TIGblogs - Pakistan

The Chronicles of Udyana:

‘Aeon Reloaded’’ (Part one):

The ‘two’ worlds:

The enormous patch of dark land expanded ahead of the little, exhausted wayfarers seemed to be rolling beneath their feet like a treadmill, not willing to confirm the other end ever.
Occasionally occurring, giant dawn redwoods stretched all the way up to the dark sky made the environ all the more gloomy, with the assistance of undergrowth of the most peculiar kind extended everywhere. Trudging over the carpet of mosses amongst the large crags of unusually black porous structure, giving home to the sucking lichens, the travelers seemed not to have a whit of idea about the land.
The sallow moon overhead was completely jacketed by the shreds of wandering clouds that perhaps wanted nothing more then stopping the sapped travelers with the fear of the imminent unseen in the little moonlight.
The travelers, three in number were looking not older then ten years of age, & most peculiarly, they were all girls. Their features were indistinct in the dark except for the very pronounce weariness. One of them, rather healthy one with a rucksack on her shoulder was almost swaying from side to side with tiredness. Behind her was a girl having totally different feature then the other two, moreover she seemed injured as the third one had her arm around her neck to assist her to walk. & the third one herself was looking at no peace either; the pallor of her face was sneaking more upon tragedy then panic.
& before they could trudge a few hundred more feet ahead, they found themselves standing at the foot of a range of fine dome-shaped hills with the earth all plain. The hills seemed to be lacking all floral life else the dry grass carpeting it or the brushwood punctuating the wide gaps. This was the first time they’ve seen any hefty structure else the giant trees, crags or the basalt rocks in this land & they felt more like at home to see something resembling the mountains they’ve come from.
The kid ahead of the lagging pair turned back, looking apprehensively at them.
‘We’ve to take the chance’, the one looking injured murmured in a meager tone, ‘that’s all we can do’.
The other two girls looked on their left & right as though looking for something that could help.
‘We need to hurry’, the injured girl pronounced again.
‘It would be difficult for you to climb’, the healthy child strolled back toward her.
‘Come, Moon’, she smiled wanly, ‘we’re the climbers of highest mountain ranges of the world, aren’t we’?
‘But you’re injured’.
‘& that’s just a dune before the hills we had, from where we belong’.
A silence followed the answer of the injured girl & the girl called Moon uttered again, ‘but we don’t know what is behind these hills’.
‘Did we know what’s in this land’?
‘But…we really need to think again’.
‘When we entered this land…we lost every right of deciding a new path, all we can do now is to keep moving’, the finality of her word had such stillness which made Moon flinch.
‘If that’s what you want’, the girl assisting her spoke mildly, ‘let’s pick our way’.
& with a little boosted up vigor, the girls started ascending the dry hill.
‘It’s really easy’, Moon heaved an ecstatic sigh, wiping sweat off her head, ‘I mean…those hills we’ve there, ah…rough & tough’.
‘Wish we could take them back’, added the assisting girl.
‘Yeah…if we ever get back’, replied Moon in a flushed out voice.
‘Don’t mope, Moon; we’re here for a cause’.
‘If there’s one, Miss Hercules’. The girl stopped short as Moon ended her sentence.
‘Look Moon, I told you to quit at the very first instant. I didn’t beg you to come along, did I’?
‘And now that’s what you’ll tell me Sarah, after I’ve risked my life for ‘your cause’.
‘My cause’? Sarah hollered, slackening the grip of injured girl around her neck, ‘& you think it all happened cause of me’?
‘Even if it didn’t…but we could always get some responsible elder in it. Why can’t you get it that coming here like this was a misbegotten idea’.
‘I dunno…I just know that I knew it from the very first moment that fear has doused your scruples & you’re cureless’.
‘STOP’, the injured girl yelled, ‘would you guys ever learn to be sensible’?
A hush fell over the other two. & without waiting for them to say anything, the injured girl lamed ahead, huffily.
‘Hey, Hannah, hey…stop’, Moon rushed behind her, ‘look, hey, see’, she caught her in a couple of seconds, ‘I’m sorry, I really am…but you see’, she slowed down a bit, ‘well…ah, I dunno…please, please…excuse me’. She turned back toward Sarah who was standing with her arms akimbo, ‘you know…I’m sorry…you, you know me…I…I’ & she drooped her head helplessly.
‘It’s ok…’, Sarah walked toward her, ‘I’m sorry as well…I would try my best not to let it happen again’.
Moon didn’t look up & Sarah knew that was because of eyes that must be teeming with tears.
‘Let’s move’, Hannah patted her shoulder & Sarah strode ahead to help her move & in a couple of minutes they were at the top of the hill looking at the wide vistas stretched ahead. There was a lake almost a hundred feet away from the hill, surrounded on three sides with this ‘easy’ hill range. On the fourth side however, the usual giant, dark, porous crags impeded any further view. The calm & quite waters were betraying the spotted moon, half hidden in clouds & a few stars scattered randomly overhead.
‘That’s, ah…only one word…Marvelous’! Hannah seemed to have forgotten her injury completely. & before she could look at the other two, she heard a bliss full cry as Moon whooshed past her like a speedy bullet down toward the grassland leading to the splendid, dark lake.
‘Oh…our mermaid…I forgot’! Sarah smiled meekly, looking at the rushing Moon, ‘let’s move’, & she helped Hannah move ahead.
Moon was washing her face after drinking as much of the cool water as she could when they reached her.
‘It’s lovely, isn’t it’, she looked up at them happily, ‘wish mummy were here’ the forbidden sentenced had slipped out of her mouth before she could stop herself. The thrill was all quenched with the awkwardness & they all fell silent.
Sarah helped Hannah crouch down near the bank of the cool & clean lake after a minute & squatted beside her. Moon, finding nothing to kill the ineptness, opened up her sack.
‘I told you we should’ve taken more’. She tried a jolly smile while taking out all that she’d packed so carefully some 4 hours ago. 3 packets of chips, the two remaining orange juice bottles, 3 packed whooper sandwich, 3 large bars of chocolates, a handful of candies & 3 half rolls of biscuits.
‘You…er, any one needs something to…er…eat’? The other two shook their heads.
‘We really should…you see, after all the toiling’, she didn’t know what was coming out of her mouth, while she was taking out the matchbox & the torch out. & with the torch, came out a photograph trapped at the end of the button.
‘Oh…papa came with me here’, she smiled, looking lovingly at the photograph so little conspicuous in the drab moonlight & then stuffed it in her trousers’ pocket.
‘At least you Hannah’! She looked at Hannah who was looking away.
‘I’m not hungry’, returned Hannah, ‘& you see, we should keep this lot until we find her…I dunno whether this dale would be able to feed us…you see, it’s looking more of barren & lifeless except for the giant trees & creepers scattered every where, but we aren’t conditioned to eating leaves, are we’?
Moon looked from her sweeties to Hannah, she knew Hannah was right but these things won’t be of much help for the unknown span of time they’d to stay here for the search. She cast a last look at the sparkling packaging of the stuff & heaving a sigh, she started stuffing all that again in the rucksack.
‘But you should have the drink at least’, she handed over the orange juice bottle to Hannah.
‘I’m alright. Don’t worry. I’d rather keep that for the time to come’, she refused, packing the bottles with other stuff as well.
‘Shall we move now, eh’? She asked after a silence of some five minutes.
‘I think you’re both much tired & drowsy to walk’, Sarah replied, ‘what do you think of forty winks, I’d be on the vigil’! Moon’s heavy eyes shone with a strange light at the offer.
‘But we haven’t come here to rest’.
‘Rest is all the same very important to keep us moving’.
‘What about you? You go sleep, I’d be on the vigil’, Hannah wasn’t satisfied. Presently, the prospect of an alfresco sleep & that too in a strange land didn’t seem so welcoming but Moon had already sprawled on the soft grassy ground.
Sarah smiled, ‘Ok, we’d have it in turns, I’m not feeling sleepy. You both can have a nap here. This is suitable place, I guess. The ground is soft, eh’?
‘Yes…but…but you’ll have to wake me up after 2 hours…I’d be on vigil after that’. Replied Hannah after mulling it over for a couple of minutes. ‘Yeah, I would…it’s now…er’, she consulted her watch but stood up at once, looking perplexed. ‘Er…it’s…it’s not working, what time do you have’?
Hannah jerked her arm to stir the sleeve slightly but screwed up her eyes just that very moment.
‘What’? Demanded Sarah.
‘Er…not working’, she looked up at her, ‘hey Moon, look at yours’!
Moon got up reluctantly & zipped open the pocket of the rucksack to take her wrist watch out, ‘it’s er…almost quarter to…hey’ she stopped with a start, ‘frozen’!
‘What does that mean’? Asked Sarah, ‘the watches not working…are we out of the dominion of time’?
‘No, we aren’t, no’, replied Hannah thoughtfully; ‘you remember Fasih bhai’? She asked nostalgically. ‘That’s because we’re in another land…out of the magnetic field of our very earth, very universe’. She looked up at the moon, the clouds skimming toward it slowly. ‘A new world’!
& the enigmatic moments of last fortnight clutched their minds in an evocative grasp.
***

Moon was showering its blurred grayish light over the high-rise mountains of Karakorum & Himalayas & at the valley of Swat that lay in the basin. The night view of the monstrous structures & the dark valley beneath was no lesser than an enigma of the nature that could be seen at its best in this valley.
The city of Mangora was presenting some fabulously lit vistas to contradict with the remaining dark valley where just at the bank of the ferocious river Swat & at foot of the hills abounding in mysterious, stone Istupas with carved meditating figures & marvelous rock-cut picture stories of the life of Buddha, was resting one of the most beautiful colonies of the valley, the Shingrilla colony.
The sallow moon seemed more of tired now of showering its wonky light at the valley bellow, being dragged to the background again & again by the wandering flocks of clouds, clouds that seemed as if somebody has daubed them with the suit from chimneys of the many houses scattered beneath the wild & dark sky. The mountains of these two greatest ranges were looking like some giants standing so enigmatically, as though thinking of when & what to do with this vale or perhaps they were guarding it.

November was never welcomed by the inhabitants of this draconian valley, else those who had nothing to do with the nuisance of how that would go through all snowy winter. It was almost 9 at night; even then, everything of this gorgeous colony was drowned in the fog of grayish darkness & an odd silence -only disturbed by the cries of jackals from the forest, answered by the barking dogs of the town; time & again- prevailed. However, the environment inside the homes was not this woebegone, especially of those lit, & warm.
***

Some indistinct exited laughers were breaking into the pitch dark & hush of the back garden of a house behind cemetery, through the window of a lit room.
It was a small yet well-decorated room. By the fire was placed a floor bed on which was sitting a man with handsome figure, swathed in a quilt. Next to him was a rather healthy girl of about ten, also in the quilt. Her heavy eyelashes were shading her deep black eyes like a curtain of pine needles. Even her rather thick lips & nose were going very well with her fair colored round face outlined with dark wavy hair of shoulder length.
Both of them were munching peanuts. The man appeared to be telling some story to the girl & she was gurgling heartily at it.
‘& Bilal, always being bigheaded about things, gave him the idea that we’d something unusual. And that stupid guy, being nosey about us every time, got straight to the core of matter. & the time when we had hardly opened the hotpot of tikkas, he came barging in on us with a fairly large number of boys of hostel, & you know what?’ the man paused with a false saddening of his voice during his animated conversation.
‘Ah! Moon, we were left there alone, sans a single piece of tikka, ahhh…’he heaved sighs rounding his solid, red lips,’& the same boring cuisine of hostel’, he munched another peanut sadly.
Moon broke into helpless giggles
‘But than we planned of playing a revenge match against him’, he started enthusiastically again.
‘Great!!’ Moon’s alabaster cheeks shone with glee ‘that’s the part I’ve been looking for, uncle’ she blurted exuberantly, but stopped hastily.
‘Why…why this part?’ interrogated Uncle.
‘Oh…er, I mean …erm… I’d love to teach a lesson to any guy, this nosey…’ She stuttered.
‘Ok’ nodded uncle, crushing a peanut, “& now I & Bilal went on harboring a lesson for him. We thought about cornering him at a weak point he had, every body at hostel was much peeved of this particular habit…’
‘Whaf’? A mouth full of peanuts could only let such a sound come out of the kid’s mouth.
‘His SNORES!’ mischief jumped from somewhere into uncle’s starry eyes, “not only his roommates but all of us were troubled with that raucous curse. And as per our plan, we needed a speaker, mike & an electric connection____’.
‘Oh, don’t tell me!’ chuckled Moon breathlessly almost getting the nub of the plan, ‘how genius!’
‘and then’ laughed uncle,’ at that night, when he was enjoying his sound sleep. We sneaked into his room, placed the mike before him, took the speaker to the common room, & inserted the plug of speaker into the socket’ Moon was laughing like anything now. ‘& no sooner had we switched it on than the hostel was raging with rowdy snores but our breakneck sprint back to the room didn’t let any one see us there. And a couple of moments later we’ve to come back to the common room, pretending to be drowsy, yawning & murmuring as though we’d been awoken by the dratted snores of somebody. Whole hostel was echoing with the thundering voices that were not sounding snores at all. The doors were opening one by one letting sleepy boys out, apprehension-laden eyes X-raying the surroundings. Even he woke up by his own thundering snores & ran out to the common room. & all guys who’d worked out the whole matter, my word, every body started whacking him with cushions & pillows, & even some fetched their slippers to the scene, without thinking how could he put mike before him while sleeping, Bilal ahead of them all’.
Moon could not help another fit of hysteric giggles.
‘but we didn’t stayed there to make this point clear to the sleepy boys, so fleeing away from the scene, we dozed off happily & nobody could ever get we were the culprits, however he himself kept throwing us with his contemptuous cum suspicious looks but lacking any solid proof hindered him doing anything against us.’
‘Cool’! Moon tried to stop her giggles, ‘So you guys were too dangerous, weren’t you?’
Uncle agreed, ‘Yeah’, & smiled meaningfully, ‘even then, not a fraction of what you guys are. We could never have done the thing with ants what you did with frogs’.
‘Oh, leave it now’. Moon stopped giggling & chewing completely.
‘What’s embarrassing, dear?’ his smile broadened, ‘it was great…I mean, I’m not saying that result was but surely the idea’.
‘Uncle, please’ moon said uncomfortably. ‘It was all Sarah’s. If you like it than go to her, she keeps bursting with such ideas’
And uncle chuckled like Moon did a couple of minutes ago. At that moment, the only door of the room opened letting in a smart, benign lady, surprisingly resembling the former inhabitants of the room, with two mugs in her hands. She was wearing a thick fur coat & a wooly cap.
‘Oh!!! It’s too cold outside’ she handed a mug over to uncle, sitting on the floor bed beside Moon & placing her feet before fire & rubbing her hands together.
‘Why?’ he interrogated. ‘You weren’t in your bed?’
‘Oh no!’ she said taking the cap off her dark black hair. ‘In the kitchen; ah my feet are all numb’.
‘Oh maa, I would’ve been all free tomorrow, its weekend, I’ve told you’ Moon came near her, ‘I’d have done the dishes’.
‘Its ok, honey’ she ran her cold fingers through Moon’s hair, ‘but now, I guess time to go to your bed. See its 9:30 & you got to wake up early for prayers”, she sipped tea out of her mug.
‘But maa’! Moon objected, looking at uncle for help.
‘Oh dear sis’ an unctuous voice made it’s way out of uncle’s mouth, ‘leave her alone, she don’t want to go to bed right now’.
‘Nah Ali’ she again sipped at her tea, ‘you know how hard it is to stir her up, takes a lot of time. I seriously am considering to hiring somebody who do this job first thing in the morning’.
Uncle Ali chuckled.
‘Pure exaggeration!’ Moon drawled impatiently, trying not to get stroppy.
‘No exaggeration, honey’ her mum patted her back, ‘now be quick to your bed’.
Moon picked her shawl & got up draping it round her.
‘Why don’t you say it plainly that you got to have a tête-à-tête with uncle?’ she snarled, ‘& you don’t want me here’.
‘It’s not that, honey’.
‘Then why am I being ordered to go to my room?’ she continued grumpily.
‘Ok, then where’d you go?’ her mum continued smiling. ‘If I’ve to talk to Ali in private, where‘d you go else your room’?
Moon wore a sickly smile & her wooly cap simultaneously, ‘yeah, where else but my room’!
She was right to be sad about it, being the only child of her parents, more precisely her mum. Her dad had passed away some 6 years ago, when she was only 4. She was not even able to remember her dad’s features on her own. The least she knew about her dad’s appearance was the gift of his photographs, a couple of which were a regular piece of items her pocket would bear. She was living alone with her mum now. Though it was an advantage that her mum’s sister –Anita Aani- was also living in the same colony & her cousin –Sarah- was one of her best friends, & another friend of hers –Hannah- were all neighbors. Even then, it was worst until her favorite most Uncle Ali joined them, two years back. He was an assistant superintendent in the police department. And so she’s got at least one more resort at home where she could pass her never ending boring time. But it wasn’t still as good as her two best friends, who’d their homes packed with people. And the time when she felt strongly toward this notion would get her out of her usual be-happy-every-time habit & same had happened this time.
Her mum threw a look at her gloomy face which made her get up almost at once & stroll toward her.’ Honey, that’s only for you that I’m saying to go to bed now, you got to develop healthy habits from now’.
‘Ok am going’ she turned her back at mum.
‘And don’t forget ___
‘Yeah, yeah, don’t forget to take your jumper & socks off’ Moon blurted before her mum could finish, ‘I’ve crammed your words maa, I know it & I do it regularly, don’t I?’
‘Yeah you do’ her mum kissed her ‘I’ll turn off the light of your room my self, now good night’.
Moon slipped her feet into her slippers & strode sadly toward the door,’ night__’ she drawled.
‘Hey, hang on!’ Uncle Ali called on her, ‘you know what?’ he smiled, ‘tomorrow…we’ll…go…for…a ’ he said each word with a good enough pause, ‘LONG DRIVE’ & he ended enthusiastically.
‘REALLY’! Moon jigged back exuberantly.
Uncle nodded,’ Positive’
‘Wow, great’ she squealed, ‘but promise me you won’t forget’.
He smiled, ‘Course I won’t’
‘But I’ll…I’ll also take Hannah & Sarah along’ Moon held her middle finger up in air before Uncle.
‘And what wrong have Dani, Sherry, Ubaid, Fahad & Sofia done to you?’ asked Uncle, counting the names of Sarah & Hannah’s sibling on his fingers.
‘Oh! Am not prat enough to call misfortune my self at my door’ she rolled her eyes, making Uncle Ali giggle heartily.
‘I’ll tell them’ he nodded still giggling, ‘I’ll tell them how high you think of them, you just wait’!
‘I won’t talk to you’ Moon held her middle finger up again, ‘had you told them a word of it, am serious’
‘Ok…ok’, her mum patted her shoulder again, ‘now go to your bed dear, like moon out side is going’. And Moon threw a look out of the window where moon really has gone behind the dark blurred clouds as though it’s taken a blanket over it.
***
Soon moon showed another glimpse from behind the wandering clouds, still shinning dimly over the detached house at the corner of this very lane. There was coming a strong light out of one window of that house.
On a bed straight in front of that window in this room was sitting a girl with more a Chinese appearance, a book propped open against her knees. A Golden title was glimmering over the red cover of the book that read, “THE HORIFFIC ERA”. The girl had short but shimmering, straight black hair. Her small black eyes were almost boring into the book making her look much more solemn for her age & very much absorbed in the book, too.
‘C’mon, Hannah’ a girl cried, peeping through a quilt in a bed beside hers, ‘it’s enough, I can’t sleep with that light overhead and got to wake up early, haven’t I?’
‘Just one more page’. Hannah’s thin lips made a movement behind the book though her intention appeared totally contradicting her statement.
‘Than scram to study room!’ the girl looking much older than Hannah ordered firmly again, ’and switch the light off’.
Hannah scowled at her, ‘I wish’ she thought anguishly, ‘I’d a separate room like Sarah & Moon’, she slammed her book shut noisily and put it on the side table beside her bed. Jumping huffily out, she strolled to the switchboard.
‘When would you go for higher studies, Sofia?’ she hollered sulkily over her shoulder to her sis.
‘I wish I could go tonight’ the reply was all the much similar.
‘What are you waiting for, than?’ she muttered in an under tone, dragging her quilt up on her. She looked out of window & fixed moon with her sulk glare. Whenever she had a spat with Sofia at nights, she would talk huffily to moon; telling it that she shouldn’t have a sister, or at least an elder one, much like her cussed, self righteous sister who liked nothing but her orders obeyed.
Sofia was 6 years elder than her, studying at college in her pre-professional grade. She loved showing off everything she knew about, (even her college lessons) without knowing how many yawns she would cause at each of her sentence. Now a days “binomial nomenclature” was an imperative part of her speech. Her friend Allina was another member of the same class & together, they were real nuisance for the kids living in the vicinity, let alone their own siblings. Though Hannah thought Sofia was particularly furious. She was not only hard about her own studies but always used to scold Hannah & her younger brother Fahad for not giving even a little bit of attention to studies, as that of her. Hannah was only into reading the books that had got nothing to do with her school syllabi, and that was the point of Sofia’s criticizing her every time. And Fahad on the contrary had interest in neither type. In fact, he was too young to understand the importance of what Sofia said, Hannah would always think after listening to the barbed comments of Sofia. He was only eight & was in 3rd grade. Hannah herself was not much older. She was in her 5th grade. But unfortunately, according to her, Sofia’s mind was too big to get a smaller thing like this.
Now it was only two years for both of them to put up with each other, as after this, as per their mum, Sofia would be blessed (& Hannah disgusted cause of the higher competition) with education in medicine.
‘I wish she could go before two years’ thought Hannah angrily, though, as has been seen, it wasn’t a plus point at her behalf at all. Letting Sofia do something that she couldn’t do even after putting together the might of Sarah & Moon’s let alone only hers. After any such incident would happen, Sofia would have more chances for trying her sarcastic blows over them both.
Still Hannah thought, it would be a real mess handling Fahad all on her own. In fact, it was more unnerving then living with Sofia only. For he was sure to make so silly mistakes that no one in his right mind could make even naively. He would look distracted for most part of the day, (during night he would sleep) and to top it all off, his jumpy vagueness could easily create real chaos in the jobs he was assigned. Always banging around, bumping into things, bashing against stuff, tripping over objects, Fahad was the only accident-prone kid of the colony.
Many a times he had placed his specs in sink, trying to wear the glass of water & once, when her mum shouted at him when she saw him practicing it, all perplexed at the sudden scolding, he picked up a plate from sink, trying it instead. He even had once drunk a mouth full of oil instead of his soft drink when mum was oiling his hair. though he hadn’t realized it until he heard Sofia yelling from beside him & after that he fainted only because of fear as doctors said the oil hadn’t damaged any of his internal organs (‘The damaged part was already there with him by birth, doctor. It’s his brain’ Sofia replied.). & even it was no good when he tried using his brains, more precisely it would turn up even dangerous that time. Once, he slopped a glass of water on Sofia’s cell phone accidentally & telling her would be no less dangerous than going in for a bullfight so he thought of a remedy on his own. Stealthily placing it in the microwave oven, he waited on a chair for the timer to stop & expose phone in its former state. & alas, Sofia entered the kitchen that very moment when a noisy blast from microwave oven made Fahad collapse onto the floor with his chair. The cell phone had blasted, Thanks to the intellect of Fahad. Therefore, it really was terrible to keep in a good temper for passing just half an hour with him. & there, thus was no good choice for Hannah either she was left with Sofia or Fahad.
‘Dear me’! She heaved up a sigh, ‘wait & pray’. Murmured the poor girl dejectedly, staring at moon that has vanished again behind the clouds, skimming all over heavens with their forming & breaking, merging & segregating formation & the parting of this nocturnal fellow ultimately dragged Hannah into a sound slumber.
***
Not very long after that, the clouds seemed to have been puffed into nothingness to give way to the only celestial being overhead. The light though weak coming out of the spotty winter moon, was still enough to light the dark & deserted streets, still houses, murky doors & dim windows, a little. But still some windows of a house- that was at a good distance from the colony- at the foot of a high-rise mountain crammed with palm growth, weren’t dark; In fact that house would have looked more a part of wood if it had not been for the lights showing meekly out of some windows.
The house appeared rather ancient, still well maintained, in the wonky light. Built on a much old-fashioned English theme, it gave no lesser spooky view then a ‘ghost house’ with a full sallow moon silhouetting the lofty pine trees at its back to add to the admonitory looks of the environ.
Suddenly a buff illuminated the dark & deserted front path of the house, being sieved through the bay window of a room for a couple of seconds & then it went out as suddenly as it has appeared. The inside of that room was all dark and lifeless, but soon there was a movement behind the only bed lying in the room. There was a girl trying to gawp at the darkness warily. She had some clothes in her hands and her mechanic motion set them in a line with pillow on the bed, and then she covered the arrangement with a blanket.
‘I think ok’, she mumbled to herself looking appraisingly at the bed. Than opening the drawer of a side table, she got a torch out & again looked at the door suspiciously. & at that very instant a loud screech of a parrot & a childish grave voice emerged from the chest of drawer she was bent on, ‘intooder, intooder…’
‘Oh shut up….shhhh, it’s me Blabber, you duffer’. The girl snapped in a low voice.
‘No intooder…’? The parrot lisped innocently.
‘Course not’. The girl snapped again, ‘it’s only me& blabber, I want you to shut your mouth about it before Dani & Sherry, or you’ll be sorry’. She threatened the parrot as though it could understand each & every word of her.
‘No intooder, babber bill not say…no intooder’. Parrot continued.
‘Oh would you stop this babbling’. She scolded again.
Than she picked up a catcher from the side table and wore her dark curly long hair into a ponytail before wearing a wooly cap over them. Looking at the bed with mild acceptance, she strolled toward the door & peeped outside, opening the door slightly and than got out of it on her toes without making a noise, & shut the door quietly behind her, on which was written, ‘Dare devil, Sarah’. She looked at the paper bearing those words blurred in the dark, with smiling eyes. She loved dubbing herself new names & then writing them on her door, though these names changed as frequently, as her mum would say, “Like changing cellular ring tones”. Smiling at the thought, she moved toward the left, with her head moving in all directions like radar.
There was light coming out of the door that was near the staircase, followed by a fortissimo fast music. She trod a bit fast toward the door, still careful, and peeped through the keyhole.
A tall boy was running on a treadmill very fast with fast background music. He had brown curly hair like Sarah had but his eyes were blue & that of Sarah were having a grayish shade to contradict, but the resemblance of freckled cheeks & thick red lips of them both sneaked upon a fast relation. The boy was in blue shorts & shirt without quiet caring about the whether the night outside the window was boosting.
‘Come now, it’s my turn’, Sarah noticed another figure lying on the bed beside tread mill, reading a book. It was a boy of almost same build but the only difference between them was this boy’s less mischievous feature & that too probably because he was looking cross. All the same, she heard heavy & quick footsteps upstairs. Hiding herself promptly under the side table lying beside her, Sarah saw a formidable looking woman tramping upstairs, looking furious. She tried to hide herself a bit more under table. The woman now almost near her leapt ahead to open the door sternly and snapped, ‘What time do you think is it?’
The racket of the tread mill came to an end & after a pause the boy on the mill exclaimed, ‘mum! don’t tell me you’ve just came upstairs for asking the time, any ways I don’t have a watch right now, why don’t you go & wake up Sarah & ask her. & why are you in a fury mum?’
‘Shut up’ she snapped again scampering toward the cassette player & switched the hullabaloo off. Sarah thought that earth had stopped quivering.
‘It’s 10 0’clock at night, Dani’ returned the woman, reproachfully.
‘Oh!!! Really’ Dani slumped down on a sofa near him, looking jadedly at mum ‘so it’s only half an hours toil, ah…big deal!’
‘Now it’s my turn, Aani’, the boy on the bed got up looking grouchily at the woman.
‘Stop being puerile, both of you’ she snapped. ‘God knows how much am I peeved of both of you & Sarah’.
Sarah murmured angrily under the table, she had not done anything wrong this time, even she was not present at the place of disturbance, and still her mum was trying to take her to the task in her absence.
‘Haroon hasn’t even troubled me the quarter of you both & look at Fasih!’
‘Ah! Maa, know what it shows?’ Dani said in a delighted tone, ‘it shows the capabilities, & I knew that they’re not even a quarter of us. It’s good that you’ve said it yourself’ Sarah smiled slightly at his nonstop defense, ‘you know they haven’t got the guts for_____’
‘& look at Ubaid, how much are you disturbing him, he’s STILL doing his homework’. Mum seemed not to have heard him.
‘And Aani, this shows his laziness, homework at this late hour…see, nothing to be proud of_____’
‘STOP IT’ mum yelled, ‘you’ll certainly drive me mad someday, see’ she spoke dangerously, ‘I don’t want any more disturbance coming out of this room. You have to wake early for prayers, mind it’!
‘Ok mum’ Dani spoke reluctantly, ‘but don’t waste whole temper of yours at me, won’t you go and check why Sarah’s so quiet tonight’ Sarah’s heart pounded furiously, ‘leave a bit of your sweet temper for her’.
‘But what about me’, the other boy protested again, ‘it was my turn’.
‘Sherry, don’t let me say what I have, again’, mum eyed him formidably.
‘But it’s cheating, its my___’
‘It’s not cheating, I’ve given you time before me as well’, Dani blurted.
‘Yes, but that was cause I didn’t get my turn last day’.
‘oh, hold your horses now’ mum’s voice seemed to be coming out of the room toward the corridor, ‘I want this light switched off in 10 minutes, got it? Night_’ she shut the door with a noise behind her.
Sarah tried to cling a bit more to the wall when her mum strolled passed the table to her room. Her heart had started beating violently. ‘Oh please make her come back, make her come back, please’ she prayed silently when her mum opened the door of her room, ‘oh no, oh no, oh no’ she continued hysterically, ‘what if she finds the bed empty & if blabber blabbed even a single word to her___’, her heart lurched severely when she saw her mum stepping in her room. Only her mum came out of the door straight away, peeped in again & than shut the door noiselessly to stroll downstairs.
She knew nothing better then that could’ve happened to her tonight so she heaved a sigh of relief & crawled out from beneath the table as soon as the footsteps of her mum vanished away. Her heartbeat was still very fast. She tiptoed downstairs now, in the lounge that was not lit to her luck. There at the very end of the lounge was a door bolted & opening it noiselessly to expose a staircase going down in a dark room, she slid her self in what was looking like a cellar.
*************************

“To the cemetery”

She leapt in, shutting the door behind her hastily. Switching on the light from the board near her, she strolled down the stairs. It was all still & calm down there. Though, every thing was in a great topsy-turvy. Her mum would often say that they had more junk in that cellar then any owner of a departmental store would have in his store & a single look down there, confirmed the consciousness of her mum.
Sarah moved slowly between some pieces of old heavy furniture to some trunks placed on each other toward the wall. It seemed as though she was looking for something, arching her neck to every accessible place, in the trunks, beneath them & beside them. Suddenly she plunged her hand in between two old chairs & got it out with a worn out pair of white gloves dangling in her hands.
‘No, it can’t help’ she said anguish fully, scanning them closely. ‘It isn’t that scary as the pair I’ve seen last time, but where’ve those gone’? she threw the gloves sloppily and moved a bit further. ‘I wish I can find something on place in here’ muttered Sarah grouchily. But that was no good to accuse someone else for the mess, the causative agent of which was she, herself. Her mum would clear up all the mess, once in a week. In fact that was the only thing she has owed the help of a maid for –of all the household chores- Champa. Champa would visit them every Monday & it seemed that nothing in whole of the valley was happier then the ‘cellar’, that one day. But Sarah would soon get cellar back to the present status at every exploratory expedition. & than Daniel, he was even much better in messing around then her. He was some three years elder than her. Her elder brother Haroon would say that Daniel has the soul of a field rat in him, ever restless. He really could not even sit quietly for 2 consistent seconds; accept for when he was asleep, though with rare chances as he happened to be a sleepwalker also. But Sarah thought it was a con by him, because lying or sitting silently was the last thing he could ever go for.
Growing irate at the exploration that was confirming to be useless, she strolled toward a trunk down the cellar & opened it slowly. “c’mon, c’mon” she sang in an undertone. & while shutting it back, all of the sudden, she hurt a roar. A much muffled roar that startled her like anything. She moved around herself to see what thing has roared in the cellar, but every thing was as calm & still as she has seen when she entered there.
‘Must be a hallucination’! Was the only guess after drawing blank exploratory results. She jerked her head as though jerking the strange thoughts visiting her mind, out when she heard another roar, this time a bit clearer.
Her heart started pounding violently, ‘that can’t…be…be a hallucination’ she spluttered to herself. She looked around her again, suspiciously, ‘ann.…Dani, are you there’, uttered the girl shakily. ‘Hey, look you can’t scare me, fine…come out than’ she prayed though that nobody come out to this appeal. But it would be worse if no one comes out, she thought.
Moving suspiciously & gawking carefully, she verbalized again, ‘see Dani, Sherry, you’d both be sorry for this, come out’ she paused, waiting for an answer, still praying for no answer to come as well. A hush followed her query again.
She tried believing it all to be nothing but the product of the horror movies she loved to play to scare Fahad. Though, this time she was herself the target. Thinking this, she strolled toward the corner of the cellar when an even clearest roar, a bloodcurdling one, with a certain shrillness that made her hair stand at the end had scared the day lights out of her. It seemed to have come from just a meter or two from her. She goggled frightfully round her. The worst part was that the generator of the roar wasn’t on the place from where the voice was coming. Even more troublesome was that it could be, by no chance, Dani or Sherry.
‘It’s… it’s …nothing’ she tried to compose herself. She has never felt this frightened in whole of her life. All the same, she hated to be coward. All this was making her feel ashamed of her. She used to taunt her cousin -Moon- every time when she felt even a bit scared during their most daring adventures but it never occurred to her that she would have to face the same panic some day.
‘It’s alright…ok’ she told herself ‘it may be…a …ere…aaa…mouse’ she muttered uncertainly & than smiled weakly at her own suggestion. ‘Oh yeah…a roaring mouse’. & all at same she heard another roar. As clearer as if someone had roared just in front of her, behind the wall that she was facing. She was clearly feeling her heart sinking in her ribs. A fear of unseen had bound her like anything. It was much difficult for her to maintain her balance & she sat down near the wall trying to relieve herself & only then her eyes hit a hole at the very corner of the wall, very little conspicuous hole. Most part of it was covered with mud. But the weirdest part now was that she hasn’t ever noticed it before; as her visits to the cellar were more regular than she brushed her teeth. Hasn’t ever mum or Champa seen the hole with mud while clearing the mess here?
She sat down with a little hesitation & moved her head closer to the floor to see behind the hole. It was all dark there, but she was now more curious about this unusual hole than scared. She switched on her torch & brought it closer to the hole & peeped inside; hesitatingly. Something was shinning there. It was, she thought some sort of metal. She heaved her head again trying to digest it all. ‘May be…. May be, but no’. She was unable to make any guess & suddenly another roar staggered her out of her thought. but the part she liked the more, this time was that it wasn’t that scary as the last one, perhaps because it was again too distant & low, or because her mind was all numb, unable to even think of anything synonymous to fear, or perhaps she was getting conditioned to it. She was feeling so queasy now that she wanted to lye down on this ancient floor. She was even scared of thinking about anything now & her head was so heavy, she thought it might be because of overloaded thoughts. ‘stop it’, she told her self sickly, ‘stop thinking’, but a thought there tugged so hard in her brain to free itself out of the tangling tentacles of apprehension to race to the relay center of her brain to be dispatched to her senses & the next moment it was there before her, “go through it & see”. A wave of cold crept passed her spine. The daunting moment has approached but her senses were locked.
& just then it seemed as someone in her mind or perhaps somewhere deep inside her body was sneering at her. “So these are all the guts you were so proud of, your nickname suits you just fine”! Many people had joined the sneering chorus as through daring her. Moon & Hannah & Dani &Sherry & even Natasha, the arch enemy of hers at school & many people to whom she never wanted to expose her fears.
‘I’ll see… what’s in there’. She swallowed, composing herself. & every thing fell silent again, no laughter, no mocking, no stupid hiss, just silence. ‘After all it’s my home, what can be dangerous in here’ she uttered with an effort as though doubting the credulity of her own statement. & with much courage, she stuck a trembling hand out toward the hole & then inside it. Something cold & round like a metal knob touched her trembling hand. She tweaked it with much effort & the next moment she was all frozen.
The wall before her, the earth beneath her had all started rattling like the cellar has become the epic center of a seismic disturbance. She tried to get up hurriedly as the wall seemed it was going to fall at her. But she had hardly stepped back once, supported by her quavering footings, when some thing so incredible happened that could never be dreamt of, let alone happen.
The wall before her had started sliding over the upper section of it. Eyes popped out & mouth open to the fullest extend, she felt her nothing short of deadened. Nothing in her wildest dream could be this astounding but as it happened, it took some 20 or 25 seconds for the wall to slide on about a meter & a half of its height. And now the thing before her was even more confounding. She was totally unable to feel or think because of the series of shocks she has come across.
There, before her was a wall half slid up, exposing a dilapidated wooden door. Looking at its last legs with its knob altogether touching the floor (The same knob she had twisted to slide open the wall), the door presented itself nothing short of an about to pounce beast. she stood there for a couple of minutes without betraying any sign of life when suddenly another, muffled, weak still wild a roar shocked her again. All red with fear, she thought there must be something behind the door, some monster or some real roaring rat. There was something in her though, telling her to move back quickly, to leave the cellar, to run upstairs to her room, to get in her bed, inside soft & warm blanket of hers, & to sleep it all off. But the former daring & sneering & hissing voices took over her mind again, repeating the very words she would use to peeve Moon, “frightened, you chicken”!
The brain storming, fear & apprehension all had made her sick like she had never felt before. Heaving up a sigh, she looked around herself apprehensively. What Hannah & Moon would say if they get a word about her baffled state, & how heartily they would make fun of her recent nick, “Dare devil, SARAH”, she looked frightfully at the door again.
‘I shall see what’s behind it’ she told herself firmly. ‘Am not scared, am I?’ Than she draped her arm round her in a cuddle, swallowed & crouched down to the floor.
‘It’ll be alright’ she told herself, ‘nothing is in there’. Though she doubted it more then she could doubt a sun shinning at night.
Than, pitching out her shacking hand toward the knob & even before she could stop herself of thinking what will be behind the door, she twisted the knob, though with much effort & pulled the door toward her slowly but there wasn’t anything staggering there, this time. It was only a veil. She stood up, perplexed, looking at the dark blue, shabby, veil but on close scanning she gave a hysteric laughter, ‘isn’t over, is it’? She was feeling dizzy at what her eyes had put across her mind. There was written on the veil in bold
“TO THE CEMETRY”
She flopped down on the floor.
***
Sarah’s favorite place at her century old ancestral home was the cellar. The grand pa of her grand pa had made this house. She was amongst the 5th generation of this family in this house. She loved to pass her time searching aimlessly in this cellar as on every trip here; she would find some ancient but exciting item to add to her magpie collection. She could very well remember the time when she would toddle down to the cellar & hide behind some trunk & get her parents in a serious problem of finding a 2 year old baby in a place where you couldn’t find anything once you have dropped it. Her mum had told her that she would crawl behind her to the cellar in her 10th month when she had newly gained her legs.
She never could comprehend what was so enchanting in the cellar that would tempt her to step in that useless place. If she had the authority, she would get her bed in that cellar to sleep there as well. But there was only a little problem with all that. It was prohibited for all kids to step here at night. Sneaking however wasn’t prohibited for Sarah.
Even with all that magnetism of cellar, she could never have tagged the cellar for some mystery room, a room that was a gate, a secret one to the cemetery. & now that she had found it, she couldn’t tell the reason for it. It was all like a dream to her. She stood up weakly; as a decision flicked before her eyes, ‘Look inside’! & she knew she’d have to solve the mystery even if there is some wild creature standing there to ambush upon the door opener.
But before she could take a single step toward it, she heard heavy steps on the ceiling of the cellar. Someone was coming down; she could clearly listen to her heart throbs. Promptly moving to the door she shut it & crouched down, twisting the knob, praying for the wall to come back to its original position & to her utter bewilderment, the wall was crouching back in no time & after another 20 seconds; wall reposed where & as it used to be, with the quivering of earth coming to an end.
She bounced toward the trunk beside her to seek hide there, but unfortunately, before she could even turn back, she heard a shocked voice.
‘Sarahhh…’!
‘Oh’, she turned back to see her shocked mum, ‘hi mum’ she smiled weakly looking at her stern expressions.
‘What on earth are you doing down here at this time of night?’ asked her mum through gritted teeth.
‘Who…?’ Sarah blinked, ‘oh me…!’ but she stopped again looking at her mum, thinking it surely was her end.
‘Don’t you know it’s not allowed…don’t you’? She snapped.
‘Er…mum…erm…I…I…was’ spluttered the girl, frightfully. She thought, even looking in eyes of that roaring thing there would not even be that bad as was looking at her angry mum.
‘Not a word’ her mum came hurtling down the stairs with a heavy rucksack dangling lopsidedly from one of her sides & she threw it on the chair.
‘Quickly move to your bed…NOW’.
& Sarah thought it better to run than to walk upstairs to steer clear of her fuming mum & she scurried up, the frightened body only breathed when she thought herself well out of the danger way. Nevertheless, it was no good to get her out of the stupor of what she had experienced just before her mum had broken in on her, inopportunely.
She sat on the little space her bed could offer at the corner because of the camouflage she had built, fixing the hearthrug with her glare; very hot & red in face.
***
Feeling more reckless then when she was there before the veil, she wanted nothing but to go & see behind it. & the apprehension that perhaps her mum had seen every thing was doing no good to her either. Her heart was throbbing heatedly with her mind trapped in perturbed thoughts. & suddenly the door burst open, exposing her mum as red in face as her but it was the color of her fury. Sarah stood up awkwardly.
‘What were you doing there’? Mum demanded in a calm voice even before she’s entered in.
‘Er…I…I was looking for…something’. She stammered, contorting her eyes apprehensively.
‘Would you honor me of telling about the thing that has made you disobey your parents?’
‘I’m sorry mum’, feeling much embarrassed she dropped down her head. The gloves she was looking for were so important to get. ‘I’m really sorry’.
‘That’s not the answer of my question’. Demanded her mum even more calmly which was an immense threat in itself. But Sarah still kept quiet with her eyes fixed at her feet.
‘Has the cat got your tongue’?
Sarah knew she could lie nor tell the truth.
‘Look, I don’t shout at you cuz I love to’ her mum came closer; ‘you know why you aren’t allowed in there at these hours, don’t you?’
Some one had disabled her of perking her head up as she felt thousand pounds of agonizing load on her drooped neck.
‘I’m totally helpless in yours, Sherry’s & Dani’s case, I’m unable to twig why you all love disobeying’. Her mum’s round face really was looking anxious that time. ‘Now the only thing I can do is…’ she stopped for a moment & Sarah heaved her head at once looking at her incredibly, ‘not again, not again…’ her heart beats went all frantic for she knew what her mum would do.
‘You are grounded for this weekend, more precisely for the next two days’. She said in a matter of fact tone, ‘the least I can do to provide you with a chance to sit down calmly & think about it’.
‘But mum____’ Sarah blurted.
‘I wish this time you can learn something from it… good night’ she strolled toward the door but turned toward her again, ‘think, why one’s parent won’t like him at dangerous places…’ she moved toward the door again, ‘sleep tight…’ she shut the door behind her.
Sarah looked around her helplessly & then hurled herself on her bed, angrily.
‘Grounded…again’; she threw her pillow at the door, furiously ‘Ah… the only thing they can do’.
‘Gounded again’! Blabber repeated behind her.
‘Oh shut up’ barked Sarah.
& blabber turned its tail toward her in fury.
Blabber was a very cute little parrot with a small green hooked bill, fluffy green plumage with regularly occurring red patches, puffed up with anger now, it perched on the curtain hangers with the bent claws. It was so tame that it never flew away (though Sarah would’ve loved it doing that). It was the gift of Dani. At first Sarah thought she liked it, but with the passage of time, it downed upon her that Blabber was no lesser than a bugging device & she believed it strongly that Dani had trained it before giving it to Sarah, for it would always blab every thing Sarah thought should be kept secret, before Dani. & that was the reason of Sarah’s contempt for the creature; hence it was given the name, ‘Blabber’. Otherwise Sarah loved pets too much & she had such an unusual collection of pets that her mum would call her room a ‘zoo’.
She had a little green turtle the ‘Tranquil’, almost the size of a palm. It was such a lazy turtle that it would hardly crawl from one end to the other of the study table -where Sarah had kept it- in a week. It loved sleeping too much & never liked being visited, much particularly by Dani. Sarah would often take it out for a walk in her hands. & then there was a pair of beautiful rabbits. Blinky, with fiery red eyes & white fur & ‘Smutty’ with black fur having occasional white patches & black shinning eyes. They lived in the veranda in summers but in winters mum would bring them to garage, still they never mind paying visits to Sarah’s room, time & again. & the loveliest of the pets that Sarah fancied like any thing was the pair of white dove, ‘Mr. & Mrs. Staunch‘. Their brilliantly white shinning fur, the affection for each other & soft cooing made them the centre of attention for every one soon after their arrival. It was in fact a gift from Aani Nadia, Sarah’s mother’s sister & the mum of her best friend Moon. Uncle Ali, her mum’s brother had helped her name them. Both birds were in a big cage hanging with the cupboard trying to sleep at that late hour.
& there also was a ferret that Sarah’s mum never liked. She had found it on the hill behind their home, almost fainted with hunger & cold on the fall last year. The ferret would mostly keep itself in her bathroom when it would not have gone on its hunt, but right now it was sleeping under her bed. Another fellow of Sarah came to her with a similar story; it was a red fox ‘Auby’ as they call her. Once on her morning walk with Hannah & Moon in the woods, the summers last year, she found a little fox pup, struggling out of the reach of an owl but the owl was too clever for the pup & got it with a little effort. The three friends ran toward the owl to make it let the pup go & they had to kind of fight with the owl with sticks & logs & in the end, the owl flew away alone but the pup was too much injured. Sarah took it home & nursed it for almost a fortnight in secret & at last the pup was well again. It was not a big one & Sarah thought it would have some problem to live on its own, but it was looking so reckless to be back in the woods that One day when it was Sarah thought it was able to walk again, the three of them took it back at its place, the Woods.
They forgot all about it a week later, ‘Auby’ however seemed not to have forgotten them. It came back to them after a week when they were out for a walk in the woods & afterwards it would often come at Sarah's place & was still her friend. Though no body at home knew about it.
& then the ducks & hens & chicks that Sarah’s dad had brought her, were countless & she’d kept them in a large cage of about her room’s size in the veranda. & her mum had also brought her a little lamb & it was such a mischievous & agile kid that whole vale loved it. There also was a little aquarium amidst her room that she has bought of her savings. There was a beautiful vivid golden fish with sparkling orange fins in the aquarium which she would called, 'the gold top'. there was also a pair of silvery fish, long like eel & a shy little crab was also the part of her room's aquatic system & Sarah was longing to continue her collection with an eagle, a peacock, an octopus & even a little lion or leopard (she thought there was no problem in mere yearning).
But at the moment none of these fellows were looking amusing to her. It was the worst day of her life.
She could never get why her parents had termed that cellar hazardous. She has always been told of an incident that went on in that cellar & they said it was haunted; still she could never stomach why spirits would dwell in some place completely in shambles & why they would harm the people living there. But unfortunately her grand parents & parents were too old to think from her point of view.
She was told that 40 years ago at a night, in that very cellar, the uncle of her parents, uncle Saeed was attacked by some ghosts. He somehow succeeded in escaping those horrific creatures only with a mutilated body, one of his legs lost. After that night, neither had he moved toward that cellar again, nor did he ever reveal what had happened to him that night, which strengthened everyone’s belief of it to be haunted. But Sarah had never given even two pence to this belief. As to her it was as impossible as believing that Dani & Sherry will become solemn one day. She thought that the spirits & hallucination were synonymous to her parents; still they have never approved any of their children mooching about there. But what Sarah has seen today has made her thoughts & beliefs, all upside down. The spirits, to her couldn’t be mechanical enough to know how to slide a wall open. They could simply destroy it & why on earth would they need to write “to the cemetery” there on that veil, as though guiding someone.
With much brainstorming, she was only able to infer it to be some human activity. But who had done it & for what, was such a head aching puzzle that she felt her head bursting in a few moments. And after all for something not clear at all, she was sentenced a house arrest. How would she go & tell this entire incredible episode to Moon & Hannah?
& suddenly it flashed across her mind like a bolt of light that it was not over still. Her granny used to be her very last hope in such cases; a supreme court where she could always appeal against the sentence her mum would award her. She jumped out of her bed & stalked out of her room solemnly. Having reached downstairs, she made for the room at her right where a horizontal strip of light was visible underneath the clued door.
She made toward the room but stopped at once when she heard mum mentioning her name in there. Sarah moved a bit closer to the room to hear what her mum was saying.
‘I just can’t say why she go down there every now & then, specially at nights’ she heard her mum’s anxious voice, ‘perhaps…based on all what she had heard, she want to find some supernatural thing down there’ even with all that huff mode, Sarah smiled at her mum’s prediction, ‘I don’t want to be hard on her, but she can’t do what she’s told.
‘Don’t worry, Anita’ she heard her granny’s soft old voice, ‘she is just a kid, she can’t do any harm there’.
‘Being kid makes it all the more worse. What if something there, God forbidden does her some harm? You know all about uncle Saeed & Hamid’.
Sarah moved even closer to the door at the mention of Moon’s late father name.
‘Who knows what the real matter is, Anita?’ she heard her granny’s nostalgic tone. ‘I never fancied Saeed’s enigmatic way of doing things, his conversations & his thoughts. & I strongly feel he deserved it, & it all was some of his own stupid plan that backfired…& as far as Hamid is concerned we can do nothing else speculating, but he was such a gifted man that I can never believe what others say about him…& with any of them Sarah has no comparison, you see she is such an innocent little child…nothing like this could ever happen to her___’ her granny continued but Sarah’s mind was racing again. What was Gran saying about uncle Hamid, what do people say about him, had Moon’s father also got something to do with the cellar like her grand uncle Saeed? Every thing was staggering her even more than the last one. She thought she should better skip her meeting with Gran at the moment & should go to her room.
‘But she never listens to it’ she heard her mum’s worried voice, again ‘she just can’t be helped’.
Sarah decided that she would talk to granny about all that tomorrow morning. So she turned back but no sooner had she taken a step then she hardly avoid a loud scream out of her mouth, her heart jumped up to the throat because she was facing none other than Dani & Sherry looking at her with a mysterious smile.
‘So, spying over granny’ asked Sherry, gladly.
‘& you spying over me’ she replied huffily.
‘Ah, dear! What would happen when Gran would get that her sweet little grand daughter’ Dani fixed her with his smiling eyes, ‘use to spy over her’.
‘Shut up’ snapped Sarah, ‘this is the first time…& I wasn’t spying’.
‘Ok well’, added Sherry, ‘eavesdropping would be the right word, eh?’
‘I have no mood to have a spat with you’. Sarah replied elbowing them both out of her way.
‘But I have, sweety little sis’ Dani pushed himself back obstinately to his former position. ‘What would mum do when she would come to know about this little adventure’?
‘She has already done what she would do’. She uttered crossly.
‘WHAT? Don’t tell me’ Sherry clapped both hands at his mouth. ‘Are you sure?’
‘SHUT UP’ Sarah snapped louder than ever.
& the door of her granny’s room opened noisily exposing her mum at the same time.
‘Now what’s all that?’ asked mum, scornfully. ‘What is the problem with you three’?
‘I need a word with Gran’, Sarah said in matter of fact tone without looking at her mum.
‘Oh, really!’ Dani smiled derisively, ‘you talk to others with your ears at their doors, nice way’
‘Shut up’ Sarah hollered again.
‘You both should shut up now’, her mum snapped at both of them. ‘Sarah, isn’t it enough what you have got, be quick to your bed now’.
‘I need to talk to Gran’, she replied stubbornly & strolled toward the door & in the room followed by them all.
‘What’s all that fuss about?’ her granny spoke in her ever-softer voice looking at them three. ‘Oh my dolly, come, come’ she called Sarah happily when she saw her.
‘Granny’ Sarah strolled toward her almost grumbling, ‘Granny, I haven’t done anything wrong down there, mum’s grounded me again’.
‘Again?’ Daniel laughed out loudly, ‘Really, how amusing…I mean 4th time this month’ he scampered joyfully toward her & pitched his hand toward her for a shake, ‘congrats, you’ve broken our record…me & sherry, we never exceeded 3 times a month limit’.
‘Shut up’ mum shouted again at Dani, ‘go to your bed this very moment, & don’t let me say it again’.
While Gran flanked her arm round Sarah. ‘Your mum has done nothing wrong’. & Sarah looked at her incredibly ‘Yeah my dear child, who do you think would warn you else your parents if you do something wrong’? Dani & Sherry were struggling hard to hide the laughers, they would heartily have exposed if mum hadn’t been there. ‘Now go to your bed like a good girl, & don’t give your mum any chance to complain again’.
Sarah’s ears were still not acclimatized with what her Gran had just said. Her Gran had never said her “no”. Never has her appeal been rejected before in this ‘supreme court’. She looked huffily at all of them & went scuttling upstairs.
She had never thought of such a disastrous end of a day. Nothing that happened to her tonight was comprehendible. Opening the door of her room & turning on the light made her regret even more on her visit. She flopped herself angrily on her bed thinking of what Gran had done to her.
She now, however was sure that her mum has not seen anything about that secret passage. Still it was not good at all. How would she be able to tell all that to Moon & Hannah? And with that, Hamid uncle flashed to her mind, Moon’s father. Why were mum & granny talking about him? What he has to do with cellar? Had he also had a similar accident like uncle Saeed? But moon has never talked about it, nor had mum. The more she was thinking, the more she was helplessly losing her footing in this bog. And on the top was the question that who has made that secret passage in their cellar, & that whether was it secret at all, o

تخيل وغير تخيل
Automatically translated into Arabic thanks to WorldLingo

التاريخ سير [أودنا]:

`[أيون] يعاد'' (جزء واحدة):

ال `اثنان' عوالم:

مدّد الرقعة ضخمة من أرض مظلمة أمام الصغيرة, يستنزف [وفررس] بدا أن يكون لففت تحت أقدامهم مثل طاحونة دوس, لا يريد أن يؤكّد الأخرى نهاية في أيّ وقت.
أحيانا يقع, عملاقة فجر مدّد خشب أحمر [ألّ ث] طريق حتّى السماء مظلمة يجعل ال [إنفيرون] خصوصا مظلمة, مع المساندة ال [أوندرغرووث] من النوع خاصّة أكثر يمدّد في كلّ مكان. يمشي على السجادة الطحالب [أمونغست] الصخر رمليّ محاريّ كبيرة من بنية سوداء مساميّة بشكل غير عاديّ, يعطي إلى البيت إلى ال يمصّ أشنة, بدا المسافرات لا أن يتلقّى [وهيت] الفكرة حول الأرض.
ال [سلّوو] قمر كان سقف منتج علويّ تماما [جكتد] بالمزق من يتجوّل سحائب أنّ ربّما أراد لاشيء أكثر بعد ذلك يتوقّف ال أضعف مسافرات مع الخوف من الوشيكة غير مرئيّ في ال بعض ضوء القمر.
نظر المسافرات, ثلاثة عددهم كان لا قديمة بعد ذلك عشرة [ير وف ج], & أكثر بصفة خاصّة, هم كانوا كلّ بنات. كان سماتهم غيرواضح في الظلام باستثناء ال جدّا [برونوونس] [ورينسّ]. ترجّح واحدة من هم, بالأحرى يصحّ واحدة مع [روكسك] على كتفه كان تقريبا [فروم سد تو سد] مع [تيردنسّ]. خلف ه كان بنت يتلقّى سمة مختلفة تماما بعد ذلك الأخرى اثنان, فضلا عن ذلك هو بدا يجرح كالثالثة واحدة تلقّى سلاحه حول عنقه أن يساعده أن يمشي. & الثالثة نظر واحدة بنفسي كان في ما من سلام أيضا; تسلّل الشحوب من وجهه كان أكثر على مأساة بعد ذلك يذعر.
& قبل أن هم استطاع مشيت بضعة مئة كثير أقدام إلى الأمام, أسّسبنفسي هم يقف في القدم من مدى من تلال دقيقة [دوم-شبد] مع الأرض جميعا صراحة. بدا التلال أن يكون افتقرت كلّ حياة خاصّ بالأزهار وإلّا الجافّة عشب سجادة هو أو الدغل يرقّم ال يوسع ثغور. هذا كان [ث فيرست تيم] قد رأى هم أيّ بنية ثقيلة وإلّا الأشجار عملاقة, صخر رمليّ محاريّ أو البازلت صخورة في هذا أرض & هم [فلت] أشبه [أت هوم] أن يرى شيء يشابه الأجبال هم قد أتوا من.
التفت الجدية أمام الضلع خشبيّ زوج إلى الخلف, ينظر [أبّرهنسفلي] في هم.
`نحن يضطرّ أخذت الفرصة', الواحدة ينظر يجرح [مورمورد] في نغمة نحيفة, `أنّ يكون كلّ نحن يستطيع أتمّت'.
الأخرى نظر اثنان بنات على هم يسرى & صحّ وكأنّ يفتّش شيء أنّ استطاع ساعدت.
`نحن نحتاج أن يستعجل', ال يجرح بنت ينطق ثانية.
`كان هو يصعب ل أنت أن يصعد', ال يصحّ طفلة [سترول] إلى الخلف نحو ه.
`يأتي, يهيم', هو ابتسم بشكل شاحب, `نحن يكونون المتسلقات من [هيغست] جبل مدى من العالم, ليس نحن'?
جرحت `غير أنّ أنت'.
`& أنّ صحيحة كثيب قبل التلال نحن تلقّينا, من حيث نحن نّتسب'.
حالة سكون تبع الجوابة من ال يجرح بنت & دعا البنت [موون] يروّج ثانية, `غير أنّ نحن لا نعرف ماذا يكون خلف هذا تلال'.
`نحن عرفنا ماذا يكون في هذا أرض'?
`غير أنّ… يحتاج نحن حقّا أن يفكّر ثانية'.
`عندما دخل نحن هذا أرض… نحن خسر كلّ حق من يقرّر ممر جديدة, كلّ نحن يستطيع أتمّت الآن يكون أن يحافظ يتحرّك', الحسمية من كلمته تلقّى هذا [ستيلّنسّ] أيّ جعل قمر أحجمت.
`إن أنّ يكون ماذا أنت تريد', البنت يساعد مكبحه برقّة, `[لت'س] التقطت طريقنا'.
عزّز & مع بعض فوق [فيغر], البنات بدأ يصعد التل جافّة.
[هفد] `هو يكون حقّا يتيح', قمر تنهيدة إنجذاب, يمسح يعرق من رأسه, `أنا أعني… أنّ تلال نحن نتلقّى هناك, آه… خشنة & متينة'.
`أمنية نحن استطاع أخذتهم إلى الخلف', يضيف ال يساعد بنت.
`أجل… إن نحن في أيّ وقت نحصل إلى الخلف', يجاب قمر في [فلوش ووت] صوة.
`يتمّ لا [موب], قمر; نحن هنا لسبب'.
`إن هناك يكون واحدة, آنسة [هركلس]'. توقّف البنت قليلا بما أنّ قمر أنهى جملته.
`نظرة قمر, قال أنا أنت أن يترك في اللحظة [فري فيرست]. أنا لم أتسوّل أنت أن يأتي جانبا, أتمّ أنا'?
`والآن أنّ ماذا أنت ستقول ي [سره], عقب قد جازف أنا حياتي ل `سببك'.
`سببي'? [سره] [هولّرد], يبطىء القبضة من يجرح بنت حول عنقه, `& أنت تفكّر هو كلّ يحدث سبب من ي'?
`[إفن يف] هو أتمّ لم… غير أنّ نحن استطاع دائما حصلت بعض شيخة مسؤولة في هو. [ميسبغتّن] لما يستطيع لا أنت حصلت هو أنّ يأتي هنا مثل هذا كان [ا] فكرة'.
`[إي] [دونّو]… يعرف أنا فقط أنّ أنا عرفت هو من العزم [فري فيرست] أنّ خوف قد أطفأ سكروبلاتك & أنت [كرلسّ]'.
`موقف', ال يجرح بنت يصاح, `أنت شدادات في أيّ وقت علمت أن يكون محسوسة'?
سكون [فلّ] على الأخرى اثنان. & دون ينتظر ل هم أن يقول أيّ شيء, ال يجرح بنت [لمد] إلى الأمام, [هوفّيلي].
استعجل `هاي, [هنّه], هاي… موقف', قمر خلف ه, `نظرة, هاي, يرى', هو مسكه في زوج من ثانية, `أنا أكون آسفة, أنا حقّا قبل الظّهر… غير أنّ أنت ترى', هو أبطأ لقمة, `بئر… آه, أنا [دونّو]… رجاء, رجاء… يعذرني'. هو التفت إلى الخلف نحو [سره] الذي كان وقف مع ه [أرمس] متخاصرة, `أنت تعرف… أنا آسفة… أنت, يعرف أنت ي… أنا… أنا' & هو تدلّيت رأسه [هلبلسّلي].
مشى `هو يكون [أك]…', [سره] نحو ه, `أنا أكون آسفة أيضا… أنا حاولت ي جيّدة لا أن يترك هو حدثت ثانية'.
لم ينظر قمر فوق & [سره] عرف أنّ كان بسبب أعين أنّ ينبغي كنت سكبت مع دموع.
`[لت'س] تحرّكت', ضرب [هنّه] كتفه & [سره] خطا إلى الأمام أن يساعد حركته & في زوج الدقائق هم كانوا في الأعلى من التل ينظر في ال يوسع آفاق يمدّد إلى الأمام. هناك كان بحيرة تقريبا مئة أقدام بعيدا من التل, يحاط على ثلاثة جوانب مع هذا `يتيح' تل مدى. على الجانب رابعة مهما, المعتادة عملاقة, مظلمة, عرقل صخر رمليّ محاريّ مساميّة أيّ منظرة بعيد. خان الهدوء & الى حدّ بعيد مياه كان ال [سبوتّد] قمر, نصف يخفى في سحائب & [ا فو] نجوم يتناثر عشوائيّا فوق الرّأس.
`[ثتيس,] آه… فقط واحدة كلمة… عجيبة'! [هنّه] بدا أن يتلقّى نسيت إصابته تماما. & قبل أن هو استطاع نظرت في الأخرى اثنان, سمع هو نعيم يشبع صرخة بما أنّ قمر [وهووش] بعد ه مثل رصاصة سريعة إلى أسفل نحو المرج يقود إلى الباهر, بحيرة مظلمة.
`[أه]… [مرميد] نا… أنا نسيت'! [سره] ابتسم [ميكلي], ينظر في ال يستعجل قمر, `[لت'س] تحرّكت', & ساعد هو [هنّه] تحرّكت إلى الأمام.
غسل قمر كان وجهه بعد يشرب مثل كثير من الماء باردة بما أنّ هو استطاع عندما هم بلغواه.
`هو جميلة, ليس هو', هو نظر فوق في هم بسعادة, `أمنية مومياء كان هنا' ال يمنع يحكم [سليب ووت] من فمه قبل أن هو استطاع توقّفتبنفسي. أخمدت الرعشة كان جميعا مع الرعونة & هم كلّ [فلّ] يسكت.
[سره] ساعد [هنّه] جثمت نزولا إلى قرب البنك من الباردة & بحيرة نظيفة بعد دقيقة & احتلّ بجانب ه. همت, يجد لاشيء أن يقتل اللا ملاءمة, [أبن وب] كيسه.
قال `[إي] أنت نحن سوفت' [ف] يؤخذ أكثر'. هو حاول ابتسام مرحة بينما يأخذ خارجا كلّ أنّ هو كان قد حزم هكذا بعناية بعض 4 ساعات [أغو]. 3 حزم ربط الرقاقات, الاثنان متبقّي [أرنج جويس] زجاجات, 3 [وهووبر] سندويتش, 3 قضبان كبيرة شوكولاطة, حفنة السكّر نبات & 3 لف نصفيّة بسكويت.
`يحتاج أنت… آ, أيّ واحدة شيء أن… آ… يأكل'? الأخرى هزّ اثنان رؤوسهم.
`نحن حقّا سوفت… أنت ترى, بعد [ألّ ث] يعنى', هو لم يعرف ماذا كان [كم ووت وف] فمه, بينما هو كان أخذ خارجا العلبة كبريت & المشعل خارجا. & مع المشعل, أتى خارجا صورة يصاد في النهاية من الزرّ.
`[أه]… أتى [ببا] مع ي هنا', هو ابتسم, ينظر بمحبّة في الصورة لذلك بعض واضحة في الضوء القمر باهتة & بعد ذلك حشا هو في سراويله' جيب.
`على الأقلّ أنت [هنّه]'! هو نظر في [هنّه] الذي كان نظر بعيدا.
`ليس أنا جائعة', يرجع [هنّه], `& أنت ترى, نحن سوفت حافظت هذا حصة إلى أن نحن نجده… أنا [دونّو] ما إذا هذا واد كان يمكن أن يغذّينا… أنت ترى, هو يكون ينظر أكثر من عقيمة & [ليفلسّ] باستثناء العملاقة أشجار & [كريبر] تناثرنا كلّ حيث, غير أنّ نحن يكون لا يكيّف إلى يأكل أوراق, يكون نحن'?
قمر نظر من [سويتيس] ه إلى [هنّه], هو عرف كان [هنّه] حق غير أنّ هذا أشياء لن [ب] من كثير مساعدة لالفسحة بين دعامتين مجهولة وقت هم أن بقيوا هنا للبحث. هو صبّ نظرة متأخّرة في ال يتلألأ يعبّئ من المادّة خام & [هفينغ] تنهيدة, بدأ هو يحشو كلّ أنّ ثانية في ال [روكسك].
`غير أنّ أنت سوفت يتلقّى الشراب على الأقلّ', هو [هند وفر] ال [أرنج جويس] زجاجة إلى [هنّه].
`أنا حسنا. لا يقلق. أنا بالأحرى حافظت أنّ للوقت أن يأتي', هو رفض, يحزم الزجاجات مع أخرى مادّة خام أيضا.
`سوفت نحن يتحرّك الآن, [إه]'? هو سأل بعد حالة سكون من بعض خمسة دقائق.
يفكّر `[إي] أنت على حدّ سواء كثير يتعب & نعسانة أن يمشي', [سره] يجاب, `ماذا أنت يفكّر من [فورتي] [وينكس], أنا كان على الفترة يقظة'! [موون'س] أعين ثقيلة يلمع مع ضوء غريبة في العرض.
لم يأت `غير أنّ نحن يتلقّى هنا أن يستريح'.
`إستراحة [ألّ ث] نفس جدّا مهمّة أن يحافظنا يتحرّك'.
`ماذا حول أنت? أنت تذهب نوم, أنا كان على الفترة يقظة', [هنّه] كان لم يرض. حاليّا, لم يبدو التوقع من نوم [ألفرسك] & أنّ أيضا في أرض غريبة لذلك يرحّب غير أنّ همت تلقّى سابقا تمدّد على الأرض ليّنة عشبيّة.
[سره] ابتسم, `[أك], نحن تلقّى هو في دورات, أنا لا أشعر نعسانة. أنتما يستطيع يتلقّى قيلولة هنا. هذا مكان مناسبة, أنا يخمّن. الأرض ليّنة, [إه]'?
سيضطرّ `نعم… غير أنّ… غير أنّ أنت صحاتني فوق بعد 2 ساعات… أنا كنت على فترة يقظة في ما بعد أنّ'. يجاب [هنّه] بعد يسحن هو على لزوج الدقائق. `أجل, أراد أنا… هو الآن… آ', هو استشار ساعته غير أنّ وقف فوق فورا, ينظر يربك. `آ… هو تكون… هو يكون لا يعمل, [وهت تيم] أنت يتلقّى'?
[هنّه] نخع سلاحه أن يحرّك الكم قليلا غير أنّ لولب فوق ه أعين فقط أنّ جدّا عزم.
`ماذا'? يطلب [سره].
`آ… لا يعمل', نظر هو فوق في ه, `هاي قمر, نظرة في خاصّتي'!
قمر أفاق على مضض & [زيبّد] مفتوحة الجيب من ال [روكسك] أن يأخذ [وريستوتش] ه خارجا, `هو يكون آ… تقريبا ربع أن… هاي' هو توقّف مع بداية, `يجمّد'!
`ماذا يتمّ أنّ وسيلة'? يسأل [سره], `الساعات لا يعمل… نحن من السيادة الوقت'?
`رفض, ليس نحن, ما من', يجاب [هنّه] [ثووغتفولّي]; `يتذكّر أنت [فسه] [بهي]'? هو سأل [نوستلجكلّي]. `أنّ يكون لأنّ نحن نكون في آخر أرض… من ال [منتيك فيلد] من أرضنا جدّا, جدّا كون'. هو نظر فوق في القمر, السحائب يقشد نحو هو ببطء. `[ا] عالم جديدة'!
& تشبّث الأعزام غامضة من نصف شهر متأخّرة عقولهم في قبض مثير للذكريات.
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همر قمر كان ه يغشى ضوء [غريش] على الأجبال ناطحة سحاب من [كركوروم] & [هيملس] & في الواد الفرقة شرطة خاصة أنّ يكذب في الحوض. الليل كان منظرة من البنى [مونسترووس] & الواد مظلمة تحت لا أقلّ من لغة من الطبيعة أنّ استطاع كنت رأيت في ه جيّدة في هذا واد.
قدّم المدينة [منغرا] كان بعض [فبولووسلي] أشعل آفاق أن يناقض مع الواد متبقّي مظلمة حيث فقط في البنك من الضارّة نهر فرقة شرطة خاصة & في قدم من التلال يتوافر في غامضة, [إيستثبس] حجريّة مع ينحت يعتزم أرقام & عجيبة [روك-كت] صورة قصص من الحياة [بودّها], كان استراح واحدة من المستعمرات جميلة أكثر من الواد, [شينغريلّا] مستعمرة.
ال [سلّوو] بدا قمر أكثر من يتعب الآن من يهمر ضوءه [وونكي] في الواد جؤار, يكون يجرّ إلى الخلفيّة ثانية & ثانية ب ال يتجوّل أسراب السحائب, سحائب أنّ بدا [أس يف] واحد ما قد طيّنهم مع الدعوى من مداخن من ال كثير منازل يتناثر تحت الوحشيّة & سماء مظلمة. نظر الأجبال من هذا اثنان مدى عظيمة كان مثل بعض عمالقة يقف هكذا [إنيغمتيكلّي], وكأنّ يفكّر من عندما & ماذا أن يتمّ مع هذا [فل] أو ربّما هم كان حرسوا هو.

رحّبت نوفمبر - تشرين الثّاني كان أبدا بالساكنات من هذا واد صارمة, أخرى أنّ الذي تلقّى لاشيء أن يتمّ مع الإزعاج من كيف أنّ ذهب من خلال كلّ شتاء مثلّجة. هو كان تقريبا 9 في ليل; حتّى بعد ذلك, أغرقت كلّ شيء من هذا مستعمرة بهيّة كان في الضباب من ظلام [غريش] & حالة سكون غريبة - فقط يزعج بالصرخات الإبن آوى من الغابة, يجاب ب ال ينبح كلاب من المدينة; وقت & [أغين-] يسود. مهما, [ب] البيئة في المنازل لم هذا [ووبغن], خصوصا من أنّ أشعل, & يسخّن.
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بعض غيرواضح يخرج [لوغر] كان كسروا داخل الدرجة ظلام & أشعل سكون من ال [بك غردن] من منزل خلف مقبرة, من خلال النافذة من غرفة.
هو كان صغيرة مع ذلك [ولّ-دكرتد] غرفة. وضعت بالنار كان أرضية سرير على أيّ كان جلس رجل مع يهيأ رقم, [سوث] في لحاف. [نإكست تو] ه كان بالأحرى يصحّ بنت من حوالي عشرة, أيضا في اللحاف. ظلّ أهدابه ثقيلة كان أعينه عميقة سوداء مثل ستار من صنوبر إبر. حتّى ه بالأحرى سميكة لوّنت شفات & أنف كان يذهب [فري ولّ] مع ه عادلة حول وجه يحدّ مع شعر مظلمة متموّجة من كتف طول.
مضغ [بوث وف ثم] كان فول سودانيّ. ظهر الرجل أن يكون قلت بعض قصة إلى البنت & هو كان بقبق بإخلاص في هو.
[بيغدد] `& [بيلل], دائما يكون حول أشياء, أعطىه الفكرة أنّ نحن أردنا شيء نادرة. وأنّ حصل شدادة حمقاء, يكون [نوسي] حول نا [إفري تيم], رأسا إلى اللب الأمر. & الوقت عندما فتح نحن تلقّى بصعوبة ال [هوتبوت] ال [تيكّس], هو أتى ينقل داخل على نا مع رقم كبيرة فتية نزل تماما, & أنت تعرف ماذا?' توقّف الرجل مع زائفة يحزن من صوته أثناء ه يحيى محادثة.
`[أه]! همت, تركت نحن كان هناك بانفراد, [سنس] [سنغل بيس] ال [تيكّا], [أهّه]…' هو [هفد] تنهيدات يدوّر ه صلبة, شفات حمراء,' & ال نفسه [كيسن] مملّة نزل', هو مضغ آخر فول سودانيّ بحزن.
قمر [بروك] داخل بائس يقهقه
`غير أنّ من خطّط نحن من يلعب إنتقام نظير ضدّ ه', هو بدأ [إنثوسستيكلّي] ثانية.
`عظيمة!!' [موون'س] مرمر وجنات يلمع مع طرب `أنّ يكون الجزء أنا يتلقّى يكون أفتّش, عمة' هو [بلورتد] [إإكسوبرنتلي], غير أنّ يتوقّف بتهوّر.
`لما… لما هذا جزء?' يستجوب عمة.
`[أه]… آ, يعني أنا… [إرم]… أنا أحبّت أن يعلم دروس إلى أيّ شدادة, هذا [نوسي]…' هو تلعثم.
تذبذب `[أك]' عمة, يسحق فول سودانيّ, "& الآن أنا & [بيلل] ذهب فوق يؤوي دروس ل ه. نحن فكّرنا حول يحصره في نقطة ضعيفة هو تلقّى, كلّ جسم في نزل كان كثير أغضبت من هذا عادة خاصّة…'
`[وهف]'? استطاع فم تماما من فول سودانيّ فقط ترك هذا صوة [كم ووت وف] الجدية فم.
يشخر `خاصّتي!' كدّرت ضرر يقفز من في مكان ما داخل عمة أعين [سترّي], "ليس فحسب رفيق حجرته غير أنّ كلّ من نا كان مع أنّ لعنة جشّاء. وطبقا خطتنا, احتاج نحن المتحدث, مايك & [كنّكأيشن] كهربائيّ'.
لا يقولني `[أه]!' تبسّم قمر [برثلسّلي] تقريبا يحصل العجرة من الخطة, `كيف عبقريّة!'
ضحك `وبعد ذلك' عمة,' في أنّ ليلة, عندما هو كان استمتع نومه صحيحة. We sneaked into his room, placed the mike before him, took the speaker to the common room, & inserted the plug of speaker into the socket’ Moon was laughing like anything now. ‘& no sooner had we switched it on than the hostel was raging with rowdy snores but our breakneck sprint back to the room didn’t let any one see us there. And a couple of moments later we’ve to come back to the common room, pretending to be drowsy, yawning & murmuring as though we’d been awoken by the dratted snores of somebody. Whole hostel was echoing with the thundering voices that were not sounding snores at all. The doors were opening one by one letting sleepy boys out, apprehension-laden eyes X-raying the surroundings. Even he woke up by his own thundering snores & ran out to the common room. & all guys who’d worked out the whole matter, my word, every body started whacking him with cushions & pillows, & even some fetched their slippers to the scene, without thinking how could he put mike before him while sleeping, Bilal ahead of them all’.
Moon could not help another fit of hysteric giggles.
‘but we didn’t stayed there to make this point clear to the sleepy boys, so fleeing away from the scene, we dozed off happily & nobody could ever get we were the culprits, however he himself kept throwing us with his contemptuous cum suspicious looks but lacking any solid proof hindered him doing anything against us.’
‘Cool’! Moon tried to stop her giggles, ‘So you guys were too dangerous, weren’t you?’
Uncle agreed, ‘Yeah’, & smiled meaningfully, ‘even then, not a fraction of what you guys are. We could never have done the thing with ants what you did with frogs’.
‘Oh, leave it now’. Moon stopped giggling & chewing completely.
‘What’s embarrassing, dear?’ his smile broadened, ‘it was great…I mean, I’m not saying that result was but surely the idea’.
‘Uncle, please’ moon said uncomfortably. ‘It was all Sarah’s. If you like it than go to her, she keeps bursting with such ideas’
And uncle chuckled like Moon did a couple of minutes ago. At that moment, the only door of the room opened letting in a smart, benign lady, surprisingly resembling the former inhabitants of the room, with two mugs in her hands. She was wearing a thick fur coat & a wooly cap.
‘Oh!!! It’s too cold outside’ she handed a mug over to uncle, sitting on the floor bed beside Moon & placing her feet before fire & rubbing her hands together.
‘Why?’ he interrogated. ‘You weren’t in your bed?’
‘Oh no!’ she said taking the cap off her dark black hair. ‘In the kitchen; ah my feet are all numb’.
‘Oh maa, I would’ve been all free tomorrow, its weekend, I’ve told you’ Moon came near her, ‘I’d have done the dishes’.
‘Its ok, honey’ she ran her cold fingers through Moon’s hair, ‘but now, I guess time to go to your bed. See its 9:30 & you got to wake up early for prayers”, she sipped tea out of her mug.
‘But maa’! Moon objected, looking at uncle for help.
‘Oh dear sis’ an unctuous voice made it’s way out of uncle’s mouth, ‘leave her alone, she don’t want to go to bed right now’.
‘Nah Ali’ she again sipped at her tea, ‘you know how hard it is to stir her up, takes a lot of time. I seriously am considering to hiring somebody who do this job first thing in the morning’.
Uncle Ali chuckled.
‘Pure exaggeration!’ Moon drawled impatiently, trying not to get stroppy.
‘No exaggeration, honey’ her mum patted her back, ‘now be quick to your bed’.
Moon picked her shawl & got up draping it round her.
‘Why don’t you say it plainly that you got to have a tête-à-tête with uncle?’ she snarled, ‘& you don’t want me here’.
‘It’s not that, honey’.
‘Then why am I being ordered to go to my room?’ she continued grumpily.
‘Ok, then where’d you go?’ her mum continued smiling. ‘If I’ve to talk to Ali in private, where‘d you go else your room’?
Moon wore a sickly smile & her wooly cap simultaneously, ‘yeah, where else but my room’!
She was right to be sad about it, being the only child of her parents, more precisely her mum. Her dad had passed away some 6 years ago, when she was only 4. She was not even able to remember her dad’s features on her own. The least she knew about her dad’s appearance was the gift of his photographs, a couple of which were a regular piece of items her pocket would bear. She was living alone with her mum now. Though it was an advantage that her mum’s sister –Anita Aani- was also living in the same colony & her cousin –Sarah- was one of her best friends, & another friend of hers –Hannah- were all neighbors. Even then, it was worst until her favorite most Uncle Ali joined them, two years back. He was an assistant superintendent in the police department. And so she’s got at least one more resort at home where she could pass her never ending boring time. But it wasn’t still as good as her two best friends, who’d their homes packed with people. And the time when she felt strongly toward this notion would get her out of her usual be-happy-every-time habit & same had happened this time.
Her mum threw a look at her gloomy face which made her get up almost at once & stroll toward her.’ Honey, that’s only for you that I’m saying to go to bed now, you got to develop healthy habits from now’.
‘Ok am going’ she turned her back at mum.
‘And don’t forget ___
‘Yeah, yeah, don’t forget to take your jumper & socks off’ Moon blurted before her mum could finish, ‘I’ve crammed your words maa, I know it & I do it regularly, don’t I?’
‘Yeah you do’ her mum kissed her ‘I’ll turn off the light of your room my self, now good night’.
Moon slipped her feet into her slippers & strode sadly toward the door,’ night__’ she drawled.
‘Hey, hang on!’ Uncle Ali called on her, ‘you know what?’ he smiled, ‘tomorrow…we’ll…go…for…a ’ he said each word with a good enough pause, ‘LONG DRIVE’ & he ended enthusiastically.
‘REALLY’! Moon jigged back exuberantly.
Uncle nodded,’ Positive’
‘Wow, great’ she squealed, ‘but promise me you won’t forget’.
He smiled, ‘Course I won’t’
‘But I’ll…I’ll also take Hannah & Sarah along’ Moon held her middle finger up in air before Uncle.
‘And what wrong have Dani, Sherry, Ubaid, Fahad & Sofia done to you?’ asked Uncle, counting the names of Sarah & Hannah’s sibling on his fingers.
‘Oh! Am not prat enough to call misfortune my self at my door’ she rolled her eyes, making Uncle Ali giggle heartily.
‘I’ll tell them’ he nodded still giggling, ‘I’ll tell them how high you think of them, you just wait’!
‘I won’t talk to you’ Moon held her middle finger up again, ‘had you told them a word of it, am serious’
‘Ok…ok’, her mum patted her shoulder again, ‘now go to your bed dear, like moon out side is going’. And Moon threw a look out of the window where moon really has gone behind the dark blurred clouds as though it’s taken a blanket over it.
***
Soon moon showed another glimpse from behind the wandering clouds, still shinning dimly over the detached house at the corner of this very lane. There was coming a strong light out of one window of that house.
On a bed straight in front of that window in this room was sitting a girl with more a Chinese appearance, a book propped open against her knees. A Golden title was glimmering over the red cover of the book that read, “THE HORIFFIC ERA”. The girl had short but shimmering, straight black hair. Her small black eyes were almost boring into the book making her look much more solemn for her age & very much absorbed in the book, too.
‘C’mon, Hannah’ a girl cried, peeping through a quilt in a bed beside hers, ‘it’s enough, I can’t sleep with that light overhead and got to wake up early, haven’t I?’
‘Just one more page’. Hannah’s thin lips made a movement behind the book though her intention appeared totally contradicting her statement.
‘Than scram to study room!’ the girl looking much older than Hannah ordered firmly again, ’and switch the light off’.
Hannah scowled at her, ‘I wish’ she thought anguishly, ‘I’d a separate room like Sarah & Moon’, she slammed her book shut noisily and put it on the side table beside her bed. Jumping huffily out, she strolled to the switchboard.
‘When would you go for higher studies, Sofia?’ she hollered sulkily over her shoulder to her sis.
‘I wish I could go tonight’ the reply was all the much similar.
‘What are you waiting for, than?’ she muttered in an under tone, dragging her quilt up on her. She looked out of window & fixed moon with her sulk glare. Whenever she had a spat with Sofia at nights, she would talk huffily to moon; telling it that she shouldn’t have a sister, or at least an elder one, much like her cussed, self righteous sister who liked nothing but her orders obeyed.
Sofia was 6 years elder than her, studying at college in her pre-professional grade. She loved showing off everything she knew about, (even her college lessons) without knowing how many yawns she would cause at each of her sentence. Now a days “binomial nomenclature” was an imperative part of her speech. Her friend Allina was another member of the same class & together, they were real nuisance for the kids living in the vicinity, let alone their own siblings. Though Hannah thought Sofia was particularly furious. She was not only hard about her own studies but always used to scold Hannah & her younger brother Fahad for not giving even a little bit of attention to studies, as that of her. Hannah was only into reading the books that had got nothing to do with her school syllabi, and that was the point of Sofia’s criticizing her every time. And Fahad on the contrary had interest in neither type. In fact, he was too young to understand the importance of what Sofia said, Hannah would always think after listening to the barbed comments of Sofia. He was only eight & was in 3rd grade. Hannah herself was not much older. She was in her 5th grade. But unfortunately, according to her, Sofia’s mind was too big to get a smaller thing like this.
Now it was only two years for both of them to put up with each other, as after this, as per their mum, Sofia would be blessed (& Hannah disgusted cause of the higher competition) with education in medicine.
‘I wish she could go before two years’ thought Hannah angrily, though, as has been seen, it wasn’t a plus point at her behalf at all. Letting Sofia do something that she couldn’t do even after putting together the might of Sarah & Moon’s let alone only hers. After any such incident would happen, Sofia would have more chances for trying her sarcastic blows over them both.
Still Hannah thought, it would be a real mess handling Fahad all on her own. In fact, it was more unnerving then living with Sofia only. For he was sure to make so silly mistakes that no one in his right mind could make even naively. He would look distracted for most part of the day, (during night he would sleep) and to top it all off, his jumpy vagueness could easily create real chaos in the jobs he was assigned. Always banging around, bumping into things, bashing against stuff, tripping over objects, Fahad was the only accident-prone kid of the colony.
Many a times he had placed his specs in sink, trying to wear the glass of water & once, when her mum shouted at him when she saw him practicing it, all perplexed at the sudden scolding, he picked up a plate from sink, trying it instead. He even had once drunk a mouth full of oil instead of his soft drink when mum was oiling his hair. though he hadn’t realized it until he heard Sofia yelling from beside him & after that he fainted only because of fear as doctors said the oil hadn’t damaged any of his internal organs (‘The damaged part was already there with him by birth, doctor. It’s his brain’ Sofia replied.). & even it was no good when he tried using his brains, more precisely it would turn up even dangerous that time. Once, he slopped a glass of water on Sofia’s cell phone accidentally & telling her would be no less dangerous than going in for a bullfight so he thought of a remedy on his own. Stealthily placing it in the microwave oven, he waited on a chair for the timer to stop & expose phone in its former state. & alas, Sofia entered the kitchen that very moment when a noisy blast from microwave oven made Fahad collapse onto the floor with his chair. The cell phone had blasted, Thanks to the intellect of Fahad. Therefore, it really was terrible to keep in a good temper for passing just half an hour with him. & there, thus was no good choice for Hannah either she was left with Sofia or Fahad.
‘Dear me’! She heaved up a sigh, ‘wait & pray’. Murmured the poor girl dejectedly, staring at moon that has vanished again behind the clouds, skimming all over heavens with their forming & breaking, merging & segregating formation & the parting of this nocturnal fellow ultimately dragged Hannah into a sound slumber.
***
Not very long after that, the clouds seemed to have been puffed into nothingness to give way to the only celestial being overhead. The light though weak coming out of the spotty winter moon, was still enough to light the dark & deserted streets, still houses, murky doors & dim windows, a little. But still some windows of a house- that was at a good distance from the colony- at the foot of a high-rise mountain crammed with palm growth, weren’t dark; In fact that house would have looked more a part of wood if it had not been for the lights showing meekly out of some windows.
The house appeared rather ancient, still well maintained, in the wonky light. Built on a much old-fashioned English theme, it gave no lesser spooky view then a ‘ghost house’ with a full sallow moon silhouetting the lofty pine trees at its back to add to the admonitory looks of the environ.
Suddenly a buff illuminated the dark & deserted front path of the house, being sieved through the bay window of a room for a couple of seconds & then it went out as suddenly as it has appeared. The inside of that room was all dark and lifeless, but soon there was a movement behind the only bed lying in the room. There was a girl trying to gawp at the darkness warily. She had some clothes in her hands and her mechanic motion set them in a line with pillow on the bed, and then she covered the arrangement with a blanket.
‘I think ok’, she mumbled to herself looking appraisingly at the bed. Than opening the drawer of a side table, she got a torch out & again looked at the door suspiciously. & at that very instant a loud screech of a parrot & a childish grave voice emerged from the chest of drawer she was bent on, ‘intooder, intooder…’
‘Oh shut up….shhhh, it’s me Blabber, you duffer’. The girl snapped in a low voice.
‘No intooder…’? The parrot lisped innocently.
‘Course not’. The girl snapped again, ‘it’s only me& blabber, I want you to shut your mouth about it before Dani & Sherry, or you’ll be sorry’. She threatened the parrot as though it could understand each & every word of her.
‘No intooder, babber bill not say…no intooder’. Parrot continued.
‘Oh would you stop this babbling’. She scolded again.
Than she picked up a catcher from the side table and wore her dark curly long hair into a ponytail before wearing a wooly cap over them. Looking at the bed with mild acceptance, she strolled toward the door & peeped outside, opening the door slightly and than got out of it on her toes without making a noise, & shut the door quietly behind her, on which was written, ‘Dare devil, Sarah’. She looked at the paper bearing those words blurred in the dark, with smiling eyes. She loved dubbing herself new names & then writing them on her door, though these names changed as frequently, as her mum would say, “Like changing cellular ring tones”. Smiling at the thought, she moved toward the left, with her head moving in all directions like radar.
There was light coming out of the door that was near the staircase, followed by a fortissimo fast music. She trod a bit fast toward the door, still careful, and peeped through the keyhole.
A tall boy was running on a treadmill very fast with fast background music. He had brown curly hair like Sarah had but his eyes were blue & that of Sarah were having a grayish shade to contradict, but the resemblance of freckled cheeks & thick red lips of them both sneaked upon a fast relation. The boy was in blue shorts & shirt without quiet caring about the whether the night outside the window was boosting.
‘Come now, it’s my turn’, Sarah noticed another figure lying on the bed beside tread mill, reading a book. It was a boy of almost same build but the only difference between them was this boy’s less mischievous feature & that too probably because he was looking cross. All the same, she heard heavy & quick footsteps upstairs. Hiding herself promptly under the side table lying beside her, Sarah saw a formidable looking woman tramping upstairs, looking furious. She tried to hide herself a bit more under table. The woman now almost near her leapt ahead to open the door sternly and snapped, ‘What time do you think is it?’
The racket of the tread mill came to an end & after a pause the boy on the mill exclaimed, ‘mum! don’t tell me you’ve just came upstairs for asking the time, any ways I don’t have a watch right now, why don’t you go & wake up Sarah & ask her. & why are you in a fury mum?’
‘Shut up’ she snapped again scampering toward the cassette player & switched the hullabaloo off. Sarah thought that earth had stopped quivering.
‘It’s 10 0’clock at night, Dani’ returned the woman, reproachfully.
‘Oh!!! Really’ Dani slumped down on a sofa near him, looking jadedly at mum ‘so it’s only half an hours toil, ah…big deal!’
‘Now it’s my turn, Aani’, the boy on the bed got up looking grouchily at the woman.
‘Stop being puerile, both of you’ she snapped. ‘God knows how much am I peeved of both of you & Sarah’.
Sarah murmured angrily under the table, she had not done anything wrong this time, even she was not present at the place of disturbance, and still her mum was trying to take her to the task in her absence.
‘Haroon hasn’t even troubled me the quarter of you both & look at Fasih!’
‘Ah! Maa, know what it shows?’ Dani said in a delighted tone, ‘it shows the capabilities, & I knew that they’re not even a quarter of us. It’s good that you’ve said it yourself’ Sarah smiled slightly at his nonstop defense, ‘you know they haven’t got the guts for_____’
‘& look at Ubaid, how much are you disturbing him, he’s STILL doing his homework’. Mum seemed not to have heard him.
‘And Aani, this shows his laziness, homework at this late hour…see, nothing to be proud of_____’
‘STOP IT’ mum yelled, ‘you’ll certainly drive me mad someday, see’ she spoke dangerously, ‘I don’t want any more disturbance coming out of this room. You have to wake early for prayers, mind it’!
‘Ok mum’ Dani spoke reluctantly, ‘but don’t waste whole temper of yours at me, won’t you go and check why Sarah’s so quiet tonight’ Sarah’s heart pounded furiously, ‘leave a bit of your sweet temper for her’.
‘But what about me’, the other boy protested again, ‘it was my turn’.
‘Sherry, don’t let me say what I have, again’, mum eyed him formidably.
‘But it’s cheating, its my___’
‘It’s not cheating, I’ve given you time before me as well’, Dani blurted.
‘Yes, but that was cause I didn’t get my turn last day’.
‘oh, hold your horses now’ mum’s voice seemed to be coming out of the room toward the corridor, ‘I want this light switched off in 10 minutes, got it? Night_’ she shut the door with a noise behind her.
Sarah tried to cling a bit more to the wall when her mum strolled passed the table to her room. Her heart had started beating violently. ‘Oh please make her come back, make her come back, please’ she prayed silently when her mum opened the door of her room, ‘oh no, oh no, oh no’ she continued hysterically, ‘what if she finds the bed empty & if blabber blabbed even a single word to her___’, her heart lurched severely when she saw her mum stepping in her room. Only her mum came out of the door straight away, peeped in again & than shut the door noiselessly to stroll downstairs.
She knew nothing better then that could’ve happened to her tonight so she heaved a sigh of relief & crawled out from beneath the table as soon as the footsteps of her mum vanished away. Her heartbeat was still very fast. She tiptoed downstairs now, in the lounge that was not lit to her luck. There at the very end of the lounge was a door bolted & opening it noiselessly to expose a staircase going down in a dark room, she slid her self in what was looking like a cellar.
*************************

“To the cemetery”

She leapt in, shutting the door behind her hastily. Switching on the light from the board near her, she strolled down the stairs. It was all still & calm down there. Though, every thing was in a great topsy-turvy. Her mum would often say that they had more junk in that cellar then any owner of a departmental store would have in his store & a single look down there, confirmed the consciousness of her mum.
Sarah moved slowly between some pieces of old heavy furniture to some trunks placed on each other toward the wall. It seemed as though she was looking for something, arching her neck to every accessible place, in the trunks, beneath them & beside them. Suddenly she plunged her hand in between two old chairs & got it out with a worn out pair of white gloves dangling in her hands.
‘No, it can’t help’ she said anguish fully, scanning them closely. ‘It isn’t that scary as the pair I’ve seen last time, but where’ve those gone’? she threw the gloves sloppily and moved a bit further. ‘I wish I can find something on place in here’ muttered Sarah grouchily. But that was no good to accuse someone else for the mess, the causative agent of which was she, herself. Her mum would clear up all the mess, once in a week. In fact that was the only thing she has owed the help of a maid for –of all the household chores- Champa. Champa would visit them every Monday & it seemed that nothing in whole of the valley was happier then the ‘cellar’, that one day. But Sarah would soon get cellar back to the present status at every exploratory expedition. & than Daniel, he was even much better in messing around then her. He was some three years elder than her. Her elder brother Haroon would say that Daniel has the soul of a field rat in him, ever restless. He really could not even sit quietly for 2 consistent seconds; accept for when he was asleep, though with rare chances as he happened to be a sleepwalker also. But Sarah thought it was a con by him, because lying or sitting silently was the last thing he could ever go for.
Growing irate at the exploration that was confirming to be useless, she strolled toward a trunk down the cellar & opened it slowly. “c’mon, c’mon” she sang in an undertone. & while shutting it back, all of the sudden, she hurt a roar. A much muffled roar that startled her like anything. She moved around herself to see what thing has roared in the cellar, but every thing was as calm & still as she has seen when she entered there.
‘Must be a hallucination’! Was the only guess after drawing blank exploratory results. She jerked her head as though jerking the strange thoughts visiting her mind, out when she heard another roar, this time a bit clearer.
Her heart started pounding violently, ‘that can’t…be…be a hallucination’ she spluttered to herself. She looked around her again, suspiciously, ‘ann.…Dani, are you there’, uttered the girl shakily. ‘Hey, look you can’t scare me, fine…come out than’ she prayed though that nobody come out to this appeal. But it would be worse if no one comes out, she thought.
Moving suspiciously & gawking carefully, she verbalized again, ‘see Dani, Sherry, you’d both be sorry for this, come out’ she paused, waiting for an answer, still praying for no answer to come as well. A hush followed her query again.
She tried believing it all to be nothing but the product of the horror movies she loved to play to scare Fahad. Though, this time she was herself the target. Thinking this, she strolled toward the corner of the cellar when an even clearest roar, a bloodcurdling one, with a certain shrillness that made her hair stand at the end had scared the day lights out of her. It seemed to have come from just a meter or two from her. She goggled frightfully round her. The worst part was that the generator of the roar wasn’t on the place from where the voice was coming. Even more troublesome was that it could be, by no chance, Dani or Sherry.
‘It’s… it’s …nothing’ she tried to compose herself. She has never felt this frightened in whole of her life. All the same, she hated to be coward. All this was making her feel ashamed of her. She used to taunt her cousin -Moon- every time when she felt even a bit scared during their most daring adventures but it never occurred to her that she would have to face the same panic some day.
‘It’s alright…ok’ she told herself ‘it may be…a …ere…aaa…mouse’ she muttered uncertainly & than smiled weakly at her own suggestion. ‘Oh yeah…a roaring mouse’. & all at same she heard another roar. As clearer as if someone had roared just in front of her, behind the wall that she was facing. She was clearly feeling her heart sinking in her ribs. A fear of unseen had bound her like anything. It was much difficult for her to maintain her balance & she sat down near the wall trying to relieve herself & only then her eyes hit a hole at the very corner of the wall, very little conspicuous hole. Most part of it was covered with mud. But the weirdest part now was that she hasn’t ever noticed it before; as her visits to the cellar were more regular than she brushed her teeth. Hasn’t ever mum or Champa seen the hole with mud while clearing the mess here?
She sat down with a little hesitation & moved her head closer to the floor to see behind the hole. It was all dark there, but she was now more curious about this unusual hole than scared. She switched on her torch & brought it closer to the hole & peeped inside; hesitatingly. Something was shinning there. It was, she thought some sort of metal. She heaved her head again trying to digest it all. ‘May be…. May be, but no’. She was unable to make any guess & suddenly another roar staggered her out of her thought. but the part she liked the more, this time was that it wasn’t that scary as the last one, perhaps because it was again too distant & low, or because her mind was all numb, unable to even think of anything synonymous to fear, or perhaps she was getting conditioned to it. She was feeling so queasy now that she wanted to lye down on this ancient floor. She was even scared of thinking about anything now & her head was so heavy, she thought it might be because of overloaded thoughts. ‘stop it’, she told her self sickly, ‘stop thinking’, but a thought there tugged so hard in her brain to free itself out of the tangling tentacles of apprehension to race to the relay center of her brain to be dispatched to her senses & the next moment it was there before her, “go through it & see”. A wave of cold crept passed her spine. The daunting moment has approached but her senses were locked.
& just then it seemed as someone in her mind or perhaps somewhere deep inside her body was sneering at her. “So these are all the guts you were so proud of, your nickname suits you just fine”! Many people had joined the sneering chorus as through daring her. Moon & Hannah & Dani &Sherry & even Natasha, the arch enemy of hers at school & many people to whom she never wanted to expose her fears.
‘I’ll see… what’s in there’. She swallowed, composing herself. & every thing fell silent again, no laughter, no mocking, no stupid hiss, just silence. ‘After all it’s my home, what can be dangerous in here’ she uttered with an effort as though doubting the credulity of her own statement. & with much courage, she stuck a trembling hand out toward the hole & then inside it. Something cold & round like a metal knob touched her trembling hand. She tweaked it with much effort & the next moment she was all frozen.
The wall before her, the earth beneath her had all started rattling like the cellar has become the epic center of a seismic disturbance. She tried to get up hurriedly as the wall seemed it was going to fall at her. But she had hardly stepped back once, supported by her quavering footings, when some thing so incredible happened that could never be dreamt of, let alone happen.
The wall before her had started sliding over the upper section of it. Eyes popped out & mouth open to the fullest extend, she felt her nothing short of deadened. Nothing in her wildest dream could be this astounding but as it happened, it took some 20 or 25 seconds for the wall to slide on about a meter & a half of its height. And now the thing before her was even more confounding. She was totally unable to feel or think because of the series of shocks she has come across.
There, before her was a wall half slid up, exposing a dilapidated wooden door. Looking at its last legs with its knob altogether touching the floor (The same knob she had twisted to slide open the wall), the door presented itself nothing short of an about to pounce beast. she stood there for a couple of minutes without betraying any sign of life when suddenly another, muffled, weak still wild a roar shocked her again. All red with fear, she thought there must be something behind the door, some monster or some real roaring rat. There was something in her though, telling her to move back quickly, to leave the cellar, to run upstairs to her room, to get in her bed, inside soft & warm blanket of hers, & to sleep it all off. But the former daring & sneering & hissing voices took over her mind again, repeating the very words she would use to peeve Moon, “frightened, you chicken”!
The brain storming, fear & apprehension all had made her sick like she had never felt before. Heaving up a sigh, she looked around herself apprehensively. What Hannah & Moon would say if they get a word about her baffled state, & how heartily they would make fun of her recent nick, “Dare devil, SARAH”, she looked frightfully at the door again.
‘I shall see what’s behind it’ she told herself firmly. ‘Am not scared, am I?’ Than she draped her arm round her in a cuddle, swallowed & crouched down to the floor.
‘It’ll be alright’ she told herself, ‘nothing is in there’. Though she doubted it more then she could doubt a sun shinning at night.
Than, pitching out her shacking hand toward the knob & even before she could stop herself of thinking what will be behind the door, she twisted the knob, though with much effort & pulled the door toward her slowly but there wasn’t anything staggering there, this time. It was only a veil. She stood up, perplexed, looking at the dark blue, shabby, veil but on close scanning she gave a hysteric laughter, ‘isn’t over, is it’? She was feeling dizzy at what her eyes had put across her mind. There was written on the veil in bold
“TO THE CEMETRY”
She flopped down on the floor.
***
Sarah’s favorite place at her century old ancestral home was the cellar. The grand pa of her grand pa had made this house. She was amongst the 5th generation of this family in this house. She loved to pass her time searching aimlessly in this cellar as on every trip here; she would find some ancient but exciting item to add to her magpie collection. She could very well remember the time when she would toddle down to the cellar & hide behind some trunk & get her parents in a serious problem of finding a 2 year old baby in a place where you couldn’t find anything once you have dropped it. Her mum had told her that she would crawl behind her to the cellar in her 10th month when she had newly gained her legs.
She never could comprehend what was so enchanting in the cellar that would tempt her to step in that useless place. If she had the authority, she would get her bed in that cellar to sleep there as well. But there was only a little problem with all that. It was prohibited for all kids to step here at night. Sneaking however wasn’t prohibited for Sarah.
Even with all that magnetism of cellar, she could never have tagged the cellar for some mystery room, a room that was a gate, a secret one to the cemetery. & now that she had found it, she couldn’t tell the reason for it. It was all like a dream to her. She stood up weakly; as a decision flicked before her eyes, ‘Look inside’! & she knew she’d have to solve the mystery even if there is some wild creature standing there to ambush upon the door opener.
But before she could take a single step toward it, she heard heavy steps on the ceiling of the cellar. Someone was coming down; she could clearly listen to her heart throbs. Promptly moving to the door she shut it & crouched down, twisting the knob, praying for the wall to come back to its original position & to her utter bewilderment, the wall was crouching back in no time & after another 20 seconds; wall reposed where & as it used to be, with the quivering of earth coming to an end.
She bounced toward the trunk beside her to seek hide there, but unfortunately, before she could even turn back, she heard a shocked voice.
‘Sarahhh…’!
‘Oh’, she turned back to see her shocked mum, ‘hi mum’ she smiled weakly looking at her stern expressions.
‘What on earth are you doing down here at this time of night?’ asked her mum through gritted teeth.
‘Who…?’ Sarah blinked, ‘oh me…!’ but she stopped again looking at her mum, thinking it surely was her end.
‘Don’t you know it’s not allowed…don’t you’? She snapped.
‘Er…mum…erm…I…I…was’ spluttered the girl, frightfully. She thought, even looking in eyes of that roaring thing there would not even be that bad as was looking at her angry mum.
‘Not a word’ her mum came hurtling down the stairs with a heavy rucksack dangling lopsidedly from one of her sides & she threw it on the chair.
‘Quickly move to your bed…NOW’.
& Sarah thought it better to run than to walk upstairs to steer clear of her fuming mum & she scurried up, the frightened body only breathed when she thought herself well out of the danger way. Nevertheless, it was no good to get her out of the stupor of what she had experienced just before her mum had broken in on her, inopportunely.
She sat on the little space her bed could offer at the corner because of the camouflage she had built, fixing the hearthrug with her glare; very hot & red in face.
***
Feeling more reckless then when she was there before the veil, she wanted nothing but to go & see behind it. & the apprehension that perhaps her mum had seen every thing was doing no good to her either. Her heart was throbbing heatedly with her mind trapped in perturbed thoughts. & suddenly the door burst open, exposing her mum as red in face as her but it was the color of her fury. Sarah stood up awkwardly.
‘What were you doing there’? Mum demanded in a calm voice even before she’s entered in.
‘Er…I…I was looking for…something’. She stammered, contorting her eyes apprehensively.
‘Would you honor me of telling about the thing that has made you disobey your parents?’
‘I’m sorry mum’, feeling much embarrassed she dropped down her head. The gloves she was looking for were so important to get. ‘I’m really sorry’.
‘That’s not the answer of my question’. Demanded her mum even more calmly which was an immense threat in itself. But Sarah still kept quiet with her eyes fixed at her feet.
‘Has the cat got your tongue’?
Sarah knew she could lie nor tell the truth.
‘Look, I don’t shout at you cuz I love to’ her mum came closer; ‘you know why you aren’t allowed in there at these hours, don’t you?’
Some one had disabled her of perking her head up as she felt thousand pounds of agonizing load on her drooped neck.
‘I’m totally helpless in yours, Sherry’s & Dani’s case, I’m unable to twig why you all love disobeying’. Her mum’s round face really was looking anxious that time. ‘Now the only thing I can do is…’ she stopped for a moment & Sarah heaved her head at once looking at her incredibly, ‘not again, not again…’ her heart beats went all frantic for she knew what her mum would do.
‘You are grounded for this weekend, more precisely for the next two days’. She said in a matter of fact tone, ‘the least I can do to provide you with a chance to sit down calmly & think about it’.
‘But mum____’ Sarah blurted.
‘I wish this time you can learn something from it… good night’ she strolled toward the door but turned toward her again, ‘think, why one’s parent won’t like him at dangerous places…’ she moved toward the door again, ‘sleep tight…’ she shut the door behind her.
Sarah looked around her helplessly & then hurled herself on her bed, angrily.
‘Grounded…again’; she threw her pillow at the door, furiously ‘Ah… the only thing they can do’.
‘Gounded again’! Blabber repeated behind her.
‘Oh shut up’ barked Sarah.
& blabber turned its tail toward her in fury.
Blabber was a very cute little parrot with a small green hooked bill, fluffy green plumage with regularly occurring red patches, puffed up with anger now, it perched on the curtain hangers with the bent claws. It was so tame that it never flew away (though Sarah would’ve loved it doing that). It was the gift of Dani. At first Sarah thought she liked it, but with the passage of time, it downed upon her that Blabber was no lesser than a bugging device & she believed it strongly that Dani had trained it before giving it to Sarah, for it would always blab every thing Sarah thought should be kept secret, before Dani. & that was the reason of Sarah’s contempt for the creature; hence it was given the name, ‘Blabber’. Otherwise Sarah loved pets too much & she had such an unusual collection of pets that her mum would call her room a ‘zoo’.
She had a little green turtle the ‘Tranquil’, almost the size of a palm. It was such a lazy turtle that it would hardly crawl from one end to the other of the study table -where Sarah had kept it- in a week. It loved sleeping too much & never liked being visited, much particularly by Dani. Sarah would often take it out for a walk in her hands. & then there was a pair of beautiful rabbits. Blinky, with fiery red eyes & white fur & ‘Smutty’ with black fur having occasional white patches & black shinning eyes. They lived in the veranda in summers but in winters mum would bring them to garage, still they never mind paying visits to Sarah’s room, time & again. & the loveliest of the pets that Sarah fancied like any thing was the pair of white dove, ‘Mr. & Mrs. Staunch‘. Their brilliantly white shinning fur, the affection for each other & soft cooing made them the centre of attention for every one soon after their arrival. It was in fact a gift from Aani Nadia, Sarah’s mother’s sister & the mum of her best friend Moon. Uncle Ali, her mum’s brother had helped her name them. Both birds were in a big cage hanging with the cupboard trying to sleep at that late hour.
& there also was a ferret that Sarah’s mum never liked. She had found it on the hill behind their home, almost fainted with hunger & cold on the fall last year. The ferret would mostly keep itself in her bathroom when it would not have gone on its hunt, but right now it was sleeping under her bed. Another fellow of Sarah came to her with a similar story; it was a red fox ‘Auby’ as they call her. Once on her morning walk with Hannah & Moon in the woods, the summers last year, she found a little fox pup, struggling out of the reach of an owl but the owl was too clever for the pup & got it with a little effort. The three friends ran toward the owl to make it let the pup go & they had to kind of fight with the owl with sticks & logs & in the end, the owl flew away alone but the pup was too much injured. Sarah took it home & nursed it for almost a fortnight in secret & at last the pup was well again. It was not a big one & Sarah thought it would have some problem to live on its own, but it was looking so reckless to be back in the woods that One day when it was Sarah thought it was able to walk again, the three of them took it back at its place, the Woods.
They forgot all about it a week later, ‘Auby’ however seemed not to have forgotten them. It came back to them after a week when they were out for a walk in the woods & afterwards it would often come at Sarah's place & was still her friend. Though no body at home knew about it.
& then the ducks & hens & chicks that Sarah’s dad had brought her, were countless & she’d kept them in a large cage of about her room’s size in the veranda. & her mum had also brought her a little lamb & it was such a mischievous & agile kid that whole vale loved it. There also was a little aquarium amidst her room that she has bought of her savings. There was a beautiful vivid golden fish with sparkling orange fins in the aquarium which she would called, 'the gold top'. there was also a pair of silvery fish, long like eel & a shy little crab was also the part of her room's aquatic system & Sarah was longing to continue her collection with an eagle, a peacock, an octopus & even a little lion or leopard (she thought there was no problem in mere yearning).
But at the moment none of these fellows were looking amusing to her. It was the worst day of her life.
She could never get why her parents had termed that cellar hazardous. She has always been told of an incident that went on in that cellar & they said it was haunted; still she could never stomach why spirits would dwell in some place completely in shambles & why they would harm the people living there. But unfortunately her grand parents & parents were too old to think from her point of view.
She was told that 40 years ago at a night, in that very cellar, the uncle of her parents, uncle Saeed was attacked by some ghosts. He somehow succeeded in escaping those horrific creatures only with a mutilated body, one of his legs lost. After that night, neither had he moved toward that cellar again, nor did he ever reveal what had happened to him that night, which strengthened everyone’s belief of it to be haunted. But Sarah had never given even two pence to this belief. As to her it was as impossible as believing that Dani & Sherry will become solemn one day. She thought that the spirits & hallucination were synonymous to her parents; still they have never approved any of their children mooching about there. But what Sarah has seen today has made her thoughts & beliefs, all upside down. The spirits, to her couldn’t be mechanical enough to know how to slide a wall open. They could simply destroy it & why on earth would they need to write “to the cemetery” there on that veil, as though guiding someone.
With much brainstorming, she was only able to infer it to be some human activity. But who had done it & for what, was such a head aching puzzle that she felt her head bursting in a few moments. And after all for something not clear at all, she was sentenced a house arrest. How would she go & tell this entire incredible episode to Moon & Hannah?
& suddenly it flashed across her mind like a bolt of light that it was not over still. Her granny used to be her very last hope in such cases; a supreme court where she could always appeal against the sentence her mum would award her. She jumped out of her bed

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