BLOOD - THE MISCHIEF BEGINS

  • 11 Jan - 17 Jan, 2020
  • Mag The Weekly
  • Fiction

Sidra asked after listening to Mr Taha,

“So, can we assume from this prophecy that the person who will capture the land will be the black sheep of the family?”

“Black sheep is not enough to define him,” Mr Taha replied. “That person would be the darkest enemy of the family.”

“Can’t ‘two-faced’ have a different meaning?”

Rizwan asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean to say that we are interpreting the ‘two faced’ person as the dark enemy, so what I mean to ask is that can’t this term ‘two faced’ have some different meaning?”

“Okay, like what?”

“Like someone who is a liar.”

“No, Rizwan,” Mr Taha disagreed, “Liar is not a strong enough word to define him.”

“Him?”

“It can be her, I’m not emphasising on the gender.”

Sidra interrupted their conversation,

“Okay, now tell us the other prophecies.”

Mr Taha was about to speak until he heard the phone ringing. He stood up saying,

“Excuse me, for a moment.”

Mr Taha went inside the house to answer the call.

Rizwan and Sidra sat silently in the garden. Sidra broke the silence feeling uneasy,

“Rizwan, is our child going to see a lot of pain and torment?”

“I want to say no Sidra, I really wish I could but I can’t.”

Sidra waited for him to continue. Rizwan said after a few seconds,

“These are my father’s prophecies, we cannot deny them. It’s not that simple.”

“So, should we end this marriage?”

“Of course not Sidra, are you out of your mind, please don’t think like this.”

“Alright, fine.”

That very moment Mr Taha returned and as he stood by them he asked,

“Do you know Khattab Razaq? Ever heard of him?”

“Of course, I have heard of him,” Rizwan answered. “He was my father’s closest student.”

“Yes, I just received his call.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, he is coming to this city, tomorrow morning.”

“Well, that’s great, I’d love to meet him,” Rizwan said delightfully.

“Yeah, he wants to meet you two, but you do know what kind of a person he is?”

“I know, but I’m not afraid of him because he is very honest and patient. He might be like Hannan as far as anger and short temperedness are concerned but he always priorities truth over his emotions.”

Sidra was listening with interest. Rizwan continued,

“He is a sensible person unlike my brother and you cannot expect him to harm you.”

“No, Rizwan,” Uncle Taha interrupted in between, “I disagree with you here. I completely disagree, he can be harmful. I remember the time when he was literally about to kill someone and your father stopped him.”

“Yeah, that was about three years back. I was there too.”

“So, you do know how dangerous he can be?” Mr Taha asked.

“He used to carry a sword back then, and our father had taught him to respect the law.”

“Yes.”

“And when he found someone stealing, he did what he thought was necessary.”

“He was about to kill that man.”

“I know, but then my father instructed him for more than two hours. He taught him that law was not meant to be taken in one’s own hands.”

“I don’t think that he agreed with your father, even if he did, he kept on disobeying him behind his back.”

“I know,” Rizwan replied, “But when my father learnt about this, he simply refused to talk to him. That was a moment of grief for him and it compelled him to change on a very serious note.”

“…Well in that case,” Mr Taha responded after a pause, “I wish he remains the same.”

“Yes, he will, my father forgave him sooner than he was expecting and from that day onwards, he never took law in his own hands.”

“Your father died a natural death, we all know that and we agree with it, but if Hannan tells him that your father was murdered, what are you going to do about Khattab Razaq?”

“I’m going to convince him, because I know very well that he believes in truth and he will not take any action, unless he has any evidences to convict anyone.”

“Oh,” Mr Taha said feeling agitated, “I don’t know, how you are going to handle this, but one thing is clear that the dark period has begun.”

“I’m not afraid, because I know that I’m not wrong and I am not hiding anything.”

“That’s how you claim your innocence and your brother will obviously not believe this.”

“Guys,” Sidra said, “Why don’t you just calm down, sit down and tell us about the other prophecies.”

“The other two prophecies, yeah right,” Mr Taha said and sat on the chair.

Both of them were listening to Mr Taha impatiently as he further said,

“Another strange but interesting prediction of your father was that the mischief would have a different motive initially but since it will be exacerbated, it will have a different motive in the last phase.”

“To be honest,” Rizwan said, “I haven’t understood a single thing out of this.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Sidra added.

“I’m saying…”

“Are you sure, you are repeating the exact words?” Rizwan asked interrupting his speech.

“No, these are not the exact words. I am just rephrasing it according to what I remember.”

“Okay, I’m listening.”

“This mischief will long for God knows how long, your father noted in the diary that the mischief will begin for one reason and it shall end over another one, which means that the mischief will transform from one form to another.”

“Oh, I see,” Rizwan understood.

“So, you mean to say…” Sidra asked Mr Taha, “That initially the dispute between these two would have one reason and when this mischief would end, the objective behind that mischief would be something else entirely?”

“Exactly,” Mr Taha replied. “Now, it is up to you guys about how soon you end this mischief.”

“Right,” Rizwan answered.

“This prophecy seems a little strange but I’m sure it has a deep meaning.”

“Like what? In your opinion,” he asked.

“Look, we are noticing that the mischief has begun, your brother has left the house and he is suspecting you for your father’s death. This might be the beginning, but when this mischief would reach its final stage, the two of you would be against each other for some other reason.”

Rizwan felt a little uneasy listening to this as Mr Taha’s words made complete sense to him. Sidra then asked,

“What about the last prophecy?”

“The last prophecy?”

“I meant, the prophecy you know and we are currently unaware of.”

“Yeah, well, the fourth prophecy I remember was something like a liar would seeing plenty of owls during a night.”

“A liar?”

“Yes, I don’t remember the exact words of the stated prophecy but I do know that the person who would be lying to everybody would see plenty of owls, on one special night.”

“Now, this is new,” Sidra commented.

“Yeah, I feel the same. I’m not confident about the word ‘liar’ but it was somewhat similar.”

“Oh, dear God,” Rizwan said holding his head.

“What happened?” Mr Taha asked him.

“I’m so worried, our father has left us in this mess.”

“Rizwan, don’t be disrespectful.”

“He is not being disrespectful,” Sidra said while getting defensive. “He is right. His father has left us in such misery. We shouldn’t have even come here.”

“No,” Rizwan said, “Don’t get too emotional, what I meant was that he left us in this mess, unintentionally. He had no contribution in this.”

“No,” Sidra said as she stood up, “I don’t think, I can be a part of this family anymore.”

She left the place angrily as she said this.

“Sidra!” Rizwan called her out.

Mr Taha said to Rizwan,

“She is frightened, these prophecies have definitely scared her.”

“No, don’t worry about it. She is just steamed, she’ll be fine by tomorrow morning.”

“So, are you leaving now?”

“Yes, I think I should, but don’t worry, she will be fine.”

“Okay, now, what about Khattab?”

“Yeah, Khattab,” Rizwan stood up. “Well, let him come and settle. Then, after a few days, I will meet him.”

“I would recommend you to not delay this, because if Hannan gets to meet him first, you won’t be able to justify yourself.”

“Well, I’m not worried about that. I don’t need to be afraid of them.”

Rizwan offered his hand for a handshake. Mr Taha shook hands with him. Rizwan finally said,

“Thanks for everything Mr Taha, you really helped me today.”

****************

That night, Rizwan was up till late. He noted down all the prophecies, he knew on a piece of paper. The room was dark but he had lit two candles.

He read the mentioned prophecies again,

1. A dark period will come to this family.

2. Our father’s grave would be crushed.

3. My daughter will see a lot of pain and torment in her life.

4. A two-faced person will illegally capture the land that belonged to us once.

5. The first phase of the mischief would be different than the last phase.

6. A liar will see several owls in a single night.

After reading the six prophecies, he uttered,

“I have collected six, there are either four or five more.”

He looked at the paper for a while and then wondered,

My life is about to get really harsh. My fate will literally make me bleed, but I am not afraid, I will fight. I will struggle against whatever comes in my way.

Hours later, he was sleeping on the couch. He woke up as he heard the doorbell. He opened his eyes and stood up. He heard the door bell ringing again. He turned and looked at the main door and heard the voice of his servant.

After a minute, Sidra came in and stood by him. Rizwan looked at her and asked,

“Sidra, what were you up to last night? You didn’t even wait for me and simply left the place. This was not polite of you, okay?”

“I want divorce,” Sidra said quite bluntly.

“What?”

“Yes, I want divorce,” she again said.

“Why? What for?”

“You know, why I’m asking this. Believe me, I do not like this, but I have no other option.”

“Oh, come on, we have plenty of options, we can live without children or we can adopt a son, if you’re afraid of the daughter’s suffering.”

“No, it’s not about the daughter. Your life is about to get really worse. I’m sorry, I simply cannot live with you. We need to get divorced.”

“I can’t believe you Sidra,” Rizwan said sadly. “I thought, you would be my support during this critical time.”

Sidra turned and walked towards the exit of the house. Before stepping out, she said,

“I’m giving you two days, after that I will involve court into this.”

“Oh, my God,” Rizwan was shocked seeing his wife’s attitude.

Rizwan then ran in the garden, trying to ventilate his anger and frustration. He was recalling how his brother and his wife had turned completely against him.

This hurts too much… he cried while running.

He stopped, as he heard the doorbell. He rushed towards the main gate hoping it was Sidra, who had changed her mind.

As Rizwan reached, he took a deep breath and opened the gate. It was a stranger of his age, who had come to meet him. Rizwan asked him,

“Yes, who are you?”

“My name is Khubaib Razaq. I am Khattab Razaq’s younger brother.”

“Oh,” Rizwan uttered and shook hands with him.

Rizwan welcomed him inside the house quite warmly and asked,

“So, where’s Khattab?”

“He’ll be here, after a few days,” Khubaib replied.

to be continued...

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