Stairway to Heaven

8. Glimpses of Past

"Miss Mashal Abbasi to the Principal's office. I repeat—" The sound on speaker rang through the School Premises and Mashal looked away from the board to hear her classmates snicker.

"Ohh—Looks like GEEK here has been upto no good—" A guy sitting on seat next to hers, mocked loudly and others around him joined in excitedly. Very well knowing what it could be about; she stood up, adjusting her spectacles.

Some half an hour later, she'd walked out of the Principal's office with a headache and dampened spirits.

"I am sure you might've a clue as to what this is going to be about—" The Principal went on in a strict and matter of fact tone; while Mashal kept her head down with eyes fixated to scraping the skin around her fingernail.

"It's not my place to comment on any parents way of upbringing their child—however, I can't help but see signs of serious neglect with Mateen." Mashal continued to inflict assault on herself, now switching to biting on the inside of her cheek.

"Yesterday, Shaheer; Mateen's classmate, accidentally spilled water on his notebook and even apologised profusely for his mistake. Next thing we know, Shaheer's notebook is all torn up and thrown away in dustbin—" Exhaling a soft tired breath; 14 year old Mashal silently listened to complaints about her 7 year old baby brother.

"—When the teacher asked Mateen about it, he blatantly admitted to the crime without any signs of remorse, whatsoever. Instead asked us, shouldn't his sorry be enough to make up for the mistake, too—?" Madam Safeena cried out exasperated. She appeared to be at her wits end, from constant complaints coming from different parents about one thing or another Mateen did to their child.

"According to your genius brother, Miss Mashal, he simply wished to show everyone how pointless the concept of apology was. Does this make any sense? Is this what he is being taught at home? A child of mere 7 years age, can't fathom the concept of forgiveness? Shaheer's parents are furious and are demanding an explanation from me for this inconceivable behaviour! And whenever we try to get in touch with your parents they are too busy to take any notice. I don't understand what exactly are they doing or why—"

The Principal's words kept ringing in her head as she made way to her brother's class. Heaving a big breath and plastering a smile on her face, she pushed open the door to his class; and easily spotted Mateen playing in the back with Ammar and other kids.

"Mateen! Your sister is here—" Some kid called out to him and immediately a smile erupted on his face as he snapped his head to meet her gaze.

"Mushy!" He called out exhilarated, before running up to her, who had already squatted down to his level to let Mateen jump into her outstretched arms.

"What's my Big Man upto?" She teased, while finger combing the hair falling on his forehead.

"Why are you here? It's not your break time, yet." He questioned suspiciously and she stood up with a smile.

"I had some errands to run in your building—" She gave an excuse, which he didn't buy at all.

"Let's stop by the Arcade on way back home, today. Okay?" Mateen's eyes widened in surprise, before he jumped up in joy. Mashal softly chuckled at the sight of his baby brother and tried to not let her worries weigh her down. But unfortunately, things were only destined to get worse.

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Mateen walked into the classroom and immediately spotted Hajra sitting in the front row; laughing at something her friend was telling her. He watched her with a growing smirk, momentarily; before crossing over the room to reach her.