Blood - THE MISCHIEF BEGINS…

  • 18 Jan - 24 Jan, 2020
  • Salaar Laghari
  • Fiction

Khubaib and Rizwan while walking towards the garden were having this conversation,

“You know your father was a great person?” Khubaib asked.

“Yeah, I know.”

“I didn’t really know him that closely but my brother did. My brother was an extremely aggressive person but your father took him out of all that.”

Rizwan was least interested in the conversation and was listening to him out of courtesy. Khubaib however continued,

“I had heard a lot about your father from different sources and so, I was convinced that my brother is in good hands.”

“I see!”

“Yeah, your father was my hope. My brother Khattab, I was very afraid for him and could only pray to God. I wanted him to improve and get better. By better, I mean cool tempered and it happened. Your father did it. I can assure you that it was his biggest achievement.”

“I see!”

“Well, I’m glad that I’m meeting you and Hannan today.”

Rizwan’s eyes opened wide, he immediately said,

“Uh, Mr Khubaib… Hannan is not here. He is out for some chore.”

“Oh, never mind I’ll meet him some other time. It’s not a problem.”

Rizwan didn’t respond as he personally did not want this man to show up again. He however, kept on walking and before they could continue their conversation, he said looking at the chair,

“Why don’t you sit here? I will get you some water.”

“Sure!”

Rizwan rushed away from the guest and uttered to himself,

How can I get rid of him? He seems too clingy. I have to do something about him. I better make him leave quickly. He will spread news about our current family issues, if he finds out.

Rizwan called out his servant,

“Sartaj, where are you? Come over here!”

Sartaj came immediately and asked,

“Yes, what do you want, sir?”

“I have a guest outside, I need your advice. How can I send him away?”

“Send him away? But why, I mean aren’t you pleased with him?”

“You don’t know that my wife just left me, do you?”

“She left you? Why?” Sartaj asked surprisingly.

“It’s a long story. Right now, I just want to be alone and I want him to leave. Can you help me out, Sartaj?”

“But how? I mean why? No I mean, who is this man?”

“He is Khattab Razaq’s brother. I wasn’t expecting him, nobody was. But I was expecting his brother.”

“So, why aren’t you meeting him? Wasn’t he closer to your father?”

“No, he wasn’t and I really don’t care about him, let him leave. Right now, I just want to be alone.”

Saying this, Rizwan walked towards the table where he had listed down his father’s prophecies on a paper. As he got there, the paper wasn’t there. He looked everywhere to find it out but he wasn’t able to.

“What are you looking for?” Sartaj asked him.

Rizwan did not answer and kept on looking for his note. Sartaj raised his voice a bit and asked again,

“Sir, what are you trying to find? May I help you?”

“I’m looking for a paper, it was a list that I made last night.”

Sartaj left saying,

“Okay, I will help you find it but first, let me give some water to the guest.”

“Yeah, sure!” Rizwan answered.

Sartaj went to the kitchen and after filling the glass with water, he walked towards the garden. As he reached, he found that the guest had gone.

Sartaj immediately went back to Rizwan and asked,

“Sir, there is no one in the garden.”

“There isn’t?” Rizwan was surprised.

“You can see it for yourself.”

Rizwan then remembered the list he was looking for.

After a while, at a nearby restaurant, Khubaib was handing over the same note to Hannan. He took it from him and commented,

“I hope, you have found out something important for me.”

“Just read what is mentioned here and you will be thankful to me.”

Hannan read out the list,

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.

“Oh, my God!” Hannan uttered loudly.

“Well, I don’t know what these exactly mean…” Khubaib replied, “But I want to know it from you.”

“This is a detailed conversation but right now, I am glad that you did a great job. You played really well.”

“Thank you, you don’t have to mention.” Khubaib said courteously.

“Anyways, now that I have these, I am going to make sure that no one harms my father’s soul.”

“How can anyone harm his soul?”

“There are many ways, you will not understand it like this. Anything that displeases him would torment him in his grave. This is what I believe.”

“If that is what you believe, don’t you think you are responsible for bringing pain to him?”

“Me?” Hannan asked furiously. How can you even think that?”

“Tell me seriously, don’t you think you accusing Rizwan of murdering him would ruin your father’s peace.”

Hannan was left speechless.

“…No I don’t,” Hannan said reluctantly after a long pause.

“Okay,” Khubaib answered carelessly.

After a few seconds, Hannan kept the paper aside and asked,

“So, tell me, what else did you observe?”

“Sorry?”

“I mean to ask, what else did you observe there with Rizwan?”

“Well, while he was talking to his servant, I heard him saying that his wife had left him.”

“What? Say that again!” Hannan was shocked.

“I’m saying that most probably his wife has left him, I’m not sure but I think I heard something similar.”

“Oh, dear God, this was not the plan,” Hannan said. “In fact, I never wanted them to separate like this.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I’m not happy about this. I did not want this to happen.”

“It shouldn’t matter to you, you are not responsible for this.”

“I’m not?” Hannan looked up at him and asked.

“Come on, think about it. You had nothing to do with it. You never intended that, you were not even bothered about their personal life.”

“I know, but I think that breaking them apart had something to do with me.”

“That is also not true, there can be plenty of other reasons behind why she left him.”

“What reasons?” Hannan asked.

“She must be thinking like you, she must be suspecting him of murdering your father.”

“Oh, I suppose so,” Hannan agreed.

“Furthermore, there is a prophecy mentioned which states that their child would face a lot of pain and torment.”

“Yeah, so?”

“So, it clearly signifies that his wife dumped him because she didn’t want her child to suffer.”

“Oh, that makes sense. In fact, that makes a lot of sense.”

“I know, now you should stop worrying about them and think about…”

Khubaib stopped speaking but Hannan asked him,

“And think about?”

“Think about… Well, you know, getting rid of Rizwan.”

Hannan stood up getting enraged and screamed,

“Getting rid of Rizwan? What do you think I am?”

Khubaib looked down and said,

“Alright, I’m sorry!”

“What are you expecting from me? Who do you think I am?”

Khubaib asked him to keep his voice down.

“No! Answer me!” Hannan yelled angrily. “You think I’m trying to get rid of my brother?”

Khubaib angrily stood up and said,

“Don’t you dare, raise your voice over me! And don’t think that I am afraid of you. I can go and expose you in front of Rizwan.”

“Excuse me? You will expose me? What have I done? What do I have to be ashamed of? Why would I be afraid of you or Rizwan?”

“I will tell him, it was you who sent me to get that paper. And he will believe me.”

“I never sent you to do that. I just asked you to…”

“…Whatever you asked me to do, I can prove it to him that you sent me as a spy whose job was to expose the secrets of the family.”

Hannan held his collar and dragged him closer. They both looked at each other with fury but Hannan let go off him saying,

“This was a mistake, a very big mistake of mine. Seeking help from a disgraceful man like you.”

Hannan picked up the paper and said,

“I thought you were doing a favour on me but I was wrong. Now, I realise that you had your own benefits as well.”

Khubaib smiled devilishly. Hannan said before leaving,

“I don’t know what you exactly want but I do know that you have something against Rizwan. It is clear that you want to get him out of your way.”

Hannan had left. Khubaib kept on looking at him with furious eyes as he was going. His driver came by his side and said,

“Can we leave now, sir?”

“Yes.”

“Is everything okay?”

“No, it is not. My plan is not working. I was up all night trying to convince Sidra.”

“Who is Sidra?”

“She is Rizwan’s wife but I want her. I want her to be my wife. I tried to convince her last night and made her understand that she will live a horrible life with Rizwan. It worked out and she asked for divorce. Now, my plan was to infuriate Hannan and force him to kill Rizwan.”

“Kill Rizwan?” the driver asked.

“Yes, because it is not easy. Rizwan will not divorce her that easily. My plan is to remove him from Sidra’s heart and then get him killed.”

“I see!” the driver felt a little shaken.

Two days later, Rizwan was sitting in his room as usual and he was thinking about the misery in his life. All of a sudden, he remembered his father’s words,

Be patient, both of you and learn to be tolerant in life. Bad times will come. Life will get worse than this, you have to remember that no matter what happens, you both do not have to lose faith in God.

He uttered while thinking,

If only I was as kind hearted as he was, I would have been in peace. My life cannot have enough patience. I feel so upset after experiencing this phase of life.

He stood up and walked towards his bed. He turned off the lamp and tried to sleep.

That very moment, he heard something broke the glass window inside. He was startled but immediately jumped out of the bed and went to see.

He rushed to see who was there.

As he reached outside, he saw his step brother Hannan standing outside. Rizwan was shocked to see him and asked,

“What do you want?”

Hannan came closer to him and took out a knife from his pocket. He held the knife close to his face and yelled,

“What was the dispute between you two? Why were you and my father not talking during his last days? I know, you are the beneficiary of his death.”

Rizwan became angry and slapped Hannan so brutally that Hannan fell on the ground. Rizwan then, held his throat with his hand and punched him twice. He shouted afterwards,

“I am not a killer, but I think I am about to

become one.”

Hannan pushed him and stood up. He tried to punch Rizwan, but Rizwan held his hand and kicked him on his waist. Hannan fell backwards and yelled with pain. Rizwan looked closely and realised that the knife had pierced in his neck. The blood was clearly visible.

to be continued...

RELATED POST

COMMENTS