Outstanding Stories » Things Are Not Like Before

“Things Are Not Like Before” is one of the outstanding stories (sub-junior) of the second biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Yahya Nabeel, The City School, Gulshan Junior C, Karachi, Pakistan.

Things Are Not Like Before

We were a perfect family of four, just like everyone else has, loving mother, world’s best father, a brother and a sister. I was the youngest of all and the most loved. My father would often take us all out for play. They would buy me lots and lots of candies and chocolates even though my mother would dislike it but, on my insistence, he would secretly still buy them. I thought it would last like this forever, little did we know that was written in our fate. We had even planned family holidays together but we did not know we would not be able to go.

20th February 2014 was just like a normal day, mom woke me up for the school. I hate getting up early in the morning and as usual threw a tantrum. My father promised me we would go out tonight and that he would buy me snacks from the shop outside our house. He fulfilled one of the promises only, not the other one. He bought me snacks before dropping me off to school. My name was called out in between our lessons, “Yahya, please pack your bag, someone from your family has come to pick you up.”. I was so happy. What could be better than getting off from school early! But things were a little weird than usual.

It was not my mother or father who came to pick me up, it was my aunt. She did not speak to me, she was just crying. I kept quiet through out the journey to back home. As we reached home, I saw a huge crowd of people upside my house. I still couldn’t understand what actually was going on. Coming inside, I just saw everyone crying. My mother was in the corner of the bedroom, crying helplessly, her eyes were swollen and she was surrounded by my aunts, relatives and neighbors. Usually, my mother makes yummy food for us before we are back from school. She used to ask me how was my day at school, but that day she didn’t ask me anything. I deliberately went past her but she did not see me. Everyone was hugging me but no one told me what actually happened and why so many people were gathered at my house and crying.

In a while, my cousin and my friends told me that my father is no more, I thought they’re joking, I told them, “don’t lie”. Then, my other cousin confirmed saying, “Yes, your father has been shot dead”. I thought all of them are playing a prank on me. For a second, looking at my mother crying and a crowd of people consoling and hugging me, I thought maybe it’s true. I asked every, “Where is dad?”. People replied that he has gone to the other world. I still really couldn’t understand what was happening around me until I saw him lying on the floor, wrapped in a white cloth. I could see blood coming out his head. This picture of him still couldn’t get out of my eyes. After that day, I lost my mentor, my father, my whole world. I have never imagined that I wouldn’t ever see or talk to him again.