SO FAR AWAY

Chapter One

A girl was scurrying towards the bus stop to catch her bus for university. She was on cloud 9 as her last semester came to an end till somehow her alarm went off in the morning and she had to get ready and move pronto towards her destination. She also couldn't have her breakfast and had to face her mother's wrath about her ignorance towards her health

"Shehnaaz breakfast?". Her mother Ayesha Haroon shouted from the kitchen

"Ama I'm getting late. I'll eat something once I get free". Shehnaaz exclaimed from the door while donning her shoes

"You always do this, skip breakfast. Today is your last paper and you'll be at home so I swear I'll not leave you for all these days".

Her father was taking too long to get ready to drop her so she decided to go by herself.

The sun was gleaming dazzlingly and the air smelt like rain. She breathes in wet mud and a smile crept on her lips. She closed her eyes as the cool wind blew and leaves started moving freely on trees. Birds were chirping here and there, seems like they are also appreciating the weather. She was ambling early morning when she crossed backwater unconsciously and mud water splashed on her trouser. She cursed under her breath and bowed down to remove drops of water from the tissue. She sighed inaudibly and regret of not calling uber instead of crossing roads to reach the bus stop as soon as possible when her mother asked her to call uber but, of course, she had to think about 100 things before spending money extravagantly. She also didn't want to put burden on her parents anymore as they were already spending too much on her A-levels. Middle-class people need to sacrifice alot to give their child good education. Their wishes became bounded to their daily problems with time and at some point, they had no idea what luxury they want in their lives because from childhood they learned to think about saving before spending money on other than necessities They toil hard to earn every penny but don't have enough time to enjoy the fruits of their hard work. They don't have a choice to sit around idle or think about the vagaries of life, they have to put in 14/15hrs of work every day so that they can give their family a good life.

They could not afford a lot of things whenever they want. But those coveted things which their parents could not buy for them motivates them to work hard. It also teaches them to have tolerance in life.

She sighed in contentment that she reached there on time. She was tapping her feet anxiously on the footpath and moving her eyes on her notes then towards her watch again and again waiting for the bus. She was reading the last topic when she heard the horn of the bus that did not come near yet but alarmed everyone who was waiting for it to get ready. Few people were sitting on the bench busy on the phone and a few who were smoking quickly dashed the half-smoked butt of a cigarette and stood up near the sidewalk. As soon as the bus arrived, all the passengers ran to board it. There was pushing and pulling. The queue was broken. Males get in the bus at one end while females from another one. Shehnaaz put her notes back in the bag and sat with an old lady.

There were too many people, not to her liking. She was not afraid of the crowd but sometimes it made her uncomfortable. Again few people were busy on their phones, few on gossiping, and few staring at each other. It was early morning but still, she felt humidity mixed with sweats. She cringed at the thought of it and shifted on her seat. Once everyone settled on their seats Shehnaaz closed her eyes and leaned on her chair. She kept repeating few important points in her mind and every time she repeated all those points, she felt like she kept forgetting that. She mentally scolded herself for repeating and getting panic about it. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. A small girl was sitting in front of her fidgeting her fingers. She was also looking nervous like her. She kept gazing at her and like a girl felt that someone was gazing at her, looked up from her hands. Shehnaaz smiled showing her rabbit teeth. A girl also showed her toothy smile. Shehnaaz gestured from her hands to ask her what happened?. That little girl cutely pouted and lip-synced school. She giggled and took out the chocolate from her bag and went towards her. By taking permission of her mother she gave it to her