Leilah Usman awaits an acceptance from a university abroad so she can leave the country she never loved when she stumbles upon an ancient diary. Through the eyes of Mahrosh Irfan, she finds herself in a world so completely different from hers.
One w...
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She carries the box to the dining table. A thick layer of dust rests on the top, and Leilah cannot fight the urge to blow at it. She knows it will cause a mess, but she loves it when a single blow is like a hurricane to the dust; and the particles float in the air — visible for a brief second in the spotlight of the sun's rays before they are invisible again.
Her mother mentioned the pile of cartons in the living room cupboard, and to her surprise — Leilah immediately volunteered to clean it up.
"It's not a huge deal, Mama," she said in response to her mother's surprise.
Asma wonders if her daughter has turned over a new leaf, but truth is — curiosity has rooted itself in Leilah's heart. In her free time, she explores the house, trying to find fragments of her grandmother's past. Or of Mahrosh and Walid. She reads the diary, but she craves more; like a hunger that is never satisfied.
At first glance, the box has nothing of value. There are school certificates of her mother and her uncle, photo albums of back when her mother was younger, and a bunch of medical reports and cards her uncle made for her grandmother. Leilah laughs at an elaborate 'I'm sorry' card, with her uncle having drawn a hand holding his ear. She puts these things aside, certain that her mother would enjoy going through them.
Leilah empties the carton, when her fingers graze against something solid beyond the papers and files inside. She pulls out the pile of medical reports that fill the box, her eyebrows arching when she sees the mobile. It is an old Nokia, and Leilah recognises it as her grandmother's old phone.
She takes it out, cleaning the dust on the screen with the back of her sleeve. It does not surprise her when the screen remains black even when she turns it on. It has no battery, but there is no charger inside the box. Leilah surveys the phone, wondering where she will get a charger suitable for this phone — when it hits her.
She found a box of wires and chargers in the storeroom a few days ago.
Leaving the box open, Leilah rushes to find it. She fears the charger won't work, but as she plugs it into the socket by her bedroom door, a red light blinks on the phone. It's working.
She knows it will take some time for this phone to be charged and she should return to organizing the box, but Leilah cannot move. Her heart beats a little faster and she sits on the floor by the socket, impatiently staring at the phone.
Minutes drag by like hours.
Leilah simply cannot wait any longer, and she turns on the phone. The battery above blinks at five percent, so she does not remove the charger.
