آغازِ سفر

•••• •••• ••••

•SOME DISTANCE BELOW

THE BALTIT QILA•

Hours had passed in that dark room which she was dragged in, tied strongly to the edge of the handrail on the ground level. Her abaya was muddled with dirt, niqab wet and cold but still providing the veil. Eyes were dried up of tears and hands were cut with the thick rope. Her breath, half lost; half present... WHAT more could she have done besides that she did? Nothing.

Her throat was dry from screaming, yet, lips not being able to stop the wird of Allah hu Akbar in a low broken voice but continuous. It was as if she wanted to believe it was a trial or that she would wake up to the sight of her room again. She unbearably gathered the courage to have sabr. Seconds later, she heard someone's footsteps towards her when her vision went black and the grip was lost.

Not aware of what's in her fate anymore, the heart was as heavy as a rock and the body had given up to the pain.

Ussne zindagi apna haq kabhi nahi samjha tha magar ye besh qeemti cheez thi, ussey ehsas hua tha.

2 months Back

It was seven in the morning on a Saturday, mid july. Zaina was woken up from the noises from downstairs. The preparations of the first day of Eid ul Fitr were on peak and so everyone was awake except her. She looked at the time and panicked, dashing from her bed straight to the stairs. There were displayed the cards that Alisha, her 5 year old niece made for her 21st birthday. After throwing on her hijab, she zoomed down the stairs and into the living room where Noor and her cousins were putting up banners and finishing cleaning up!

Madiha was busy in the kitchen with phuppo and tayi ammi. The fragrance was delighting. Zaina escaped their eye and ran to the sehan without anyone noticing. Hadi, Fahad and Asif were preparing for the fireworks and BBQ while Shahvez Sahab was watering the flower pots along the door. She fixed her dubatta and went to greet her Baba. That was the first thing she did everyday.

"As'salamuAlykum baba.."

"Wa'alykum Asalam, kesi hai meri beti?"

"Theek hoon baba."

After apologizing for her late appearance, Zaina went on to say Salam to the other group.

She was welcomed with a "Wa'alykum Asalam, aa gayi ho shakal ley k 12 baje."

"Saat baje hain bhai, exaggeration ki bhi hadd

Hoti hai." Fahad laughed at that.

She then pushed him aside playfully.

"Zaina betaa"

"jee mama?!"

"Ye kya baat hui tumhari, jao jake jaldi se ready ho.. time nahi hai!"

She heard that almost everyday and the fact that Madiha always knew when and where she was no matter how careful she would be. Maybe it's a mother thing! Noor was busy with Sara and Rukhsar when they all turned back to look at her "subha ka excited avtaar". Alisha came running to her phuppo and hugged her. All the kids of the family were fond of Zaina.

"Zaina, tum har eid issi tarah kerti ho aur mujhe sab akele kerna parta hai"

Noor was ready to flip at her older sister but then noticed her cousins who were looking right at her giving her a look, feeling unappreciated. Noor zipped it with a smile. They both giggled at her attempt. Zaina ignored Noor's taunt and headed upstairs to get ready.

When she got out of the shower, her phone's screen was bright with Hassan's name. He sent a voicemail. Which said, "Your saas is going to make a dish out of your future husband and it is an emergency."

She smiled at that confession which sounded like a police helpline call and left a message saying,"I woke up late and just heard your plea. I'm sorry but we don't take action on baseless complaints. Also, meri tayi jaan ko kosna band karein! itni pyari to hain."

She was clearly teasing him because everyone knew that Saima Abid had a habit of doing everything her way and were a perfectionist. Her only son, Hassan Abid Mirza would be the first and most affected victim.

Zaina was looking at her suit with embroidered borders and straight long sleeves. It was black, one of her favorite shades, paired with a red and copper dubbata. She blow dried her long caramel wavy hair making a jura and pinning her hijab into place. The niqab for today was skipped as it was an only-family gathering for Eid.

Her brown eyes were round and big, she had a warm beige complexion which complimented her sharp features like the nose. Her cheeks were opaquely tinted and she had arched eyebrows. She resembled her father unlike her two siblings.

To finish up, Zaina put on a light pink colour on her lips, some blush and mascara which was her casual limit to a makeover. Her sandals were pink strapped with a flower in the middle. She wasn't the one to overdo it but there was grace every time.

This Eid's First day was memorable as always, Madiha and the women managed to arrange quite a dawat on a very unpredictable date after Ramadan. Fahad and the men also surprisingly helped a lot this year. The girls were exhausted by the end of the day taking care of everything while carrying their suits along.

Faisal Mirza and family were invited from Islamabad to attend, they would be arriving tomorrow and so the arrangements were fancier according to them becoming Zaina's in-laws.

[**Some background info!**]

Shahvez Mirza was a retired colonel and his family line belonged to the Pak army. He had two older brothers and a younger sister. Iftikhar was a general and his wife Zahra, was a doctor. Faisal; among them, was the first to not participate in the army and decided to stay in Islamabad after marriage to Saima Abid, a former journalist. Their son Hassan had followed his father's footsteps.

Iftikhar and Shahvez moved to Hunza shortly after the passing away of their father. Fahad was the first born before Zaina and Noor. Their phuppo, Amina was married to an Air Force Captain and lived in Hunza. She had no children of her own and her only children were her nieces and nephews whom she loved dearly.

Iftikhar's family stayed over at Mirza Manzil for the next day and all other guests had left for their homes. At around 3 a.m, when everyone was fast asleep, there was a loud noise resembling that of a minor explosion from a distance in the woods.

Shahvez's security system was alerted due to the sound waves and an alarm broke out. The guards shut the alarm pretty quickly. Zaina's deep sleep was broken with the explosion at once. She recited Ayat-ul-Kursi immediately and went downstairs after a few minutes to check.

"Mama did you hear that?" She asked inquisitively.

"It's Nothing beta.. maybe it was for garbage disposal somewhere." She told her not to worry and go back to bed.

There was something about that explosion that didn't let her drift to sleep. These types of small bombs in the rural or even robbery attacks did happen in their area but this one was strangely different.

•••••

The sun rose, the Azaan has been called, and the day now had the right to begin!

After offering Fajr, she sat on the prayer mat looking outside the window at the sunrise. The masjid was beautiful and so were the shadows that were created around it. The pigeons sat on the domes, each one busy with it's own work of life. Behind the masjid was plain green land, unoccupied, peaceful. Her eyes went over to the fence surrounding the land which drained the peace restlessly. It felt like the deep woods were howling to take in the grace of the land and the beauty of the masjid but failed to cross that fence. Her mind wandered away with each passing second.

["ZAINA!! Kahan gayi thi aap? Aapko kitni dafa samjhaya hai k ye line cross nahi kerni."

"Mama meri ball.."

"Ball k peeche aap iss jungle ki taraf jaa rahi hain? Baba ko pata chaley ga to naraz honge, phir kabhi khelne nahi denge yahan.."

"Kyu nahi jaa sakte mama? Taya abu bhi to gaye the gari ley ker.. to phir-"

"Bas keh dia hai na, larkiyan aur specially bachey to bilkul bhi nai jaa sakte, no more questions!"]

The conversation with her mom at age 8 revived in her head. She never got that ball back and neither did it return from a pile of plants and long weeds that were now grown to become large trees with huge branches.

Her conscience was broken with the door knock! It was Noor.

"Zainaa, baher nikloo, jaldi aao."

"Kya ho gaya hai, kyu cheekh rahi ho?"

"Khud aa key dekh lo."

This habit of Noor to build suspense was very annoying to Zaina. She folded the prayer mat and hoped to not get any more wahiyat surprises from her cousins. The last time they stayed over, the plan was to have her believe that she went invisible which of course failed just when she went to claim the last keema naan from the fridge. The amount of people that ran towards the kitchen was petrifying.

She came down the stairs to a sight of a bouquet that had her name on it when Zahra tayi walked in along with Madiha. She went on to say Salam to them and asked where Shahvez was, realizing she didn't see him around. Shahvez was cleaning one of his glasses in the drawing room when he heard the Salam and an embrace.

"Raat ko neend aa gayi phir?"

"Jee. Kyu?"

"Kyunke Meri Zaina thori si darpok hai"

"Baba, mei bahadur hoon! Ese chote mote dhamakon se mujhe farq nai parta."

"Acha? Jab choti thi tab gun se darti thi.."

"Tab choti thi.. ab to pure 21 Saal ki hoon aur gun chala bhi leti hoon! Akhir Colonel Shahvez Mirza ki beti hoon. Aur konsa mujhe koi gunpoint pe-"

"Bas."

"Ok sorry baba. Acha chorein, aap Kya nashta kareinge?"

"Apne saas sasur k liye banao.. vo arahe hain. Unka istaqbaal kerna hai.."

"Jee jee ab to wohi hain mera sab kuch, aap to chor gaye mujhe?"

"Ab ye to kisi ne nahi kaha."

This loving tone of Shahvez Mirza only became prominent with his daughters. His way of life was far more strict and dominant than he showed them. He loved them dearly and especially his first one! She came into his life during the most tragic time and filled it with Rehmat! She was the second most precious thing to him after his Watan.

•••

The cars started coming in the driveway and the guards let open the gate for them to enter. Madiha and Shahvez received Faisal and Saima from the door. A few men walked in from behind them holding gifts and baskets.

Zaina was the one to prepare breakfast as instructed by Madiha. It was true that Zaina still hadn't adapted to the new taya-tayi-bane-in-laws scene but she had to adhere. This was also the first rishta done within the family. From Iftikhar's children; Sarah and Hadi weren't married. All the rest including Fahad were married out of family. This arrangement wasn't planned by the brothers, maybe it was just qismat.

Saima Abid came into the kitchen to check on her daughter in law to-be just as Zaina was preparing to go and greet them. She hugged Zaina and kissed her forehead.

"Madiha kyu kehti ho beti ko itne lawazmaat. Hum konsa paraye hain.. hamesha kehti hoon saas se pehle mai isski tayi jaan hoon."

"Nai tayi jaan, esi koi baat nahi hai. Aap aur taya abu k liye mei pehle bhi sab kerti thi!"

Madiha smiled at them, thanking Allah for blessing her daughter with people who would consider her their own and prayed for her naseeb.

After breakfast, they were all gathered in the lounge. Talking and sharing stories while the cousins gave each other funny looks on their parents guftugu.

In midst of the noise, Zaina felt herself zoning out that she didn't even realize when the discussion turned towards her and Hassan's upcoming nikah. That's when Faisal called her and put his hand over her head as a gesture of love.

"Aaj iss Eid ki mehfil mei hum sab ek saath hain to mei ek aelan kerna chahunga! Pehla to apni khush naseebi ka k meri pyari Zaina hamare ghar ki bahu hone jaa rahi hai. Aur dusra k is me aur deyr nahi kerni chahye!"

That's when Zaina zoned in again, "That means they're holding the nikah? Haye Allahh," She thought to herself.

As they were setting up a date, she noticed Noor and Sarah's khofnaak expressions at her. They were trying to make her blush but instead she put her hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing. All three of them were now trying to control their haasa looking at each other in triangles.

It was a long evening. More like a khoyi hui shaam for Zaina. She couldn't help but wonder off in her own mind. There was so much waiting to be figured in her life that she didn't know where to start. Everyone opened up their presents, took lots of pictures, talked all evening and enjoyed the pakwaan. Zahra, Madiha, Saima and Amina picked out different clothes and jewellery for Zaina and planned as if it was the first and last wedding to be seen.

The teasing Zaina sessions on "ohoooo dulhan" "Sajan Jee ghar aaye.." and the worst one of all was when Fahad out of nowhere sang "Ek HazArOn MeI mEri bEhNa HAi" acting all emotional and teary. His wife, Iqra bhabhi was traumatized at his singing skills for the first time in their married life. The day came to an end with hot cups of kashmiri chai in the lawn.

After changing and offering Isha, Zaina was invited to the tv room for a movie where Noor, Sara, Hadi, Rukhsar, Fahad and Iqra were fully violating the rule of sleeping early in the house.

"Tum kahan jaa rahi ho? Called Sara.

"Mei soney.."

"Itni jaldi aaj? Idher aao tum"

"Kya hai ese kyu dekh rahi ho jese mene koi gunah kiya hai?"

"Beta aap sach mei itni anjaan hain ya phir jaan buj ker apne dil k laddu chupa rahi hain?

"Kya matlab?"

"Ab issey matlab batao.." Added Hadi.

"Mohtarma apke honey wale shohar to aaj aye hi nahi aur apne notice bhi nahi kiya.. Kamal ho gayi hai!"

Zaina realized that Hassan was actually missing and was shocked at her absent mindedness.

"Oh yess"

"Oh Yes nahi, OH NO!" Repeated Sara.

"Kabhi kabhi to mujhe lagta hai k tumhe koi interest hi nahi-" She was interepted by Zaina.

"That's not the case at all. I'm just worried about my exams after eid to mera nahi gaya dhyan. Aur mei soney jaa rahi hoon, mujhe nai khaani dant.. goodnight awam!"

••••

She was about to fall asleep when she remembered the bouquet from the morning. She left it unattended. Without thinking, she got up and it was there, right on the couch next to the window. "Oh God," escaped her mouth.

She held it up in the reflection of the moon light and saw a note.

Khubsurat shab hai, be wajah ka iztirar hai..

Iss ruhansa sham mei gazab ka khumar hai.. Jane vo konsa shaks hai bhula hua yahan..

Jane kis ajnabi ko uska intezaar hai..

Kal milte hain dost!

Hassan Abid Mirza,

She smiled at the note, and whispered,

"Muft ka complicated insan."

________________________________________

First chapter khatamm!!! 🤧

Please continue reading, it gets better. 🌝

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