Walking to her room, Elanur crossed by Semrah's room. Even though Semrah was likely to be the most educated person through and through in her father's family, still it did her no good. Her mother-in-law put her through superstitious rituals because Semrah couldn't become a mother unaware of the fact it was Ameer who couldn't become a father. Yet, everything fell on Semrah. So much that Elanur lost her older sister in all the bitterness. Semrah's career as an accountant, Semrah's dreams of finishing her doctorate degree, and Semrah herself were all gone. Would Semrah take one chance if she ever got one.

She put her head on the pillow, pulling the blanket on her.

One chance.

Bareera Phupo
Your father is going through with the
Proposal for you. You have to do pull
Some stunt to stop him.

It was as if it was a sign from God. Elanur's mind went back to her mother, her sister, and her father. They were all miserable. Then there was Bareera Phupo who took her once chance and today she was the happiest woman in her entire ancestral history probably.

"I swear to God, Screechie. One more mistake, I will slice your throat with that bow. Forget bow, I have got an actual knife here." Musab held a salad knife on the other side of the window screen as he yelled through the headphones. "This your fourteenth try. No more after this."

"Calm down. Let her do her thing." Husam patted Musab's shoulder.

"Her thing... she seems like a fraud." He mumbled before going back to the buttons. "Okay, screechie, one last try."

Elanur took a long breath, closing her eyes as she held her position in front of the microphone. It's okay. It's okay. They won't find out. Nobody will find out that I skipped class to record an audition. She lengthened her breaths but it had not effect on her pounding her heart.

For one last try, she picked up her strength and started playing the violin, but her hands trembled, messing the rhythm all together.

"THAT'S IT. KICH HER OUT. SHE IS A STAIN ON VIOLINISTS. A DISHONOR TO THE MUSIC COMMUNITY." Musab yelled again. "I can probably play better than her."

"Stop, you are making it worse. Let me handle this." He waved her, as her shoulders sagged. She couldn't even do an audio audition. "We are taking a break. Come with me."

She followed him across the hallways towards the sports boxing section in the club. During the business hours, hardly anyone was there. Pushing through the large brown door, they entered the arena where the ring was. Everything was off except the center light on the ring. The bleachers were empty.

"You see that." She turned towards him, glancing at where he was pointing at and then back at him. "That's my stage. I live and die there. Everyday is a new day as if I am given a whole new world every single time." He gestured at rings and the ropes around it but Elanur couldn't look at anything but his eyes.

There was something about them as he rambled on about his world. She followed him as he held the ropes up for her and she jumped to the ring.

"There is nothing I see, I hear, I feel except the emotions of being here, being able to do what I love. Those few minutes I have are the happiest and the most thrilling moments of my life. Nothing to prove, nothing to show, not for the people. It's just for me. I do what I love for me."

Elanur lost his words. It was the emotions she caught. That's why he was so devoted to and in love was with his dreams. So much that he'd do anything to follow, anything to live through those dreams. She'd never seen anyone so purely in love.

For a second, she became envious. How would it feel if someone so dearly fell in love with her. So much that he'd go to any extent for her. But then she stared at the boy in front of her. Elanur sucked in her breath. Husam didn't need a lover to feel that love, he gave himself the love he needed by doing what he loved.

Elanur had the love in her heard, she only needed the courage to fall in love with her dreams ever so desperately as he was. So desperately that it pushed her to rebel and break against the shackles.

As Husam mumbled on about his dreams, unknowingly he taught Elanur to fall in love. Elanur would never forget that day. It wasn't just her dreams she fell in love with it, it was also the boy who taught her to unapologetically fall in love.

Musab's mouth hung open as Elanur played the violin in the music room. The enthralling music mixed with the shock that she could actually do it in one take, Musab narrowed his eyes. This couldn't be her.

"She got possessed by Jinns. This is the only explanation." He breathed, unable to focus on anything but melancholic melody in his headphones. "This is not our Screechie." He blinked at the glass partition. Husam coughed as he broke into a fit of laughter when Elanur got done.

"Untalented person like you would clearly not understand it." Elanur stuck her tongue out at Musab who was still in awe.

"Well, Screechie, you did all this but haven't figured out how you are going to submit it. It's not like you got a common name. Violin and Elanur. Your entire horrid of a family will put two and two together and ship you to the moon." The smugness and light fell off of both Husam and Elanur's face.

"Most of the musicians are under pseudo names so how about we try one for Elanur." Husam paced around the music room as Elanur returned from the recording area.

"This entire journey is going to be like a frickin' volcano. One outburst and I'd be dead." Elanur sighed sitting against the wall.

"Are you ever happy or is this negative nancy persona is some style statement?" Musab was two seconds away from smacking Elanur for always being so gloomy. "Think of a name."

"Khanabadosh."

"I said think of a name not describe your ancestors." Musab rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "With that name, they'd think you are some eighty year old man."

"No shit sherlock. That's exactly what I want. Create a persona that is nothing like me and that name means something to me."

"Perfect." Husam beamed at them.

"Stop encouraging her to be an abomination. That name is bad. We need a cool hip name for you. We are sending you to a competition not war Elanur." Musab countered them as if they were ganging up on him. "Enlighten me, Screechie. Though in my humble opinion Screechie is much better." Elanur smacked his leg with the bow.

"I..." Elanur glanced between the two boys who knew more about her in a few days than her family who didn't even know she played violin. "I..."

"I think I grew a white hair waiting for you to stutter past the word I." Elanur was about to smack him again when Husam raised his hand, stopping them like little kids.

"You are extremely mean and rude." Elanur huffed. "I have always been stuck at home. Nowhere to go. Always shackled to the rules my father lay for me. I want to travel. Go places. Home scares me now. I want to live a life where I'm free to go anywhere. Bareera phupo says I have got the soul of my ancestors, like the nomads they were. Khanabadosh."

"Come here, Screechie. You need a hug. I'm touched by the miseries of your life." Musab walked to her and opened his arms. Elanur stared at him suspiciously. He rolled his eyes and she smiled, hugging him back. "You are brave, Screechie. You didn't give up on your dreams even after all that." 

Elanur looked over his shoulder in the eyes of the person who believed in her without even knowing her. Husam blinked at her in reassurance as a small smile touched her lips.

"So..."

Musab and Husam stared at her as the letter stayed in the middle of the table in the music library. They had spent the past month in anxious excitement. Finally the answer came to Musab's address as they had put that on the form. All three of them were huddled around the Letter. None of them dared to touch it.

"Open it." Husam pushed it to her.

"You do it." She pushed it back.

"Forget it." Musab snatched it, leaving them both hanging in between the argument. He ripped the edge of the envelope, pulling out the letter. Elanur closed her eyes, crossing her fingers in hope. Ya Allah, please. She took a long breath.

"This can't be right." Musab whispered. Elanur snapped open an eye, staring at the disbelief on his face. Her shoulders sagged. She shouldn't have put all her hopes and trust in this. Nothing ever worked out for her so why would it now. "I'm sure their ears were clogged."

She clasped her hands in her lap, unable to meet Husam's eyes. He believed in her so much. Her heart dropped to her stomach as she tightened her eyes.

"Why would they select you?"

Disappointment washed over- wait what? She snapped open her eyes. Snatching the letter from Musab, she read it, twice, and glanced at Musab. He smirked at her, laughing.

"You are so mean. I don't like you."

"Wait... wait... you got in?" Husam took the letter from her. Rereading it a couple of times more. "You got in." He whispered as their eyes met. His eyes sparkled with pride and faith. The faith he had in her.

"YOU GOT IN, SCREECHIE." Musab yelled, forgetting they were in the library. "You deserve a hug."

"NO!" She pushed him away. "You gave me a heart attack. You don't deserve a hug."

Musab's smile fell as she refused her hug. Husam joined Elanur as they laughed at sulking Musab for a few minutes. Burying the worries of hows and whens, All three of them basked in the happiness of the news.

"Are you okay? Did something happen? Did your father do somethi-" Bareera phupo bombarded her with constant questions as she picked her up that afternoon.

"I'm okay. I'm okay. I promise. I'm actually more than okay, probably the first time in my life." Elanur rolled the window down and the breeze caressed her face. She closed her eyes, inhaling the warm breeze to calm her erratic heart.

Bareera Rana glanced at her. Elanur was right. Bareera had never seen her niece so calm and at peace. A small smile touched her lips.

"What caused this sudden flash of happiness?" Bareera drove them to her house which was one hour away from Township. Turning towards her aunt, Elanur leaned back in her seat with a bright smile as she got ready to tell her the chaotic turn of events.

"And you didn't even bother to tell me." Bareera Phupo put two cups of chai on the coffee table along with the fries. It was the aunt and niece ritual to sit down and catch up or just talk over a cup of chai and fries.

"I didn't even think I'd get selected. I sent it in because I could. Also no one would ever know I did." Elanur snacked on fries. "What do I do now?" She looked at her aunty, confusion and anxiety laced her big brown eyes.

"Go for it." Both of them knew Elanur's life wasn't that simple.

"What do I do about Dad and Grandpa? And chachoo? And Taya? And all your three thousand nephews who will snitch about me and instigate them more?" Elanur curled up on the sofa. "They made you a pariah just for getting divorce. They will skin me alive for even touching the violin. Half the family already calls me Miraasi to degrade me." All this just for their so called honor.

"Do you really care about what those hypocrites think about you? Yeah, they are my brothers and my family, but they are nothing more than hypocrites. The clutch on to their values for dear life, but what happens to those values when they are hitting their wives. Suppressing their daughters' dreams. Forcing marriages upon everyone as if it's the one last solution on the earth. They worship their boys and degrade their daughters. Where their values when they clearly go against Islam? Those values are nothing but hollow walls cageing their oppression." Bareera scratched the wounds that were still fresh on her soul. Getting married at the younge of seventeen to the man who was twice her age, she dared to go against everyone and fought for her freedom and her rights. Now in her forties, she was happy and living on her own terms.

"You have your rights. Use them. This country, this place, Your religion everyone designated some rights for you. Fight for them. Fight for your dreams. Go follow them. You are given one life, Ellie. Just one. Live it for yourself. Don't hesitate to fight for it and snatch it from them because there are many around you who will ask you to live it according to their set of rules. They'll ask you to adorn yourself with a red fabric and suppress all your dreams under it. Don't do it. God has given you talent for a reason. Go live it and be hungry for your own happiness."

"How am I going to last until the end of competition? If it was just audio I'd have swung through it, but the entire competition is recorded and broadcasted." She put her head on her aunt's shoulder. They'll kill her before she could even step on to the stage.

"You think I'm a behavioral Scientist without a brain? I study people. I know how to manipulate a situation in experiments so let's try it in real life this time. Leave the technicalities to me. Focus on playing the violin." Bareera phupo patted her cheek in reassurance.

"This one?"

"No."

"What about this one?"

"Aliens from Mars will even notice me in this." Elanura grimaced at the Golden past with glitter dusted all over it.

"You gotta be like those cool people in "The Masked Singer." But You are sooo fucking picky, Screechie." Musab huffed, rolling his eyes. "I'd say just go on the screen and shock your family. They'll be far too stunned to even do anything."

"Sure. After that I'm going to write a letter, stating that you coerced me into meditating my own death." Handing the mask back to him, she walked to the other side where Husam was. The whole skipping class was becoming a thing now.

After sitting down with Bareera phupo and these two boys, She had finally decided to come to the decision of wearing a mask. Being anonymous was a trend anyways. So here she was ready to pick a face for her. Something that'd be her but still not her.

For a second she yearned to be herself, showing her face to the world that she loved what she did. Show her identity to the world, but it was not possible. The choice was between her identity and her journey to make her dreams into a reality.

"When is the flight?" Husam asked as she finished playing his favorite piece. She had sneaked out again. The sneaking, skipping, and lying had become rituals now, but the guilt wasn't there. 

"Next week." She could barely whisper without her throat closing in on her. "I'm just terrified for my mother. I know everyone will blame her, especially my father."

"Sometimes you have to make sacrifices, Elanur. And sacrifices are always hard to make no matter how big or small they are. Your mother is resilient. Mothers are resilient. She'll be in pain either way. When she stares at you living in regrets and unrequited dreams. For all the hell she went through, at least give her your happiness as a gift."

"What would you do if you were in my place?" She flopped back on the grass, staring at the stars. It was always the darkness that brought the light out. Maybe she was the star in the darkness she once called her family. Maybe she was the one to give hope to Rovan and Raniya.

"I can never understand the place you are in neither can I ever empathize with you. I'm a person of this society who's given privilege and the tools to abuse that privilege since the day I came to this world. So I wouldn't know what it'd take to fight against the system that doesn't even give you the room to breathe. All I can tell you is that don't give up on your dreams. If someone took boxing away from me, I'd probably lose the reason to live. So I'm sure that's exactly how you feel about violin. So don't give up." He propped himself on his right elbow, looking into her eyes as he continued.

"Don't do it for anyone. Don't get into that dark spiral of you have to prove something. Play it for yourself. This one's for you. So don't give up on it for yourself." Husam whispered as the breeze flirted with his hair. Elanur nodded, curling her hand against the grass as it itched to hold his.

"Will you come watch me?" She breathed as her heart picked up its pace.

"Every single one of your concerts. When you are sitting on that stage and every single light is on you, I'll be sitting in that front seat, actually no." He put his head back, staring at the moon like she was. "I'll sit in the balcony seat so I can see the whole world just staring at you. I'll be a little bit jealous but that's okay." He laughed turning his head towards her.

"Why would you be jealous?" She furrowed his eyebrows.

"You don't know?" He raised his eyebrows. She shook her head, blinking at him. Was he reciprocating what she felt for him? She held her breath, waiting for him to answer.

"Because you'd be the most beautiful sight the world has seen. Not just because you are breathtaking, but also because of your resilience, your strength, the courage you have to fight against all odds... and because the talent you hold between the movement of your fingers. You create magic with your hands that entrances everyone and compels them to fall in love with you." He raised his hand as the stray hair fell on her face when the breeze swifted past them. She slowly blinked as he waited for her permission. Tracing the edge of her cheek, he tucked it way.

"Everyone?" The words were as soft as the light caress of the Lake's wind.

"Everyone."