Short Story: A Withered Flower of Melancholy by Abdullah Rayhan
1 min read
Abdullah Rayhan’s short story touches upon the topic of child abuse and how it alters the way a child looks at life.
“Bashir, Ostad-ji called you tonight.”
As these words crawled into Bashir’s ear, something inside of him chilled and cracked like an ancient glacier. Tonight, the scenes will reoccur. He fears it more than the jinn he once saw behind the madrasa. The terror within him was so heavy that he couldn’t do anything but stare at Mazid. He has tolerated this enough, now his heart bleeds like a wounded owlet.
“What are you looking at? Get ready!” Mazid commanded. Today Mazid was in a great mood. He was safe for the night. At first, Mazid thought it was his turn as he was called for no reason. But when his suspicion turned out to be wrong, he was relieved.
