CHAPTER 8

Today was the day of the play. And we were joining both the

sections of 10th for the play. Two girls from each section would

divide the dialogues of a particular character, we did this to

save time. It was almost time for the play, and I didn't even

memorize my lines for the narrator. Currently we were taking

the benches out of the class to create space.

"Hey, what's up?" Nabiha rested her arm around my shoulder.

"Uh, nothing much. I was just memorizing my lines for the

narrator." I laughed nervously.

"Do you have stage fear or something?"

"No, why would I be scared, I am literally friends with all of

my mates."

"Alright, now go and help them." I pushed her.

"Nope, not happening." she sat on one the tables kept there.

"And, close your button." saying this she pushed me.

"What's with everyone and my button?" I frowned.

"Nothing, you look like a gangster."

"Uh fine." I closed my button only to open it later again.

I walked over to the other girls who were participating in the

play.

"So, are you guys done rehearsing?"

"Huh, no. I haven't even read my dialogues properly." one of

them answered casually.

"Yeah, me too." the rest of them spoke up.

"What, so I'm the only one who's memorizing my dialogues?"

"Yeah, you're crazy." they laughed.

I sighed, well yeah can't argue on that one now. With all of

those afternoon wares and hallucinations I've definitely gone

crazy.

The characters from the play were actually 'aliens' and they

looked very similar to Humpty Dumpty so we made face

masks from scratch that looked like Humpty Dumpty. They

looked so cute that for a moment I wished that I had taken up

the role of one of these characters. Eventually I became the

stage manager along with the narrator somehow. My job was

to remind them the dialogues, fix they're not so fancy

costumes and take out any background sound that was

mentioned in the play. And, in the middle of this all I realized

that I wasn't the narrator but a Historian who was telling this

story to the audience of a museum.

"So, Ahmed you are the narrator. Right?" Yasmeen asked me.

"Historian." I corrected her.

"Let it be." she raised her palm up and everyone laughed.

"I thought you were going to be absent like all the other times,

whenever you are involved in public performance you chicken

out." Hajera chimed in. I rolled my eyes.

"That was one-time Hajera and I had fever remember."

"No, but you went out to buy a new sofa-set in the evening

despite the fact that you had a fever so why couldn't you come

to the school for the play we had."

I groaned irritated.

"Buying that was necessary and besides that was 5 years ago

can't we forget this already."

"No, we aren't forgetting this." she laughed.

Good afternoon. Welcome to our museum of ancient history

and to my department....

I was standing in the corner of the classroom and the play was

unfolding in front of me; I had memorized the lines

nevertheless and now I was observing the characters.

Leena was the main character The Mighty Think- tank and

Fatma was his Apprentice Noodles. I had to cover my mouth

to stop myself from laughing, Leena had changed her voice

and was portraying the character very well.

Think-Tank: "Mirror, mirror in my hand. Who is the most

fantastically intellectually gifted being in the land?" Leena

spoke in a gruff voice.

"You, sir." I answered in a tiny voice, this was an offstage voice

that I had to cover.

Think-Tank: (smacking the mirror) "Quicker, answer quicker

next time. I hate slow mirrors."

It was way too funny and even the teacher was trying to

contain her laughter. I looked around the classroom, I was

looking at Nabiha who was calling me when I saw her. She

looked lost; she was looking at the performance but she wasn't

present there mentally. I looked away; I didn't even want to

look at her.

"Fatima, arrange Rooth's costume similar to Leena's one, it

doesn't look that good." Nabiha instructed me.

"Yes, ma'am." I reply in a sarcastic tone and walked up to

Rooth.

In the end I chuckled and spoke up, "and that's how one old

dusty book of nursery rhymes saved the Earth from the

Martian invasion...

The class was hooting and cheering loudly and in that

moment all that I saw was everyone's smiling faces, laughter

sounds including mine.

"Alright students that's a wrap up of the play and I must say

this has turned out to as amazing as I thought it would be.

Thank you to our lovely characters specially our Leena,

Fatma, Rooth. Also thank you to our cameraperson: Dana and

thankyou to our Fatima." The teacher finished off with her

acknowledgements.

We were taking pictures together and the audience was

involved in its usual chattering.

"Students, we are going to have a fire drill in the next 5

minutes. You all know the rules, you will hear the fire alarm

and immediately you have rush towards the exit of your floor

alright." The teacher instructed us.

"Why do they have to do a fire drill anyway, we already know

what to do when a fire breaks out." I thought.

After 5 minutes we heard the bell. We all ran down the stairs

laughing and pushing each other. Soon afterwards we reached

the ground. I glanced around. "Wait, where's Aqsa?" I thought

and walked ahead to the front of the line.

"She might not have heard the bell. But how is it possible.

Should I go look for her. No, how does it concern me. And

besides who the hell will climb those stairs twice. I might just

go to the classroom earlier than everyone else." I was talking

to myself again.

I climbed the exit staircase and lost in between my thoughts I

had climbed 2 floors that meant now I was on the third floor

of the building. I sighed, I must not get lost in my thoughts

again, I decide. As I was descending the stairs, I heard

someone laughing. I made my way towards the corridor. I

could see her laughing inside, the door was ajar and I saw a

girl with her too.

I frowned. Is that her friend? But, why is she always talking to

her over here. I was watching them closely, suddenly I saw her

expression getting cold and then she bent down and picked up

something. It was a large knife like literally a knife and before

I could comprehend something I saw her stabbing that girl

with the knife. The girl screamed and I froze. I couldn't believe

what I just saw. The time stilled, so did I. I couldn't move,

couldn't speak. But I composed myself and ran downstairs. I

ran to the ground where the teachers were present. When I

reached there, the ground was empty, I rushed towards the

staffroom, there was no one there either. "Where the hell has

everyone disappeared?" I thought and ran upstairs to the 3rd

floor. When I reached there the teachers and the students

were already present over there. I rushed through the crowd

towards the classroom. Upon reaching inside I froze.

There was blood everywhere, all over the benches and the

floor, and the next thing that I saw was traumatizing. A little

girl was lying one of the tables in the room. It was Saniya, that

same little girl whose dimples I had adored. The same girl

who thought I looked cool, the same girl whom I had met just

one day ago. This couldn't be, it just couldn't happen, I just

met her yesterday. How could she possibly die so suddenly,

she was supposed to live, supposed to grow up, supposed to

enjoy her life. I was numb, the sight of her lying down on the

table was horrifying, her eyes were wide open and were

bulging out from its sockets. There was a deep wound on her

stomach and blood was still dripping down. I looked away; I

couldn't bring myself to look at her, I was crying the whole

time ever since I saw her getting stabbed, I couldn't stop

crying. I was rubbing my eyes continuously in the hope that

tears won't come out now but the tears never stopped.

Everything happened too quickly, the teachers called an

ambulance and she was taken to the hospital, we were rushed

to our respective classrooms and some of the teachers and the

HM went to the hospital. Everything happened at the hospital

I believe, the police investigation, postmortem etc. Her family

was informed as soon as she was taken to the hospital, I didn't

even want to think about her family. How would it feel, losing

your innocent little child and finding out that she was

murdered, what was her fault they would ask through their

tears.

I sat in the classroom feeling horrible. I was still crying,

Hajera was looking at me with a concerned expression. I

couldn't think of anything else right now. The school building

was sealed, no student, no staff member could leave the

premises until the investigation was over. In between my

trauma and tears I don't remember when I dozed off resting

my head against the wall.

I was ascending the stairs when I saw her, she was laughing

like a creep and suddenly she picked up a knife and stabbed

the girl standing in front of her. The girl screamed and the

time froze. I wanted to run but I couldn't move and then she

looked at me and raised her knife, I screamed loudly trying to

run away but I couldn't move. I was shaking with fear, I didn't

want to be killed, death is inevitable but I didn't want to be

killed, I wanted to live, grow, achieve, see happiness with my

family and friends. I didn't want to die yet.

"No, don't kill me. I don't want to die yet. I don't want to.

Please stop, don't come near me. I swear I won't tell anyone

what I saw, I swear. Please spare my life, I don't want to die

yet."

I woke up with a start, I was sitting on my bench, there were a

few girls in the classroom. I looked around and the sight of

Saniya's face entered my vision, her eyes bulging out, face pale

and blood on her hands and everywhere. I closed my eyes and

shook my head but I couldn't get the image of her out of my

mind. I was crying hysterically and someone was rubbing my

back, if only I stopped her, that innocent girl would have been

alive now.