on reflex Eshal raised up her hand to protect herself from the attack. However, moments passed; yet, nothing ensued. Only Hajra kept glaring down at her with quivering lips and tears pooling in her eyes. Her arms shaking with restraint, as she gulped down her angry tears and eyed her through ragged breaths and bloodshot threatening eyes, before abruptly bringing down her hands upon her. Eshal instinctively closed her eyes and flinched away, but the bag never touched her.

Instead, a sob cracked out of Hajra's lips and another, until she was standing there, whimpering through painful sobs.

For a long moment, she stood there shuddering in her place. Her hands tightly clutching at the ends of her bag, before she threw a glance around the room, to catch guilt and shock etched on everyone's faces.