*Short Story*
Hollowness is something worth being feared...more than enemies. Hollowness could kill more easily than your foe. That's what it was doing to Zoheb...killing him ever so slowly. Each ounce of him being killed each moment as if fate was...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
*****
September 11, 2020
Dear Zoheb,
Your mom has left you. I didn't want to leave you but then Allah wants me back to him. Maybe you will think that it's too early but nothing is too early. Everything, everywhere happens on the right time.
My baby, your mom loves you and will always do. I know you are angry with your father but please don't be. After me he is your only family.
It wasn't his fault. He didn't know that I was sick. He didn't leave me...I pushed him away. I had asked him to re marry...more forced him. He was so disheartened but what could I do I said I didn't love him anymore. Butthe reality's I loved him so much that I could even endure his hatered.
You might think that's crazy...I shouldn't have done such thing but you will understand when you have someone in your life. You will understand when you will get tied in a pious bond.
Forgive him child..he is your father and he loves you.
And forgive your mother...if you can.
Love, Mom.
A wave of nostalgia hit him like tsunami...knocking down the well build strength with a thud. Something had broken somewhere, he was sure of that...somewhere in the surrounding or maybe that was an excuse. It was his own heart that had shattered into uncountable pieces of crystal.
Each piece reflecting vivid emotions yet one thing remained similar... agony.
Everything was afflicting...so painful that it was making his throat choked. His hands were frozen as if just removed from pricking ice. The paper that fluttered with the calm winds screamed to be steady yet the breeze didn't hear. Oblivious to the sufferings of the man it travelled in merry.
“I wasn't informed about her death. She had ordered not to tell me anything.” Omar Malik spoke breaking the mournful silence. His eyes weren't on anything...it just stared, deep into space. Trying to find someone who was long gone. This house reminded of her, their memories and each time it would hit him like a storm that she had suffered alone.
“T...that day I came to introduce my new wife to your mother...as she wanted to meet her. I was grieved when they said...she...she died. You weren't letting me meet you. I... I got two letters. One was for me and the other...” he choked on his words. How could he say more knowing that his son was hurting. He had been hurting all those years alone.
“I love your mother, as much you love your girl.” Zoheb's numb body had reflexively reacted on hearing his father's sentence. His eyes held a perplexed emotion and his face equally confessed the confusion. A small smile broke on Omar Malik's face seeing the bewilderment morphed on his beloved son's face.
