Darkness reveled. The rays of the headlights cascaded down onto the tarmac of the motorway, the car roving over the salt range.

Both sides of the lengthy, solid road had heightening mountains, curving the bounds of the road, and in due time, that ascended in due time. Even with all the night's dressing of darkness, spun a crown of moonlight and jewelry of stars sprinkled across the sky- the Night stayed young.

It was still a hollow thought to say that they had left home that early, and were approaching Islamabad this late. Zara wondered how late it would be for them to reach the guest house. Her eyes drooped tiredly as she sat still. She didn't know how long she had slept- to her, it seemed like minutes but it was actually just two hours.

Turning around to look at the back passengers, she saw Eshaal's head inclining all over to the other side on Nani Samira's shoulder, while Nani herself hugged her roll-shaped pillow, wearing a quiet, sober face.

There was a yellow parrot perched still inside its cage caged between the ladies. This creature was the very reason they were this late, and also, the very reason why Dawood was all perked up (trying to make sense of why they had bought this parrot on the roadstop in the first place). Zara observed the parrot when she couldn't sense out the logic either of Eshaal's sudden suggestion of buying it, she inhaled slowly and turned her face away. Eshaal had her whimsy desires and would do anything to give anything and have anything.

"Awake?"

Zara hummed in response to Dawood's soft question. She rubbed her eyes before looking at the windscreen to the trees that slid over the boulders, and the walls of the mountains arching to the point it disappeared into the maiden of night's dress of darkness.

Darkness was beauty when it only came at night because it was natural. The darkness that humans themselves derive in was scary because it was just so unnatural. Yet there was something so marveling and intimidating, how a mountain could just... mount over you. Comes in the name, doesn't it?

"We'll be arriving in Islamabad soon," Dawood said, heftily and Zara turned her gaze to observe him. He had drunk two cups of coffee in between the stops, and still, he looked tired, with his sleeves folded till the elbows and the collars of his shirt upturned. The air conditioner of the car was barely working, and that evening was not blessed with a calming breeze for them to roll their windows down and enjoy it.

"You alright?" Zara asked, lightly touching his arm.

Dawood nodded, not tearing his gaze away from the road. "Just a lot's been going on in my head lately. Work. Your brother. Family issues."

Zara noticed the heaviness in his voice which was unusual. She peeked over her shoulder once again, and when she saw Eshaal, Nani, and the parrot not even stir (or fluff feathers) she turned back to Dawood, perching her elbow over the armrest.

"They're asleep," Zara whispered. "You can talk."

Dawood inhaled slowly, his gaze hardening on the steering wheel. "It's... complicated. Every day it seems like another challenge comes our way."

Zara's eyes softened, pressing her lips tight together. She took a breath or two before responding. "That's... life, isn't it?"

Even though the words she had chosen were meant to prove she understood that well enough- but she was a traveler just like Dawood was on this road of life. Seeker of words and truths.

"It is... and I'm not complaining," he said slowly, lifting a hand to massage his temples while the other held the steering wheel thoughtfully. "Of course, life was never promised to us that it was going to be perfect. But sometimes, I guess we get so lost in other things in life... the materialistic things that we end up staying on the middle of the road for too long."

"And then we start asking ourselves if there's even more out there?" Zara added to his depth of words as she stared at the abyss in front. "Even though it's our own fault we dropped ourselves too low... stopping for this Dunya- when our souls were made for Jannah."

Dawood breathed out. "Because we as humans are naturally discoverers, creators, innovators, seekers and knowledge-gainers... but how can we go on, if we stop?"

"We must go on then," Zara smiled subtly, holding his arm with a light squeeze. "We must keep moving on... the road that He paved out for us."

At times, life is like a road. There are twists and turns like the mountains they were driving around. Other times, spills of oil come below the tire and skids the car off beyond its control to the other side. The trees are branched out, and the wall that should have been there by the side of the road was broken away and missing. Have you ever thought of how it felt when all this happened once? What would four passengers have said? Who would their voices call out to?

"DAWOOD!"

"What the-"

"YA RABBI!"

Asalamualaykum,

This is the end of Zara's story....

*crickets chirping for a good while*

For a while, of course.

Because this is just the beginning of someone else's story who I have been missing for quite a while now.

- e . a