Preparation
[This is the continuation of ‘Story of a Woman Ch. 5. please Complete Ch. 5 before reading this or start from the Ch.1]
…When we finally left the library, I opened the door for her, and before entering, she looked at me, and with a surprisingly peaceful look on her face, she nodded and I knew that my plan had worked.
She was now aware of everything, from that suicide note of Junaid to Hurram.
We got in the car and before I could even start the engine, another car stopped in front of us. Hurram stepped out of the car and walked over to the window beside me. He asked the guard sitting beside me to get in his car and asked me to drive her home. “Well, this is convenient.” I thought to myself and we drove off.
I finally had a chance to speak to her and I decided to ask her everything that was in my mind ever since Hurram revealed all this to us. After getting in the car, and traveling a little distance, I could see that she was still that same Rihanna; the same look on her face, with a book in her hand just like always. She wasn’t even interested in knowing more about the plan.
“It seems as if you like reading books a little too much.” I asked.
“Well, books are the only friends I have ever got.” She replied.
“Did you ever try escaping?” I asked her right away, but she stayed silent for a while and then replied, “No, never.”
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to kill him instead.” She said and proceeded, “It feels like I have spent centuries in that house. That may be house for others but to me it’s a grave. He never allowed me to have friends ”
“I don’t think it would be easy to make new friends when you have such an introverted personality.” I thought to myself and asked, “Do you know why mother was in jail?”
“No. Arkham never told me. Do you know?”
“No, I was a child back then. My grandma never talked about it either.”
This was the first time I had an actual conversation with my long-lost sister. I could see how the years of solitude had molded her personality.
I was about to leave when Hurram came to me and said, “How did it go?”
“Went better than expected… and thanks for the head start.”
“No need to thank me.Instead forgive me for using you but trust me I don’t have any other choice.” After a little silence, Hurram proceeded, “Arkham took my family from me, but I won’t let him do it again with someone else. Start counting, you will unite soon.”
There was a shine in his eyes that I was able to see. But I couldn’t tell what it was all about. Was it because he was now going to take his long-awaited revenge? I didn’t hesitate to ask.
“Hurram!” I called his name.
“Yes?” he responded.
“Who do you live with…? I mean don’t you have a wife or children?”
With a smile on his face, Hurram replied, “I had a brother, a wife, a son, and a daughter, but after Arkham killed my brother, I spent most of my time trying to get to Arkham, but my family wasn’t comfortable with all this. My wife divorced me and also took my children saying that I might put them in danger. That’s why I live alone.”
“You know how to cook?” Junaid asked me when I reached home..
“Yeah, I live alone, so I have to cook often.”
“I have brought some fish.”
“That is great!” I said and went to the kitchen.
At the dining table, Junaid asked, “What do you think about Hurram?”
“I don’t know. I used to doubt him, but he seems nice now.”
“I too used to doubt him, but how exactly could he harm us. He took you because taking me wasn’t the ideal choice. You were able to come back from Arkham’s house safely without being killed or trapped. I don’t think he wants to harm us. He just wants to take his revenge and most importantly we share the same goal.”
“Yeah, you are right.” I said and we both went to sleep.
The next day, I went to pick up Rihanna, the guard escorting her didn’t get in the car. Hurram was probably responsible for this. We were on our way to the library and I asked her, “Do you always just read?”
“Sometimes I write too.”
“I would love to read your work?” She handed me a notebook and said, “You can keep it.”
We pulled in front of the library and Rihanna went inside with two guards who were waiting for her at the front door. I picked up her notebook and started reading. It appeared to be a collection of poems and short stories. I started going through the notebook and before I could read it properly, it was already the time to leave. Before dropping her off, I asked her, if she had ever tried publishing her work.
“Arkham used to insist me on publishing my work but I never intended to.” And proceeded, “It is just a hobby. Arkham never let me out so I created the outside world on my notebooks to wander in.”
She still possessed the same grim mood, but this time I was able to know her a little better. She talked to me about her hobby of writing and she revealed how energetic she was in this field.
The next day when she got into the car, she hesitantly asked, “Aren’t you here to kill Arkham?”
“No! why would I do that?” I asked.
“Don’t you know that Arkham was the one who killed our mother?”
Read Chapter 7 HERE
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Written by Waqar Farooq
Edited by Ayaan Ashraf
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