Fading Clouds

The clouds were fading but the sun wasn’t shining for it was past the time for sun to shine. Sun was setting and everything was turning dark. A strange darkness overcame everything. Abdullah was sitting on a bench in a park. He was having a conversation on phone. He was looking depressed.

“You can’t do this to me. That’s not fair.”

“I can’t stay in this relation with you anymore. You deserve better. You are a good person. You will find someone who loves you. I am an imperfect person. I will never be able to love you the way you love me. It will be good for you if we breakup.”

“No one is perfect Sarah. If there is a problem, we can sort that out but you don’t need to end this relation. I love you and you love me and that’s all that matters. We will thrive together. I promise.”

“Abdullah you don’t understand. This thing will never work out. We will never be happy together.”

“I’m happy.”

“I’m not. Okay? That’s what you wanted to hear. I don’t love you anymore. I was wrong about you. Maybe we should just have been friends. I don’t know if you deserve better or not but I want to be with Shahmeer. I was in confusion but now, that confusion is gone. I love Shahmeer and I want to spend rest of my life with him.”

“Oh! So you found someone else. That’s good. I wonder how you can be such a hypocrite. I mean, you were saying that I deserve better but that was not the case. I don’t want to say anything that may hurt you but that’s not the way things should end. Things could have been better,” saying that Abdullah disconnected the call.

Abdullah was depressed and depressed indeed. He buried his face in his hands. To feel alone in a world of billions of people is one of the worst things. People die of loneliness but they die long after the genocide of their emotions. People can be cruel at times but not humble at all. Tears were emerging from his eyes but he was trying his best to hide them. Remember, we are actors and we have to act. An old man was passing by him and he saw Abdullah in such miserable state.

“Are you okay son? I think you need help,” said the old man.

“Who are you?” inquired Abdullah.

“Just an old man passing by you,” replied the man.

“Then I suggest you should just pass by here, I don’t need any help,” said Abdullah in a rudely manner.

“From your expressions and tone, it is obvious that you do need a lot of help,” saying that, the old man sat by him.

“I don’t need you old man,” Abdullah shouted.

“Look son, I am not here to judge you. A lot of people have troubles in their lives. There is no shame in that. You can tell me the matter. Maybe, I can help you,” said the old man.

“I don’t need anyone to commiserate me. I am okay. I can deal with my own stuff. I don’t want to waste your time. You can go,” said Abdullah in a milder tone this time.

“I am in no hurry. I should better stay. I have spent a life. I have been through all of this. Now can you please bring the problem to light,” requested the old man.

“There was this girl Sarah. I love her so much. She said she loved me and now she is telling me that she wants to be with someone else. What was she doing with me the whole time? Was she just having a good time? She just needed me as a clown so that she can enjoy,” Abdullah was disappointed.

“How are you feeling at the moment?” asked the man.

“It seems everything around me is falling apart. I don’t know how to deal with this heartbreak,” explained Abdullah.

“Now let me tell you something son. Dard-e-Dil, heartache, is a part of youth’s life. When you will be old, you will only remember these moments. Relationships, heartbreaks, crushes will come and go in life. You will learn to deal with it. The time in which I lived wasn’t so advanced but I happened to be a futurist. I judged the reality of life. I was passionate as you are. I once loved a woman. She was just like fairies from heaven but we all know fairies aren’t meant to be with humans. It happens only in fantasies and this life; it is a completely different thing. I tried but I failed. Love can be fatal,” said the old man with a sigh on his face; a sigh of buried deeds and abandoned desires.

“You mean Love is not necessary for life?” asked Abdullah.

“Love is overrated. Life is way beyond love. No doubt love was the reason for the creation of man but now, it has departed. Love is eternal. The world is full of people with materialistic desires. They have no interest in eternal bliss. People are ignorant. They don’t know everything is an illusion. It will stay here forever, but they will die eventually. People abandon us but it doesn’t mean life is over. Life is the name of moving on even against the tide,” explained old man.

“What is life about then? I see a lot of people around me having relations and all that kind of stuff. Will they all suffer like me?” asked Abdullah.

“I am not a fortune teller. I don’t know what life has to offer for them but I can tell one thing. They are moving with the tide. This tide will surely take them forward, but towards hell. There can be a person who can love and get it but such things happen once in a blue moon. In some stage of life, people regret their decisions. You seem a good boy. You have the guts to move against the tide. You will know it when everything will be alright,” said the man.

“What if I get strayed? What if I get lost in this world of brutality? Who will guide me?” there was a concern with Abdullah.

“As long as your conscience is awake, you will never be lost. You will always find a way to drift through the darkness. The light inside you will guide you out of the smoke of pain and misery. Start to believe in yourself and you will be free from all the cages of the world. A person can be captured, hope can’t. Love is a fading cloud. It will fade someday. We should be prepared not only for rain but also for sunshine. When the clouds fade, the sun shines but it can burn you. Be prepared for that. I hope you understood what I said,” said the old while taking his cane.

“I will try to give me best to this life,” replied Abdullah in a pleasant mood, “but you haven’t told me your name. Where do you live?” asked Abdullah.

The old man laughed. There was a strange smile on his face and then he said, “Remember, sab maya hai, everything is an illusion.” The old man vanished like the fading clouds. He was nowhere to be seen just in a fraction of second. Abdullah was horrified by what has just happened. He sat there, staring at the sky; the clouds fading away.