A September To Remember

By Fida Hussain Sodagar

It all started in September. Mehr and Ruhail met each other during the inter-college writing competition. Both loved to write. Writing carved their fate. They exchanged hearts and phone numbers. Ruhail was a reticent boy. He tried to forget the entire scene. But fate had something else in store for them. After few days a text message flashed on the Ruhails phone. The SMS read:

Asalamu Alikum! I am Mehr

Who Mehr? Replied Ruhail

Do writers forget so easily?

Oh no I remember, you are the girl who loves writing: Ruhail responded sarcastically

“Do you know I have topped the writing competition and you got the second position?”

Oh, that is great. Congrats. You deserve it. You write well. Your words are energetic. Your pen bleeds the words of eternity” Said Ruhail looking happy

Thank you. So, What is up?

There is a moon, stars and my imagination up in the Sky" Ruhail burst into laughter

Ok, I will catch up with you up later. I have some work. Added Ruhail

Ok Bye.!

After finishing the work, Ruhail timorously called her.

Hello! Said a beautiful voice from the other end

The voice pierced the soul of Ruhail. It was a melody scripted in the lyrics of eternal solace.

I am Ruhail. As Ruhail was about to say another word. Mehr interrupted.

Can we meet?

There was stillness inside and out.

Yes sure when and where?

In the Sky between the moon, the stars, and your imagination

Both smiled

Ok on the banks of Dal Lake in the September sunrise.

Well that is fine ok bye

It was Saturday morning. Ruhail was waiting. He closed his eyes to feel the magic of the serene morning. Everything was calm, so was his heart. When he opened his eyes, Mehr was in front of him. This was a new morning. The water of Dal Lake was ejecting cold gusts of wind. The Rays of sunlight were piercing the thin sheets of fog. The eyes met. The cold burned in the fire love. The moment froze. The cold breeze was melting by the warmth of love.

Suddenly the silence broke.

"It is so cold here," said Mehr looking her cheeks getting red.

“ Oh sorry if I choose this place. I could not think of any better place than this. It is quiet here. It is peace here. It is consolation here. The water of this lake has many stories to tell. This lake may script our story too” said Ruhail in a soft tone.

Ruhail took out his black court and gave it to Mehr as he could not see her shaking in cold.

Even Mehr was feeling cold outside. Inside she was full of warmth. The affection of love, the warmth of Ruhails breathing. She was in the world of dreams. She felt between the moon and the stars. Her thoughts were tossing between longing and impatience and the deadly pain of getting away from Ruhail.

“ I have a dream. That was always what I wanted”

“What is your dream?”

“I wanted to write a fairy tale story. The story that will be beyond my imagination. The fantasy. I feel sad that I cannot do it. I don’t know where to start”

Ruhail was silent.

Ruhail had something in mind.

“Don’t worry I will give you the idea to write a fairy tale and fulfill your dream soon” said Ruhail.

Mehr was confused but happy.

The rays of the sun were kissing the surface of the water of the Dal lake. The water was shining like pearls.

Time flies. It certainly did for Mehr. She wanted to spend more and more time with Ruhail. Ruhail pretended to be careless of the romantic ambiance. But he too wanted to freeze the moment.

“Now let’s go” said Ruhail

“ I have heard right.”

What have you heard?

That boys are stone-hearted. They don’t feel anything. They are idiots. They can’t understand the emotions that matter”

“Oh, I didn't mean that. Your family will be worried for you.”

“Ok let's go”

Mehr, her soul, and heart were desperate to hold Ruhail for some more time. Ruhail kept looking at the angry face of Mehr. He smiled. He felt the love of her anger. He pretended to be normal. He was burning. He was burning in the fire of love. His soul was tormented. He was existing in the existence of Mehr.

“ I am taking your coat with me. I will not give it back. It is mine now. It made me warm”

“Sure take it. But it is not a magical coat that will make you fly. It is just a coat.” Ruhail said intending to bring smile on her face

Ruhail dropped her home.

In the silence of the night, a text message appeared on the phone of Mehr.

That was from Ruhail. Mehr’s heart filled with happiness. She felt the stars have come to meet her. She forgot everything. She was in the other world. A world of love. The message read as:

“ Say to me

Say to me

You love me

Before my existence disappears

Say to me

You love me

Before every atom of my flesh burn into ashes

Say to me

You love me

Before my heart torments in the desire

Say to me

You love me

Before my soul becomes a tragedy and my existence renovated into the memory

Oh my beloved say to me

You love me

Will you?

She was restless. She wanted to meet him. Her tears erupted. Suddenly the sky was filled with clouds. It started raining. Mehr was crying and so was the sky. That was the moment. That was the moment of pain and torment. She waited for it. She called Ruhail. She could not say anything.

“ Will you?” Ruhail said.

“It is not, will you? it was always. You are my dream. You are my hope. You are my tragedy. You are my solace. You are my blessing, my bliss, my pain, my medicine. You torment my existence. You bring my pieces together. You are my rest and the stardust. You hold a golden key to my heart”

“You know” Interrupted Ruhail

“I could have come first in the writing competition. But I didn’t write better than you. I cannot write better than you. I am ready to be second to you more hundred and a thousand times. That is my success. That is where I Succeed.

Mehr could not tell anything. She hung the phone.

The love Bloomed. It continued to blossom. Suddenly one day the conversation stopped. Ruhail disappeared. His phone closed. Everything became silent. Mehr was restless. Her heartbeat was missing. Her breath had gone astray. Days passed. Months passed. She was angry. She was crazy. She was choking without her beloved.

September is dead. Mehr is sitting in the Sunset. Sun is about to die. So is Mehr. She is lifeless. The light slowly vanishing and her dreams melt bit by bit. Her eyes are starring at the setting sun. The soft cold breeze has turned her cheeks red. She has become a mystery wrapped in a tragedy. A mystery and tragedy are engulfing her. She closed her eyes. The darkness surrounded the last drop of light.

Mehr opened her Diary. She began to write. The words were flowing like the water. It was not her. It was her soul that was writing the words. She began to write:

“Laila is waiting for her Majnoon”

“At the gates of the city”

“Between the chinars and the Jhelum”

“ Singing the elegies of love and melancholy”

“ Still and Calm”

“ Oh my beloved”

“ I am destroyed”

“Jhelum has become a flowing mausoleum”

“I am buried inside its depth”

“Come and heal my bruised soul”

The fingers of Mehr were not supporting the pen to write more.

While Mehr was about to close her notebook, her eyes froze on one of the pages of her notebook. That was the handwriting of Ruhail. He has written on it. Mehr began to read:

“I am your shadow. I am your existence. I am in your breath. It is September. The same month we met. Every month is September. It is beautiful. That time it was sunrise. This time it is sunset. The love is the same. You are the same and I am same. Nothing changed.” Ruhail had written these words when Mehr had showed her diary to him on the day they met on the banks of Jhelum.

Ruhail! Someone called from outside.

Mehr came running. Ruhail is not there. He has met with an accident. He is fighting the war to live, but he has lost the battle of life and love.

Mehr closed her eyes. She could listen to the agonizing whispers that Ruhail has stopped breathing. She felt Ruhail was in front of her as she closed her eyes in the deadly dark. He is consoling her. There was dark outside and inside her.

Ruhail is dead. These words echoed in her mind while she kept her eyes closing. Mehr violently opened her eyes. She cried. She screamed. Everything seemed to be a fairy tale. She wanted to obliterate this moment from the pages of her life. She was incarcerated in the web of monstrous memories.

The words of Ruhail echoed in the mind of Mehr. He has told her that he will give her the idea to write a fairy tale and fulfill her dream”

In the death of Ruhail lies the idea of a fairy tale. Ruhail has fulfilled her dream.

“I have got fairy tale. I have got the dream. There is no other dream.”

“ I will write. I have got the fairy tale to write on. My every word will be encrypted in every vessel of my heart. That will be timeless and immortal.” These words instilled the wave of strength and energy in the soul of Mehr.

She began to write a fairy tale. She started with the title “A September to Remember”

By Fida Hussain Sodagar