A cluster of short stories
My Top Secret: I love happy endings because I know my life won't have one, reading an imaginary character's happily ever after somehow makes me happy, as if it's me who got a happy ending.
And my writings are based on my t...
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She stepped out of the jail. Clad in a white Salwar-Kameez, she was a beautiful 25-year old girl. But unfortunately, she was a murderer, who spent her life's last ten years as a prisoner. At the age when a girl would be focusing on her studies, career, or marriage - She was living a hell of a life.
She stood outside the gate of the jail, thinking about where to go. She had a home decade ago, but she was afraid to go there. She would be unwelcomed there.
"Are you Aafreen Sayyad?" A masculine voice startled her. She looked at the source of the voice and found a middle-aged man wearing a driver's uniform standing in front of her.
She hesitantly nodded.
"Hiba madam has sent me to pick you up. Please sit in the car."
Hearing her name, all the painful memories of her horrible childhood flashed in her mind. She didn't want to face that lady. But she had no other option. Hiba was a dangerous woman. And Aafreen was a victim of her wrath.
She quietly walked to the car with slow and hesitant steps and sat on the backseat. As the journey began, her breath turned uneven. A fear invaded her mind. The same fear which she used to feel ten years ago. She was trying hard not to panic.
The car stopped in front of a very familiar place. The driver opened the door for her. She mumbled a thank you and stepped out. Her eyes took in the surroundings. Everything was still the same. The Qureshi Villa was nothing less than a monarchical palace. It screamed royalty. However, it's utter silence was torturous for any innocent soul. A silence which mourned, which grimaced, which grieved.
Aafreen felt millions of emotions in a fraction of seconds. She was happy to come back to the place she once called her home. She was sad because she knew it was no more the same Qureshi Villa. She was scared because once who loved her unconditionally will now hate her to no end.
Her dreams broke years ago, so does her heart. But she was still alive with a tiny hope. However, she was afraid that if this hope too broke, she will die that instant.
Her thoughts came to a halt when she heard her voice.
"Aafreen..."
She glanced at the front of her. There she was sitting in a wheelchair, Hiba Sayyad, her stepmother. The woman she feared the most. For Aafreen, the devil was more compassionate as compare to this vile woman. She was responsible for what Aafreen became.
But now that woman no more looked dangerous. She looked defeated. Her eyes, which once carried hatred for every pious soul, now itself begged for affection. She was tired of hating everyone.
"Come here." Aafreen was indeed scared of her stepmother. But she could read her eyes. It longed for affection.
She slowly walked to her and bent down to her level. Hiba tried to speak but no word came out of her mouth. No words had the power to describe what she felt at that moment. Her eyes filled up. For the first time in her life, Aafreen saw motherly love for herself in Hiba's eyes. Hiba patted her head and pressed a button of her automatic wheelchair to move it towards her room.
