Liquidated

Chapter 3

Listen to 'Waves' by Dean Lewis for this chapter. Fits the current situation perfectly and my all time favourite.

*Flashbacks are in bold*

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Present Day.

"I am really sorry to interrupt Mr Shah, but how did you make it out alive?" asked Mirha.

"Because of the sacrifice of my friends." His deep brown eyes held all the solitude of the world inside them.

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Warning: *If you are sensitive to graphic content, you can freely skip, I've written this all by my own imagination and trying my best to make it feel real.*

The terrorist pointed their rifles straight towards them all. They looked at each other blankly. Their minds trying to register the fact that their school had been hijacked by a bunch of ruthless monsters. Panic arose in the whole school.

Everybody started running for their lives. The school was portraying the image of a battlefield. One of them strode towards Hamza and pointed the rifle at his forehead.

Just as he was about to shoot, there was a scream.

"NOOO!" Aliyan came from behind him and instead got a bullet straight into his chest, blocking his friend.

"ALIYAANN!" Hamza ran towards him, frantically. "NO YOU CAN'T DIE ALIYAN, YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME ALONE. JUST BREATHE GOD DAMN IT! YOU WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO DIE ON YOUR BIRTHDAY!" His friend sacrificed himself on his own birthday and he didn't even get a chance to say goodbye.

His teachers and the other school staff was being slaughtered infront of his own eyes, and he wasn't able to do anything for them. He couldn't find his other friends, the whole school was burning.

Hours passed and the massacre kept going on, it was a literal blood bath. Hamza pretended to be dead lying amongst the dead bodies, as he was continously being shot in his legs yet he stayed quiet.

From teenagers to pre-primary kids, they were not leaving anybody alive. For hours, Hamza hid behind one of the rostrooms placed in the Auditorium. When the storm passed away and the ear piercing screams stopped reaching his ears, he got out crawling, and crying endlessly.

"HELLO! IS ANYONE ALIVE IN HERE?" He screamed at the top of lungs. He was shivering with fear and pain. Sitting in a room between deadbodies. He was still holding a hope of one of his friends being alive.

When suddenly, he heard someone groaning and grunting with pain. It was a 6 year old first grader. She was severely injured and needed immediate medical care.

"Hey." Hamza crawled towards her.
"Its going to be okay, somebody must be coming for us. It is all gonna be over soon." He comforted her and tears fell down his cheeks.

It was nearly 4 pm when he heard the sound of police sirens wailing. The army had taken over the whole place. Kids were hiding in the bathrooms, cupboards and even inside of the windows. The rangers were rescuing them. One of the volunteers of the rescue team lifted a chair from Hamza's legs.

"I've found another one in the auditorium." He informed his team on the walkie-talkie. Hamza was in such a trauma that he was not even able to move.

As soon as he was carried out of the school, he spotted his parents running towards him. They looked so relieved to discover the fact of their son being alive. And then he fainted. He fainted right there and then in his parents' arms.

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"Mr Shah?" Doctor Furqan approached towards Asad Shah.

"How is Hamza? How is my son? Is he okay?" He stood up immediately. After hours of waiting for the surgery to happen, he bombarded the doctor with various questions about his only son.

"Mr Shah, Hamza is really lucky that he has survived this. He waited patiently like a real soldier or else he could have also died but..." The doctors were really shocked and relieved by his survival.

"But?" Mrs Shah asked.

"But he was shot in both his legs continously. The nerves that connected his legs to the spinal cord have been completely damaged. He has been permanently paralysed. I am sorry Mr Shah but your son will never be able to walk again." Doctor Furqan filled them with the details with great sorrow.

Asad Shah fell on his seat once again, he felt numb as his only son whom he loved dearly and would do anything for, was now unable to stand on his feet for the rest of his life.

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Hamza heard someone talking near him, and then he quickly registered that it was someone reciting something. His mother was sitting beside his bed reciting Surah Rahman.

"Then which of the favors of your lord will you deny?"

His mother came quickly towards him and tried to talk to him. She called the doctors and the nurse begun to take his pulse. His legs were feeling heavy and all plastered. Despite the fact that he was severely injured and damaged. The first question he asked his parents was about his friends.

"Amma? Where are my friends? In which room have they been admitted? Are they ok?" He quickly asked his mother.

"Hamza......beta, they..they are.." She stammered.

"What? Why are not you telling me? They are ok right?" Hamza felt his heart sink.

"They did not survive beta. They...died. They all died." His mother finally broke it to him.

Hamza felt as if his whole world had collapsed. Everything surrounding him disappeared in a blur. Blackness appeared infront of his eyes, and he couldn't hear anything his mother was continuing to say.

He finally spoke, "But...how can they be dead Ammi? We were supposed to celebrate Aliyan's birthday. You must have been mistaken. They...they cannot die. Maybe you did'nt check in all the rooms. They must be alive. They...they must be alive." He constantly repeated saying the same thing.

His mind was not ready to accept that his friends died so suddenly altogether and he is left all alone.

"Hamza my child, we have checked everywhere. They did not surive. I am really really sorry but...I am afraid that's the truth." Mr Shah tried to comfort him.

"STOP IT! STOP LYING TO ME!" Hamza started to panic. "I KNOW THEY ARE NOT DEAD. HOW CAN THEY DO THIS TO ME?" He tried to break himself free but the doctors grabbed him.

The doctors shot him a few tranquilizers to keep himself sedated for hours. He would break things and would try to free himself when he woke up. His parents were miserable and helpless.

The only thing that was running through Hamza's mind was that he had got through the horrific accident, but how will he survive this loneliness and isolation? How will he ever be able to compose himself after this?

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Phew! This chapter is the longest uptill now. Hope you guys appreciate it. The events mentioned in the chapter are completely by my imagination.

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