DAULAH

Driving Hours

Holding on to hope when everything is dark, is the greatest test of faith

Yasmin Mogahed

____________________________________

MUKHTAR

~~~

The lightening streaked the sky and the clouds mumbled ominously, spatting out beads of water. My car's roof thudded under the weight of the falling raindrops, which congealed into little rivers and flowed up the window before being cut by the wiper. I picked up my speed when it started to rain more heavily, as if I were trying to outrun the drizzle.

I was travelling alone in the middle of the night with no single vehicle in sight; It was just me, the darkness, the rain, the road, and my thoughts for an interesting company. To me at least, I doubt if anyone wants to know my thoughts.

This could count as one of the few moments where life was a little intriguing, the blissful feeling as though I was the only person roaming the surface of earth, like I was the only person on it. Well, I and another man whose car has apparently broken down and was standing drenched in the rain and seeking for any sort of help.

I understand that these are not times where you stop on the road at the middle of the night to help someone, not in this country at least. It was dangerous. But when was I ever scared of danger? Between me and me, I am a little drawn to it, a little adventure that would bring life to life. Imagine being taken by kidnappers. Knowing me, I'd definitely put on a fight, take down one or two of them and probably get shot in the head. I said it didn't I, no one wants to know my thoughts.

I pulled over in front of the man's car. It was a white range rover. The 2022 Land Rover Range Rover Velar. I would always tell a car; model, year, price... they were one other interesting thing the world offered and they were simply my thing. Probably the reason why I was good with fixing them, or maybe had to do with the fact that I am a mechanical engineer; automotive major, I wonder what was wrong with this beauty here.

I rolled down the window of my 406 and the man was already walking towards me. I can't

tell his looks in the dark but he was elderly, he had a light skin, thickened with age and looked like he ranged the age of my father. Speaking of my father, I still wondered what his summon was about. He called my mobile phone some hours earlier around ten in the night and asked me to get to Bauchi as soon as I can. I knew he didn't mean right away, but he said as soon as I can and I hopped in my car and hit the road, my speed should take me from Kaduna to Bauchi in five hours, so here I was on my way.

Another thing I was wondering was why this elderly man was driving to in this time of the night, alone.

The expression on the man's face as he walked over to me was a mixture of both relief and apprehension. Relieved that someone was finally here for his aid and uneasy since he wasn't sure of my intentions.

"Assalamu Alaikum," He greeted reluctantly as he wiped raindrops from his cheeks. The man appeared to be pretty agitated and afraid, so I'm not sure if the liquid he was wiping off his face was sweat or water. I don't blame him, If I thought like a normal human and had become stranded in around the bush in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night in the middle of what the country had turned to, I would also be terrified.

I tried to employ a good-natured expression in order to put the man at ease because from what I learned from my friends and others, I have this stoic look that threw people off-kilter.