Shattered Dreams in the Night
It was the final hour before dawn.
The railway station lay in a silence so heavy, it felt as if the very earth mourned. A dim yellow bulb flickered like a dying heartbeat, casting trembling shadows on the cracked walls. Somewhere in the distance, stray dogs barked into the emptiness of the night.
On a wooden bench sat Zaryab, his hands wrapped around a fragile piece of paper. His eyes, swollen with sleepless nights, clung to the fading words inked upon it. He had read it a thousand times, yet each glance reopened the wound, bleeding his soul anew.
The words were simple, merciless, and cruelly repeated:
“Zaryab, do not wait for me…”
That single line had shattered him.
It wasn’t just a sentence—it was the grave where all his dreams had been buried alive.
Zaryab’s entire existence revolved around one person: Hoorain.
They had grown up in the same narrow lanes, sharing childhood secrets beneath starlit skies. Her laughter was the only melody he ever needed; her smile, a spark that lit his dimmest days. In her eyes, Zaryab had seen life, hope, and eternity.
From school days, their story had blossomed quietly. They whispered of tomorrows where they would walk hand in hand, weaving futures that glowed with love’s colors. They believed in a destiny of togetherness.
But life is crueler than dreams.
One morning, fate struck with its merciless hands. Hoorain’s father, blinded by wealth and status, sealed her future in an arranged marriage. Zaryab had fought. He had begged, reasoned, and pleaded, but poverty is a curse no love can conquer.
And then, in silence more painful than death, Hoorain had slipped a folded letter into his trembling hands. She did not explain. She did not shed tears. She walked away with her head lowered, leaving him to drown in the ocean of words she never spoke.
Since that day, the letter had become Zaryab’s chain, his torment, his endless punishment.
And every time he read it, the words echoed like a cruel whisper through the hollow chambers of his heart:
“Do not wait for me…”
But waiting was all he knew how to do.
(Continue)
