It was dark and quiet outside, while my family and I were sitting in the living room watching a show on television. We were discussing how our uncle was getting married the next day in upstate New York, while we lived in Plainsboro, New Jersey. There were two problems: first, it would take over eight hours to get there, and the most important one was that my mom was pregnant.

My sister said, “Can we please go to the wedding, all of our cousins and relatives are there?” My mom and dad sat there speechless, unsure of what to say. It was quiet for a while, and the only noise in the room was coming from the television.

I broke the silence by pleading to them and said “Pleeeease...I promise Ramsha and I will do anything.”

My dad said, “Listen. I would love to go too, but you know it is far away and the wedding is tomorrow, by the time we get there it will be early morning, and everyone will be tired.”

We both pleaded a bit more and pretended to be mad at them, but nothing worked. My sister and I knew that we had lost the battle and had to go to our room and sleep.

We were staring at the ceiling, wondering why our parents were so mean and unfair. I had closed my eyes and was about to go to sleep when my sister turned over and she started to “cry.” I looked over at my dramatic sister, who had just graduated first grade and had a new phase where she would pretend to cry. I knew that she was faking it and just wanted attention. I ignored her and tried to sleep again, but she kept on coming closer and crying near me purposely.  

Being the oldest, I knew I had to do something, so annoyingly I said, “ What do you want? Can’t you just go back to sleep? We’ll just see pictures of the wedding and it’ll be fine.”
Inside, I really wanted to go too, because the summer was really boring, and we hadn’t done anything. Our parents had told us that we were going to move to Canada in August, and my sister and I were both excited and sad that we had to leave. It was sad to leave behind our old friends, but exciting because my dad’s brother lived there, and they had the cutest little baby. Soon, all those thoughts disappeared and I fell asleep.

 I woke up in the morning because the home phone was ringing beside my ear. I was confused because I never brought the phone over in our room, but I picked it up and heard my dad’s voice. I jumped out of my bed and ran to the living room. No one was in the house besides my sister and I. This was the first time that I was officially left home alone. I was curious as to why, and a sudden thought popped up. “What if they left to the wedding, and left me and my sister home?”

Infuriated, I spoke with a slight raging tone, “Did you guys leave Ramsha and I home, and are you guys going to the wedding?”

My dad chuckled a bit and then said, “I’m going to pick you guys up shortly, so get ready.”

I went to my room, woke my sister up, and told her to get ready. She woke up puzzled since it was only six in the morning, but we both got ready and sat down at the table. We heard a doorbell and got scared, so we hid behind the couches. The person then started to pound on the door, which made us scream. My obnoxious little sister pointed for me to go and see who was there.

           She whispered, “Hibah, you are older than me, so go check.”

           I was scared to death, so many thoughts triggered through my mind, “What if it was a kidnapper or a burglar?”

           I checked through the peephole and sighed as it was just my dad.

           My dad had a huge smile on his face and told us to sit down.

           "Uh-oh!” I whispered. “I think we are in trouble.”

My dad laughed again and told us to search online for some names. I was trying to connect the details and wondering why we had to search up names. Then finally, I screamed, “WE HAVE A NEW BABY BROTHER RIGHT????”

My dad said, “Congratulations you figured it out. I know we shouldn’t have left you guys alone, but it was very late at night, and you guys are good at taking care of each other.”

My sister and I were both talking at the same time, “When are we going to see?” “Can we go now?” “Please.”

My dad told us that we were going to go soon, but first, we needed to pick out a name. Ramsha and I searched names and decided that we should put some names in a hat. We were going to choose a few names that we liked the best and write them a few times on different pieces of paper. Then, whichever name got pulled out the most would win. We were so excited and just wanted to get there quickly.

An hour later, we had eaten breakfast and drove to the hospital. My sister and I were talking, trying to imagine what our new baby brother would look like. We both asked questions, such as, “Who does he look like the most?” “Is he big, or small?”

My dad told us to just wait patiently, and that we would almost be there. My sister and I rushed to the doors and ran up to the elevator. The nurse guided us to the room and we saw our mom lying down with a baby rolled up like a burrito. We went over and saw his face; he looked like a baby doll. I was imagining the baby to be a little cuter, but he was a little pale. My mom told us that we could hold him, but went over a long list of precautions that we should consider.

           “Make sure to hold his neck,” she said. “Don’t touch his head too much..” and so many more.

           I was really happy to see him and almost forgot to do the hat game.

          “Let’s choose his name now. Ramsha and I created a short, little game, where each member of our family has to pick a name.”

          We tried it out multiple times, but each time everyone chose a different name.

          “This isn’t working,” said my sister. “We should choose the name, Momin.”

          I disagreed, and said, “My brother's name should be Rayyan.”

We quarreled back and forth until my dad spoke and said that he liked the name Rayyan a lot too, since it has a nice meaning, as well. My sister was unhappy until my mom told her that she could hold him. We started to play around and were talking to him, pretending as if he could actually understand. The only thing he replied back with were “oos,” and “aas.”

Soon, it was starting to get late and we had to leave. My mom had to stay in the hospital for one more day, and then she, and my new brother, could finally come home. We said our goodbyes and then left. When I came home, I ate some food, and then went to bed. I was thinking about how I was fortunate to have a new baby brother, and that this was better than going to a wedding. As I drifted off to sleep, I tried to enjoy the peace and quiet, as I knew when Rayyan would come home, the only noise I would hear would be of him crying.