House of Ashes [Complete]

38. Haven | محفوظ ٹھکانا

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The sleek vehicle ran through the serene road as the streaming hues of moon coveted the two nomads perched inside in utter silence. It was heavy. Thick. Could be cut with a knife.

Their banters on random encounters had become a norm, now,
but when it came to actually being surrounded by each other, that too alone, words would sever their ties with them. They wouldn't have anything to talk to each other.

Their breaths intermingled into the silence of the night. A deafening silence. It was suffocating. She wanted to break it.

She cleared her throat but being as crude as he was, he kept staring at the road ahead. What a mannerless oaf! She cleared her throat yet again. Still no response. A scowl crept up her forehead but she spoke nonetheless.

"I met Ayyan today."

"Wow, that's new!" He jibed.

Rolling her eyes, she looked ahead. "He was being really weird."

Confused, he turned his head towards her as he scrunched his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know." She heaved a sigh. "He was being... umm... I don't know how to put it in words. Like, he cried and told me he was going to miss me even when he knew I was going just for one day."

"Oh, I can understand him. Your absence really affects people." He chuckled as he let out before thinking. As if the realization had just dawned upon him, he suddenly bit his tongue as he hissed.

She just stayed quiet. Baffled. Startled. Words didn't seem to form. She didn't know what he was getting at.

Clearing his throat, he proceeded. "Er... I just mean, it's probably your ominous thoughts and nothing else. Don't stress out, okay?"

She nodded without saying anything when suddenly the car came to an abrupt halt.

"What happened?" She craned her head in his direction with knitted brows.

"I don't know." He frowned. "Lemme check." He opened the glove box to retrieve the torch when a wilted rose materialized from inside.

A loud gasp escaped her mouth as if she had seen a ghost. Her breaths hitched. The fleck of a universe started closing in on her as the sight of red rose consumed her.

"What? Everything alright?" He asked as his eyes settled on her alabaster face, dread engulfing her from every nook. "Ms. Hayat!" He extended his hand to her shoulder and she swatted it away with full force.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Her loud scream echoed in the stillness of the night as the trees shuddered and wind hissed.

The red swirls pirouetted in her brownish orbs. And in that moment he felt his doom was near. She was dangerous. Lethal. Not scared of going to any extent to protect herself.
There was fire in her eyes. A smoldering fire that wouldn't back down until it had burned the wrong from within. The agony wasn't hidden as well. The clobbered pieces of her soul, her trust, everything was welled up in her eyes in the form of thick precipitation.

Her heartbeat shot beyond octaves, her throat constricting. She didn't fear anyone but right now she was the most scared person alive. He had come back. He was here. He'd do it all over again. Her head was flooding up with the countless memories when he had brandished the sinister flower against her bare skin and scratched it with the thorns.