Rain is me <3, Dreamer _ [freenovel24 txt] 📗

one who sent this note to us through that boy…” I whispered.

“What are you gonna write in it?” Haya asked.

“Ah, nothing… Just that we’ve not taken their place & we are leaving tomorrow & they can enjoy this place forever after this…” I told them.

“That’s fine! Where are you going to place it?” Fadila questioned.

“Right here” I rolled up the slip of paper & placed it under a pebble near the brook.

“What if they didn’t get it?” Haya questioned.

“Nothing…! And by the way, we’re leaving tomorrow only, so they won’t experience any problem after that… Okay?” I answered.

“Yeah… Let’s go now!” Zoufishan moved out of the meadow.

“Yea!” We nodded & moved to the cottage.

“What’s the time?” Haya asked.

“It’s 11:30 PM!” Fadila said with drowsy eyes.

“I can’t be awake anymore now!” Haya said & fell on the carpeted floor.

“Me too!” Fadila also did the same thing.

Haya & Fadila told me once that their favorite hobby was sleeping.

“Hila, will you sleep now?” Zoufishan asked me.

“Huh? Of course not, Zoof! How can you even ask me that?” I laughed.

“Oh! Sorry!” She smiled too.

I can’t sleep easily; this is one more of all those things that Zoufishan definitely knew about me.

“Zoof, I’m really eager to meet the one who wrote us that note!” I said, silently.

“Yeah, me too…” Zoufishan answered, slowly.

We both again moved out of the cottage & sat on the spotless, clean road in front of it.

As the darkness surrounds the Mawlynnong village, the weather becomes cool.

No one was around us, & there was only a pretty sensation of cool air on our naked arms.

It’s a beautiful feeling when you’re having an awesome company of an awesome person & you know that nothing is going to bother or trouble you & there’s only peace & silence around you.

“Zoof, promise me that we’ll always be best friends…!” I said, holding her tender hands.

“I promise you, Hila… You’ll be my best friend till my last heartbeat!” She replied, smiling. Her godly smile reflected everything; her love, loyalty, faith & trust for our friendship.

We sat there, just there. We knew that our collage will soon be over, & then it will not be possible for us to meet. And even if we met, we won’t be able to have this type of perfect ambiance & time.

Zoufishan gave me something very precious that night. It was a golden, lozenge-shaped pendant. The pendant held a tiny photograph of ours.

I’ve the pendant in my neck to this day.

And as I’ve already stated, rain has accompanied us in every great moment. Rain is surely somehow related to my fate; I’m definite about it.

And as we sat there talking to each other, it began raining. Zoufishan knew that I loved rains, so she sat with me.

And soon rain drenched everything: The trees, the fresh grass, the roads, the huts, Zoufishan & me.

I noticed Zoufishan. She was smiling, very lively & she looked so… graceful & pretty.

Rain made everything beautiful. It showered my spirit & watered my soul.

“Hila, don’t you think that raindrops are the bravest things created by Allah?” Zoufishan said, slowly.

“Huh? Why?” I asked.

“Because they are never afraid of falling…!” She replied.

“Yeah…” I smiled.

“Zoof, you know what things I love the most? They are first of all my family, then rainy days, good books, chicken, good music, comfortable T-shirts, hugs and…” I said, laughing.

“And, Hilo?” She questioned.

“And you…” I giggled.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#

“Hey, Hila! What are you doing? It’s almost morning & you have not slept yet! What’s the matter?” Feruza shouted, suddenly waking up from her deep sleep.

I instantly came in the present from my memories.

I checked the time. It was 4:30 AM.

“What happened, Hila?” Feruza shouted again.

“Oh! No, no, nothing… You just sleep… I was thinking about something…” I said, rubbing my eyes.

“You were thinking something for the whole night?” She asked, getting confused.

“Yeah… You won’t understand it!” I said, smiling.

“Whatever!” She uttered & slept again.

When she slept, I again began thinking about my last trip to Mawlynnong village.

 

“You love me, Hilo?” She laughed.

“Yes, why not? Don’t you love me?” I asked in confusion.

“Sure, I do love you!” She gave a pretty smile. Our night went as smoothly as butter on a slice of warm bread.

Next early morning, we did packing of our things & for the last time went to our meadow.

“Good heavens! Hila, there’s a note here!” Haya shrilled.

“Really?” I ran & took the note in my hands. “Thank you. We all would like to meet you! Wait for us!” I read out.

“They want to meet us?” Haya said, awkwardly.

“Who are ‘they’?” Fadila asked.

“Huh? How will we know, Fadila? Zoufishan, I think we must leave now or we’ll miss our train…” Haya said, moving out of the meadow.

“Hey, Haya! We must wait for them!” I said, pulling her into the meadow.

“Hilo’s correct!” Zoufishan said.

“Zoufishan, Hila is always correct for you!” Haya sniffed.

“Stop it please, Haya…” Fadila shouted.

“I don’t care!” Haya whispered angrily & stood near a tree.

She always did that; she was never happy with what Fadila, Zoof & I did.

Fifteen minutes passed.

“Should we leave now?” Haya said, getting more frustrated.

“Just a minute more…” I said, desperately waiting for ‘them’.

Just a few seconds later, I saw some girl standing behind the same ebony tree & staring at us.

“Hey…! Are you the one who wrote us that note?” I uttered, walking near to her.

She didn’t run away but she looked extremely afraid.

“Hey, why are you so afraid?” I asked her.

She didn’t answer.

“C’mon! Do whatever you want to do & go away! We are almost very late because of you!” Haya angrily shouted & pulled her to us.

“Haya, don’t do anything like this to her… Can’t you see that she’s afraid?” Zoufishan said, gently.

Haya awkwardly stared at that girl for a second. “Okay, I’m sorry…” She said, slowly.

I smiled. I was actually surprised to see Haya saying sorry to someone.

I went near to that girl.

She looked exactly of our age.

She had a wafer thin & fair body, nebulous-black eyes, pencil-thin eyebrows, sparkling teeth & nougat-brown hair tied in a long pigtail.

At last, with respect to my authorial eyes, I could conclude that the girl was beautiful.

“You, please don’t be afraid… Tell us your name…” I asked her in a friendly voice.

“Lail” She answered in a dulcet voice.

“You’re Muslim then?” I asked, happily.

She nodded.

“Hey, wow! Are you a native?”

“Yes.” She replied, silently.

“Okay, well I’m Hila, she’s Zoufishan, she’s Fadila & she’s Haya & we all are from Chandigarh…” I said, pointing towards Fadila, Haya & Zoof.

She nodded again, meekly.

“Hey, what’s making you so afraid? We won’t do anything to you. Okay?” I said, softly.

“Yes” She replied, a little loudly this time.

I figured out that she was a girl with a demure & timorous personality.

She wore a huge, red-colored skirt with an elegant, white-colored, full-sleeved top. Her clothes smelt of cinnamon & meadow-fresh mint like if she spent all her time in the meadow. Her simple & quaint dress clearly reflected that she was a native to this village only.

We came & sat near the brook.

“So, tell us why did you think that we are going to take your meadow?” Fadila asked.

“Umm… We observed that you all were spending much of your time in this meadow… So, umm… we thought that you all are going to snatch our place from us… That’s all!” She replied, timidly.

“Okay, I wish we have already cleared your doubt!” Zoufishan exclaimed.

She nodded & smiled.

“Who was that little boy who sent us that note?” Haya asked, suspiciously.

“Oh! He was my younger brother, Ali.” She said, silently.

“Didn’t he come with you to meet us?” I asked.

“No. He has come…” She replied, instantly.

“Where is he then?” Zoof asked.

“He’s there!” She pointed towards a distant tree & shouted, “Ali! You can come now! They won’t do anything wrong with us. These are good people!”

She said this thing louder than anything she spoke before, perhaps because she was assured now that we won’t do anything wrong with her.

“Ali!” She shouted again.

And just then, that little boy’s innocent, fair face soon appeared in front of us.

“Hey! Little cutie!” I went & kissed his soft cheeks.

“What’s your age, dear?” Fadila asked.

We all gazed at her awkwardly for a moment. It was really a stupid question. Fadila was an extremely simple-minded girl. She always proved that what we called her, ‘Simple Simon’, was truly a correct name for her.

“Hey, dear, don’t listen to her… You tell us that in which school & standard do you study?” Zoof asked.

Yes, that was a sensible question.

Ali didn’t answer. We thought that like his elder sister, he too was afraid.

“Dear, you don’t need to be afraid & we are not going to snatch your place too… Okay?” I gave a soft pat on his back.

He still didn’t answer.

“Umm… He will not answer…” Lail said, slowly.

“Why?” I questioned, getting confused.

“Well, actually, he can’t speak, I mean, he’s unable to speak. This is since his birth.” Lail replied, gloomily.

“Oh, no! We’re really sorry… We didn’t know…” I replied, sadly. I was shocked.

This was the reason for why he didn’t tell us anything that night too.

“It’s alright… That wasn’t your fault!” Lail replied, silently.

We all remained silent for a minute.

“So, you wrote us that if we didn’t give your meadow back to you, then you will do something wrong with us… But, I don’t think that a girl with such a shy personality can ever write something like this to anyone…” I said, breaking the silence.

“Yeah, you are correct! That line wasn’t written by me… Actually, my elder sister wrote that thing. I’m really sorry for that… I told her several times that she should not write that but she didn’t listen to me… She loves this meadow more than us…!” Lail replied, laughing.

“Oh, really? What’s her name?” Zoof asked, cheerfully.

“Her name is Ziya & she’s only a year older than me…” Lail replied.

“Nice!” I exclaimed.

Lail began telling us many incidents about her siblings & the meadow.

I don’t remember any of them, but they were really good.

She also told us that she was an orphan & her parents had died when she was very young. After that, she, Ali & Ziya used to spend much of their time in this meadow only. And that’s why they loved it so much.

We all enjoyed talking to her & she had become our friend in just an hour.

But just then something very apprehensive happened.

We heard someone calling Lail’s name very loudly.

Lail ran out of the meadow. We all too ran behind her.

“What happened, uncle?” Lail finally stopped when she saw some man at the edge of the meadow.

“Come fast! Lail, come with me!” He shrieked.

He was sweating badly like if he had extremely bad news for Lail.

“But, tell me what happened?” Lail was seriously terrified.

“Y-your sister Ziya, she’s dead…” He replied almost weeping.

“What?” She groaned.

“Yes… She has committed suicide… Come with me!” He moaned, crying.

We all felt a sudden pang.

“What the heck you’re saying!” Lail couldn’t believe that.

“Lail, I know it’s hard to believe, but Ziya’s dead… You’ve to come with me!” He said with grim.

“Allah!” Lail uttered and ran away. Ali ran behind her.

I tried to follow her but Haya stopped me.

“What, Haya?” I shrilled.

“Hila, you won’t go anywhere… It’s her matter!” Haya replied.

“But she’s in trouble… We’ve to help her!” I cried.

“She’s no one to us, Hila! C’mon, we should leave now! Haya stopped me again.

“But…” I uttered.

“Hila, let’s go!” Haya pulled my hand.

Zoof and Fadila didn’t say anything.

No one allowed me to follow Lail. And there, we went away.

We didn’t even come to know the reason behind Lail’s sister’s suicide. We left her in trouble & came back to Chandigarh.

This thing startled and troubled me for a few days, but then I forgot about our brief meeting with Lail.

And today, it has been four long years since that day in the meadow. Neither I have visited that beautiful meadow in these four years nor have I met my best friends.

We only met a few times after our collage was over.

Fadila & Haya are still my friends on Facebook but we don’t get