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Bismillah hir rehamn nir raheem

In the name of Allah, the most beneficent and the most merciful.

The musky grass felt quite soft under his feet as he strolled at the farthest corner of the playground of his school.

The air was quite warm, and the sun softly burned his wheat coloured skin and shined in his Hazel eyes, converting them into a fiery gold. Hands stuffed in his pocket, head held up, this boy of mere fifteen walked as if he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders.

It was true.

Hamza Kareem had indeed dealt with the hurdles even the men of the forty were safe from.

He had indeed been tested by his Rabb again and again. He had fallen many times. Fate had thrown him into the dark cave of trials, which he had been trying to get out of from the tender age of eight.

He was eight when his father, owing to a horrible accident, was left paralyzed.

"I am sorry, but Mr.Kareem's lower body part had become completely paralyzed."

He was eight when his mother walked out of the house leaving her little son and a husband who needed her the most ,alone.

"Why would I live with a man who can't even walk on his own legs. It's better I move on."

He was eight when he took on the responsibility of taking care of his father and himself.

He was eight when he asked the person at the hotel to give him a job

"What job can you do? You are only eight."

He was eight when he bent down on his knees and begged the man to give him some job, just because he and his father had nothing to eat for the last three days.

"Please, just give me anything to do, please, I beg you ,please!!"

He was eight when he encountered the harsh side of the world alone.

"I told you to do it?? Why didn't you?" The owner of the hotel was beating him mercilessly.

"I-am-s-orr-y-ple-ase-le-av-e-me-it-hurts." Hamza was crying.

He was eight when he was kicked out from a hotel, just because he replied to some customers who were bullying him.

"I don't want to hear any other word! Now, get out!!"

"P-Please, I have a sick father, please, he will die. Please."

The man pushed him out of the hotel. He fell.

They were the places in his memory he never visited.

For they always tore his wounds open and his heart bleed again.

Fate was cruel sometimes , he absentmindedly thought but immediately shrugged away this thought as the very Aayah of Quran-e-Pak struck him ;

ولا تهنوا ولا تحزنوا
"So lose not heart nor despair..."

He softly inhaled and gravely exhaled. He was a believer ; a believer in the plan and mercy of Allah Tala so why despair when his creator was there in his heart , in his mind and in his soul.

"Again, how many times I would have to tell you boys to stop!"

Hamza jumped, behind him, Akif baba was standing glaring at him.

Uh-oh.

"Coming along to disturb my precious babies."

Babies?

Hamza looked around, but failed to see any babies.

"Hay, my baby, don't worry I'll go get you water."

Uh,that's his baby.

Akif baba was softly caressing a flower's petal.

Hamza burst into laughter. Akif baba looked up, annoyed.

"Now, shoooo awayy! Can't you see my little babies want to enjoy some time alone."

Hamza started walking away ,laughing. He scolded himself for being so lost in thoughts that he didn't even realise when he stepped in the garden of his school.

"Hey, Where were you lost?" A hand waved in front of him. He leapt back in surprise, and upon focusing, he saw his two very best friends Saad and Yousuf, standing there, grinning.

"I was in playground."

"And accidentally  wandered into the garden huh?" Yousuf grinned.

"And disturbed Akif baba's babies." Saad completed his twin's sentence.

"What? You already know?"

"Yes, we do, because we go there often."

"Naughty boys."

"You are only one year elder than us."

"So?"

"So, you can't scold us."

"Ofcourse I can." Hamza grinned.

He loved his two friends. It's good to have some people you can skip harsh reality with sometimes, you can relax and enjoy and laugh and joke, forgetting the worries of your life. Despite being younger, their bond was unbreakable. Their friendship was one of the kind.

Hamza walked with them, not knowing how cruelly the fate will link him to his friends.

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He opened the door of his home, and entered.

"Assalamoalikum baba." His father was sitting in the lounge reciting Qura'an.

"Walikumaslam sonny." His father always called him sonny.

He hugged his father, feeling his heart ease, at the same time wishing for a mother who would hug him like this. 

She isn't going to come back Hamza, stop thinking about her.

He had lost maternal love a long time ago, it wasn't going to benefit him brooding over his loss. 

He sighed while placing the dishes for lunch on the table.

"What's the matter, Hamza?" His father eyed him as he pushed his wheelchair close to the table.

"Nothing abu." 

He couldn't tell his abu he was thinking about her.

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Okay, so tell me about your day at school."

He recounted that, skipping the part where he revisited his memories again. When he told about the old gardener, Akif baba's babies, his father laughed so hard that he choked on his food.

"Abu, be careful." He handed his father a glass of water, at the same time, patted him on his back.

"So, he *laugh* calls his *laugh* flowers *laugh* his babies??" His father laughed again.

Hamza grinned broadly, "Yes, abu."

H

e wondered how his father still managed to laugh and joke after what happened to him.

Just like you manage to enjoy.

Hamza cleared away the table, and washed the dishes. Looking at the time, he realised he has only fifteen to twenty minutes to get ready and leave for his job as a peon in an office. It was at least half an hour distance at a walk, and that's what he did, walked everyday to work and back as he couldn't afford to hire a taxi.

"Okay abu! Allahhafiz." After tucking his abu in bed comfortably, he said.

"Fee AmamaAllah beta." His father looked at his son with sad eyes, who ,at the age where playing video games shoulder be his top priority ,was running his house.

"Abu, how many times have I told you not to look at me with these eyes. I have enough, I am thankful to Allah."

"Beta! What the use of having a father, if I can't even provide my son with luxuries he deserves."

"Hamza held his father's hand and put it on his eyes.

"I only need your prayers, nothing else."

"May Allah always keep you happy."

As he entered the office, the cold voice greeted him.

"You are late." It was the personal assistant of his boss.

"I am sorry."

"Yes, say sorry every time you are late. Never try to come early."

Hamza looked at the man in astonishment, it was after two months, as the first time it was when his father fell severely ill. But as much as he wanted to, he couldn't, because of fear of losing his job.

"Now come, Mr.Late Comer, boss is calling you."

A slap greeted him as he entered the office, the boss was sending death glares his way.

Rubbing his hand on his cheek which was throbbing, he bit back his tears at this humiliation in front of the  guests from the other company in the office.

"How many times I have to tell you to be here at time?"

"These boys are like this, they don't know any manners, they just waste our time." One of the guests wrinkled his nose in displeasure. "Why is he even working?"

"His mother left him, father is crippled."

"Excuses you know" A gentleman huffed

Excuses?

"They are not." Hamza found himself saying, his insides burning.

"If I did not have the fear of company's owner, I would have fired you right now." The manager coldly said. "Now get to work, you good for nothing bastard."

This was the routine, hearing harsh words, occasionally accompanied by a slap or two. It was his routine as a peon. Much as he wanted to yell and cry, he couldn't.  Much as he wanted to enjoy his life, he couldn't. Because fate had decided for him to bear the harsh realities of the world. If only he could knew,this pain was to prepare him for the pain that was yet to come his way, the cruelties he yet had to face, the scars he yet had to bear, he would have gladly accepted this it. But then, it is the mercy of Allah that he keeps our guture hidden from us.

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Closing his notebooks, he looked at the time,it was three o'clock in the morning. He just had finished his school work. Looking at his father who was sleeping on a bed beside his bed, he softly muttered,"Shab bakhair" and went into the sleep which was his only way of escaping his life.

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ASSALMOALIKUM!

I was so excited for this chapter that  published it much sooner.

Read and share how was it?

How is the character of Hamza?