Major reediting going on, just for the heads up the chapters are available ahead but they might not make much sense since changes have been made, but I am not a dead author, n I will be updating it quickly so hang on tight n keep giving love. Capisce.
Dated : 27 June 2023
'dil banke ma dil dharkaoun ga'
(I'll be your heart, and IÂ will be the reason your heartbeats)
.
Caught in the crossfire.
"It has gotten a bit rusty," Haya indicated to the hinges where rust had travelled and the wetness had sunken in the wood. It was a rustic cabin in the middle of nowhere. The trees stood up like spikes. Zigzagging the corners, while ready to fall rain water filled clouds, stood overhead.
It was a place which had gotten less important with time, but Haya had spent half her childhood there, with her grandparents before they shifted back to Lahore. They hadn't visited this land for years. It was away from population, for detoxifying and perhaps mending relations.
"Doesn't make it any less beautiful," Ayat said cracking open the double doors, as they walked in from the grassy front porch. "I can't believe this, it must be the best weekend I have ever spent, also two nights with you Haya, it is going to be very...very healthy,"
"I understand, you haven't been well lately, I thought you could unwind for a little while,"
"Thank you," Ayat wrapped her arms around Haya.
"No thanks among homies," Haya rubbed her back. Ayat smiled whole heartedly, and she didn't feel like she needed to envelope her feelings. She could be real for once. She moved her backpack full of her essentials into the living room.
"What have you decided we'd do?"
"Decided..." Haya thought for a while. "Yes. Since there are no internet connections or any other connections for that matter. I thought about watching movies. Old school and scary. It is going to be fun. I have DVD's in the store room, what do you think?"
"I think it's amazing," Ayat excitedly roamed around the place. "It's cold,"
She hastily closed the door and Haya moved to the windows to shut them. They could feel goose bumps rising on their skin like needles. The place was wicking their heat faster than they had thought.
"There is a fireplace as well,"
The furniture stood in all it's glory. Beautiful photo frames hung on the cracked painted walls and an abandoned fireplace in the middle. The place smelled like books and coffee. the smell of her dreams. It was the smell of hope.
Haya wiped the glass of the fireplace with a cloth, and inside there were ashes from previously burnt woods.
"Do we have to bring in woods to burn up?" Ayat jumped in excitement peeking out into a little shed outside under the darkening night.
"Yes. Me and my siblings had so much fun bringing woods to burn up when grand pa asked us to, we could barely pick one log at that time," Haya laughed.
"Let's go then. I am freezing already," Ayat wrapped her shawl tighter around her body. A shower of rain starting pouring through the sky. It made her feel so heavenly. Haya didn't want to ruin her happiness but she had to, or she'd regret all her life, that she didn't try
"There is this funny myth about this place. This place was encompassed with brothels in late ages. There were kothas. A freshly raped twaif was buried alive underground someplace here. she was very beautiful. A true beauty. They say she was killed unfair. She wanders here now to take revenge on men because the man who raped her blamed the incident on her. Now she wanders this area. At first she appears as a magnet for men and as soon as she had reeled them in, she becomes a terrifying figure who eats the man who she has enchanted," (Brothels)
"That's hilarious. That's some gender not to be," Ayat laughed. Haya opened the door to the shed, as they walked in. Stacks of logs were arranged in piles along the wall. Dry and useful.
"Thank god we are women. My brother's barely came here due to this," Haya's eyes glinted in mischief. "While we girls boasted hard in this place, because we thought that the wandering women was on our side. But another myth accompanies this. They say she killed the owner of the brothel who was a lady. Guess she believed hard in one more thing. 'Aurat he aurat ki dushman hoti ha'. Practically the wandering lady hates humanity. Majorly men though," (A women is always a women's foe)
"It is all a myth right?" Concern hinted the young doctors voice.
"Obviously. Not that I believe it,"
Haya said as if trying to convince herself more than Ayat. Ayat shook her head and tried to lift on log up and put it in the small trolley beside the pile. Haya helped along and they managed to light the fireplace.
"It is time to go in the kitchen and cook food," Haya squeaked.
"I only know how to cook. Pasta. Thank god, you love cooking Haya and can cook all the cuisines. Anyone would love to have you as a wife," Ayat said lifting the shoppers filled with groceries.
"You can't bribe me,"
"I am doing all the coffees and teas for the whole weekend," Ayat boasted.
"Yeah, yeah," Haya rolled her eyes funnily and they went inside the kitchen preparing dinner. Laughing and smiling after a very long time. The ate the dinner in the kitchen and then cleaned it up catching up on old times when things were good, before the one who must not be named came along.
"We should sleep in one room," Haya suggested. Ayat thought about the wandering lady and agreed immediately. She couldn't afford a churail on her trip for peace. She suspected Haya had suggested it for the same reasons.
"Does well with me," Ayat said and they went inside the room. It was colored mahogany with a double bed and floor to ceiling windows with rain splashing on the glass. Fresh sheets on the bed and warm cozy blankets with it. Haya had made her so happy. She owed her one for this.
"Hope you like this," Haya said when Ayat came from the bathroom after taking a shower. Haya had already taken a bath while Ayat was taking a look around the room.
The night was still young, but both the girls slept watching the movie. Ayat had appeased with the fact before sleeping. Ali and Aman were officially gone, and so was Maaz Farooq Chaudhry, and it would be a leisure man's activity to think of a knight in shining armor. Fairytales didn't exist in her dictionary anymore.
.
.
.
Ayat squirmed in sleep, her throat parched dry. She reached for the mineral water on the side table with closed eyes, but the clumsiness threw the bottle overhead and down on the floor. The thud awakened her fully. She put a hand on her chest as she breathed before she adjusted to the only source of light. Moonlight from the window into the room. She couldn't even find her mobile for the flashlight. It was still in her handbag.
She switched on the button of the lamp but in vain, the room seemed more pitched than last night. It was possible that the power had been cut off. She removed the comforter suddenly realizing that Haya wasn't beside her anymore.
She opened the bottle but no drop of water came out. An empty water bottle wasn't her ideal deal right now and god knows where Haya had disappeared in the middle of the night.
She put her feet on the cold floor, a shiver passing through her body. She made her way outside slowly opening the door. It wasn't a small cabin. It sure was spacious. You realize it only when you are alone.
"Haya," She called. The bottle still in her hands for a refill.
"Haya you there?"
Thanks to her memory she remembered the way to the kitchen and ultimately to the fridge.
Where was Haya?
She took a bigger bottle and decided to pour the water from the bigger one to the small one. She was in her vibe putting the water and humming a tune along when suddenly a name flashed her mind.
The wandering lady.
Stop being superstitious. She shoved the absurd ghost phobia away.
She shook her head, but then again.
She killed the owner of the brothel who was a lady.
Aurat he aurat ki dushman hoti ha.
"Khud tou pata nahi kahan gayab ho gayi aur mujhy wo stupid myth bhi suna dia," (Don't know where she has gone herself after feeding me in with that stupid myth) Ayat mumbled. A fluffy thing brushed her bare feet. Her heart came to her throat. She frantically jumped in shock and screamed spilling the water on herself.
At first she heard the door to the kitchen close with a thud. The wooden floor creaking and the rain getting harsher. All blood drained from her face. She clutched the fridge's handle tightly.
"Haya!" She screamed. She smelt before she felt. The familiar scent of iron and male musk and then a biceps larger and more rigid than a girl's arm. Instead of saying anything she screamed again. Touching, smelling and hearing weren't enough. She needed to have all five senses. Vision was pitched black. Through panic she shrieked in terror gasping for breath. The adrenaline had peaked her heart rate and breath.
A warm hand pressed her lips succumbing her shrill. A warm and comforting breath brushed her cheeks. A strong embrace enveloped her. A firm assurance. A hard frame against her.
"You are safe," The voice was honeyed and low. Just the perfect mixture. She was a rather explicit damsel in distress. Her lungs again learnt to breath and her heart started to beat again. Faster. As if his words were directing her body from now onwards.
"Don't be afraid. I am here and I am not leaving anytime soon,"
All the confusion and terror subsided with nostalgia. Venomous nostalgia.
His hand was still on her mouth and it was a voice she couldn't forget even in her dreams. A low sob erupted from her mouth. The hand replaced with something she wasn't expecting, the person in her closest proximity did the deed. He kissed her neck and through the mixture of irony and pain that had engulfed her she pulled him in. She recognized him. No one had the audacity to make her feel like that. No one but him. Why was he here was a question for another day.
Right now what mattered was that he was kissing her crashing through the walls she had spent years building, penetrating her soul. The ignited fire making them dance along the flames of the forbidden. Sin's a magnet. It pulls. Her nails dug in his arms as she went feeble in his arms. He attached her to the fridge, pushing her along and supporting her petite frame.
He was invading her and she couldn't find the strength nor the words to stop him. It was a mental block. She had forgotten how to function. She was lost in his spell. The dizziness he had put her through. Her finger brushed his neck towards his spine. His heart was beating more than average, and her's equally complimenting him. Like they both were getting drunk on each other.
A few more minutes of torchure and pleasure and comfort before cold air hit her sucked skin, little needle like pain. Before she could recover or contemplate anything. The power went on making everything look so vivid...and wrong. So very wrong.
Maaz Farooq Chaudhry stood in all his glory. With his tall frame to his piercing brown eyes, everything seemed like a dream. Unreal. If she rephrased it. A nightmare perhaps. Torturous in its way.
"Where are they?" He demanded. Her cheeks were flushed. He was still too close to her. His chest pressing hers, her body was supported by him.
"What? Who?"
"The bastards who kidnapped you, tell me where they are?" Maaz asked. At first his words seemed like a blabber fogging her mind.
"What are you talking about?" Ayat asked.
"What are you doing? And what do you mean by kidnapped?" she asked much desperately this time.
"Did they blackmail you?" He asked a sudden flash of anger coursing his system.
"Blackmail...kidnap...who? I don't understand any single word. I am fin..fine. I was on a little vacation with Haya," She told him, she couldn't for heaven's sake make eye contact whilst he bore holes through her.
"They are blackmailing you aren't they? They are pushing their luck. They must be in the basement, that is where they would first think of hiding. Don't worry. I have this place figured out. Don't worry Ayah,"
He grabbed her hand and pulled her behind him down in the attic. The smell of wet wood and dead rats was evident, Ayat gagged when she met the smell of iron mixed with the previous three.
"Come out you bastards!" He roared.
"Who are you calling?" She asked. "I told you no one kidnapped me. I am here with Haya,"
Maaz looked at her for a few seconds and then a loud noise of door crashing close thrummed their ears. Maaz ran towards the door and harshly banged it. "Open the door!"
"I am sorry Maaz," It seemed like Shahzain's voice.
"Ayat I had to do this," It seemed an utterly apologetic voice. It was Haya. This was all a trap. A fucking trap. And for a split second Maaz thought he'd lose her and she thought he was here again for her, not because she was dying while being abducted. Not because they were pushed into this. They were only caught in the crossfire. A fire they put fuel to.
...
Greetings fellas!
Another chapter. Hope you like it.
Don't forget to vote, comment and share.
Happy reading!