Shibly’s Diary
Today is Wednesday. Not a rainy day. Sun shined for the first time in the week.
The school functioned as usual today.
"Usually" means that the staff and the students attended the school in the morning and left in the afternoon.
The school functioned as a matter of formality. Apart from this, nothing else was usual. Whenever teachers and students met each other, they talked about the Principal's disappearance.
The Principal went missing last Sunday. Almost three days ago. There was no news about him yet. At first, I believed that he could have drowned in the water. If he was drowned, where is his dead body? At least, the police must have found his lifeless body by this time.
Last night, I had a hard time falling asleep.
My sleep was far from peaceful, filled with scary dreams.
The flowing mud water was everywhere. Wherever I gazed, I saw only the lifeless human bodies.
I could feel the agony of approaching death. All of a sudden, I got arrested.
My body was entirely wet with my sweat.
I was scared.
I tried to scream aloud. But I was unable to.
At two-midnight, suddenly I woke up. My heart was pounding so fast, like a panic attack.
I took a tumbler and drank some water, and tried to sleep again. I had another scary dream and woke wide awake. I could not sleep further.
I looked at the wall clock. It indicated that it was early morning three.
There was plenty of time for the dawn prayer.
I hate lying on the bed when I am wide awake. I got up from the bed and went to the washroom.
I took ablution and prayed the"Tahajjud Prayer". Then, I recited a few pages from the Quran. After the prayer and the recitation, I felt light-hearted. When my overactive mind calmed down, I was overwhelmed by sleep. I kept waiting until the Adhan was pronounced for the dawn prayer. Once the Adhan was pronounced, I prayed solitarily in my room and went to bed.
This time I had a deep sleep. I was not disturbed by scary dreams. But, I continued to sleep until eight in the morning. I must have been at the school by seven-thirty. I was already half an hour late when I woke up. First time in my teaching career, I got late for work.
The gatekeeper Suhail Nana opened the gate with a smile. “When the Principal is not there, you dared to get late it seems, ah..?!” Suhail Nana asked me. I was too exhausted to understand whether he was simply joking or commenting seriously.
* * * *
Hamdha Mohideen’s Diary
A girl came to our room with flame-filled eyes.
“There can’t be smoke without fire. You said your father is in Colombo..!! But, you heard the news? Police have arrested your father in Marudur. How come he got to Marudur all the way from Colombo? Rushdha, they have arrested your brother as well”.
Her voice was filled with sarcasm, hostility, teasing and all sorts of other known emotions on the earth.
Yesterday evening the flood attacked Marudur.
Today morning the terrible news came that Shakira’s father is missing. It was so shocking both for Rushdha and for me. But, Shakira baselessly blamed my father for the disappearance.
How could my father be responsible for his disappearance? She did the same accusation when someone attacked her father nearly a month ago. Last time, the police were not involved. But this time, the police is involved, and there are arrests.
I can not digest the thought that my father has been arrested. Even Minhaj got arrested. I felt like crying out loud. Instead of being empathetic, all these girls treat me as a criminal. It sounds like they waited for this opportunity. However, the only thing that I did not understand was why my father went to Marudur, all the way from Colombo, in the first place.
Sunday morning, the day in which the flood attacked, my father dropped me at the hostel. After that, he had told my mother that he was going to Kurunegala for a business appointment. He had not returned home that night. He had said he was staying in one of his friend's factories because it was raining heavily. It was understandable because my father is a very cautious driver and does not like to drive in adverse weather. He got the nose of a pilot when it comes to weather. But why did he go to Marudur? How come he got arrested in Marudur?
Has he really been involved in some sort of crime? I mean, has my father kidnapped Shakira’s father, as all these people claim?
What sort of ridiculous thinking is this? Has my brain got corrupted? My father is a genuine man with a kind, help-minded heart.
How could he kidnap a fellow human being? After all, Shakira’s father is not a stranger. He is one of the closest blood relatives of my father. They are cousin brothers.
What a silly girl am I to doubt my father…?! My heart knows my father is innocent. But the villagers will not believe it.
Some people want to frame my father and destroy his good name.
They are going to make use of this opportunity. My intuition said something evil approaches us at the fastest speed.
Oh my God…! Protect my family from all sorts of evils.
((To be continued))
_ _ _ _
Next chapter: chapter 25 - the collective forgetfulness
Previous chapter: chapter 24 (1) - the toy flood
* Characters, events and the places in this story are fictional and a mere product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to real-world events or characters is merely coincidental.
** Vijayapura and Marudur are fictional places.
Riza Jaufer
Akurana -Kandy,
Sri Lanka
