Reading Time: 3 minutes
We are not alone – A Story
The sky was tinted with heavy black clouds that revealed the outburst of emotions of a million stars. It was just another day for the five-year-old Azad with his Baba. He was on his haunches as his father rubbed a wet fabric on a piece of leather. His father looked way older than he was. The streets were wet with incessant rains. One part of his mind was enjoying the wet winds and the howling of the crickets. But he knew that he had to starve himself to sleep that night.
Azad’s baba was a blacksmith. He walked Azad to school every day in the morning and also stood at the gate at the end of the day. Azad’s only friend Fazal moved away a week ago.
Azad’s mother died when he was just a couple of years old. Since then, he had remembered just the memories of his father trying to contemplate all the things around him to show Azad some of the best moments of his life.
Even so, his father was not able to promise him three meals a day. He remembered how a big, fat guy was humiliating his father before hundreds of people for not paying his debt back. Azad’s eyes filled with tears as he saw his father coughing of cold. Azad’s Baba looked at him for one long moment.
“Why don’t you go home beta?” Baba said as he looked into Azad’s red, wet eyes. Azad wiped the tears that escaped his lids and nodded his head. He stood up and sensed that Baba was looking at him. He managed to conceal his emotions and started walking slowly.
A moment later, he heard his Baba coughing again. His Baba lost everything but Azad. He wanted to hug his Baba and tell him everything that hurt his puny mind.
He wanted to cry it all out.
As he walked through the roads, the sun was already half way down the mid of the hills behind the town. He saw children of his age walking with their mothers and fathers. Amidst all of the happenings around him, something caught his eyes near a bush on the side of the street. The leaves rustled and a part of the bush was moving.
His eyes stayed intact at the spot. He moved slowly towards it. He looked into the bush. A pair of kohl balls stared at him. He took a step aback before he saw a little dog looking at him. He moved close to it and lifted the dog up in his hands. His beautiful eyes hewed a curve on Azad’s lips. He smiled at the dog. The dog sniffed him once and licked his cheek. Azad’s world melted for a moment. He hugged the dog for one long moment.
He walked home with the dog in his hands. The little ball of fur moved restlessly rubbing itself against his hands. Azad forgot his dad, his misery, and the world was different all of a sudden. It looked beautiful. He remembered how the touch of his friend Fazal made him feel warm and secured. He remembered every good thing that happened in his life.
He stopped and turned back. His dad’s shop was invisible with all the fog. He saw the yellow light of his father’s workshop shimmering through the distance. He started walking towards it. He hugged the dog tightly and started sprinting. He ran for five long minutes before his Baba noticed him.
“Arrey, why are you here?”
He sat on his knees before his Baba and showed the dog to him.
“Mumma” Azad said in a fainting voice as he panted heavily.
His father laughed and said “What?”
“Baba, do you remember how you used to wrap me up in Mumma’s clothes to keep me in touch with her fragrance?”
His father smiled from eye to eye and said, “Yes”
“Baba, I feel the same when I hug him” Azad said as he looked down at the dog. Azad’s father smiled to himself and looked at Azad with compassion in his eyes.
“Very well” Baba said
“We are not alone, Baba” Azad said