Nostalgia
(A page from memory)
Page 5
His leg was bleeding while he lay dazed on the ground. ‘How shameless he is.’
‘The characterless mothers give birth to these kinds of children.’
‘Actually, only the illegitimate offspring of unmarried parents are involved in these activities.’
Those words were sharper than the bullet stuck in his leg and penetrated his body woefully. ‘Characterless mother! Illegitimate offspring!’ The words echoed in his mind.
‘Clear the passage! Keep the children away! It’s not something for amusement!’ a few police constables continuously shouted, whose voices lessened because of the police siren. He got fired for snatching and lying on the road, surrounded by a crowd in the market. A little crying girl caught his eyes while he tried to get up.
A constable chased his gaze and shouted to remove the little girl, apparently afraid he would seize the girl as security for the fulfilment of his condition.
‘He is a cut-throat criminal. He murdered his father when he was only twelve. How come someone could be this barbarous?’ the mob was gabbling.
The very moment, which the police were thinking would be in his favour, no one knew, was the moment that actually broke him. He tried to run, but the view of that little crying girl caught his legs and he froze.
He was twelve years old when he entered his home and found his little sister crying and screaming terribly. He looked at the other corner of his small home, consisting only of that room where his father was cruelly beating his mother with a stick. It wasn’t something new for him but piercingly painful, as usual. He was too young to save his mother and was frozen in place watching her dying and holding her little sister in his arms with his hands on her eyes.
Her mother just appeared in his imagination, who said two days back that she wanted to see both her kids get an education. She managed his books, which he threw away, saying that he couldn’t study in these circumstances where daily they saw her mother get beaten for small things. “That is why I want you and her to study, to become good people and start a good life far from this hell,” she said with affection.
“I will take you with me out of this place.” He demanded to continue preparing for his exams, and his mother nodded slightly with a painful, but hopeful, smile. He, who was trying to escape with his little sister, suddenly stopped and looked back at his dying mother. He didn’t know how he became so dauntless that he looked for something and found an iron rod right there. He just wanted to save his miserable mother, so he hit his father with the rod on his head…
He didn’t realize when he was back to the present moment. He got up to cuddle that little crying girl. The gunshot echoed through the atmosphere. He was hit in the chest.
The next day, the news headlines were on aired on different TV channels, “A murderous thief encountered yesterday.” People were rebuking him. There was no one who would cry for him, and no one was even responsible for his life except his characterless mother.
~Durdana Arsh
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