Odyssey...{} 13- Abyss

One day that some government officials were visiting the prison, they lined up all the prisoners in the compound for the ceremony, Farshid found a piece of steel. Not knowing at the time what he would do with it, he secretly took the piece to his cell. Soon he found a good use for it. He burnished the piece by rubbing it against his clothes; and very soon, he had a valuable tool. All day and everyday, he used the piece of shinning steel to watch the either side of the hallway and anytime he saw the reflection of a guard in the steel piece, he his it. Gradually he learned most of guards' habits. When he could, he talked to his next door neighbor, Van. Soon those two innocent victims made friends. Being able to talk, gave the two boys, one year apart in age, a sense of vitality; and slowly they learned everything about each other.

One early morning when a guard took Farshid with him, Van lost the only gleam of hope he had. In his disturbed mind, he wished Farshid had left the steel piece for him; but very soon, he realized that Farshid could not had possibly known about this incident. Being worried for Farshid, he knew taking prisoner from their cells meant disaster, a never return. That thought brought him a bitter reality; when would be his turn? However things had a strange twist this time! Farshid was brought back to his cell in the afternoon. After the disappearance of the guard, Van did not wait for Farshid's brandish.

"Where did they take you? I thought I never see you gain." He whispered.

Farshid looked carefully around with his piece and then said:

"All these times that I told them I was innocent, they did not want to believe me. Today they told me that I was innocent and after some paper work, they're going to free me." He was overwhelmed by rapture.

Van thought for a minute and then said:

"Do you believe them?"

"Yes, I do. I am innocent. I haven't done anything."

What were they telling you all day?" Van asked.

"Many things; but bottom line is that I'm not supposed to tell a word about here to anyone even my family when I am released."

"And If you do!?"

"Well, you know how ruthless Savak is. Then they will arrest me for good and that is going to be the end of me."

"Does it mean that you must forget these year and half, as it never happened?"

"Yes, pretty much!"

"How can you?"

"I don't know. I must if I want to live."

"When?"

"I don't know the exact day, but soon."

That night in bed, Van wished it was him that leaving that hell not Farshid; nonetheless, soon he hated his own evil heart. Farshid Had been truly a bystander on that dooms day, but he was taking classes about the corruption of government and they were teaching them the Marxism. He could not find any guilt about that, but unfortunately they lived in a police state. Pondering in bed, a plan began shaping in his mind and he could not wait till morning to tell Farshid about it. Excited by his plan, he forgot the cautiousness and called Farshid, who was also awake.

"If I write a letter to my mother, will you take it out for me?"

The thought of that act was so impossible that Farshid shivered.

"Are you out of your mind? If they find it, I'm dead."

Van, who already knew the answer, fell silent and they did not talk the rest of that night.

On the other side of the wall, Farshid felt Van's pain. Pondering all night, he decided to take the risk. When he came to that conclusion that he would take Van's letter out, he immediately started a plan in his mind. When the light of the morning brightened the hallway and their cells to a smaller extent, he looked outside with his steel piece to make sure no guards were around. Then he called Van.

"Are you awake?"

Van, who had not slept at all, felt a sad world of nonentity. He was empty of courage for survival. He was giving in to so called destiny, his doomed destiny. Repeated Farshid's call made him to answer reluctantly:

"What, what is it?"

"I have a plan about your letter!"

"Forget it. That was a stupid request."

"No, I want to do it. We need a pen or pencil."

"We don't have paper."

"Those toilet paper are tougher than paper.

"Where will get a pen?"

"I get it today. They are going to pick me up today to sign some papers. I steal one."

~

To Be Continued

Odyssey... 13- The abyss

Tehran-

In the fervor of hesitation, taking a firm decision, denying the message of night, and bringing the intended conclusion to life, Hana's vision ruthlessly haunted her after the departure of their guest. Torn between falling in love with Hamid and hating his family, specially his mother, damaged her unconquerable resilience. She, who was able to bring her family to accept an impossible matter with her strong will, felt so weak, so bitter, and so abject, that no encouraging word could ease that great pain. Why wasn't she happy? While examining her real self, she remembered insolent power of Hamid's mother and the ridiculous silence of his father. The morbid character of that woman had left a loathsome stigma in her mind that she could find no cure for it. Her contemptuous and fierce attitude frightened Hana to a degree of shaking in her closet- like room; and in her exhausted mind, she pictured many scenarios and immoralities that had been done by that woman to Hamid. Even though Hana was not aware of that brusque raising one's child at that hazy moment, soon she would find out what she saw in her imagination the evening of her engagement, had really happened; and for some strange reason, she saw them in her vision and she knew about them that night. Those thoughts made her very sad for Hamid. She promised herself to be a good, loving wife for him to make up for his lost love of his mother; and to give him what he had never had, a real love.

Involved in her own world, she heard the phone rang. Running downstairs, hoping it would be Hamid, she found her mother frozen and silent of an unknown shock, listening to the person on the other side.

"Who is it mom?" Hana could not wait for her mom to finish the conversation.

Gol put her finger to her lips, means to hush. Her act made Hana even more nervous. She wondered who might be calling that late. Hana's eagerness to talk to Hamid, she had assumed it was him when she was in her room, caused her to lose her strong intuition. Finally when Gol was off the phone, Hana noticed her pale face and trembling body; and before Gol would reach the floor, while collapsing, Boby and Hana caught her. When Gol gained her consciousness, the reflection of a blazing heat in her eyes made her children to understand that the phone call had been a shocking news about Van.