The Box of Crayons

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Disclaimer: All the characters, places, names and situations are fictions. They are not made to offend any individual's identity or thoughts. They are just character background and my characters does not define me, but just my thoughts for the character. I also request my readers to not have any biased mindset, the stories are meant to stir some feelings in you, so just go with the flow and enjoy. Please do not copy the stories and repost them.

Love💜

Copyright © WD, 2021 All rights reserved.

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Not a single day would go by when Abid {Abid means Servant of God} would not state how blessed he was to have his alluring wife Afia {Afia means Good health and welfare} in his life. Abid and Afia met ten years ago when they were in their last year of college. Abid was a Computer engineering student, and Afia was a Water Resource & Environmental Engineering student. They worked together on a project which was so good that it was incubated and made into a startup. Love blossomed, and in the time of two years, they knew they were living their life together forever. They developed their startup together like their own child. In seven years, they were one of the best companies working to tackle problems of water and environment in their home country. On their fifth anniversary, their family received the best news in decades when Abid and Afia announced the arrival of their first child. On December 30, 2018, Amena {Amena means Safe} was born.  

An angelic baby with a smile that could melt stone or wake up dead, she was Amena. Amena became the safe space for both Abid and Afia. As Afia took time to relish motherhood, Abid became more resilient towards work as he had two souls to protect and care for. Whenever Afia missed being at work or missed the social life she had before Amena, all she needed to do was to look at her daughter. Just looking at her would content her heart as she knew she could give away a hundred similar lives to have a daughter like Amena. Whenever Abid returned home exhausted, just his daughter giggling and wrapping her finger around his finger would give him an unmatched strength.

The divine baby grew up, and I came in as a gift for dear Amena, who was learning her way to become a great artist sitting on the lap of her beloved father. As it was three years since Afia left working, she had completely given in to her hobbies. She turned her home into an oasis in the desert. Different shades of greens and blooming flowers welcomed everyone. She used her engineering wisely to create her dream home a place, where any external worries could not hurt anyone. Since Afia was a bright and sensible woman, her first gift to her daughter was a set of paints. After a while, she understood that Amena was too little to use paints so, she gifted her my box of crayons. I am the white color in this box of eight other colors. 

Amena was a brilliant girl. Even at the age of three, she made patterns that could be framed and exhibited in the best of the Art museums. Afia and Abid knew the genius was growing in their daughter every day. Amena tended to use the color she saw, and the color she took out from the box once, never returned to meet us again. The first one to part ways was green. Amena got inspired by her mother's beautiful garden. She made leaves, mountains, fields, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and parrots, everything in green. Anyone who saw a three-year-old sitting so calmly drawing stretches of mountains. The serenity and safety around the environment could be like the soft moss that spreads on the walls after the rainy season. 

Abid had a jeep, and they decided to go on a family picnic. After months of staying at home due to corona, Afia and Abid wanted their daughter to see the world she could not see. When they asked Amena to pack whatever she would like to carry, she only picked on her drawing book and the box of crayons. They went to Qargha Lake. On a cold yet sunny February afternoon, it was their first outing as the family of three. Amena had never seen the vast stretches of water ahead of her eyes, nor had she seen the sun setting and the horizons meet. Her little eyes gleamed with the beauty that she was witnessing. Her laughter and curious questions were filling the ears of her parents, who were trying to answer everything she was asking and more. After they had their lunch, there was a brief moment of peace and silence. Afia thought that Amena would take her afternoon nap but not even a single trace of sleep was there in her eyes, the eyes which were constantly looking at the orange and crimson sky. Amena took three colors out of the box this time. Orange, Blue, and Indigo. Abid and Afia could do nothing but see her make bold strokes from the colors. Amena favored dark vibrant colors, and she had no means of stopping from finishing the colors once she took them in her hand.

After her masterpiece was over, she had a very genuine question from her parents. She inquired about how the sun disappeared while she was drawing, Afia was at a loss for words, and Abid could not help but feel proud about his little daughter. He took her in his embrace and went for a walk explaining the mystics of nature meanwhile Afia cleaned up the place. They went towards the amusement park as the colorful fairy lights all around started to glow. Since Amena was little Afia accompanied her on little rides, the merry-go-rounds and Abid stood outside taking pictures, slightly confused on whether he should see his lovely wife and daughter through lenses or not, he did not want to miss any detail, he could see how once a young woman was now nurturing a baby, how beautifully she has aged through years, he could see his daughter who could fit into his palms back then was now a grown-up little girl.   

The last ride was the giant Ferris wheel which they rode together. The heights, the cold winter air, the violet-black sky above, and the soothing yellow ocean of lights below everything was new for Amena. She shuddered in Abid's lap during the first round but became fearless and enjoyed the whole ride from the second round. The day was one the most important and memorable days for them and a bit exhausting too. After dinner, they expected Amena to sleep, but the little girl still had no sleep in her eyes. She sat with the color box and her sketchbook again. Every color counting me in the color box feared being caught and pulled out because we knew we would not return to the box. I prayed that day to stay in the box as she pulled out black, violet, and yellow colors. I got the chance to peep out of the box, and her artistry stunned me. She created a replica of what she saw from up there on the Ferris wheel. She slept after creating two of the masterpieces, but she took away her parents' sleep who were gaping and sitting in utter awe at the sheer talent that was there in their daughter.

Days passed by, and it felt like after that day Amena lost interest in colors as I and red watched her, but she would never pick us up. Or maybe she never saw anything red and white which she would like to keep forever until…

Until August 15, 2021. There was so much going on already. All around, there was a commotion in hearts and minds and silence outside. Afia would not even go out to water her plants. The deadly desert took over their little safe space, their oasis. Abid was too tense; he had to take care of so many things, he had his family and his employees to safeguard. He completed his duty in the office and returned home safely. Afia was impregnable for some time, but now tears were not stopping from her eyes. They were deleting all their images from phones and cameras, packing things the things they thought they could not live without. Most of them were Amena's belongings. Amena was sitting there, and sudden thundering noises from outside were startling her so Abid hugged her and kept her in his arms till they worked things up and left everything that was theirs.

Just before they were heading out, Amena took the color box and sketchbook with her.

The world outside was something Abid and Afia never wanted to show Amena. Afia covered Amena's delicate eyes and held her tight while Abid drove towards the airport. Ten years of work had Abid in a position where they could get some positive help. We were in the box, and if we had our hands red and I would have hugged each other too, there were hideous monsters outside, who were howling things neither Amena nor we both could understand. They were wearing things we never saw anyone wearing, they looked heavy. Every time they used those things there was a splash of red, but it was not the red of roses, it was deadly red that even made the red near me afraid. We wished Amena never saw anything. I wished Amena could use me. When Afia introduced me to Amena for the first time, she told her that I stand for “peace”, and there was no peace around us. What confused us was that Afia said that red was for “love”, but what we saw around us was nowhere near to love, the air reeked of fear, anger, hate, mistakes, and monsters. 

We reached the airport and sat there when Abid went somewhere to talk. And Afia held her beloved daughter tightly while they waited eagerly. Amena was sleeping in the middle of the chaos Afia saw her daughter, a miracle in her life, tears were flowing from her eyes as if the clouds burst in there and there was no stopping till Abid came. "The next evacuation was in two hours, and only one place could be provided in it, they promised another evacuation in the next twenty-four hours, which could be an eternity too", Abid stated. This time both Afia and Abid were sharing the remorse, the pain together. The blurred vision and damp clothes, in the desert they were shedding an ocean. Very carefully Afia went to her purse and took one of the five photos from their day out, and took red out of the box. She wrote some things behind the photo and made a heart, and slid the photo with us in the box. They were sending Amena, as the one person in the next evacuation.

The two hours which went by as if they were two microseconds were full of love, pain, remorse, and uncertainty. Everyone around them was feeling the same. Striking noises from outside created a sudden panic among the people and everyone was in deep terror. Abid was holding the same fingers which would wrap his hands when they were smaller. A slight tormented smile on his face, “she will be safe”, he thought. Afia was wiping off her tears like a maniac as she did not want any moment to be missed. She was treasuring everything in her heart. When an hour was still left, Amena woke up. The girl who would hardly cry sensed something and was in tears already. Abid and Afia could not hold the feelings anymore. Minutes before the departure Amena gave the bright sunset art piece to Afia, and took away the Ferris wheel with her, she still had the color box and sketchbook. In the box, we had Amena’s family photo with a message scribbled behind it.

Upon the fence just before the departure, Abid was handing over his life in a well-camouflaged dressed man’s hands, and from down below Afia was screaming and crying like any deranged person, people around her could feel her agony, everyone was lifeless. 

The man asked Abid, “What is her name?”.

Abid replied with a proud smile which had a deadly mix of the world’s greatest soreness, “Azadeh”.

{Azadeh means free}

Amena was no more, Azadeh looked at her father with the eyes that were questioning, confused, wished for so much, and still were spreading love, all she could say was, “Abbu”.

Azadeh was in that man’s hands now clenching her sketchbook and color box, the man was powerful, but was very gently holding Azadeh. Drops of tears dripping from his eyes turned black as his face was covered in dirt and sweat. She looked up at him and said, “Ammi”. The man could not help but break the protocol to show this little angel what she wanted to see. From up there Azadeh could see straight into her mother’s red swollen eyes, she could see veins popping out her mother’s forehead, neck as she heard her name one last time, “Amena”.

That was the first time she was on an airplane, a humongous cargo plane. Azadeh had already shed all her fears in tears as Amena. Azadeh was fearless. She flipped open her sketchbook and took out red. Her hands were steadier than before, she colored the whole page red. To read her mind was difficult, was she expressing her rage and danger or her love? Next was my turn, she took me and drew strokes that were hard to understand, she was not confused, she had a clear mental picture. Soon strokes started making sense. Everyone around her was holding their breath, not making a single noise to make her stop from what she was doing. Azadeh drew her life on that piece of paper as I metamorphosed from a white crayon to all her emotions and memories. The page was the synopsis of her life, including the last look she had of her parents Abid and Afia. 

If I could cry, I would. If I could rise above the world, I would show the world what I meant.

I mean PEACE! 

I mean LIFE!

I am WHITE! 

P.S: 

My heart drained at this site, as normal people from all over the world we can not do anything but pray for some sense in people who are ruining happy lives! We can pray for all those lives which are gone! And we can pray for all the families to reunite.