Bitter Sweet | ✓ (rewriting)

04 • mulaqaat | ملاقات

•| meeting |•
•••
dil yoonhi pathar nahi hote
umar bhar ka aitbaar tootne par hote hai
•••

Fidah Mahmoud ran through the expanse of the greenland, the soles of her heels sinking into the murky wet soil. The border of her soft carmine lehenga coating in the turbid dirty earth.

Heavy puffs of wind left her mouth as she choked back a suppressed sob. Her whole life had changed in the matter of an hour and she was still trying to wrap her head around it. How helpless had she become to her circumstances?

Every inconsequential noise from the dark forest caused her to flinch in fear, more than the lurking creatures of the night, the men adorning wolf skins were her paramount concern. What if they caught her?

Just then a loud gunshot resonated throughout the thick air, causing her to jump in horror as her dupatta got caught in a nearby slivered tree, which eventually resulted in her falling directly onto the road that she was just about to reach.

Her body ached as tears freely fell down from her eyes. The concrete asphalt was hard and cold on her back, her vision becoming blurry from the exhaustion. She felt the letter in her palms as she held onto it like it was the last token of hope. The last form of comfort. She felt like dying. Maybe she would. Maybe she would finally meet her Baba.

Just as the lullaby of oblivion began to dawn on her existence, she heard voices. They were staticky and broken, as if spoken through an expired phone line. She could almost feel the footsteps heading towards her accompanied by incoherent shouting. The last thing she saw before she finally lost all sense of reality was a gorgeous man. Maybe he was here to take her to Baba. Maybe he was Malakul Maut. The Angel of Death.

—

"There once lived a rich beautiful woman named Khaleela, who loved a poor man called Khaleel, very dearly. The man had bewitched her, body and soul... " Yaseen Hamidi began, the torch light of his phone lit up under his jaw, in an attempt to look spooky.

"Who names their daughter Khaleela?!"

"Did you just quote pride and prejudice?!"

Two very abrupt responses from his brother and cousin vertebrated throughout the car, which caused him to grin sheepishly.
"Yaar aap dono ko sunna hai ki nahi meri story, stop with your ridiculous questions."

(Do you want to listen to my story or not?)

"We never asked you to tell us a story, Yaseen. Shut up." Came his Zarrar Lala's gruff reply, causing Dina to join in.

"Yes, stop that stupid flashlight already. You already look like a swollen monkey's bum. That flashlight is making it worse."

"How do you know what a swollen monkey's bum looks like? Have you been  shoving your head in their bums?" Yaseen grumbled, as he turned off the flashlight on his phone.

"What did you..." Dina screamed, turning around from the front seat, her eyes blazing with fury. But Yaseen continued his story ignoring her.

"Khaleela's parents were against this love. So Khaleel and Khaleela ran away and got married. Just as they were about to start their new life together, far away from the evils of their respective families, Khaleela's family found them. They killed Khaleel right in front of Khaleela. Khaleela in the pain of losing her love, cried and cried until she couldn't anymore. She refused to go home and wandered along the woods, seeking and calling Khaleel. She vowed to avenge his death." Yaseen narrated, stopping now to open a bag of crisps.