In The Quest Of Peace

Chapter One

Chapter One: 

He opened his eyes once more and looked around to see if everything was at its proper place. He could not see properly, so he rubbed his eyes to try it once again but all in vain.  It's not that he was blind but today everything seemed foggy and it was raining very hard too... No no no... It was not raining outside... It just flooded out of his eyes. He stood up, got hold of the wall and moved towards the wash basin to splash some water on his face so that the unwanted rain might stop raining. He looked at his face for a while in the mirror and was amazed to think why he was afraid of this rain, whereas, he enjoyed the rains so much; so much that he stood all alone to wet himself with the rain drops that he used to believe would carry away all his worries with them. He was very much upset- It's not that he was always happy with his life before; but indeed he had never been so disappointed and could never have a chance to hate himself so desperately, that he wanted to end his life.

The door was being knocked... He looked back and unwillingly started moving towards the door and then stumbled over something and fell down. He tried to stand up but couldn't succeed therefore, kept lying on the floor. The door was being knocked hardly this time, so he tried to stand up once again and felt that he got so weak within a couple of days only; a few days back he was very healthy, strong and was so proud of his body. He glanced around to see what made him stumble down so hard that he got a bruise on his lips which started bleeding. When he saw the photo album lying near his feet, he felt a deep pain in his chest- this pain was more hurting than the bruise on his lips. The album contained photos which he loved more than anything else in his life. A love so pure and so deep that he started believing that it was not love at all, he didn't really love her, but worshiped her crazily. Sometimes he asked himself why he loved those photos so much. Probably those pictures contained the most beautiful moments of his life, or may be those pictures were the proof that life is not only about hardships but it also soothes you sometimes, or it was simply because there were some pictures which made him feel that Emily still loves him- yes, He could surely bet she still loved him. He could clearly see how intimately she hugged him and he could clearly read from her eyes that she would never want to live a single moment without him. He could bet that she only smiled a real smile whenever she got a chance to see him.

 Emily- The girl who changed his life was now denying him his right to live. He was sure that people would be surprised to know that he decided to end his life for a girl whom he considered everything but she denied marrying him; they would rather be shocked than surprised, because, he always argued that if your love is pure then it doesn't matter if your beloved is married to you or someone else. "What if someone whom you love does not marry you?? That really isn't a big deal and especially when your love is like worship", he always used to say so. But now the situation was different and he was sure people would never buy his argument that he did not want to live without her simply because if today he is alive, it's just because of Emily. "I don't love you anymore and I don't want to see you again ever in life", her words echoed in his ears... and tears flooded out of his eyes once more with more strength and he could not help himself from crying loudly and sobbing like little children.

Someone shook him so fiercely that he almost cried out and with a sudden jerk came out of his thoughts. The photo album dropped from his hands and he stared up unconsciously but could not recognize the face at once. For a moment his mother thought he had lost his memory and she started crying. He felt her tears trickle down her cheeks making their way down to his face, he looked up helplessly and could only murmur, "Mom why are you crying?", it was then that he saw his dad standing beside his mother, sobbing slowly and sweeping away his tears. His father had always proved to be a strong man; therefore, he didn't want his son to feel that he too could weep like women. He looked at the room door and found that the lock was broken.  

His father had to break the lock when they could not get any response from his side. He was lying in the room since last two weeks and since previous night kept his door locked without having his dinner. They tried their level best to take him out somewhere so that it might help change his mood, but he hated everything and now wanted to get rid of this life, which he had almost done if his parents did not break the door.

Both his parents stood frozen when they saw their son laying on the floor, out of conscious, so many cigarette buts spread all around him, cloths almost tattered into pieces. A small bottle laying under the photo album, his father picked it up and whispered with trembling voice, "Poison". They never wished to see their son in such a pathetic condition, but they could not see him marrying a girl with a different identity. But now they were repenting their decision to be so hard at their decision. Now they realized that they would lose their son if Emily didn't become a part of his life. They never imagine he would be so crazy in her love.

Though his parents were so much proud of their son that they boasted of his obedience everywhere, but since the day Atif and Emily met, they feared that they might lose their son but they did not know that their son's life was no more his own life. Indeed he had lost the word "Own", and the moment he fell in love with Emily, he did not own anything at all, rather whatever he possessed that became Emily's property.

Atif's parents were not so selfish that they could not allow him to choose his life partner, but they believed he should not marry a girl who is an American, a girl who spoke a different language, who had different believes and life patterns and above all who had been brought up in a culture totally different from their own. His parents believed their relation might not work because of such a great diversity. Diversity of ideas likes and dislikes, so they bitterly opposed this union.  They asked Atif if he ever thought of marrying her, they would think he is dead for them and now he was really lying there like dead.

Both Emily and Atif loved each other so much and their love seemed just like a drama act because such a love was never seen before; at least not in the last few decades; that is what Emily believed... she said so many other things about their love which made Atif love her so desperately. With such a great diversity of culture, religion, patterns of life and language, yet they felt they were made for each other. They felt as if their religion was love, as if their culture was love and as if their language was love...