A New Day

Awoken by the ringing of handphone. Ignored.

"Atiqah, wake up."

"Okay." I mumbled sleepily and reached for the screaming Sony Ericsson without as much as opening my eyes. Hit the snooze button.

"Atiqah, wake up." Again, the sleepy voice of Tasnim encouraged me to get up and going.

"Just gimme 5 mo' minutes."

"Okay."

And that 5 minutes dragged on for a further 25. The handphone screamed again and I woke up dazed. Repressed the urge of throwing the small devil to the wall and stood up.

Stretched.

Reached for the tortoise-shell hair clip and slipped on the slippers. Felt my night shirt sticking on my back. Noticed someone had turned off the fan during my sleeping hour.

Scowled slightly.

Switched on every single light in the living room. Turned the fan full blast. Caught a glimpse of me in the mirror on the way to the sink.

Paused to smile at the reflection.

Brushed my teeth. Gurgled. Brushed my teeth again. Love the refreshing minty flavour.

Proceeded to take my wudhu'. Solat tahajud.

Solat taubat.

Solat hajat.

Had a two-minute shut-eye. On cue, the Subuh prayer azan broke the silence of the dawn.

Tasnim, Idayu and Hazirah emerged from their rooms. I glanced at them with a curt smile.

A new day has just begun.