Sins of Love

Sins of Love

Two Signals.

‘’You have reached the emergency service cenre, what’s the emergency?’’

Two irregular breaths. Two sobs.

A silence.

‘’Hello, you have reached the emergency service cenre, what’s the emergency?’’

‘’I need an ambulance’’ I cry whilst tightening the grip of the black plastic cellphone I am firmly holding onto.

‘I have you at the grand terminal of Tehran on platform two , is that correct?’’

I nod without answering and rub my watery eyes.  

 ‘’What is the emergency?’’

‘’T-There has been a suicide’’ tears are streaming as I stammer those exact words.

‘’Who is the victim?’’

‘’I am’

Mother always told me that when you die a train picks you up and send you off to heaven. A train whiter than crystal clear snow with more departures each second than you can count. There is also a black train that picks up the people not worthy of even thinking of paradise, those who go to hell with eternity as their only friend. I got frightened when she told me but she managed to calm me down by telling me that all children have a free ticket to God. I stopped worrying.

Now I am seventeen, one year from being an adult according to law. One year away from losing my ticket. I have not exactly been a saint throughout the years, but my life have been completely free of sins. Until last week.

‘’ O Iran, o bejeweled land

O, your soil is the wellspring of the arts

Far from you may the thoughts of evil be

May you remain lasting and eternal

O enemy, if you are of stone, I am of steel

May my life be sacrificed for the pure soil of my motherland…’’

It is our national day and we were singing our hearts out for our country. I was late for class which resulted in a smack on the head with a ruler by the schoolmaster before I could clamp into line with the other boys. That’s when I saw him. Sayid, the new student.

The vague April sun was shining brightly in his curly thick dark hair that gently fell down onto his shoulders. I gently picked up a few grains out of my pocket and waited for the right moment to arrive, when the schoolmaster were looking in the other direction. I threw not one, not two but three bits of grains before Sayid turned around and gazed with his almond brown eyes after the perpetrator that had messed with him. He did not notice me as I was very good at keeping a poker face. He then gave up and I continued with my mischief. This time he was on his guard and as soon as I got detected he lunged at me, forcing us both to the ground. Adrenaline pumped in my veins as the other boys gathered around us in a circle all screaming:

‘’Fight! Fight! Fight!’’

‘’Get out of the way you shitheads’’ The schoolmaster pushed all the excited students aside and finally parted me and Sayid. We had managed to give each other an unforgettable trashing and were seated outside of class for the rest of the day. After a while we got bored of the silence and started to complement each other’s fighting skills. The black eye around Sayid’s left eye was an artwork created with my right hook and my swollenlip that was still bleeding was a craft created by Sayid’s elbow.