Someone Like Her by Awais Khan

Author:Awais Khan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orenda Books
Published: 2023-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

It had been a while since she had seen people who weren’t Pakistani. Everywhere she looked, she saw someone of a different nationality rushing towards immigration. A lot of her fellow Pakistanis who had been jumping queues and shouting expletives at Lahore airport were now walking down the corridors in single file, speaking to each other in subdued voices. Fixing her scarf in place, she followed, not wanting to get left behind, or worse, lost. It was still supposed to be summer, but the airport was chilly with its long, draughty corridors and fluorescent lighting. Buttoning up the cardigan she wore over her shalwar kameez, she hurried past the signs leading to the immigration hall. Her mother had suggested she wear Western clothes for the journey, just to blend, but Ayesha had resisted. She’d found that she had been resisting a lot of things lately.

Good on you, she thought to herself.

She needn’t have panicked so much. To her utter relief, the immigration officer didn’t interrogate her, in fact she barely glanced at her as she stamped her passport, and before Ayesha knew it, she was picking up her bag and taking the green channel out of baggage reclaim. Her mother had said that Jamila Aunty would be there to meet her. Ayesha had spoken with her on the phone, but now she realised that it might have been better to have made a video call as Jamila Aunty had initially suggested. She’d thought Jamila was being nosy, but looking back now, it probably made sense to see each other’s face rather than rely on photos taken years ago. The arrivals hall had people from everywhere in the world, something never seen in Pakistan, and in the melee, she felt panic set in, the walls closing in on her from all sides. She blinked furiously to keep the tears at bay. Her father would have known what to do. She missed her parents. Where are you, Jamila Aunty?

People must have noticed her looking lost, because a kindly woman who had been on the same flight smiled at Ayesha. ‘Beta, you look a bit lost. This airport has free internet, so if you want you can easily call the person you’re meeting on Whatsapp.’

Of course. How could she have been so dense? She thanked the woman, but she just shook her head.

‘Happens to the best of us. I am a seasoned traveller now, but if you’d seen me ten years ago, you’d have laughed. I once got my shalwar stuck in the baggage reclaim belt. Don’t ask me how on earth I managed that, but I did.’

They laughed, and some of the weight on Ayesha’s heart shifted. Maybe this city wouldn’t be so bad. Already the walls seemed to be retreating, the light seeming brighter than before. Before she could reply to the woman, however, she heard someone say, ‘Ayesha?’

It was a man’s voice.

She turned around, only realising now that the woman hadn’t commented on her face at all. She hadn’t even glanced at her injuries.

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