A Friend In Need

It was 4 p.m. The exciting moments of the morning were still playing in his mind. These moments must have filled positivity in his way of thinking. He opened the window of his bedroom and looked outside. A group of beautiful birds were eating and enjoying outside.

"Indeed, friendship is a subtle relationship... Alas! I had a group of friends like that, I would play, talk and hand out with them," Seeing these birds laughing and playing, his heart also showed an innocent desire.

He laughed a little at this strange desire of his heart.

He closed the window and drew the curtains. He came to his writing chair in the room and sat down, opened his diary and started trying to write something in it. Even though he twirled the pen in his fingers for a long time, he could not write anything. Today for the first time in his life, he was sitting in his room getting bored.

For some time he sat with the same pen in his teeth, then after thinking about something, he got up and went out of the room.

After leaving his room, he came straight to the kitchen where his mother was busy cooking.

He stood beside her in silence.

"Does my son need anything?" She asked him lovingly.

"No, I don't need anything... Do you need some help from me?" He asked her.

"No, my dear son! the food is almost ready, now when your father and brother come, we will all eat together" She answered with a smile.

"Hmm...Today is Sunday, where have they gone?" He asked about his father and brother.

"You know your father very well my son, he is always busy solving the problems of the area. Even today, after ending the old enmity between the two parties, he went to consult them. And you also know that he always keeps Daim by his side in such works," Hearing her explanation, he fainted a bit.

"Hmm...," He walked out of the kitchen towards the main gate and came out of the house.

*********

After leaving the house, he started wandering in the streets.

"Dad always complains to me that I don't socialize much with people, but he never tried to take me with him like he took Daim with him," He was constantly moving on an unknown path, talking to himself.

"You are not worthy enough that your father introduce you to his social circle with pride," His negative conscience arrived.

"It's not like that, you are still young so he doesn't take you with him," His positive conscience also arrived.

"Daim was taken everywhere with him from a very young age," His negative conscience said.

"Because Daim was his first child, so he used to take Daim with him at a very young age," His positive conscience said.

"So, does the father keep only the first child with him?" His negative conscience raised questions.

"Well it's part of nature, the older ones are usually closer to the father while the younger ones are to the mother," His positive conscience replied.

He walked far away from the house, engrossed in himself. Suddenly, he looked around and saw that there was desolation all around. His consciences disappeared. The sun was setting too. He got nervous because he was unfamiliar with these streets.

He took a step to return, but the ground gave out from under his feet when he saw a group of local thugs coming towards him from the front.

He tried to run away but they had reached his head.

"Hey, where are you running hotty? You have come under our control with great difficulty" One of them saw him trying to run away and caught him by the arms.

"Please, let me go," He tried to release himself.

Tears filled his eyes with fear.

"We shall let you go, but why is it so fast?" The other chuckled and grabbed his other arm.

"By the way, God has made you with great leisure," The third saw him bound and touched his chin.

"How long I have had my eye on him. What a hot boy he is, man. And by God, his shy nature killed me every time I saw him," The fourth also moved towards him.

They were a group of four mischievous boys who often preyed on teenage boys and girls walking alone. Police caught them many times. But big politicians had their hands on their heads, so even the police could not do anything about them.

"Take him back to the bushes so no one comes here," said one of them.

They lifted him by his arms and legs.

"Leave me..., Let me go...," He started trying to redeem himself.

They began to carry him by force when a sharp stone flying through the air hit one of them on the head. His head split open and started bleeding.

"Hey, who is there?" The other one moved towards the direction from which the stone had come, but a stone also fell on his head from another side, which Knocked him to the ground.

Seeing their companion falling, the other two also left Saim and hurried towards that direction, but stones started raining on them too.

Seeing them surrounded by the stones, Saim quickly ran towards the main road.

**********

"Dad, how were my arguments while making peace between those two parties today?" Seventeen years old Daim asked his father while driving the car.

"Excellent as always, my son. I'm so proud of you," His father praised him. "I'm sure you will make my name bright one day, due to your present-minded nature," He patted his shoulder proudly.

"Sure, I will dad..." Daim smiled.

"Wait a second Dad,... is that Saim running across the road?" Seeing a thirteen-year-old boy running futilely across the road, Daim suddenly braked. The boy was now exhausted from running and was bending over with his hands on his knees, taking a deep breath.

"Where...?" Father looked around and saw him.

"What is he doing here at this time?" They got confused.

"Come..., let's see," He said and opened the car's door. Daim followed him.

"Saim, what are you doing here?"

He looked up and saw his father and brother standing over his head staring at him.

"I... I had... lost...my way," He replied, trying to steady his breathing.

"But what were you doing here at this time?" Dad asked.

"Noth... Nothing, I was just walking around," He was still breathing unsteadily.

"Why were you running around like that on the main road? Did anyone threaten you?" His father investigates him.

"Nn... No, I was just afraid that the sun had set and I had lost my way home. That's why..." He hid the conflict from the bullies because he could not bear to see his father and other family members lose their comfort and anyway, he had in his heart that if anything went wrong, he would be blamed by this society.

"Hmm... come with us, sit in the car," Seeing his condition, they refrained from further questioning him and put him in the car.

"By the way, how did you reach here?" Daim asked while driving the car.

"I was just walking around," He had controlled his erratic breathing.

"So you were so scared just because you lost your way? Come on Saim, Be brave," Daim made fun of him.

While his father was sitting silently in the passenger seat. He must have thought that he was becoming so despondent because he had lost his way.

He ignored Daim's joke and resting his head on the seat, he began to think of the kind friend who had helped him to escape.