The Lost Girl

He was in bit of a hurry today as it was her daughter's birthday. She was five years old and had asked him for a doll which he intended to buy after his last trip from Quaidabad. He was a bus driver and plied on route F13. It was about 8 pm and he was nearing his last stop at Saddar where he daily parked his mini bus which was owned by Akram Khan. After all passengers stepped out, he hurriedly took the bus to his designated place of parking. He rushed out after throwing keys to the conductor and almost running out he reached a toy shop he had spotted earlier on. With all his saving of this month, he bought the most beautiful doll for her daughter Reshma who would anxiously be waiting for him at his neighbor's house.

His wife had died six months back and he was faced with the challenge of raising his daughter alone. He had admitted her in a small school of their mohallah. He would drop her at school in the morning after making breakfast for her and then she would come back to the neighbor's house after school where she would stay till he arrived at night. His neighbor Kamal was his good friend and his wife took care of Reshma as her own daughter.

It was about 9 pm now when he reached in his street. He walked swiftly to Kamal's house hiding doll behind his back with one hand and with other hand he was about to knock the door when he noticed the door being locked from outside. He still started banging it till Naseer Khan passing from the street told him that Kamal had gone with family to his village to see his sick mother.

He was hysterical now. He tried calling Kamal's number many a times but could not get connected because there was the usual signal problem in Kamal's village.

He started knocking his other neighbors' door and inquired about his daughter but no one knew anything till someone told him that he had seen Reshma sitting outside his house at about 3 pm. He was now half mad. He rushed to the shops outside his street and asked everyone there about his daughter. Rashid mistry who was an old man now and kept sitting on the corner hotel told him that he probably saw her playing near the main road with some other children.

He almost fainted when his neighbors took him to local police station where he lodged the report. Semi conscious, he was brought back to his home. He was still holding the doll tightly clutched in his left hand. He looked everywhere, asked everyone around and visited police station thrice daily to get any update but all in vain. He had almost lost his sanity now. Two months later, he was lying in his house when his house owner told him to vacate the house as he had not paid last two months rent.

He was on streets now. He had started using drugs to forget the past but whenever he closed his eyes, the face of his daughter made him cry like a baby.

Years passed by when one fine morning he did not wake up from the road side. Nobody was there to take care of his body. Someone called Edhi. An ambulance thus came and took him to a morgue. Necessary documentation was done through his card found from his pocket. His sole possession was a dirty torn doll held tightly in his left hand. The lady filling the form felt her eyes getting numb. She would never know it was her father. She was once found by someone and handed over to the Edhi home. Edhi had taken care of the both.

Written By: Nadeem Alam

Other short stories by same author:
Click 👇
Twins
Better Than You
The Devil
Lost Girl 
Shadow
My World
Doomsday
Price of Love