“It was the same bus I got into every day, but that day as I sat down, I sensed something was different.”
It was the same bus I
got into every day, but that day as I sat down, I sensed something was
different. The bus driver seemed to be in a miserable condition; his clothes
were dirty and ruffled as if he had not changed for days, and there was a deep
cut blatantly visible on his face. The face also had a black scar on the left.
To my utter shock,
that 35 years old man looked much older. Lost in his own thoughts, he was,
unlike his usual attitude, quiet. As I sensed further, the entire atmosphere in
the bus too looked gloomy. One more observation came into sight --- the fact
that bus made sharp turns though he was usually an attentive driver. I was,
perhaps, the only person who noticed that, as others were all either busy
reading or murmuring something to one another.
Ali, the bus conductor,
also looked different. In fact, everyone was acting differently. Unsurprisingly,
I felt extremely uncomfortable with all that. All seemed deaf and dump.
Ali, in a few minutes,
made a dart for the seat I was sharing with an old man. I could see it clearly
that the young man was not in his usual spirits. I had my ticket in my right
hand and as I handed it over to him, impatient, I inquired:
‘What’s wrong? Everything seems
weird, abnormal as if it’s a vehicle carrying dead bodies.’
He smiled a smile that
had no shine, no sign that used to be characteristic of his. In a depressed
tone he replied:
“Zaid’s (the driver) entire family is in
the hospital. They met with a brutal accident last night. His mother and son
are in a critical condition. So, he stands in dire need of money.”
“Oh, poor man!” I
exclaimed with sorrow. “You see, he can’t stay with his family even at such a
crucial time” he added. “Pal, can you be of some help? ...however small it
might be, but do contribute something. And I urge you to do as much as you can.”
He turned around and was soon out of my sight.
I was dumbfounded. I did not even know how to react. I also had
had bad times in my life, but I admit, that was the worst one could have. God forbid,
I had never experienced anything like that. It was a nightmare. Fully aware of
my financial condition, I sat there as if glued to my seat.
Suddenly, an idea
flashed across my mind: Zambi. “Yes, Zambi’s the one who can help.”
Zambi, my first cousin,
had just returned from the US with loads of money in his accounts and had
started investing here and there wherever he found an opportunity to augment
his wealth. My right hand slipped into my pocket arbitrarily. When it came out,
it went straight to the right side of my face.
“Hi Sami, how’re you
doing man?” Zambi’s voice struck my auditory senses. “Zambi, listen up…..”
------------------------------------
Soon enough, Zambi’s
ever radiant, smiling face appeared at the hospital gate where I was all eyes
for him. And that is how Zaid’s family was taken out of that ordeal.
---------------------------------------
Right a week after
that incident, Zambi reached me on my cell one afternoon. He was overjoyed:
“Hey Sami, you how much I spent on that guy’s family?”
“hmmm….I don’t know
exactly, but what’s the…”
“$15000 precisely”
Zambi interrupted me.
“So…”
“So, the news is I got
10 times to that amount today. A hundred and fifty thousand dollars, believe
you me.”
“Congrats dear” I
stuttered.
“Not a bad bargain, is
it?” He laughed out loud.
“Yes, it’s good. God…”
“Half is yours!” he
didn’t let me finish.
“But…”
“I said it’s yours.
You deserve every bit of this. You were the one who offered me that
opportunity. I can’t be stingy now. It’d be unfair.”
“But…”
“We’re dining out this
evening. Would let you know later. Bye!”
The call was
disconnected. Speechless, I was left gazing into the air.
Malik Zain
O’ Level Final Year
PakTurk Schools
Islamabad Branch |
Malik Zain |
A great attempt indeed .. i must admit i was dumb founded with the topic .. it seemed so very boring and i myself couldn't think of other than a kidnapping scene etc. but this has a totally different aspect !
ReplyDeleteThanks for encouragement, dear.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis all goes to sir humayun..
DeleteA good story. Nice attempt man . :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comments, dear - a sure source of encouragement for our dear Zain.
ReplyDeleteflawlessly attempted! I assure you that you'll get an A* if you keep writing like this
ReplyDeleteamazing piece of writing
ReplyDeleteI wanna write a story for the same topic.
ReplyDeleteI was standing outside my house wearing my school uniform. I was waiting for the bus and when the bus arrived i got into and it and sat on the same seat beside my friend on which i sat everyday. IT WAS THE SAME BUS I GOT INTO EVERYDAY BUT THAT DAY I SENSED SOMETHING WAS DIFFERENT. Everyone in the bus was scared and was having an occasional weirdness on their faces. Moreover, i asked my friend the reason for this but she haven't even replied. I was a bit frightened when i saw the condition of my friend.
However, after a couple of minuted, i looked at the back of the bus unintentionally. I was that there were four persons wearing blck masks on their faces and those masks had fully covered their faces that no one could even recognize them. One of them were having a gun in this hand.
It was a dead hilarious scene. Everyone in the bus was quite. No one even have the courage to stand and ask them who they are. However, we waited for our destination but i bus driver didn't stopped there. We were almost close to death.
After a period of time the bus stopped at a place and our eyes were blindfolded. We stepped out of the bus in a line and then we were ordered to remove the blindfold.
When we removed we saw that we were in an amusement park. We were shocked. When the persons wearing black masks removed the masks we saw that they werw our teachers. And they told us that its our trip day and they gave us a surprise. We were somehow very frightened but on the other hand we werw damn excited about our trip.
Therefore, this was all a prank by our teachers which made this trip the most memorable one..