The Lost Boy....And Found!
"Ibu, I met Hakim at the Surau in Section 2 and he said he will be back around six. He said he will start walking from Section 2 at around 5.30." Danish informed me as he came back from Friday prayer around three weeks ago.
But Hakim didn't reach home even when it's nearly time for breaking our fast. I was worried. Since 7.00 p.m. I have been asking Danish again and again what exactly did Hakim said. I was getting more and more anxious. I called my husband but he simply said that Hakim will be back.
Unlike Danish, Hakim hardly mentioned his friends' names. He never brought any of his friends home. I only remembered that we sent him to one of his friends' house in Section 2 for their English project.
It was nearly 7.45 - no Hakim. But at least my husband was back. "Is he home yet?"he asked. I shook my head. I managed to contact his friend. The only no. that I have which at that time felt like my life line to Hakim.
"Auntie, he's not with me but I will check with my other friends." Came the answer. Ten minutes later the text came in.
"My friend's Dad sent him home before the Friday prayer." Oh God!
"It's alright Sweetie, he actually was not home then. He went to Section 2 for prayers. But thank you."
A few minutes later, my phone rang.
"Puan, saya dengar Luqman (the name his friends call him) belum balik lagi. Saya nak hantar dia balik rumah tengahari tadi tapi dia kata dia nak singgah Section 2 untuk solat Jumaat dengan kawan2 dia. Tak apa Puan, kalau dia belum balik lagi, saya tolong pergi cari dia. (M'am, I heard Luqman is not back yet. I wanted to send him straight home but he said he wanted to perform his Friday prayers with his friends at Section 2. If he is not back yet, let me go and try to find him."
"Terimakasih Encik. Tak mengapa. Kami memang nak keluar cari dia sekarang. Memang tadi dia solat Jumaat di Section 2. Abang dia ada jumpa dia. Dia kata nak pergi rumah kawan lepas tu balik rumah pukul 5.30. (Thank you. It's alright. We are going to look for him now. He was in Section 2 for prayers. His brother met him there and he said he will get back around 5.30).
"Ok. Kalau apa2 tolong beritahu saya.(ok. If anything, please let me know)".We were already in the car by this time.
Having decided that we will break our fast at home and go for dinner after prayers, none of us have anything yet except for a glass of water. Mia and Aqil have grown very quiet wondering what happened to their brother. Danish was somewhat angry judging from his stormy face.
"Where shall we go first?" Asked my husband.
"Section 2. The house which we sent him for his English project about a month or 2 ago."
"Do you know which house?"
"Just go to Section 2, first. I vaguely remember. All I know the house is painted green." Somehow, we managed to find the house.
"But Luqman was not here today, Auntie." said his friend. "Probably he's at Syed's house."
"Do you where Syed's house is Darling?"
"Yes Auntie." And his father offered to lead the way on his bike and or us to follow him.
When we asked Syed, we were told he went to Faiz's house.
And Faiz's told us, he left for home almost immediately after breaking his fast. We thanked Irfan's father for his help in our search. We tried a few possible ways to get home. We even went home to check in case he was back but the house was just as we left it. And we went on search for him again. By this time, his friend's mum and dad have been calling us to check if we have found him. They were as worried. Finally it struck us that Hakim hardly missed his Tarawikh. So, we went to the Surau he always go to and asked Danish to check if he was there.
By this time my sister called. "Have you found him?"
"Not yet. We are checking if he is in the Surau now."
"Have you checked if he's at my house?"
"We did. He's not there." Well, my sister's house is at Section 2 and since their school is close by, now and again they dropped by at her house. But that day, she was at our Mum's place.
To be honest, at those few hours, I have been thinking the worst. I do not know what happened to my child. That Friday was a school holiday but he went to do his English project at Section 13. Earlier, before he left I gave him a mobile phone and some money for top-up and to call us if anything. But he refused the mobile in case he lost it. He promised to call from his friend's mobile. His father jot down the mobile nos. for him to call but we never received any call.
After about 10 minutes waiting in the car, from the side mirror I saw him tagging alongside Danish whose face still as stormy.
"I kicked him."
"Why did you do that?"
"I am hungry, we all are and he wasted all of our time!"
Hakim didn't say anything. He got into the car quietly.
"He is so selfish! You see? He's the only one who have eaten and perform his tarawikh. We didn't."
"Why didn't you call? All this can be avoided with a matter of a phone call. Do you know how many people involved in looking for you tonight?" As if on cue my mobile rang. One of his friend's Dad wanted to know if we have found him.
"You see? You should have called. How many people have been worrying about you?"
"I lost the no. Baba gave me this morning..." Was the only answer we received from him.
"That's not a good excuse. If you lost it, you should have done what you told Danish at the Surau. To come back at 5.30. This is the last time you are going to do this. No more excuses of not calling." His father's final words to him that night.
When we reached home, I saw a note on our bed :
"I will be going to the Surau for Tarawikh. I am sorry for being late. Hakim."
Apparently he came back during our search. When we came back in between searching for him, we didn't check in our room. We assumed he was not back only because the Tele was not on and the light in ours or their room not lighted.
We learned a lot that night but the most important is we realised that at a point of crisis, we do have friends - people will lend their helping hands which we are so grateful for.
Hopefully Hakim learned a lesson too!
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