StarGaze

House Of Stone, Palace Of Memories

"Tell me more, seems interesting," Raghav said, sitting down in a dark corner.

"Yeah well, Gabriel darted inside as soon as Zara’s mother gave the way. He had come a long way and had near brushes with death, so he wasn’t going to stop when a mother wished to see her child. She could see her all she wanted, but she had to provide haven first. And that was exactly what she did.

This was the second time an agent had stepped into a mansion he believed was a safe house. The first time it was Thomas, and his case became the biggest scandal of all time. All of the people he trusted just turned against him. And this time Gabriel and Olivia thought they were safe inside Zara’s home.

And they were right to think so. I mean, why would the woman give them up? They saved her daughter after all. But here’s the catch, did she want her daughter to be saved?

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there were three brothers and one sister. Girls are considered ‘less’ in these families and are despised most of the time. The mother was herself a woman, but she failed to understand. Delivering a girl child was a stain on her reputation of giving three boys. She tried to get rid of the infant in every possible way.

When the girl was born, she didn’t feed her for two straight days. But the girl survived. After that, she left her child naked in the cold for one night. But the girl was a fighter, and so she survived again.

The father was a good man, and out of the love for his first daughter, he named her Zara, which translates to a princess in Arabic. And she WAS a princess in a true sense, at least for her father and brothers. The boys had only one sister, and so they made sure that she didn’t have any trouble in any way. And the family was rich, so she didn’t have any problems regarding money too.

The girl was humble and kind-hearted too. She was beautiful as a lotus and delicate like a lily. Her voice was the reason for envy for every girl in her city. And so you will think that she was happy after all. Money, a loving family, and beauty. I mean, that’s more than many people get in a lifetime. But things aren’t always how they seem.

After that, you may think that the mother must have changed her mind and adopted her child. But you my friend are terribly wrong. In fact, she was more than convinced that her baby was a witch in disguise, born to eat her family. It is funny what delusions people weave around them when a situation just doesn't suit them. And the mother had just woven herself a painful one.

She spent every second of the rest of her life spying on her daughter, which was of course a ‘witch in disguise’, plotting to destroy her family. But if anyone was plotting to destroy someone, it was the mother. She made her daughter’s life a living hell.

And as I said earlier, the family was rich. And that made matters worse for Zara. Her mother made sure that there was ALWAYS at least one maid following her. Which was only a maid in name, and had the job of keeping an eye on Zara and report back as soon as she saw shreds of evidence of black magic.

And so Zara had to remain extremely careful and live in fear even if she didn’t do anything wrong. The only thing wrong with her was that she was born a girl. If the father didn’t like her, it would be less disturbing. But how could the mother, who was a girl as well, be so cruel to her own child.

And after eighteen years of painful life, Zara still managed to be clean. And this pissed the mother beyond measure. She told her father that she was getting old and couldn’t watch their daughter anymore. So after a hefty amount of discussions, she finally convinced him to marry her far away from their home. According to her, this would greatly reduce the effect of her black magic.

But the truth was that for as long as Zara stayed at her parent’s home, they were more prosperous than ever before. The business was booming, and all four of the brothers were married to beautiful and humble wives. Everything was as good as it could be for them, but the sadist woman had a rag in front of her eye and failed to see all that.

She was firm in her beliefs that if Zara left the house (and marriage was the only way to make this possible), then the house would surely be happy for eternal times. How did she know that? Well, there is no shortage of dummy religious saints in religious countrysides. If you pay them less money, you might get stuck with ‘unfortunate conditions’. But if you pay them enough, then you will double your fortunes in a year. And people believe them because probability says that in a hundred guesses, one is bound to be true.

And all it takes is one great guess to solidify your position in the religious markets. After that, you are the messenger of God, bringer of good fortune, and whatnot. And it was a saint-like this who convinced the mother that her child was a b***h reincarnated. And she would start plotting to destroy her family as soon as she was born. And if she wasn’t careful enough, she could save her family and foul the plan.

All she had to do was keep an eye on her and give the developments to the saint every month. Of course, he took a hefty charge for the meeting. If everything goes as planned, the girl would be married and the mother would have successfully saved the family from the witch’s wrath. How convenient, right? If something happens, I told you it would. And if it doesn't, you were saved because you followed my instructions.

But it seems like the saint was terribly wrong. And his mistake cost him dearly. As soon as Zara was married, all hell broke loose on the once peaceful family. While Zara was busy giving birth to a beautiful daughter of her own and promised that she would give her all the love in the world, her father died from a heart attack. As soon as he died, the brothers went on an all-out war for his property.

The eldest one was the first to die. One day, he sat down to eat some delicious butter chicken, but he never got up. The poison was deadly and silent. So by the time anyone realized he was not moving, he was long gone.

The youngest one was the smartest, like a typical family of four brothers. He had plotted with the other two and had been successful in killing the brother who dearly loved him. But he was still young and didn’t know how the world worked. Where there is money involved, the honor goes to sleep. So at the next meeting of the three, his car was rigged and exploded the next day while he was going to a restaurant with his wife and kids, hence leaving no heir and finishing his bloodline.

The other two brothers were violent but smart, and so they decided it was best if they took half each of the properties. After all, they might need each other in the near future. Because that’s what brothers are for, right?

Again, where there is money involved, an honor just goes to f**k itself. One day, the elder of the two brothers had a business proposition from the newly communist-funded Khalq. The captain of the Khalq was his childhood friend. Now as per the agreement between the siblings, they couldn’t seal a deal without a unanimous decision. But the condition was too lucrative for him to split.

You see, the Khalq was about to seize power in the city, and he would be the right hand for them. That meant a LOT of wealth and power. And greed got the best of him. He made the deal and didn’t tell his brother about it. He planned to corner him out of business if he was to ever found out.

But the younger one wasn’t as stupid as he thought. He already didn’t trust his brother and had inside men working for him. So as soon as he heard the groundbreaking news, he knew that his brother intended to see him out of the business. And so he had to do what any reasonable man would do.

That day, when Akbar went to sleep with his wife, the closet door burst open and two men with swords charged on the naked couple. The pieces were so mixed up that it was difficult to tell the husband from the wife. But the kids weren’t killed so mercilessly. They were given poison to kill them in their sleep.

After getting rid of all other brothers, Ajman was finally happy to be the sole heir of the dynasty. He went to the Khalq to assure them that the deal wouldn’t budge even after his brother’s death. Everyone in the city knew who had killed Akbar, and so did the Khalq.

And if you remember, the captain was Akbar’s childhood friend. He was unhappy to learn that Ajman had his brother killed, but it was a family matter. So he left him alone. But as soon as Ajman came to seize the deal that the captain had made with Akbar, the captain was furious. It was clear that this deal was the reason behind the murders. And he was disgusted that someone would kill their own blood over something as futile as money.

So Ajman went into the camp. But he never came out. And just like that, the mother lost all her children in a matter of months. All her life she had been too busy hating Zara and didn’t realize the heaven of a family she had. And now that all of it had been snatched away, there was nothing left to do but regret not doing anything about it.

She had all the wealth that a lonely widow could desire, but she still had nothing. So the first thing she did was find the saint and teach every fake saint a lesson. The saint came to resolve an issue regarding Zara and her plot but ending up becoming a victim to another plot.

Dogs were seen tearing his flesh apart in the dirty streets the next morning. But there was still no sense of satisfaction for the lonely woman. She could see clearly the wrongs she had done and the things she did to make Zara’s life a living hell. She wanted to fall to her daughter’s feet and beg for forgiveness, but she was afraid that her daughter hated her as much as she used to hate her daughter.

And so she just sat alone, waiting for the impending death and her place in hell. She was going crazy bit by bit as she started seeing her husband and hearing voices. Sometimes, she would just run along the road in her nightgown, chasing her youngest son, who was calling her and begging to save him from his other siblings. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t take his hand. But she never gave up on her sweet little child.

People wanted to admit her into a mental institution and tear apart her property piece by piece. After all, there was no limit to the people who hated how happy the family was while they ground their asses to barely feed their own. And now they saw an opportunity to get back at the family through her.

But she was backed by Akbar’s childhood friend and the Khalq’s commander now. He was in charge of this city and made sure to visit the old woman whenever he could. No one dared touch her while the guardian angel’s wings protected her. He knew all her madness was just a way of coping with her endless grief, and so he made sure to crush any voices that were raised against her. And for a while there, she thought she would die in misery and end up in hell.

But all that changed suddenly when Zara ended up on her doorstep one morning. There she was, the princess that she treated so cruelly, covered in blood and unconscious. This was her only chance at redemption, and she wasn’t going to let it go…." Thomas was saying when Raghav interrupted him.

"Bruh, I was asking if you killed any more of them," Raghav said.

"Ah yes, I did," Thomas said and laughed.