Chaos in the Canvas √

02 | paths

کوه به کوه نمی‌رسد٬ آدم به آدم می‌رسد
Mountains don't meet, but people do.

Sunday - 12:31pm

The weather was getting more and more pleasant with each passing second, the sky above her head home to a great number of clouds, all black and promising a long spell of rain. The wind that blew around the city of Abbottabad was cold, complementing the strokes of black hues in the sky.

The car was swift as it sped over the roads of the city, its white color challenging the darkness that was spreading around the city quickly, contrary to the clock that indicated only half past noon. Hemayal drove the car with speed of about 110km/hour, way above the speed limit but she knew she had little time.

It would rain in a matter of few seconds, she predicted, and she at least wanted to be on her way back home when the first few droplets of rain began to cascade down, knowing fully well that after that, there would be no stopping the thunder. Roads of Abbottabad, a city located at a height, were not very safe to drive on when it rained, she knew it from experience.

As she reached nearer to the mall, her phone began vibrating and Hemayal decided against answering the call; this car was not hers and she couldn't risk answering and then meeting with an accident. Although she had picked calls while driving numerous times before, this was not her car so she decided against breaking the law she had carelessly violated so many times before.

The person on the other side, however, didn't seem to stop and as the phone started ringing the third time, the theme song of Sherlock Holmes series echoing in the car, she huffed out in annoyance as she decided to answer.

"Yes?" She snapped after seeing Mehmal's name on the called ID.

"I just wanted to say that don't order the cake. Hadeed Lala said that he ordered it." Mehmal's busy voice vibrated her ear drum and she sighed.

"He has come back?" Hemayal questioned and heard Mehmal positive reply on the other side.

"You could've waited for like 15 more minutes for the car but no, Mehmal never waits or listens." Hemayal said and heard Mehmal's unashamed laughter on the other side.

"I mean it was so embarrassing going to your friend's house and asking for her car." Hemayal said, still feeling the embarrassment as memories from a mere half an hour ago came crawling back to her.

"Oh, come on. Asking for someone's help is not embarrassing." Mehmal replied, firm on her own belief which totally contradicted with Hemayal's.

"It is. What if they say no?" Hemayal asked, her brows creased.

"Ahh, Hemayal," Mehmal groaned, "When will you start believing that not everyone is like Taya Abbu?"

"When the world will give me a reason to." Hemayal answered, emphatically.

"Anyways, I'm driving. I don't want to get into an accident. Bye." Hemayal said and after hearing Mehmal's reply, removed the phone from her ear.

Looking down, she disconnected the call, her one hand still firmly placed on the steering wheel while the other scrolled through the missed calls she hadn't seen before; one from Anisha Bhabhi and two from her colleague in Islamabad.

It was merely a second that she saw through the missed calls on her phone, merely a single glance downwards, away from the road ahead and that small mistake of glance costed her dire consequences as a loud crash almost deafened her, occupied by a force that nearly threw her ahead at the windshield.

A scream left her throat as her head collided with her own hand on the steering wheel, her knuckles pressing into her forehead and a pain erupted inside her at the force with which the safety bag hit her in the torso. Unable to breathe and clenching her teeth tightly, Hemayal's eyes closed in immense pain as blackness unveiled its wings right before her eyes.