Grim Sky

He sat down on the chair just beside the open balcony door with a glass of cold lemonade clutched in his hand. A light drizzle has settled outside, he noticed. As Ronnie took a sip from his drink he felt a soothing breeze touch his body gently. The impact of the pleasurable drink and the cool breeze cause his mood to lighten a bit.

Earlier that day Ronnie had been so annoyed with load shedding that he threw his PS2 controller on the wall when for the fifth time, while in the middle of a game in PS2, electricity had betrayed him again. He had been intensely absorbed in accomplishing a critical situation in a game to save it before the electricity went off again but his attempts were fruitless as electricity kept disappearing and reappearing at small time intervals. When the electricity returned he would have to play from the last checkpoint again. With this very sinking thought Ronnie came back to his senses to realize he was unconsciously staring fixedly a crow stationed on a sunshade on the opposite building. Meanwhile the rain was becoming heavier.

The crow, Ronnie noticed, was also in a grim mood like himself. But the crow's worries were very different from his own, probably trying to find shelter from the heavy downpour, guessed Ronnie. Then, completely unexpected, the sky became darker and next moment huge gusts of wind were raving in all directions. Soon thunder and lightning joined to form a vicious storm. He saw the crow was crying frantically in search of shelter when Ronnie's mother told him to shut the banging windows and balcony door of the house. However before reaching for the balcony door what Ronnie saw was very displeasing. The wet crow previously searching for shelter was now entangled in a bunch of telephone wires directly under the sky, swaying and becoming wet in the storm. Ronnie watched as the crow tried to disentangle its struggling wings away from the wires with no luck. The storm, on the other hand, was getting worse by the minute.

Ronnie did not know what to do or what to feel for the crow. But before he could think further he heard his mother's voice again, yelling at him to shut the windows. Ronnie hastily closed all the windows of the house and returned to the scene. He saw now that several other crows were now trying to help the crow that was stuck by clicking their beaks at the wires, trying to separate the wires from the stuck crow. Finally after half a minute they managed to free the crow and together all the wet crows hurriedly flew out of Ronnie's sight.

Ronnie could not make out why he felt so happy for the crow when it got freed but at that instant the electricity returned and suddenly he remembered that he had been in a bad mood. Now Ronnie felt almost foolish that he had been worried about saving a game.

By Arman Rashid

And then humans came, and Prehistory happened. As the name implies, this was before history, meaning no history had happened yet, so we'll move right along.

The Sumerians began farming. During this period there were many great rulers: Zoser of Egypt, Sargon I of Akkade, and Sauron of Mordor. King Menes of Egypt decided to unite Upper Egypt, Lower Egypt, and Lowest Egypt, and formed the nation of Egypt. He then tried to unite East Pakistan and West Pakistan but that was asking too much.

King Khufu sat down with his advisors, and tried to come up with a solution as to how they would affect world history. They finally decided, and King Khufu announced, “Let's make BIG triangular rocks!” The decision proved successful, as big triangular rocks began popping up all over the place, and only recently have archaeologists figured out how they were built.

However, then came Moses (played by famous actor Charlton Heston) and gave his people guns, and lead them out of Egypt. Thus died the building of big triangular rocks, and thus died the Egyptian civilization. In the New Hebrew nation a new King arose, King David, and everyone loved him, even though he was just a famous naked sculpture by Michelangelo.

The Code Of Hammurabi was established in Babylon that encouraged “eye for an eye”: If someone takes out your eye, we shall take out his eye. This will keep justice, and will also lead Gandhi to say the only smart thing he will ever say.

Then suddenly the Greeks began fighting the Trojans, and the smart warrior Odysseus came up with a plan to penetrate Troy's walls and win the war. They would make a giant wooden horse and ride it inside Troy. They did this, and climbed inside the horse, and left it in front of the Trojan gate.

The Trojans exclaimed, “It's a giant moose!” “A horse, you morons!” shouted some of the Greek soldiers from inside. “Oh” said the Trojans, and brought the horse in, and lost the war. On his way back Odysseus was turned into a pig, and members of his team were eaten. When he returned to his home in Ithaca, under the guise of an old man by the help of Athena, he killed his travel agent.

Around this time, the Chinese thinker Lao Tzu came up with the famous question that will boggle the minds of philosophers for ages to come yet. “Why did the chicken cross the road?”

Then the great Cyrus the Great decided to CONQUER THE WORLD! So he started forming the Persian Empire. There were many great thinkers around this time, Sophocles, Pericles, Testicles etc. Sophocles, the Greek playwright, wrote the story of Oedipus REX, which told the tale of a dinosaur that killed it's father and married it's mother.

A bunch of people in England around this time put rocks in a circle, and made what they called the Stonehenge. The monument puzzled scientists, since no rocks of its kind could be found for miles. It was recently discovered that the type of rock used to make Stonehenge couldn't be found in that area because it was all used to make Stonehenge. Duh!

At this time, the Greek man, Herodotus began to write the history of the world, but it was only five pages long, as not much history had happened yet.
(to be continued)
By Ahsan Sajid

Angel in my life

I poured a whole lot of angry words at her. She just looked at me with those weary eyes that didn't even give up after all this tolerance. I was so frustrated, I couldn't think straight. I shoved her and saw her sprawling on the floor. But her face didn't change. She remained the same- solemn and quiet. I kicked and harassed her-not physically but mentally. But she didn't start a war of words like anyone else would have. She didn't try to gain back her self-respect or hurt me back. She got up feebly and started to pick up the clothes I clustered on the floor. But not a single word came out of her.

Without lending a hand out to her I stormed out of the room. I insult her everyday but she never hurts me back. My mother started to call me as I slammed the entrance door hard. I started to ride my bike towards nowhere. I felt so angry about the whole incident that I cycled even faster.

All of a sudden, everything went black. It happened so fast, I couldn't make out what exactly did occur. Then the next thing I remember is being surrounded by people and thousands of voices. “She's bleeding!” A harsh voice cried out, “Somebody call 911!” “Take her to the hospital!” A couple of other voices cried out as I passed out, or so as I guessed. I lost track of time then.

“Ahhhhhh……..” I cried out as a sharp jolt of pain shot up in my head. It took me a moment to realize that I was lying on a bed. I got up slowly and felt my head: it was tearing apart. “Don't get up!!” A voice rumbled through my weary mind….it seemed familiar but somehow I couldn't recognize it. “Who are you…?” I managed to speak out.

“Pumpkin, you need rest. You went through a very hard day.” She said rubbing my hands. I looked back once more as I couldn't keep my eyelids open any longer. “Anna…...”

I was so stupid I didn't even realize how much many like her had to tolerate so much pain and hardship. She - Anna was just a maid at our house. Just a maid? Have we all forgotten everything about helping mankind? They're are poor-and we're rich; does that make so much difference between us humans?

Now she came to me and was reluctant to help me when I got I got in trouble. She would always calm me when I was in anger; she would always come back helping me when I threw her away like a broken piece of junk; she would always get me a glass of water when I woke up in nightmares; she would always comfort me when I was in depression. But why? Why did she do that? She would always comfort me when my parents fought.

“Honey…do you want a glass of water?” Anna asked me, pulling my bed-sheet close to my neck, with a glass of water in her right hand. I got up and saw her white face in the dim moonlight. She patted me at the back as I drank. And she gave me that smile she always gives me when I feel this way.

Every person has their angel in their lifetime. And that person colors away all the darkness in your life. And makes the world a brighter, happier place to be in. But this angel only come to one's life once-just once and wipes away the sadness, replacing it with a gleaming light of hope for the years to come. If we look for our angel, we may not find him or her, even when there is one. They stay, they go but even if they do take leave, they always stay in your heart. And as I now say these loving words, I say to myself, truly, Anna is my angel.

By Mayeesha Shafiq

Death and Dream

On the eve of my death I dreamt
Oh the dream
That I sought for longtime
But it escaped from me
Living in the waste land
My dry soul, my wretched soul
But my soul dreamt for its own sake
Oh the evolution, I failed
Love is not for me but for all those around me.
By A Bashar