The Rays of Hope [On Going...]

Chapter 1 - The Crumpled Papers

******[UMAIR]******

I heard the alarm ringing on my phone ringing again and turned in my bed to press the snooze button. After fidgeting with my phone for a little while, I successfully silenced it with my eyes half shut. I turned to the other side of the bed again and pulled the blanket up to my chin. Instantly, the warmth of the blanket surrounded my entire body, making me feel cosy and sleepy. As I was drifting off to sleep, I felt something soft hit me on the head. Then another one followed and hit my shoulder. And then another one hit my face.

I groaned and opened my drowsy eyes with annoyance to see the crumpled paper balls scattered all around me on the bed along with my physics book, notebooks and a blue pen that I had brought to bed to study before falling asleep.

"Hey, Sleepyhead!" I heard Bilal's voice from his window. "Wake up! It's almost time for Fajr prayer. You might miss the prayer at the masjid if you keep snoozing the alarm like that. Also, there's a cat that sneaked into your room about an hour ago. I bet it's still sleeping next to you!"

A cat!? I sat up quickly and saw a brown cat, peacefully sleeping in a corner of my bed, curled up into a furry ball at the end of my blanket. Phew... Good thing I didn't kick it in my sleep. I made a mental note to close my windows before sleeping to block out both the cat and Bilal's frustrating paper balls. How did he get so accurate at aiming those pesky paper balls right at my head?

"Are you coming to the masjid or what?" Bilal called out. "There's only a few minutes left for Athan!"

"Yeah, I'm coming!" I said as I cautiously got out of bed, not wanting to disturb the sleeping cat. I collected half the dozen paper balls he had just thrown into my room and went to my window, which faced his own.

"I'll be at your home within ten minutes, but first, let me return these to you!" I threw the paper balls at Bilal one by one and he managed to catch them all with the gracefulness of a goalkeeper, except for the last one which hit him squarely on the head.

"Take that for messing up my room!" I said with a grin. As I turned to go to the washroom, a paper ball hit me from behind. "Ow... What's that for!?" I asked as I snatched it from the floor.

"For not closing your window, Pal!" Bilal said with a chuckle.

"Alright, you got me there!" I admitted, laughing, and tossed the paper ball into the bin. "See you in a bit!" I said as I closed the window.

"Don't be late." I heard him say as I left.

"Did you answer all the questions Sir Mano gave us?" Bilal asked on our way back from the Masjid.

"I did, except for the second one," I said. "That one's confusing. I got different answers every time I tried. I'm not sure which is right."

"Hmm... I just tried it one time, so I only got one answer." Bilal said with a smile. "I think they messed up the units."

"That's what I thought too!" I exclaimed. "They must have mixed up the units for linear momentum and angular momentum_ it's probably a typo! I think my last attempt was correct. But I'm not sure if I wrote it down before falling asleep. I should check my notebook when I get home."

"That's why I keep telling you not to study in bed." Bilal lectured. "You fall asleep without realising, leave the windows open, lights on and books everywhere like they're pillows. And you don't even know what kind of animals come into your room while you're asleep."

"Hey, it's not like I'm sleeping with the snakes or crocodiles!" I said, joking.

Bilal joined in with a laugh and then gave me a reassuring pat on the back in a brotherly way, which suddenly made me think of my twin who had passed away a few years back. It happened right here, on the same street we were walking. The memory of him pushing me away out of harm's way and into safety, only to meet his own fate, came rushing back. I could almost see the scene replaying before my eyes, the sound of the ambulance siren echoing in my ears.