Phone Call

Phone Call
Free of paranoia and constant terror. Free of shivers and tremors. Free of rapid heartbeats.
Free of constant twitching in her stomach. Free of the fear of going back to the cell. She truly
was blessed. Those days felt like sunshine, and the situation she currently found herself in
was nothing but dark and desolated nights. Depressing nights. Where one would cry
themselves to sleep. Those nights when you had a lot to share but no one to share it with.
Life these days for her was similar.
"Amna," Sheharzaad's voice cracked as she called her name.
"Shehar," Amna's voice cracked too. Her voice full of surprise. Amna was taken aback. She
never thought Shehryaar would let Sheharzaad call her.
"Are you... are you fine, Amna?"
"Are you fine, Shehar?"
A tear left her eye. It felt so surreal to both of them. They shared a very sacred bond of
friendship with each other because they found each other at their lowest. Especially when
they both were alone.
"I really want to meet you, Shehar. I miss you. I feel so alone," she cried out. "I feel like I have
no one in this world. The walls of this house terrify me."
"How... how is your treatment going?"
"I-I'm recovering, Shehar."
"How is Ahmed bhai?"
"He is fine."
"And—"
"How are you, Shehar?"
"I'm good as well, Amna."
"No. Tell me, how are you?"
"Living," her lower lip wobbled. "Alone. Scared. Trapped," she sniffled. "I'm so scared to
upset him, Amna." A sob formed in her throat. "I live in constant fear. Day and night. Every
moment. Every second," the sob stretched her throat, making it difficult for her to speak.
"Does he... does he beat you?"
"No. He doesn't. His presence alone is so terrifying. Even if he frowns and it is not directed
towards me, I still get scared."
"Oh Shehar."
"And Amna, you know... what happened with me in the cell... you know what happened with
me... you know... what has happened with me," Sheharzaad was struck, not able to let the
other sentence out. "You know... what they did to me... I don't want to live."
"Please, Sheharzaad," Amna was crying as well, short of words. "It is all because of me... I'm
the reason it happened."
"I want to let it all out, Amna. Listen to me, please. Otherwise, my heart will explode
carrying those memories and keeping them all within."
"I'm here. I'm always here for you."
Sheharzaad narrated every second she had spent in that dark cell to Amna. How she was
mentally tortured. How her thinking process was sabotaged. How much darkness and
loneliness scared her. About Khaleda's dead body that was kept hanging in front of her eyes,
and the image still haunted her. About Hannan, who was made to kill with her own hands.
And by the end of that story, Amna was in tears as well. She couldn't hold herself.
Then Amna told what had happened with her. She told that they were released after a week
from the cell. She kept on going to Shehryaar's office to ask for her, but the guards didn't
even let her enter. One day, when Shehryaar's car was going inside the building, she
stopped it and begged him to release Sheharzaad. He took her to his office and told her that
Sheharzaad would not be out anytime soon and her rounds to this building would go in
vain, so she should stop visiting the office.
After that, she sought help from the police, filing an FIR against him, but the police officer,
after hearing his name, put Ahmed in jail as a threat to not visit the police station with the
intention of filing an FIR against Shehryaar. Ahmed was released after a day or two. Then
Shehryaar called her to his office and took her to the cell where Sheharzaad was kept.
She begged him to let her talk to Sheharzaad, but he didn't agree and allowed her to watch
Sheharzaad from a distance. After that, Shehryaar told Amna in clear-cut words not to visit
his office or the police station; otherwise, Ahmed wouldn't be released in two days with
minor injuries. Since that day, she had been drowning in regret, praying for her recovery.
Then one day, his men approached her and told her they were here to take her to Shehryaar
and Sheharzaad's wedding. Amna was too shocked to believe the news. She cried out for
Sheharzaad. She knew it was a forced marriage. Sheharzaad's consent was not taken for this
marriage. She was heartbroken to know what had happened to her friend, but the longing to
see her after so many weeks brought her to their wedding.
Afterwards, they both were engaged in some other gossip to forget about the dark days of
their lives when Amna suddenly said, "Do you remember classroom 312 of our campus?"
Her tone was jolly, as if it was their everyday talk and nothing suspicious.
"I do."
"You do," Amna replied.
And Sheharzaad immediately got hold of a pen and paper as Amna began to speak about an
event she had gone to at the university campus. Sheharzaad keenly wrote her dialogue on
the paper.
Once the call ended, with the promise between the two friends that they would call each
other again, Sheharzaad immediately began to underline specific letters of each word.
And then her eyes widened as the hidden sentence began to make sense.
It read, "W A L I K H A N W A N T S T O M E E T Y O U."