A Hazel Haven

Chapter 9.1

After sometime without a response, the knocking ceased, and soon it was quiet again.

Huma sighed, relieved.

The coarse drawing board on her laps was beginning to chafe her skin through the nightdress. A dull ache wormed down her back from slouching and Huma arched forward sharply, sighing at the cracking of her spine. She put a fist to her mouth as she yawned.

Tired yet still wide awake, she should be asleep, because she had to study later---her alarm had no mercy when it jarred her awake (and just when the sleep was getting good, too) --- and rise early.

What she was doing would look better in daylight anyway as against the pale glow of her room. But it had been too long anything piqued her interest. And when that happened, Huma always wanted it captured forever; the memories on her walls could attest to that.

Her phone pinged. Distractedly, as if hypnotized, Huma reached for the phone. While one hand worked, she held the phone up and glanced at it. The first thing that alarmed her was the flickering arrows at the top of the screen.

Chai! My data connection has been on.

Then she noticed the hundreds of messages from her class group--over a thousand and still counting. Her data bundle must be used up by now.

Her gaze flicked down.

A message from Mrs Ehana. Hey, scholar! How did it go? You never got back to me!........the rest of it was hidden behind her display picture.

The smile on Huma's face was automatic. Dropping the pencil on the board, she shifted in after propping up the pillow so that her back would rest comfortably. The pencil rolled into the lapping folds of her dress. Bracing herself for a verbose scolding, Huma tapped to read.

Hey, scholar! How did it go? You never got back to me! How could you do that? You better not have flunked that defence, because I took my time with you. Everyone here wants to know how you did, and you have been withholding that information. All of my students have reported back and they did really well. You flunked it didn't you? Is that why? You let those sadists get the better of you. I will personally break your coconut head. *fuming emoji* *emoji of a rock*

Her fingers hovered above the screen as she thought out plausible excuses to why she hadn't given a feedback yet. Maybe because she knew that Mrs Ehana wouldn't be pleased with the outcome. The woman was a perfectionist to the core, but a lovable pain when her grueling tasks yielded outstanding results-only then was she chummy and down to earth with students. To the unlucky ones who had coconuts for brains, they were cracked open with sleepless nights of assignments: know it or stay awake trying.

Huma giggled as she reminisced on the time an intern had slept in after pulling an all-nighter. The woman had stormed into the room like a raging bull bellowing at the top of her lungs and the boy had jolted awake, toppled out of his bunk and shot to his feet with inhuman speed. He had stood at attention and saluted but his eyes had shown no sign of consciousness. It wasn't until someone had splattered some water on his face that he blinked back into reality. It had been like a military camp. She was the wife of a soldier after all.

She refocused on the screen in time to see Mrs Ehana typing.

Dead.

Scary Iron lady is typing:She's finally online. I texted like ten minutes ago. You read that text. I was online the whole time.

Huma's lips thinned as she typed. It was a short text, but she dawdled while knowing it would read "whatever the name is typing"

Good evening, ma. How are your husband and kids?