Silent Downfall

Chapter Three

"Waseef Bhaiya!" cooed an ecstatic voice. "Waseef Bhaiya!"

Waseef turned around at once, revealing his mildly stunned face. He gingerly placed his arms around the kid. "What's going on, chipmunk?"

"Do you know what Papa said?" The words spilled out abruptly from the eight-year-old. "I... I have a brother! Elder brother!"

"Yes," Waseef replied without the slightest trace of excitement in his voice, "you've got Sajid."

"Not him! Not him! A good one!" The child cried desperately. "He has the same mother as me. So... he'll not hate me."

"Oh! Is it so? Hmm... Where is he then?"

"I don't know. He lives far away. He has gone to bring toys and chocolates for me. He'll come when Papa goes to find Mum. You'll bring him here, Papa said."

"So, it's not a secret anymore." Waseef smiled feebly. "Yes, he is in Amsterdam. That's far away from here."

"Have you ever met my brother?"

Waseef shook his head. "But Uncle will tell me where to go and look for him."

The vivacious kid embraced his cousin. "It will be so much fun. When Papa returns with Mum, we four will live together. Sajid doesn't want to be with me or Mum anyway."

"Will you forget me after that?" Waseef shot the inquiry toward the kid as they broke apart.

Utter perplexity took over Fayzan. "You can come and live with us too! He won't complain, would he?"

Waseef smiled again. "Whom would you love more, chipmunk?"

It took a while for the child to work out a decent response. "I'll love both of you!"

"Then," said Waseef, "we'll find him together."

The surroundings dissolved, and Fayzan's eyelids displayed delicate movements before sliding up to reveal a couple of innocent raven eyes. His sleep-assailed gaze was pointlessly fixed upon Waseef's neck; it was dragged to his face as the kid felt a couple of gentle taps on his cheek.

"Good morning, chipmunk."

"Morning."

Waseef continued to observe the somber boy for the next few seconds. The short period of silence was dismissed by the kid. "When will we find him, Bhaiya?" he asked.

"Had the dream again?"

"I have it nearly every day now."

"I don't know if he ever returned from Amsterdam. Perhaps he did. Perhaps he didn't. Uncle didn't leave me with a clue. He can be anywhere. But no matter what, we'll find him very soon."

The kid grinned, his eyes twinkling with hope. Waseef returned the smile and pressed his lips against his cousin's forehead.

All of a sudden, peculiar agility tickled Fayzan's limbs. He jumped up at once, got down from the bed, and burst into the washroom. He reappeared after five minutes, heading straight to the door.

"Hey, where are you going?" A puzzled Waseef cried from behind.

"I'm going to find my brother," the child replied. "I might just end up bumping into him."

"Wait!" The captain bellowed again. "How can he be here?"

There was no one to offer a rational reply. Fayzan was gone.

Waseef stared at the closed door for a moment before getting down from the bed. He knew his little cousin was going to be a handful. He stepped out of the room to go after the child, unknowingly taking the wrong turn.