Excerpt from Novel 𝒃𝒚 Saleem Shahzad
𝙄𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙-𝙪𝙥 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢. 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚?
𝙄𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚 𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙-𝙪𝙥 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙝 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙬𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢. 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚?
“𝙎𝙤, 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮, 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙛𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙤𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙩. 𝙍𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙧𝙚𝙛𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙨
𝙈𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙥𝙨𝙚’𝙨 𝙘𝙧𝙪𝙢𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙙 𝙥𝙞𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚. 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚
𝘽𝙮 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮, 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙄 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮𝙨. 𝙄 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙤𝙧 𝙛𝙞𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙨 𝙤𝙡𝙙 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙢𝙮
𝘼𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙣 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙩𝙨 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙪𝙥𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚, 𝙞𝙩 𝙗𝙪𝙯𝙯𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙘𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙩𝙮, 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙢𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙖 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙡𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙘𝙤𝙤𝙥. 𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮
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𝙄’𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙧𝙪𝙣𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙤𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙙
𝙊𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙪𝙥𝙤𝙣 𝙖 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚, 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙪𝙧𝙗𝙖𝙣 𝙣𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙗𝙤𝙧𝙝𝙤𝙤𝙙, 𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙙 𝙎𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙝, 𝙖 𝙙𝙚𝙨𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙬𝙞𝙛𝙚.
𝙄𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢, 𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙚𝙭𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙖𝙩 𝙡𝙖𝙨𝙩 𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙖 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢. 𝙃𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙙𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙢𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚. 𝙃𝙚 𝙛𝙚𝙡𝙩 𝙞𝙣𝙛𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚𝙭….
“𝙄 𝙬𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙧.… 𝙄𝙩 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙨.” 𝙈𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙡 𝙍𝙪𝙗𝙮 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙, 𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝘾𝙤𝙠𝙚. 𝙎𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙧𝙖𝙣 …..