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Hadith and Johari
Hadith had taken the pain bravely enough when Athwen had examined and cleaned his wound but the stiching was too much for him to bear. He fell into a numb darkness.
Next thing he became aware of was a familiar voice talking to him.
“You had better not die, Hadith,” it told him, "You'd better not."
In the depths of his faint consciousness there formed a thought. Johari?
Slowly Hadith opened his eyes. The pain that had been gone came back at the instant he realised being alive again. It was Johari. Hadith recognised her immediately. He tried to smile but the pain twisted his face to an awkward grin.
His jaws were sore and his lips were so dry that it was hard to utter anything, but finally he managed to mumble quietly “I’m allright”.
For a fleeting moment Hadith thought seeing something like relief in Johari’s eyes but that was gone in a wink of an eye. He was confused but tried to pull himself together nevertheless. He was so happy to see Johari alive but at the same time he wasn’t sure if he should say it or how she would react if he would say it. Somehow just her presence felt comforting and he wouldn’t wish to lose that comfort by saying anything stupid.
The silence grew thicker and neither of them was actually looking at each other in the eye. Hadith laid on his back and Johari was on her knees right next to him.
“Good to see you safe and sound, Johari”, Hadith said at last, immediately realising how stupid that sentence sounded in the circumstances. Johari leaned back away from him.
“Don’t go, Johari!” Hadith called her trying to rise up and taking a firm grip of her hand. “Please don’t go...” It was hard for him to find the words. It was hard for him even to understand what he was meaning or thinking in the first place. “I mean, ... I mean, I was worried about you. You aren’t hurt or anything?” At the same time his grip loosened and Johari pulled her hand away as Hadith fell back on his back again the few inches he had managed to rise up by hanging on Johari’s hand.
“No, I’m fine”, she replied tightly.
“Good”, Hadith managed to say biting his lips. He was feeling the pain again. The tumult of the battle echoed from somewhere. Hadith fought against the tears. I should be fighting with my fellows, I should not act this stupidly, I should be braver, I should be... Then his mind got lost again.
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