He realized that some couple had thrown their child because of his strange physical structure”

“Oh dear, what was wrong with his body?”

“The legs of the child were turned like a coil. Anyways, the saint Tariq Yasar picked up that child and gave him everything he could. He spent a fortune on his body’s operation and adopted him as his own child”

“Oh wow”

“This child was probably given extra care, but the love was equally distributed. Rizwan and this other child received the same amount of love from Tariq Yasar”

“Were you that adopted son of Tariq Yasar?”

“Yes, it was me” Hannan spoke as two tears fell from his eyes.

“Oh, you sure have a reason to be so sentimental about him”

“You think so?”

“Yes, and you’re doing good. No one is really concerned about the causes of your father’s demise, but you are. And I’m sure your father would be really pleased about this”

“I hope so”

“Don’t worry, things will be fine”

“No Maqsood, things will not be fine. I have to resolve this matter on my own”

“But don’t rush sir, please”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m just saying that don’t make judgements. Don’t jump to the conclusion. Wait for the right time. Investigate properly and then take actions”

“I will, I know I shouldn’t rush like this” Hannan agreed.

They both got silent for a while until Maqsood spoke up:

“Ok, I think I should leave now”

“Yeah, sure”

They both shook hands and Maqsood left the place.

v v v

That day’s evening, Rizwan was reading a book in his room until he heard the phone ringing. He stood up and walked to answer the phone.

He picked up the phone and answered:

“Hello?”

“Hi Rizwan, it’s me uncle Taha”

“Uncle Taha, hi, how are you?”

“I’m good. Listen, what are you doing today? Are you available tonight?”

“I think I am” Rizwan spoke. “Is it something important?”

“Yes. Your father’s prophecies, I know four more of them. If you really need to know then I don’t think this should be conversed on the phone”

“Yes, I completely agree, let me think what I can do”

Rizwan kept on thinking until he remembered some errands. He however decided to skip them by handing some of them to his servants.

Rizwan spoke:

“Ok I will come. I will come and I hope that I will get maximum information”

“Yes you will. You won’t miss a thing as far as the information I have is concerned”

“Ok, I’ll leave in fifteen minutes”

Rizwan kept the phone back. He called out his servant after few seconds:

“Sartaj!”

Sartaj came running towards him and asked:

“Yes sir? What is it?”

“I’m leaving for Mr. Taha’s house, you have to monitor the house and get the mails from the postman”

“Ok, are there any mails expected?”

“Yes, two are expected”

Rizwan walked towards his room as he answered him.

One hour later, Rizwan, Sidra and Mr. Taha were seated at the garden of Mr. Taha’s house on some plastic chairs. Mr. Taha began the conversation:

“Look kid, I haven’t read your father’s diary myself, but I have heard about the prophecies from the guy who was really close to him”

“It’s ok, I understand. Please tell me what you know”

“I will but before that I want to know how are things between you and Hannan”

“Well things are not really fine, he has left the home”

“Oh my God”

“Yes, he thinks that I am involved behind my father’s murder”

“Oh no, may God forbid. No one had anything against him, no one is to be blamed for this. And more importantly, he died a natural death”

“Exactly, that is my argument as well”

“See the thing is I knew about one prophecy all the time and that was that you two brothers are going to be broken apart. This one is the base of all the prophecies and the really horrifying ones would occur because of this”

“I see, well what were the prophecies?”

“Ok, now the first prophecy that I’m going to share will be a little hard on you so please hold yourself together”

Sidra felt a bit panicked but she paid attention to what they were being told. Mr. Taha began:

“One of your father’s prophecy was that your daughter will see a lot of torment and suffering in her life”

“Oh my God” Sidra uttered.

“But we don’t have an offspring yet” Rizwan replied to Uncle Taha.

“I know you don’t but its not like you’ll never have one”

“Yeah, but now I’m thinking…Hold, on can you repeat those words of prophecy once more”

“What I was told was that Tariq Yasar’s elder son’s daughter would face a lot of pain and torment. I don’t remember exactly if it was pain and torment or pain and suffering”

“Which daughter?” Sidra asked.

“That detail wasn’t shared”

“And this prophecy is stated in his writing?” Rizwan asked.

“Yes, in the diary” Mr. Taha answered.

“Ok, and what are the other prophecies?”

“Hold on Rizwan” Sidra spoke in between, “we have to do something about this prophecy. I mean there has got to be someway”

“I’m sorry I don’t think we can prevent this” Mr. Taha responded.

“We can’t?” Rizwan asked.

“Come on, you tell me. Do you think it is possible to overtake your father’s prophecies?”

“Well I don’t think it is possible, but we can do something like I mean what we don’t extend our generation”

“No Rizwan” Sidra spoke in between.

There was an awkward moment of silence for a while until Mr. Taha spoke up:

“Listen to me, both of you, please. Your problems are not going to be resolved like this, no matter how hard you try you cannot prevent what has to happen”

“Why can’t we?” Rizwan asked getting a bit enraged. “I mean, the two recent prophecies have been like thunderstorm over us”

“Exactly” Sidra added.

“Think about it” Rizwan continued, “our father’s grave getting crushed, our daughter getting tormented, how can we endure this. Shouldn’t there be a way out?”

“I agree that some solution should be proposed but I personally think that it is just a waste of time and effort”

“Why?” Sidra asked.

“You know what” Rizwan interrupted the mode of conversation, “just finish the prophecies first then we will talk about solutions some other time”

“Sure” Sidra suggested.

“Ok” Mr. Taha spoke, “now as I was saying the second prophecy stated by your father was that a two-faced person would capture the land that belonged to this family”

“Two faced person? He’ll do what?” Rizwan asked.

“He’ll capture a land illegally that belonged to this family initially”

Sidra asked after listening to Mr. Taha:

“So, can we assume from this prophecy that the person who will capture the land will be the black sheep of the family?”

“Black sheep is not enough to define him” Mr. Taha replied. “That person would be the darkest enemy of the family”

“Can’t ‘two-faced’ have a different meaning?” Rizwan asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean to say that we are interpreting the ‘two faced’ person as the dark enemy, so what I mean to ask is that can’t this term ‘two faced’ have some different meaning?”

“Ok, like what?”

“Like someone who is a liar or fake person”

“No Rizwan” Mr. Taha disagreed, “fake might be but liar is not strong enough to define him”

“Him?”

“It can be her, I’m not emphasizing on the gender”

Sidra interrupted their conversation:

“Ok, now tell us the other prophecies”

Mr. Taha was about to speak until he heard the phone ringing. He stood up saying:

“Excuse me for a moment”

Mr. Taha went inside the house to answer the call.

Rizwan and Sidra sat with silence in the garden. Sidra broke the silence feeling uneasy:

“Rizwan, is our child going to see a lot of pain and torment?”

“I want to say no Sidra, I really wish I could but I can’t”

Sidra waited for him to continue. Rizwan spoke after few seconds:

“These are my father’s prophecies; we cannot deny them. It’s not that simple”

“So, should we end this marriage?”

“Of course not Sidra, are you out of your…don’t Sidra, please don’t think like this”

“Alright fine”

That very moment Mr. Taha returned and as he stood by them, he asked:

“Do you know Khattab Razaq? Ever heard of him?”

“Of course, I have heard of him” Rizwan answered. “He was my father’s closest student”

“Yes, I just received his call”

“Oh really?”

“Yes, he is coming to this city, tomorrow morning”

“Well that’s great, I’d love to meet him” Rizwan spoke delightfully.

“Yeah, he wants to you two, but you do know what kind of a person he is”

“I know, but I’m not afraid of him because he is a truth lover and patient. He might be exactly like Hannan as far as anger and short temperedness are concerned but he is calm and he always prioritizes truth over his emotions”

Sidra was listening to this with interest. Rizwan continued:

“He is a sensible person unlike my brother. And you cannot expect him to harm you”

“No Rizwan” Uncle Taha spoke in between, “I disagree with you here. I completely disagree with this last statement. He can be harmful; I remember the time when he was literally about to kill someone and your father stopped him”

“Yeah, that was three to five years back. I was there too”

“So you do know how dangerous he can be?” Mr. Taha emphasized.

“He used to carry a sword back then, and our father had taught him to respect the law”

“Yes”

“And when he found someone stealing, he did what he thought was necessary”

“He was about to kill that man”

“I know, but then my father instructed him for more than two hours. He taught him that law was not meant to be taken in one’s own hands”

“I don’t think that he agreed with your father, even if he did outwardly, he kept on disobeying him behind his back”

“I know” Rizwan replied, “but when my father learnt about this, my father simply refused to talk to him. This was a moment of grief for him that compelled him to change himself on a very serious note”

“…Well in that case” Mr. Taha responded after a pause, “I wish he remains the same”

“Yes, he will, my father forgave him sooner than he was expecting and from that day onwards, he never took law in his own hands”

“Your father died a natural death, we all know that and we agree with it, but if Hannan tells him that your father was murdered, what are you going to do about Khattab Razaq?”

“I’m going to convince him, because I know very well that he is a truth loving person and he will not take any action unless he has any evidences to convict anyone”

“Oh boy” Mr. Taha spoke feeling agitated, “I don’t know how you are going to handle stuff, but one thing is clear that the dark period has begun”

“I’m not afraid, because I know I’m not wrong and I am not hiding anything”

“That’s one way to claim your innocence and your brother will not buy this sort of justification”

“Guys” Sidra spoke up, “why don’t you just calm down, sit down and tell us about the other prophecies”

“The other two prophecies, yeah right” Mr. Taha spoke and sat on the chair.

The husband and wife listened to Mr. Taha impatiently as he spoke:

“Another strange but interesting prediction of your father was that the mischief would have a different motive initially but since it will be exacerbated, it will have a different motive in the last phase”

“To be honest” Rizwan answered, “I haven’t understood a single thing out of this”

“Yeah, me neither” Sidra added.

“I’m saying…”

“Are you sure you are repeating the exact words?” Rizwan asked interrupting his speech.

“No, these are not the exact words, I am just rephrasing it according to what I remember”

“Ok, I’m listening”

“This mischief will long for God knows how long, so your father noted in the diary that the mischief will begin for one reason and it shall end over another one, which means that the mischief will transform from one form to another”

“Oh I see” Rizwan understood.

“So you mean to say…” Sidra asked Mr. Taha, “that initially the dispute between the brothers would have one reason and when this mischief would end, the objective behind that mischief would be something else entirely?”

“Exactly?” Mr. Taha replied. “Now it is up to you guys about how soon you end the mischief”

“Right” Rizwan answered.

“This prophecy seems a little strange but I’m sure it has a deep meaning”.