Short Stories

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جتنی تھیں خشیاں،
سب کھو چکی ہیں،
مگر یہ غم ہے کہ،
جاتا نہیں، جاتا نہیں..

✨ M I R A A L ✨

A knock at the door of my room pulled me out of my thoughts. I wiped my tears and sat up straight.

"Aa jayen.."

A couple of seconds later, chachee walked in, with a dish in her hand. The aroma of the food made me want to throw up. I felt nauseated to no boundaries.

"Chachee, please isay yahan se le jaye. Dil kharab horaha ha dekh kar."

She glared at me as I looked away. She put the dish on the wooden coffee table kept adjacent to my bed and made her way to sit beside me.

"Aesay nai kehtay hain, Miraal. Khanay se mu nai phertay hain, ye tou Allah ki neymat hoti ha."

I felt guilty as she reminded me of how ungrateful I was being right now. Ungrateful. Harsh memories from last night popped up in my head. I felt tears well up in my eyes and my lower lip wobbled. I leaned forward to wound my arms around chachee's waist and nuzzled my face in her lap. My shoulders shook as I sobbed my heart out.

"Shh mera beta, bas karjao. Tumharay ansu hum sub ko buhat takleef de rahay hain. Tumne kal se na kuch khaya ha na kuch bola ha. Bus roye ja rahi ho."

She looked at me and waited for my response. When she figured out I wasn't going to respond, she continued,

"Miraal, tumhay hum pe bharosa nai ha? Hum kesay tumharay sath aesa honay de saktay hain? Chhoti si thi tum jub bhabi ne tumhe meri zimedari qarar diya tha. Tub se lekar aaj tak tumhe apnay seenay se lagaye rakha ha. Tumhari harr khwahish puri ki ha. Tum meri beti ho. Ayi samjh? Ma tumharay sath kabhi kuch bura nahe honay de sakti meri jaan. Phone milao Hamza ko, mujhay uss se baat karni ha."

I looked up at her with bloodshot eyes, I wiped my tears and relaxed a bit. She leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on my forehead. I suddenly felt a whole lot lighter. I felt hopeful. I nodded at her and picked up my phone, dialling Hamza's number, we waited for him to receive the call.

"Aapi.."

I looked up to see Ibaad walking in. I pressed the red button on my phone to hang up the call. This could wait a few minutes. I looked at him with questioning eyes, signalling him to go on.

"Wau taya abbu bola rahay hain aapko."

I felt furious at his mention. My jaw clenched, eyebrows stitched together.

"Kyun? Ab kya kaam ha mujhsay?"

He shrugged his shoulders with a worried expression on his face.

"Boldo unsay ma nai aoungi. Mujhay koi shauq nai unsay baat karnay ka ab."

With that, I moved my gaze to the painting on my wall, it was a beautiful painting of a sunset, Ibaad had painted it for me. The colours of the sky merged in with the warm tones of the sun. The mischevious moon peeked from behind the clouds, waiting for the sun to go down, so that the moon could take over the palace of the sky. Trying its best to light up the world, but giving no competition to the Sun.

"Miraal, utho beta, shabash jao apnay baba ki baat sunkar ao. Two wrongs never make a right, bachay. Unkay ankho per jo gussay ki patti bandh gayi ha, usay apnay pyar se hatao meri jaan, chalo jao."

She stood me up from my shoulders, not giving me a chance to refuse. Gently pushing me out of my room. I walked towards baba's study with a heavy heart. Taking slow and steady steps I made it to his study. I lifted my shaky hand up and twisted the doorknob, not bothering to knock. He looked up from his phone as I walked in. He smiled a little watching me walk in. This little move of him ignited a new flame of fire within me. I bored holes into his eyes with my gaze.

"Kyun bulaya ha mujhay?" I spoke up without beating around the bush. I wanted to get done with whatever discussion he wanted to have and leave.

"Kal ki tayyariyan ho chuki hain. Tumharay nikkah ke papers bhi bun chukay hain. Ma ne Jamal Sahab aur unkay Sahabzaaday say tumharay aur uss awara larkay ke nikkah ka koi zikar nai kiya. Aur na hee karnay ka koi irada ha. Yehi batanay ke liye bulaya tha. Unkay samnay koi ghalti na honay chahiye."

My blood boiled as I heard him utter those words of absolute nonsense. I masked away my inner turmoil and smiled up at him, making him look at me with a taken aback expression.

"Pehli baat, Hamza awara nai ha. Dusri baat, unko kya, ma tau puri dunya ko cheekh cheekh kar bataou gi Hamza mera shohar ha. Teesri baat, aap chahay jitnay papers banwa lain aur chahay jitnay nikkah arrange karwa lein, harr ak ma mera jawab na hee hoga."

I spoke with my chin held high and eyes holding determination.

He rose from his place and glared at me.

"Acha tau aesa ha? Theek ha. Iska bhi hal ha meray paas. Barra pyar ha na tumhain Ibaad se?"

"Ibaad..?"

"Haan, Ibaad, agar tumne kal nikkah kay waqt inkar kia, tou uski maut ki zimedar tum hogi."

I gasped as I felt my stomach twisting. I was rooted to my place and my head suddenly felt dizzy. This couldn't happen. I must have heard something wrong.

"Huh..? Kya bola?"

"Wohi bola ha jo apnay suna ha bachhay."

"How could you drop so low? How could you even think so evil about your nephew. Apkay bhai ka beta ha wau. Kuch tou sochein.."

He let out a wicked laugh. Making me feel sick to my stomach.

"Soch ke hee bola ha. Uss Hamza ko kuch kia tau uska baap mujhay chhoray ga nai. Magar Ibaad tou meray bhai ka beta ha, mera kya hee bigaad lega uska baap."

I felt a hot stream of tears falling down my eyes. If only I listened to Hamza and Ibaad yesterday. If only I left with him.

This man standing in front of my eyes seemed alien to me. He could not be my father. His eyes were cold, expressionless, emotionless. They resembled stones. My father was not a wicked man. This could not be my father.

My legs felt weak, they could no longer hold me up, I fell to the ground. I looked up at him to see him look away from me.

"Aap aesa kesay kar saktay hain baba. Aap tou hum sub pe jaan chhiraktay thay. Ye aap nai hosaktay. Aap mazak kar rahay hain."

I looked up at him with hopeful eyes, expecting him to walk to me and hold me in his arms and tell me it was all a joke, it was a sickening prank and nothing else. I would give anything just for him to tell me none of this was the truth.

"Tum subnay milkar kia ha ye. Ma ne kuch nai kia. Pehlay uss Haamid ne mujhay dhoka dia. Meri zindagi bhar ki mehnat par paani pher dia. Phir meri apni beti mere khilaaf hogai. Ab jo hoga uskay zimedar tum sub hogay, sun lo ye baat kaan khol kay."

With that he left the room, where I sat on the floor, holding my head with my hands, trying to push away the immense pain. I felt my vision getting blurry. With every passing moment, it was getting harder for me to breathe. I could no longer hold my body up, my senses were knocked out and I lied  against the flat surface of the floor.

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Hello everyone! Hope you all are doing good.

Here's the third chapter of Fitoor. Let me know how you guys liked it. Personally I wasn't satisfied with the chapter, but it was the best I could do, considering it's a filler chapter.

Feel free to comment here or DM me if you guys find any loopholes or have any questions. Looking forward to your feedback!

Please vote and comment if you liked the chapter!

Stay safe, everyone! ❤