Bekaraan [Limitless]

5. Family

Let me paint you with red and gold
Let me paint you with the colours of your dreams
Let me take your pain away
Let me colour your gray with lilac
—Mifs

(read the full poem in my poetry book: catharsis)

✵

The drawn together curtains provided little to no way to the streaming rays of the afternoon sun as the inhabitant of the room was still in deep slumber at this hour of the day. With the pillow clutched to her chest as if her life depended on it, her eyes were still tautly shut. As if on cue, the Raddi Wala (a man collecting waste) started with his vendor's chant. The not so amused voice crashed against the ears of the resident like an eulogy, waking her up with a start.

Her hold on the pillow loosened and she sat up straight with the support of her elbows. Her eyes were still groggy as she tried adjusting them to the darkness being intruded by the fading light of sun outside. Retiring from the bed, she flicked the lights on and rubbed her eyes. And when she looked again, it wasn't her room. It was someone else's.

Someone who was hers but still could never be hers.

Someone who she now had, but whom she never desired.

Something akin to bitter dissolved in her mouth at just the mere thought. She pulled up her disheveled hair in a bun and reached for the clip on the side table when something else lying close to it caught her attention. It was an ointment with a note attached to it. She picked the note in her hand and read through the content:

It can't heal the scars on your soul. But it will the ones on your body.

Her expressions didn't change even slightly as she put both back. After getting freshened up, she decided to set her closet, but her eyebrows scrunched on not finding her suitcase there. She was sure Maaz had brought it in the room the other night. Perplexed, she darted her eyes around. She moved towards the dressing area and opened the closet. To her utter surprise her clothes were already arranged there. She frowned, not being able to understand the person behind the deed.

After making the bed, she came out of the room when the commotion from the lounge reached her ears. She prowled forward as not to be caught by the people inside. She was famished and all she needed was something to eat and then go back to her room in hibernation. She had no interest in involving herself with anyone in the house.

But her luck had stopped being on her side long back.

"Mahrukh Beta." Nadia called from the lounge as soon as she caught her glimpse. She bit her tongue and closed her eyes, but turned around, nonetheless.

"Yes, Auntie?" She asked, not moving her gaze to the other woman slouched on the couch beside Nadia.

"Come inside, my child." She got to her feet, the other woman also followed suit.

Reluctantly, Mahrukh stepped inside, but unlike the two women with smiles gracing their faces, hers was devoid of any nice emotion whatsoever.

"How are you?" She patted Mahrukh's head in a motherly manner. "Did you sleep alright?" The smile was still intact.

A meek node was the only response she could muster.

"This is Razeen. My oldest. We call her Reen." She gestured to the woman beside her. "I suppose you've never met her. She's never visited Faisalabad."

The woman who now had a name, Razeen, stepped towards her with a smile and enveloped her in her embrace. "It's so nice to meet you, Mahrukh." She said, pulling away. "How are you?"