ZIAM - I FIGURED IT OUT

Chapter 1

He unlocked his room, and placed his bag on top of the wooden table situated in the left corner of the room, drops of water already reached the floor through the windowpane which was opened, and the floor was a bit slippery. He knew Mom wasn't home, if she was, she would've closed the window from the outside, even though his room was locked and the key was with him. He took out the bundle of books from the bag and began to rummage through his drawer, found underneath most of the things he got no use of, a box. He snapped off the rubber band, extracted a few papers that were blank, and scribbled something on them with black ink. Once done, he safely put it back and arranged each book on the bookshelf which was on the other corner of the room, except the one in which he was writing something this evening. He placed the book inside the drawer near the box and pushed it back. 

He was still in his uniform and had no intention to change it, instead, he looked out through the window and smiled at the scenery ahead. He always loved the mixture of red and yellow shades, be it the evening sky, the flowers, or the leaves. Sometimes, he even imagines the ocean as red and its depth of it in yellow. 

Strange isn't it! The strangeness was his best friend, and he embraced it happily. 

He got back to his consciousness when he heard a cry from the next room, he knew why and how to shush it away. He closed the window, walked to the other room, pushed the door open, and picked her up from the bed, she was the youngest. By safely placing her small legs on his hip, he was holding her closer to his chest, and she was pinching his cheeks with watery eyes. He hold her little fingers and draw a line over his wide eyebrows with those, and showed her his not-so-visible dimples. While she was tracing her fingers over his hair, and temples, he brushed his lips against her doll-like eyes, and that made her ticklish and giggle hard. He was laughing already in the most innocent way and showed that all so happy Ziva to his elder sister Donis.

'Doni, let me get fresh. I'll be back in ten minutes

He handed baby Ziva to Donis and went to take a shower. The bathroom was monochrome-themed with patterned floor tiles. As the water from the shower rolled down his neck, he knew something was new, he bent his head forward, let the water pace down his spine, and reached the floor with an echo and sprinkled into particles, just like his thought. That gutted feeling was in his head the whole day, there was no way it was going to fade away. He leaned closer to the bathroom wall, and shut his eyes, in the hope that when he opens it again, at least half of the day that passed by him would be just a dream and nothing more.  He could feel his heart in his hand, he couldn't count the beats, it was rather rushed or he couldn't concentrate much on counting, or he forgot Mathematics, he felt as if he forgot all the languages, no sight of Urdu or English. Everything remained new to him. He covered his face with both palms, stunned by how this day is crystal clear before his eyes.

'This isn't right' - he repeated that to himself.

'This shouldn't be' - he wanted to stay there forever, isolated from everything, keeping the shower open - expecting it would drown him, or wash away his sins. He picked up the towel and dried him, and put on his clothes when he heard a knock at the door -

'Doni told me that you've been bathing for more than half an hour' - he heard and saw his mom standing in front of the bathroom when he pulled the door open. ' Hey mom' he smiled at her. Water was still dripping from the tip of his hair, she dried it up using the towel. She pressed her lips against his temple and hugged him tightly. 'Come and have your food' - she smiled again and headed to the kitchen. He passed his way to the living room via the small corridor. Lights were up, curtains were closed, and he understood that he spent too much time in the bathroom. The clock was already winning him over, he sat on the blue-colored sofa near the window, the fireplace was warm enough for him by that time, he was drowsy, but thoughts inside his head woke him up again.