A Moment in the Courthouse of Time

CHAPTER 4: An Ode to Impermanent Mothers

Sadaf was nowhere to be found, even after a half year of the episode - now dubbed as The Orange Death. Faizan and Sarah slowly started accepting the pitiless actuality of a lost happiness that was gone there and then. Sarah's widest smile, which she wore like an adornment, vanished and her life became discolored. Ironic for someone who wished to make a name in the realm of radiant hues, was now left standing in the flood of grays. Sarah wept into nights with her scruffy eyes as she never imagined losing her mother too soon. That's the ugliness of life that sometimes you lose those too early who are your whole life, and it leaves an arduous void within which can't be filled easily. The shadow of grievance lingered over Sadaf's family, and a domain of dry depression ate them alive. Sarah felt like she was ceaselessly drowning but her life was not getting out of her body. She was scared of her old fears, and her mental soundness almost tumbled into an abyss. Sarah, by one way or another, managed to finally graduate with all the burden, along with filling the shoe of her mother for her family – which only had Faizan in it. Faizan got her wedded to her boyfriend and her happiness unspooled once again. Sarah started to paint again in her personal studio. She also gave birth to Zain in the following year - 2004. Just lying near to Zain would take Sarah to the skies. He gave this family a new meaning of bliss. Faizan was happy to see his family getting their joy back. He vowed to move ahead, giving Zain the happiness he merits.

***

An unheard, highly contagious infection found its place on the planet by the end of 2019, and it already grotesquely wrecked the world by 2021. It was commonly known as The Red Flu. It was proclaimed as one of the worst blights throughout the entire existence of humanity. People were catching high fever, having issues regarding minimal breathing, reddened eyes and their health was on a deteriorating spree. It sifted through each cell of the body, killing people with profound atrocity. The virus fatigued numerous to death including Faizan, who had already vitiated his lungs with chain-smoking after losing his beloved wife. He also became an accessory to infect his son-in-law too, who further carried it to his family, and in no time, everyone kicked the bucket. Luckily, Sarah with Zain was out of the city working on one of her projects, and that's how her work painted their lives with an opportunity to remain alive. The morbid calamity impelled people to incite violence in order to survive.

The infection completely obliterated everything in the following years. Sarah and Zain strolled in the streets of ashen-grey burnt structures, where the sky delineated an unwelcoming mood. Their sweats danced with their engraved filth on their bodies and caused them to feel tinges of a freezing fire. Sarah found sullied crumbs of a loaf on the street and shared them with Zain. It, surprisingly, turned out to be a pleasant meal for them in days. They wore melancholy as a shroud and devoured everything they found. Their condition deteriorated to a point where Sarah had to shoo away vermin from ever-present soiled water to quench her thirst. They did not know which was a bigger problem; scarcity of food or The Ravagers. The Ravagers had their own establishment and they snatched everything to keep their prowess unblemished. Sarah and Zain lived all these years evading The Ravagers and surviving on any edibles found; be it over-cooked rats or guttery water.

The moon sparkled on their worn-out bones, which were clasping their skin as if no flesh was left in their bodies. Their obscured tone along their acrid and musty smell pervaded their warehouse. It was disgusting enough to throb the nares of a person, while sputtering and stifling them with mouldy odour that crept into them like the sodden into bare timbers.

On another despairing day, Sarah set out to search for food when she found a woman feasting on the portion of a bread. Her eyes could not believe the scene, as it was nearly impossible to have that much. Even The Ravagers consumed food smartly to avoid the state of scarcity. Sarah stealthy crawled behind her and planned to attack her when this woman rolled Sarah to the ground, with the edgy tip of her blade pointed at Sarah's eyeball. It would, undoubtedly, have been culled out if she dared to move even an inch. Both remained stunned when they looked at each other, but could not accept these moments of reality. Sarah thought she was dreaming, whereas Sadaf did not want to believe to find her daughter in such a feeble condition.

"Is it— is it really— you?"

"I—"

Their tears bristled them as both latched onto each other with their intolerant stench. Sadaf kissed the vaguely wrinkled face of Sarah and wiped her teary face with her uncurled cuffs. She took Sarah to her irregular-faced, chrome-rusted bunker to feed her where Sarah apprised her about extracting her son from the warehouse. Sadaf nodded with a tacit implication, as the future repeated itself.

"How do you look so young, Maa?" she asked while they stealthily walked towards the warehouse.

"It's— it's very hard to explain but I promise to make you understand everything once we all come back safely."

"Dad died... so did my husband and my in-laws, owing to that contamination... I got only my son until now", her cries returned, sending Sadaf into a condition of helplessness for disregarding her family.

"You have grown a lot, baby girl. I am so proud of you for putting up with all of it. I can't wait to meet my grandson. How does he look?" she tried to take her mind off the demise of Faizan with stiffness in her eye, and inquired about her grandson.

"He has your eyes", chuckled Sarah delicately.

That night also unfolded confusion and brutal realities as they both arrived there. The layer of nauseate slithered up to her shock and etched revolting bewilderment inside her when Sadaf saw Zain with a similar scar on his head. The disgust drooled over just to mix with her proselytizing warmth for future Zain, which was utterly maligned in that moment. She loved him but... it was unethical. She wanted to hug Zain once again but she did not want to hug her grandson. She shivered through the next few moments in a corner, with her head in her lap, without even realizing that the clock was incessantly ticking and she was losing time to explain everything to Sarah. Sadaf began scratching her bemoaned face, perceiving how her future sold out her past. Disgusting. Totally disgusting!

The Moment once again took Sadaf to the past in acquiescence before Sarah or Zain could know anything. The next morning, Sarah woke up to believe it a succinct hallucination, but Sadaf's leftover spoke otherwise to her groggy eyes.

Sarah and Zain stayed alive for several years - thanks to Sadaf's foodstuffs - and moved to other cities to avoid the wrath of The Ravagers in their corrupted city. Unfortunately, Sarah passed away at 48 due to the marginally contaminated air which placidly put her to rest. Zain was left entirely alone for the first time, until he met his love years later. The world re-established after completely restraining the infection, and it began to known as The New World.