BLOOD THE MISCHIEF BEGINS…

  • 01 Feb - 07 Feb, 2020
  • Salaar Laghari
  • Fiction

Rizwan began to cry as he was holding his wife’s dead body in his lap. He tried to call out her name but he couldn’t speak as he was crying badly.

Khubaib while walking away said,

If she couldn’t be mine, she couldn’t be anyone’s.

There were many people around who had witnessed the entire scene therefore Khubaib had realised that he would be caught sooner or later.

People there rushed to help Rizwan to pick up the dead body but Rizwan was not willing to acknowledge the fact that his wife was no more.

The very next day, Sidra’s funeral held in the same graveyard where Rizwan’s father was buried. All the relatives were there in the funeral except for Hannan who had chosen not to be there.

Rizwan was upset but kind of furious as he believed that his wife’s death had something to do with Hannan but he remembered his father’s words,

Don’t be suspicious of anyone Rizwan! Suspicions only bring hatred and mischief.

“The mischief had already begun,” he said out loud as if he’s answering his father.

Meanwhile, at a hotel nearby, Hannan had just discovered about his sister in law’s death from Sartaj and said,

“Look, whatever has happened, was surely a tragedy. But I’m afraid, people will think that I am responsible for this.”

“That’s right! You’re the one who hired khubaib to spy on Rizwan.”

“That’s not true, I never hired him. I never hired anybody to do this.”

“No, you did, Hannan. Look, I know that you are not involved in this crime obviously, but people have every reason to suspect you.”

“And why is that?” Hannan asked. “Just because I asked him to find out something about what’s happening in Rizwan’s life and he brought me the list of my father’s prophecies, people are going to claim that I ordered him to murder Sidra, because of this?”

“Look, you have been pointing your finger on Rizwan for murdering your father, he will avenge for that now.”

“Oh, God!” Hannan uttered regretfully.

Sartaj after a few minutes said,

“The best option for you right now is to give up everything and leave the city.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Hannan exclaimed getting enraged. “Do you want them to get even more suspicious of me? For a crime, I never intended to commit!”

“Look, all you need is an alibi. If even the police suspects you, you can simply tell them about a place where you were at the time of murder.”

“I was getting discharged from the hospital.”

“That’s perfect! You will have several witnesses for your claim.”

“Yeah!” Hannan replied liking the idea.

Sartaj walked away to give himself a break from talking to Hannan, but Hannan called him out again,

“Sartaj, what about Khubaib? Is he going to be of any trouble?”

“I don’t really think so, you told me that he wanted to marry Sidra. It’s quite possible that he went there to shoot Rizwan but he accidentally shot her instead.”

“Yeah, that sounds quite right!”

“Look, I’ve got to warn you Hannan, a really bad phase is about to come. Because this murder will not end the previous disputes, in fact, it will fuel them even more. You should either leave the city…”

“…I can’t do that,” Hannan said in between.

“Let me finish first,” Sartaj said raising his hand up. “These people, who are around you, are nothing less. You are a troublemaker, but they are even worse. They will hold you responsible and drive you crazy.”

“Are you calling me a troublemaker?”

“Don’t go there please, you know what I meant. If you hadn’t attacked him the other night, things would have been different by now.”

“Wait a second, I am only demanding justice. My father was murdered.”

“Do whatever you like? But things are not going to get any better.”

Three Days Later,

Relatives of late Tariq Yasar had gathered at Mr Taha’s house. They all were seated on the sofas in the lounge and were waiting for Mr Taha to show up.

Mr Taha came downstairs and sat among them after greeting them all. They were waiting for him to begin, he drank a glass of water and said,

“Hello! As you all know that we are gathered here together to discuss the family dispute of Tariq Yasar’s sons and that issue has become irresolvable now. We simply cannot do anything to bring them back together because Tariq Yasar was clear about the fact that a dark period would come in their lives and it would last quite long.”

“So, what do you mean?” one of the relatives asked. That we should not do anything about it and you mean that we shouldn’t even think about resolving the dispute.”

“Look, I absolutely hate to say this, but yes, that is exactly what I think.”

There was a little murmuring among the people as they heard this. Mr Taha said in between,

“Listen to me please, I’m not clearly saying that we should do nothing about it, I’m just saying that we should try and find out about who is on the right track among the two. Who is reliable and loyal to his father’s blood is what matters here.”

“Are both of them related by blood?” one of the relatives asked.

“Okay, just forget that,” Mr Taha answered. “We need to focus on the main issue here. The way I see it, one among the two brothers is corrupt and dishonest. We need to find out who he is and then, we will exile him.”

“Exile him?” another one of the close relatives confusingly asked.

“Exile him from the family, not from the city or anything.”

One of the women asked,

“So, how are we going to find out that who is the good one and which one is the bad guy?”

“That’s a very good question and the answer is very simple.”

Everyone waited anxiously for him to speak further. He continued by saying,

“We need to know his prophecies anyhow. By prophecies, I mean his predictions. I don’t really believe that those prophecies will be one hundred percent accurate. However, the answer lies within the prophecies. The negative person’s activities will prove how his father foresaw him.”

Mr Taha took a breath and drank the whole glass of water.

“Now…” he gave his final verdict, “We are going to keep a close eye on both of them. The brother who turns out to be against his father’s prophecies will be the culprit. We are not going to let him be a part of our family, once we are confident about how harmful he can be.”

The very next afternoon, Rizwan heard his phone ringing. He stood up and went to answer the call. He picked up the phone and answered,

“Hello?”

“Is this Mr Rizwan?” a woman asked from the other end.

“Yes.”

“I was a close friend of Sidra’s. You probably don’t remember me but I have to tell you something.”

“Okay, I’m listening.”

“First, I want to tell you how sorry I am for your loss. Secondly, I want you to know that before she got shot that day, she was with me.”

Rizwan was paying attention while listening,

“Sidra told me that she was planning to come back to you.”

Rizwan shut his eyes with grief. He heard her say,

“She said that she was ready to handle whatever problems you both had to suffer with you. She was willing to endure all of this for you.”

Tears fell off Rizwan’s eyes. He was deeply sad and remembered the moment when she was standing outside his house.

Rizwan lost his attention but then, he again paid attention to what he was being told by the woman,

“I want you to know that Khubaib murdered her because he wanted her. He was in love with her therefore, he killed her because she simply wanted to come back to you.”

“This is a lie,” Rizwan firmly said. “What you are telling me is not true. I know really well that Khubaib was working for Hannan and he was ordered by Hannan to murder her.”

“Hey, that is so not true. You have it all wrong.”

Rizwan said trying to be polite,

“I’m sorry, I have to hang up now. Thank you, for calling me though.”

After saying this, Rizwan hung up his phone.

Rizwan then, wiped off his tears and walked to his room where he used to rest usually.

At a nearby restaurant, Khubaib was sitting angrily. He heard some footsteps that were making their way towards him. He turned and saw Hannan along with Maqsood coming. Khubaib stood up.

Hannan held his collar and punched him on his face saying,

“Why did you murder Sidra? She was an innocent woman, and you killed her? Tell me why you did this. Why?”

Khubaib raised his voice and pushed him away,

“Let go off me! This has nothing to do with you. No one is blaming you for this, I did what I had to do with that woman.”

Hannan tried to hit him again but Maqsood stopped him and said,

“What are you trying to do? Hitting him like this won’t resolve the problem.”

“No, I am going to kill him today,” Hannan answered pulling his arm.

That very moment, a man came in between and pulled Hannan away from Khubaib. As Hannan looked at him, he recognised him as Khattab.

“Oh, my God, Khattab!” Maqsood uttered as he saw him.

“Yes, it’s me!” Khattab answered.

“Do you know what your brother has done?”

“First of all,” Khattab said very furiously, “He is not my brother.”

Maqsood and Hannan both were surprised as they heard this.

“Second of all,” Khattab continued, “I am not going to let anyone take the law into their own hands. He has murdered an innocent woman, I know, but I will not tolerate if anybody takes this matter into his own hands.”

Maqsood was quite impressed as he heard this. Khattab said,

“Your father was a saint. He would have never liked this. He taught me how one should respect the law, therefore, I am going to take this matter into court.”

Even Khubaib was kind of terrified seeing his seriousness.

Khattab held him through his shoulder and dragged him outside with all his strength. Khubaib wasn’t resisting as he knew that it would be of no use.

Maqsood commented as he saw them leaving,

“Your father would be so proud of him. He is really living up to your father’s teaching.”

Hannan was relieved for a moment as he saw that Khubaib’s matter was in good hands therefore, he sat on the chair and took out the paper from his pocket. He read the prophecies in his heart, trying to heal this broken and shattered self.

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.

Next evening, Mr Taha was sitting in his house when he heard the phone ringing. He stood up and went to answer the call. He answered the phone call,

“Hello?”

“Mr Taha, it’s me Faiz.”

“Yes, Faiz, how are you?”

“There seems to be a big problem. Your late friend Tariq Yasar…”

“Yes? What about him?” Mr Taha asked getting curious and impatient.

“Tariq Yasar had donated a land to a charity, long time ago.”

“Yes, I remember that. He said that he will not leave it behind for his sons because it could give rise to disputes and mischief among them.”

“Well, the truth is, an unknown person has illegally occupied it. I mean to say that the documents of the land are stolen and the charity organisation is no longer owner of that land.”

“Oh, my God! Who has done this?”

to be continued...

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