Redemption

Sunsets and Silhouettes

Sunsets and Silhouettes 

I giggled uncharacteristically as my deft fingers worked with a knife that pierced through the reddened tomato flesh. 
“You’re joking, right?” I added into our conversation.
“No, I’m serious.” Ammi smiled.
“It was the most beautiful day of my life.”
Our laughter settled and died out as her eyes brimmed with fresh tears. I dropped the knife which pattered against the wooden cutting-board; walking over to her I scooped her into my arms in a bold embrace.
Outside, the winds were nonexistent and the skies were covered in clouds but a few streaks of gold managed to sieve through the cotton-blackness.

Her body had noticeably weakened but it was firm around my steely grasp. She was cold but there was the faintest glow of warmth in between our molded bodies. Her labored breaths came in and out as she jerked and sobbed into my shoulders. Gently, I pulled away and gazed at her grayed irises that sparkled with affection. She was old but so beautiful, so very, beautiful.

****

Today is just another day, right? The world must go on, right? So, it did. Time slipped through the hands of the clock and we were living without the people we thought meant the world to us.

I just sat by the glass window everyday looking over, pondering and writing. 
Tiny beads of perspiration foamed over my upper lip as light puffs of dampness and moisture fumed out of the steamy cup of hot chocolate. As I gulped down the glazed, brown contents of the cocoa goodness, the residual grains rubbed off on my tongue, leaving behind a bitter taste.

The skin under my eyes had folded and sagged from lack of sleep and my fingers ached from working with a pen for too long.  Nothing excited me, nothing inspired me. I just sat alone all by myself; gazing at the stars, eavesdropping, observing and thinking.

“Safiya?”  
I whisked my head towards the direction of that sound. Ammi leaned against the wooden-door frame, with the faintest trail of a smile hugging her newly, wrinkled face.

I smiled back in her direction, standing up I mindlessly pressed the creases on my shirt with my palm.
“I wanted a few groceries for dinner, would you go pick up a couple of vegetables and fresh spices?” She started.
“Sure,” I accepted a crunched note of a five hundred rupee note and a chit of paper with the grocery items scribbled sloppily over it in grey pencil.
“Thank you” she said.

“No problem”

I walked over to my closet and pulled out jet-black scarf and draped it over my head. I dashed outside and scampered through the dirty streets. There was a local bazaar near our locality and I raced through the abandoned lanes lined with putrid waste.

Sunehri bazaar was still glowing and shimmering in the evening dullness. The air smelled of damp fruits and vegetables and the ground was wet with occasional blotches of stagnant water. Skipping through the murky stains on the cemented pathway, I walked over to a stall with neatly stacked, thick chunky carrots, cauliflowers, cucumbers and onions. A young boy dressed in a dirt-grey shalwar and qameez stood nearby as his dust brown eyes studied my movements carefully. My skin recoiled under his bold gaze. Ignoring the way he made me uncomfortable, I asked for the price of the vegetables with my tone clipped and short.
I stood there bargaining over the price for tomatoes as he picked out the finest produce of cucumbers and carrots and sealed them in a polythene bag.
After I was done recollecting all my items, I walked with bulky bags straining my forearm. My vision steadied on the ground; never bothering looking in front I slipped out of the busy market.
A stinging pain crawled up my nose and forehead as my face collided with a rock hard torso. My eyes blurred with tears from the aftermath of the collision, weakly, I steadied myself and forced to see a pair of emerald-green irises staring back at me. Ayaan, ugh my nose scrunched in disgust.
“Why don’t you ever look where you go?” He asked in irritation.
“Me? How is this, my fault?” I shot back at him.