Losing Echoes [Complete]

13. Killer

Flashbacks are in Bold*

Margala hills were silent but the city they were surrounding wasn't. The evening buzz was at its peak. The stillness of the hills was blending into the hustle of the city crossing the perimeter of nothingness the hills were famous for. A beam of the silence crossed the threshold and traveled along the moving vehicles on the highway. Somewhere from a car the melodious voice was booming around, translating the unsaid tales of what's buried beneath the superficial beauty of this city.

Wo sahilon pe gaane walay kya hue

Wo kashtiyan chalanay walay kya hue

Where did the singers of shores go?

What happened to the sailors?

Wo subah atay atay reh gayi kahan?

Wo qafile thay anay walay kya hue

Where did that dawn which was to come go

What happened to those caravans which were coming?

Main in ki rah dikhta hu raat bhar

Wo roshni dikhanay walay kya hue?

I await their arrival whole night

Where did those torchbearers go?

Ye kon log hain mere idher udher

Wo dosti nibhane walay kya hue

Who are these people I'm surrounded with?

What happened to those friends who knew the worth of friendship?

Imartein to jal kay rakh ho ho gayin

Imartein bananay walay kya hue

The buildings became ashes

What happened to their builders?

Ye aap hum to bojh hai zameen ka

Zameen ka bojh uthane walay kya hue?

You and I, we are the burden of the soil

What happened to those burden holders of the soil?

Nasir Kazmi

The beam of silence hadn't stopped. It kept on colliding, sometimes with the full of life ambiance and sometimes with hollow truth behind this scenario. It stopped, felt the weight of the secrets this city was holding and fell on the grass close to the white picket fence. The fence didn't bother for it wasn't its duty to know what made that beam so tired of itself. It kept on standing.

The window to the side of the fence opened with a start making Harram and Hamail come out of the silence that had fallen over them. The album in Hamail's hands shook. He took a deep breath and placed it on the table.

"This can be a co incidence. You know Dada has contacts all over Pakistan. Your Nano attending Bhai's birthday party all those years back doesn't seem much to me."