Light

Mistaken.

Noor opened her eyes, the effort creating a weird sensation in her head and causing her to wince.

"I think she's awake." A nearly recognizable voice spoke.

"Hello Noor." A blurred face came into her line of sight, she blinked to clear the image and saw...Haroon?
,"Haroon?!" She managed to cough out.

"Yes Noori, I do still exist too you know." He smiled and sat down where she lay.

"You-you brought me here?" Noor stumbled on her words in disbelief.

"Of course I did, I wanted to talk to you." He lay down next to her, and she shifted away from him uncomfortably.

"You could've come to the house if you wanted to just talk to me...why am I here,Haroon?!" Noor cried at him, pushing herself in a sitting position.

"Well...I thought you hated me, and would never talk to me." He shrugged and sat up too.

"I don't hate you Haroon, I never even thought about hating you." Noor shook her head," Now if that's all you wanted to say, please take me home."

"Ah but see Noor, I can't do that, not yet anyway." He grinned and heaved himself up," I'll be right back, don't you move." He winked at her, winked at her and walked away into the darkness.

Oh Allah, save me, protect me, protect me from any evil. Noor pressed her eyes to fight away the tears that stung her eyes and stood up, softly following the direction she thought Haroon had taken.

"Haroon, brother, are you sure about this?" She heard voices a little way away and walked towards them," Oh Asghar, my brother, you relax, it's easy,simple, and safe." Haroon's voice echoed through her head, Noor knew she should not be assuming the worst, but she had read way too many newspaper reports and accounts to not let her mind wander to the worst conclusion.

"Okay man, if you say it's going to fine, I believe you, now where is she?" She heard footsteps approaching her and pressed herself against the nearest solid object she could find.

The two boys walked right past her, animated as ever.Noor breathed out and crept away from the direction they had taken.

She heard a loud bang and quickened her pace, it wouldn't be long before they found she had disappeared.

"Where did she go?!" Noor heard Haroon bellow and a door slammed shut ,"Asghar! Find her at once!" He shouted angrily and stomped his feet.Noor started running blindly until she saw a light in the distance.

She increased her speed and rushed ahead, arms outstretched, I have to get out of here! Her mind screamed and she sped on.

Her hand finally touched a cool metal surface, and feeling around, she felt a handle like object, she pushed it and ran out, looking to either side wildly, trying to figure out where she was.

Before she could configure her surroundings, footsteps behind her unstuck her feet from the ground and she ran forward, where the heavy inlay of trees would be good enough to hide her.

"Noor! Come back this instant! Noor!" She heard Haroon call out from the distance, but fear kept pumping adrenaline into her veins and she kept on running.

*****

"Chacha!" Jehangir turned and saw Moazzam running his way and instantly perked up, after his loss at not being able to find Noor, Jehangir was hopeful Moazzam might have.

"Did you find her?" Jehangir asked as soon as Moazzam was close enough, the youth looked at him dejectedly and shook his head.

Jehangir felt his heart fall to his stomach and slumped onto the floor,"Chacha, let's tell the police." Moazzam said sitting down next to him.

"Moazzam...I cant."Jehangir shook his head.

"Lets go home then, ask Rizwan chacha, he'll know what to do."

"Abba will be heartbroken Moazzam, we cant tell him either." Jehangir stood up again.

"He has to find out, better sooner than later don't you think?" Moazzam placed a hand on his shoulder and led Jehangir home.

"Abba, I still haven't been able to find Noor." Jehangir said hanging his head.

"Jehangir, my son, it's 9:00 pm already, she's been missing since the morning, why haven't you alreted the police yet?!" His father stood up from where he sat.

"Abba, involving the police would mean publicly accepting the fact that Noor has been kidnapped, everyone will start assuming the worst, my daughter's life would be destroyed." He explained.

"It is more important to find her, then to worry about what will happen after we find her because beta, atleast we'll be there with her to face with her whatever she must, but if she's not found..." He trailed off as Jehangir nodded.

"Okay Abba, Moazzam, will you...?"

"Ofcourse I shall accompany you to the police station chacha, you don't even need to ask!" Moazzam nodded and the two set off once again, this time their destination defined.

*****

Noor ran and ran, the dark making it increasingly harder for her to see through the thick scrub of trees. She panted, her legs sore from the excercise, but she pumped on, even though there was nobody behind her driving her forward, but the pull of her entire family worrying about her was enough for Noor to forget any tiredness she felt and to push on with renewed fervour.

Finally, after what seemed like ages, Noor came to an opening in the trees. Her sweat soaked scarf stuck to her forehead but the ray of hope she found protruding from the opening made her laugh for joy.

The light from the moon, which seemed to be shining much brighter now, illuminated the narrow dirt road which beheld her. Noor quickened her pace, seeing it as her only escape.

The darkness was overwhelming, her calves burned, Noor trudged on, careful to keep to the edge of the path in case Haroon was following her in his coach.

Her vision started blurring from the corners, and she desperately needed to sit down, but Noor kept going, Oh baba ji, please come save me.

She saw the outline of a tall post appear in the distance, and she ran towards it, taking it as her ticket home.

*****

Okay but idek why this was labourous to write.