The Orphan Child

Chapter 13

Zahra hurried in the dark at once at her mothers demand. She must not be seen by anyone. The darkness of the night helped her to disguise.

Clutching the bag tightly and praying to her Lord to take her to her destination without being seen or dropping anything, she arrived at the pit.

It was pitch black and eerily quiet. The only sounds were the crickets in the distance. A dim light faded in and out from afar but it was enough to find the metal bars that she searched for.

"Pss. Harris?" She whispered leaning down to her knees.

Some sounds could be heard down below until finally Harris's head popped up from behind the metal bars.

"I have got you food." Zahra smiled and pushed the bottle between the bars and felt Harris almost snatch it out her hand before gulping it in 5 big mouthfuls.

It was not that Harris was being starved. The chiefs had made sure to provide food and water but the food was bland and the water was warm. The pit was the place for repenting where the occasional sinners were put in if they had committed anything too drastic. Of course the pit was only for the adults so a boy like Harris should have never been allowed to experience the punishment of the pit. Again, the chiefs had committed a sin and as usual the community -but a few-did not come forward to express their objections in the treatment of this Young Orphan child. They had failed to remember that an injustice as such would never be dismissed lightly by Allah. Verily Allah is All-Knowing and All-Seeing of what they do and do not do, yet All-forgiving to those who seek his forgiveness. Yet regret was a concept that was lost amongst the people where anger ruled and grudges floated. And the concept of forgiveness was not seemed to be used often as they believed to be the rightly guided.

Zahra smiled as she watched Harris push hard boiled eggs into his mouth and then smile.

"Khanks." Harris says between mouthfuls.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to speak with your mouth full." Zahra laughs.

Harris wipes his mouth with the back of his sleeves and shakes his head making his hair fly in all directions.

"Not my mother. My grandmother." Harris corrects. Had his mother been alive she would have certainly taught him to never speak with food in his mouth and all other kinds of things every mother wants to teach her child.

"Do you miss her?" Zahra asks feeling a little sympathetic towards her new friend.

"So much that It hurts." His voice cracks a little. His voice had seemed a little broken today. Even Umm Zahra and Abu Zahra had thought so too as they shared an elongated glance at each in the morning only communicating with their eyes in front of their daughter.

"Alhamdulillah." Harris breathes patting his stomach and falling back down to the straw mattress beneath him "How long have I been in here. It feels like a century."

"It's been 3 hours." Zahra informs dusting her dress.

Harris moans a bit more before realising his friend was about to leave.

He whips up from the mattress and presses his face against the metal bars blinking his large blue glossy eyes.

"Are you leaving?"

"Mother said I had to come back as soon as you were fed."

"Don't leave." Harris pleaded.

"But I have to."

"But I'll die." Harris reaches his hands out through the bars, overreacting just a little.

Zahra laughs at his silliness. "No you won't! You only have 1 hour left until you'll be free again."

Zahra takes the bottle back and then leaves in hopes that Harris will be home soon and they will play again tomorrow from early sunrise.

Left with no choice, Harris entertains himself for the last hour by singing his favourite song that his grandmother would sing to him often. In the few hours that he had spent in the pit he had found himself thinking about his grandmother more and more and his guilt of this morning weighed down on him heavily. His grandmother would have surely scolded him for this mistake if she had been alive. He could almost picture the disappointment on her face.

The sudden clanking of metal has him bolting upright as he now realizes someone was unlocking the pit a little earlier than he had expected. When it groaned to an open he found himself facing a tall dark figure stood out in the midst of the darkness. His grey hair sleeked back and the wrinkles around his eyes showed he was indeed an old man although he did not seem so physically with his bulking arms and the choice of clothing. He did not dress anything similar to the men Harris had seen. Harris was suddenly a little weary and scared as the tall figure made no move and just stood there impassively. He had blue eyes much like Harris's. The blue in the mans eyes penetrated through Harris as if he was reading Harris's soul or rather just trying to understand the terrified boy that had just crawled out from a hole.

The man smiled with bright white teeth that seemed to stand out even in the darkness of the night. The smile caught Harris off guard as it was not the type of smile Harris usually received. It was a genuine smile of happiness and acceptance. 

But who was he?

Although Talha had many responsibilities as a leader for his people he had not for a single second forgotten that The Orphan was in need of a new guardian. In fact he had contacted all around in search for any living relatives of Harris the Yateem and finally found Jacobs family living in the foreign lands that were not too far. However his actions could deceive anyone into thinking he did this all for the well being of the Orphan child, while in fact, he was actually rejoicing silently in his heart that he was ridding himself and his people from a bad omen.

Harris did not utter a single sound and nor breathe wondering if this man was hear to hurt him or to hug him as he leaned down on one knee coming down to Harris's eye level.

"Hello Champ. Ready to go home. It sure is nice to finally meet my grandson."

....................

This is the final Chapter you will see Harris as a child. Yes Harris has moved to the foreign lands. Will he forget his religion? Will he remain a troublemaker? Will he meet Zahra again?

Vote if you liked this chapter. I do admit my efforts on this chapter was not much. Sorry. I hope you still like it.