The Family Drama Series: Epilogue

Introduction

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Hello there! I am here to introduce you to my upcoming series. The Family Drama Series. Sorry couldn't think of any sane name for now. (suggest me any nice name for the series) 😂

Here is the Introduction to my series. To all those who feel that cousin marriages are gross, I understand. I really do but It's allowed in Islam and it happens accross the globe all the time. So no need to make a fuss about it.

Happy reading my love ♥

The moon was a wraith-silver disc hanging in the lonely sky. Lasers of moonlight, as bright as diamond illuminated the room.

Syed Naasir Hashmi stirred as he tried to change his side of the bed. His six son and one daughter were nestled by him like a pillar. Shoeb, the eldest held on to his father's shoulder and helped him turn. Naasir bawled like a wounded animal.

The wrinkles and folds of his skin were now so pronounced, it was hard to tell what he must have looked like as a young man. Perhaps, he was once admired, courted and coiffured. Now he just looked like a party balloon, almost bereft of it's helium, sagged amd deflated.

He had become very weak and frail within months. The death of his daughter had shattered him from within. He had refused to heal or to fight or defy cancer at all. While the six brothers tried to stop themselves from weeping, their sister, the one that still lived, covered her mouth and wailed her heart out. They had lost their mother at a very small age and their father had been a lonely man ever since. He never took care of himself and depression had left him scarred.

Today, death was advancing and they all knew it.

Naasir coughed and arched his head back in pain, silent tears falling slowly and steadily. "Abba you'll be fine. Don't give up hope." Jameel, his fourth child tried to assure but his voice came out hoarse.

"I don't need false hope." Naasir quivered. "I want you all to promise me something." He began to cough and refused to drink water as well. "I want you all to not break this promise ever." He continued when his coughing ceased for a minute, his eyes still shut.

"Abba we'll do what you want us to do. Please don't worry or think negative. Allah will heal you." Shoeb murmured.

"I don't have much time Shoeb and I want to go now. The curse is already killing me." The sick man said.

"The curse is a myth abba. Hayaat and Maut are written by Allah." Shoeb sighed. They were all exhausted of explaining the same thing to their father. "You don't understand. I am dying. I don't want you to repeat the mistakes my siblings and I made. Promise me you'll marry your sons and daughters within the family. Promise me that my granddaughters will not be married to any man outside the family. Promise me." Naasir croaked again. He was a superstitious man but fate had made him believe in it. His four sisters had died a tragic death because they married someone who wasn't a relative. None of them even had a child. His one sister had survived because she had married her cousin.

According to Naasir's mother their family had been cursed. Cursed with a spell which ensured that non of his siblings enjoyed their happily ever after. However the curse could only be broken if they married within their family, with their cousins.

A month back his daughter had died and apparently she had married her colleague. The curse had rebounded, killing her soon after she delivered her fifth child.

"Abba we can't force them to marry." Kamran, the youngest son pointed out. They all were in a state of dilemma. A promise in that period was like an oath never to be broken. "I am doing it for them. I am trying to save them from the curse." Naasir was adamant. He was about to say something else too but his breathing became uneven.

The massive room had suddenly become so compact, it almost made them all feel claustrophobic.

"Promise me before I leave." Naasir spoke again. His breath had become so rugged that it could have stopped just any moment. "Abba we promise." Shoeb said it first, his siblings copying his words one after the other.

"Baaba What's happening to Abba?" Shoeb's ten year old son, Shaahzil asked meekly as he sauntered towards his father. Nobody realized that he was in the room. Naasir finally opened his eyes to look at Shaahzil, his eldest grandson. The blood flecked eyes and the huge bags under it spoke about the countless sleepless nights that he had passed in agony. His hands were trembling yet he held it out for Shaahzil. Naasir loved him the most for he was the first grandchild he ever had.

Shaahzil held on to his hand and sat on the bed, to his right. Naasir tugged his little fingers up to his lips and kissed it gently with shuddering lips. "Marry him to your daughter Naazia." He merely spoke. His daughter only nodded in response.

He wanted to say more but the cold hands of death were slowly wrapping him under it's wrath. His breathing now became uneven. His sons who were earlier trying to stop themselves from crying, broke into sobs.

Naasir's face had gone pale within seconds as his eyes shut on it's own. His muscles slowly began to relax until they went limp, until he was dead.

Until he had seized and impound the future of his twenty grandchildren because of a stupid curse that never really existed.