•••

•••

S H A H R O Z

He was sitting in his Neuroscience class as he jotted down notes from the projector screen. He was willing to work hard this year, as it's his final year of medical school. Shaheer didn't choose this course and he was glad about that.

For the rest of the two months of summer break, Shahroz had been going to the pub every night. He stumbled back home and vomited, then made his way to his room and always woke up with a pounding headache the next day, but the cycle went on all over again.

But now he was so used to the alcohol, it wasn't affecting him anymore. It wasn't making him forget.

As he was writing down the last line, he heard one of the guys laughing, and then some others joined in. He turned around to find the reason, but suddenly the room was quiet.

'Weird ' He thought.

He turned towards the board to hear what the professor was saying, but he heard those laughs again, but this time, they weren't just laughs. He heard a few of them talk too.

"Did he really fail ?" He heard a girl giggle.

"Oh my God!" Another girl exclaimed, "I heard he did because he sold the professor's dog to the drug dealers!"

They were disturbing him and he was fed up. Once his head was facing the students at the back, the giggles immediately stopped and he wanted to scream.

He turned back around to see the professor packing his stuff to leave the hall and he huffed in exasperation. He missed the last ten minutes of the class over some stupid kids laughing over nothing, and he wanted to punch himself for giving in and being disturbed.

He packed his stuff and made his way out of the hall with a scowl, his steps faltering as he was going towards the professor's office for some notes but he was pushed against the wall by a guy around his age, his hand pressed tightly on Shahroz's neck.

"What the fuck?" Shahroz shouted. He remembered it was a guy from the class he was just in.

There were five others surrounding him and Shahroz pressed himself against the wall even further, thinking that might prevent anything from happening.

The first guy threw a punch straight at his jaw, Shahroz's hand making its way to his face to find his fingers wet with a red colour.

Another guy came and kicked him in the shin, his body collapsing on the ground as he got punches and kicks from all five men. There was a crowd surrounding them and watching, some even taking videos but Shahroz couldn't care less.

He dodged a punch from the first guy and finally, after a full ten minutes of torture, the guys decided to leave, not before saying one last thing to him.

"Stay away from us. We don't want to be with failures like you!" The first guy seethed and pushed him on the floor, giving him one last kick on the stomach before the five of them left.

Shahroz fixed his hands on the walls for some sort of grip and got up, his body shaking due to all the beatings. He looked around the crowd but only noticed one person and the last piece of his heart was shattered.

Shaheer.

A very smug-looking one.

He had a smirk on his face and looked at Shahroz, his stone heart feeling satisfied for achieving his goal - torture his brother till he loses his will to live.

Shahroz limped his way out of the crowd, his mind going around only one thing. He remembered what his father had said, it sounded so similar to what the guy just spat on his face a while ago.

'You failed, son! You failed!'

He could feel his tears at bay as he made his way - he didn't even know where. His eyes were stinging with the urge to just let it all out, but he had to control it. He had to keep some sort of dignity, even though he knew he had none left.

He didn't even realise it but he made his way to the exit. He searched for his car and entered it and threw his books in the backseat.

His head fell on the steering wheel as he cried his heart out. He cried that he was despised by the whole student body. He cried that he was beaten up to pulp. He cried that his brother wanted to get rid of him for good. He cried that his parents were right - that he was a failure.

A complete and utter failure.

He sobbed softly until no more tears were left in his eyes. His hiccups subsided and he inserted the key and roared the car to life.

He needed to get his mind off of things.

He needed to forget.

The alcohol wasn't helping him forget these days so he had to resort to something new. He had to do something else.

He was going to do something even Shaheer had never done.

He was going to go smoke.

Smoke weed.

•••

Hey there peeps! I know, sad chapter. I had to make this one short due to the next one coming up. Anyways, take care and Allah bless you all.

-