Jahaan-Ara

Chapter 1: Thornagar Haveli

"I was now at last in safe haven. The impulse of gratitude swelled my heart, and I knelt down at the bedside, and offered up thanks where thanks were due; not forgetting, ere I rose, to implore aid on my further path, and the power of meriting the kindness which seemed so frankly offered me before it was earned. My couch had no thorns in it that night; my solitary room no fears. At once weary and content, I slept soon and soundly: when I awoke it was broad day."

Jayne Eyre- Charlotte Brontë 1847

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Chapter One: Jahaan-Aara- Thornager Haveli

"Are you going to leave me here?" Jahaan-Aara scrubbed the mist from the window gazing at the dark eerie path leading to nothingness.

"Madam, the car cannot go any further." Replied the taxi driver. "You can go on foot or horse. No one goes near Thornagar Haveli (mansion)."

A shiver ran through Jahaan-Aara's spine peering through the tunnel of trees and branches, like arms reaching out and threatening to grab the person who dares enter.

From the right pocket of her long, black and loose fitting abbaya (an Islamic dress) she fished out five hundred rupee note for the driver after the hour long journey and extended her arm forward to the driver.

"Bismillah." She called in the name of God and handed the note to the driver mindful she didn't make contact with his hand.

'It is haraam (forbidden in Islam) for a woman to touch a gher mard (strange man.)' The grating voice echoed in the back of her mind.

The middle aged driver was reluctant to leave the young, petite woman on the barren hills of Neelam Valley. The thick forested region in Azad (Free) Kashmri was named after the river Neelam which flowed through the valley. The valley was situated in the north-east of Muzaffarabad running parallel to Kagan Valley. The two valleys were only separated by snow-covered peaks. Neelam valley was a gorge of serenity with narrow winding roads cutting through the hills and mountains towards the main bustling city. Due to remoteness of the valley, lack of communication and electricity, the area was sparsely populated but Thornagar Haveli stood alone in acres of land.

Grey clouds loomed overhead and darkness was falling. A glaze of orange yellow hue layered the mountains and hills and the driver was anxious to return home. The return bumpy journey into the city spelled hazard as thieves and bandits hid in the bushes ready to loot the traveller in the bowels of the night.

Jahaan-Aara closed the car door and placed her big heavy black suitcase on the ground. Her suitcase contained little; four plain black abbayas with match head scarves, a set of pins, a grey large towel and her best friend, her beloved; her diary.

The little white car disappeared along the path they emerged from. Jahaan-Aara was left alone on the winding road. There was a chill in the air, so evident Jaahan-Aara could feel it biting at the tip of her nose. She wrapped her arms around her and rubbed her petite shoulders.

Raising her dress above her ankles, she began to climb the steep hill with her heavy suitcase in hand and into the belly of the dark misty woods. Her boots squelched in the muggy trench fighting her way through the branches, bushes gazing around her whilst the wild barking of dogs quickened her steps.

Jahaan-Aaara had no idea where the path took her, but she continued through the trees following the driver's strict instructions that Thornagar Haveli was a twenty minute walk through the woods. A jolt of lightening made her jump; soon the downpour of torrential rain would be upon her so she hurried through in mud, grass and twigs.