“I just don’t want to listen to anything; I want to be! I want to be!” Shizah shouted.
“Don’t be stupid, how can you be?” Sadia said, shaking her head with irritation.
“But I am not asking for anything which is impossible…it is possible but unfortunately no one realizes it,” Shizah replied stoutly.
“Shizah, why don’t you develop interest in something else…I mean, anything except that...” Sadia said.
“Why should ‘I’? Why should ‘we girls’? Why not them? And above all, it’s our right!” Shizah said.
“But you know you can’t be!” Sadia said gruffly.
“Na, Na, I won’t give up so easily. I will fight for my rights,” Shizah stamped a foot.
“Oh, Neha…! Stop it. It’s enough! You can’t be a fighter pilot. Although it’s your right but not in Pakistan
“Now change the subject,” Sadia added.
Shizah looked at her surprisingly and said, “Neha?”
“Who is Neha…Sadia?” Shizah asked her.
“Who… Neha…?” Sadia said innocently.
“You just took her name.” Shizah reminded.
Sadia seemed confused.
“Oh really, did I??” Sadia inquired puzzlingly as if she didn’t remember what she said.
“Yeah…!” Shizah yelled.
Shizah is a sixteen year old, enthusiastic girl. She is 5.2 in height, with short mushroom haircut and of whitish complexion. She is extremely patriotic and an amazing girl having an imaginative mind.
Sadia lives opposite to Shizah’s house. They are very good friends and thus very much close to each other.
Sadia is seventeen years old. Her height is 5.4 but she looks taller than her height. She is fair in complexion, an ideal figure of feminine charm. She shifted to this house a year before and now Shizah and Sadia have become very goof friends.
“Tell me Sadia…who is she?” Shizah asked curiously.
“No one,” Sadia said in a tearful tone.
Shizah looked at her and was surprised to see tears in her eyes.
“What happened?” Shizah said worriedly.
“Nothing Shizah… so did you watch that drama yesterday?”
Sadia wiped her eyes and tried to change the subject.
“Hey! Why are you being so rude…why are you retracting your words?” Shizah said surprisingly.
“No, I am not!” Sadia replied.
“How can you say you are not? You are! It is obvious…first you took her name and now have suddenly changed the topic!” Shizah said softly, amazed because of her friend’s behaviour.
“Oh Shizah, she’s no one…it just escaped my lips. That’s it.” Sadia tried to explain it to Shizah.
“No one can take somebody’s name accidentally and when somebody takes it that means he or she knows him or her…Miss Sadia.” Shizah said annoyingly.
“Well…I can’t just tell you.” Sadia at last found an excuse.
“Why not…? Is she your friend or someone?” Shizah asked.
“Shizah…I just don’t want to tell you, that’s it!” Sadia said stubbournly.
“But you should at least give a reason, why?” Shizah said anxiously.
“Just leave me alone, Shizah. I am going home. I will see your tomorrow evening. Bye!” Sadia said and stood up. She ran to the door. Shizah tried to stop her but she didn’t listen to her and rushed to her house.
Shizah kept standing at the same place, shocked with great amazement. She remained standing at the same position for two minutes like a statue with a worried face but then came to her senses and shook her head sadly.
“What’s wrong with Sadia? She never behaved like that before,” Shizah said to herself.
Shizah was extremely puzzled by Sadia’s behaviour. They had been very close to each other. They shared their secrets and never kept anything away from each other.
The next day dawned and Shizah woke up at her usual holiday’s time i.e. 9’0 clock. The first thought which clicked her mind was about that mysterious girl- Neha. Shizah was quite mystified about what happened the day before as up till then her friend had never kept anything from her.
Minute after minute the query about Neha was rising in her mind.
“What is so special of that girl that Sadia is hiding from me?” Shizah said as she sat on the dining chair.
“What did you say, Shizah?” Shizah’s mother asked her.
“Oh me, nothing…!” Shizah said abruptly as soon as she realized that her mother was in front of her.
Shizah ate her breakfast swiftly. She had something on her mind. After washing her mouth, she dashed to her room and slammed the door so hardly that even the glass of the windows shuttled for a second. She jumped on her bed, picked up the cordless and lay down on the bed. She dialed Sadia’s phone no but unfortunately the line was busy. She tried once again as perhaps she might have dialed the wrong number but once again she heard the engage tone. She closed her eyes for a moment to make her relax. She was extremely curious to know about Neha, though she herself didn’t know, why!
She dialed Sadia’s phone number again and to her excitement, the bell was ringing. Sadia picked up the phone.
“Hello?” Shizah said softly.
“Oh Shizah, hi…!” Sadia replied.
“Well…Sadia, I need to talk to you about an important…thing.” Shizah said slowly.
“If it is about Neha then I am disconnecting the line,” Sadia said stubbournly.
“You can’t, I called you!” Shizah replied annoyingly.
“So what…! Can’t I put the receiver back?’ Sadia snapped.
“Oh, oh…pleeeease, Sadia. You don’t understand, I couldn’t sleep all night. Please tell me al little about her or just tell me who she is. I promise, I won’t tell anybody.” Shizah said softly and slowly to make Sadia realize that she was extraordinarily crazy to know about Neha.
“Well…Shizah…you are my good friend…anyways…alright, I’ll come to your house in the evening.” Sadia was at last convinced.
“Evening…?? You mean after six hours! Are you insane???” Shizah shouted so loudly that even her mother had to remind her of good manners.
“Well…if you want to know about her, you’ll have to wait till the evening.”
“OK, Bye!” Shizah said sadly.
Shizah tried to divert her attention so she started studying. So, the time passed until the precious evening.
Exactly at 5’o clock in the evening, the doorbell rang. Shizah rushed to the gate. Sadia was standing in front of her with a charming smile. A quick bright smile went around Shizah like a streak of sunshine. They both went to Shizah’s room. Shizah squeezed a pillow in her arms. There was complete silence in the room. Shizah was looking into Sadia’s eyes anxiously and so was Sadia as if she was also waiting for a big surprise. Both of them kept quiet, each waiting for the other to break the ice. At last, Shizah spoke out,
“Hey common, what are you waiting for?”
“I am scared!” Sadia said dryly.
“Scared?” Shizah asked her surprisingly.
“Yeah, actually I am very much, in fact, extremely worried about you,” Sadia said softly.
“I am not getting you, Sadia.” Shizah was puzzled.
“Neha was my best friend. We had been with each other since we were kids, when we were admitted to our nursery classes. We loved each other very much…” Sadia suddenly stopped her emotional speech.
“So…?” Shizah asked her curiously.
“That’s it! You wanted to know about her…I told you… what else do you want?” Sadia whined.
Shizah looked surprisingly at Sadia, as if saying, ‘is this what, she has to tell me? Just this…?’
Suddenly Sadia burst into tears. Shizah was once again shocked. ‘What’s going on? What is she hiding from me?’ She forced her mind.
“Hey Sadia, why are you crying? There is nothing to cry about, I think!” Shizah said worriedly.
Sadia was still crying. Shizah tried and tried to stop her.
“Alright, tell me one thing Sadia, where is Neha nowadays? I want to meet her,” Shizah said.
“She is not in Karachi
“Was that the reason that you were crying?” Shizah said annoyingly.
“Shizah, I have brought you something.” Sadia said and opened her bag pack. She looked at Shizah sadly and then slowly took out a thick notebook, covered in royal blue paper. A big ‘DESIRE’ was written in bold letters and a PAF symbol was drawn in the middle of the cover with a golden marker.
“What is this?” Shizah asked curiously.
“I have hidden form you a very important and a happy and a…excitingly wonderful period of mine and Neha’s life.”
“What period?” Shizah interrupted.
Sadia looked into her eyes sternly.
“First let me finish Neha.” She held her head and nodded. “I mean, Shizah. Neha was very much like you. She was a perfect girl in all respects. I want you to read this book.” Sadia said and moved forward the book to Shizah.
“What is in it?” Shizah asked deliberately.
“Neha has written a story in this book, which is in fact the story about herself and her pleasant and precious moments of life. She didn’t want to forget them so she inscribed them in this notebook in the manner of a story about a girl named ‘Neha’ which is not even completed yet. You’ll get to know all about her and me through this book, Shizah.” Sadia handed the book to Shizah.
Shizah looked at it curiously and then looked at Sadia,
“When should I return it to you?”
“Take your time.” Sadia smiled.
“Neha had a great craze for PAF too and that made her…leave Karachi
“Really…? Like me?” Shizah asked excitedly.
“Yeah, and that is what all about in this story.” Sadia said.
Sadia kissed Shizah and so did Shizah and then went with Sadia to see her off.
She ran back to her room gladly and jumped on her bed. She fluffed her pillow and leaned against it, making herself comfortable. She started gazing at that precious book. She picked it up slowly and carefully pressed it against her chest lovingly.
Shizah glanced at her black, shiny, latest fashioned; sports watch to check the time. ‘I think this is the best time to start the reading.’ She opened the cover slowly, her eyes still sparkling with excitement. She swallowed hard and then turned over the first page…
