Finding the Lost Key

Hina’s mother was mad at her because she didn’t complete the summer vacation task. Hina who wanted to be at peace, hid in their old storeroom. There she sat on the floor drenched in her sweat. After a while, she stood up from her place which was completely wet due to her sweat; she then went to a big brown carton. She opened the carton and found many diaries in it. She opened one and read her grandfather’s name on it. Those were her grandfather’s diaries. He had a habit of journal writing. While all the diaries were filled, there was one diary that was unique to all. The diary belonged to the year 1973. Its half-side was complete while the other half was empty.

“How have I done this? My all life will be in guilt now. I shouldn’t have done.”

This was what she found on the last page of the filled half. Curious Hina was intrigued by this one thing. “What was the thing that grandfather regretted and didn’t complete this year’s diary?” She started speculating on the question.

“Pakistan in the south has been hit by major floods. The glaciers in the north are melting. Let us ask a climate change activist how climate change is affecting us.”
Hina was sitting in front of the TV, looking puzzled, bored because she do not want to listen to adults crying over unknown matters. But her father kept on listening to the talk show where the anchors, a climate change activist, and a lawmaker were discussing the effects of climate change in Pakistan.

“See, Miss, Pakistan has several crises going on. We do not have major time to respond to climate change actions. This is nature. We can not do anything.” The lawmaker uttered the following words to shut the environmental activist.

“Hina it has started raining. Go get the clothes from the rooftop.” Her mother shouted from another room. She frowned, said some words in her mouth, and went to the rooftop.

As she pushed open the door of the roof, all she could see were gigantic, horrible black clouds coming to cover the sky. It is nature. But never in her life has she seen a terrible and frightening nature. Soon it started raining. It felt like she was standing at the bottom of Niagara Falls. She could feel the rain droplets striking her skin and at any moment they would pierce her skin. She collected the clothes and saw a cat standing there. The cat was looking at her. The cat was still. Hina without any thought decided to rescue her. She took the cat to her drawing room. Her parents were worried about the rain so they did not pay much attention to Hina’s new friend. Fortunately, rain saved her from her mother’s admonishment.
At night, when she was looking at the cat and was deciding her name. The cat did something unexpected.”It is all your grandfather’s fault. if only he had not lost the keys we would be able to save everyone. The sage opposed the lords in his appointment. But the lord was adamant.” Hina was startled. She did not know what was happening. She started shouting. Her mother yelled at her from another room. For the next 3 hours, Hina could not utter a single word. She thought, “A cat has started speaking, and why on earth she found my grandfather the worthy one to be blamed?”
She mustered up the courage and again went to the cat. The cat was laying on the floor. As she saw Hina, she stood up from her place. “I am the messenger of the Sages. We are getting late. We should go or else they would be mad at us.” And so they were teleported. The teleportation was so rapid that the Saiteen completed the sentence after reaching the new place. They were in the middle of the mountains. It was cold there. Saiteen took Hina to a cave. The cave was warmer and more comfortable. As they went inside the cave, a new world appeared. It was a temple. A temple of a godly deity. As they reached the hall of the temple, she could see someone sitting on a big throne. It was at a great height. On both sides, men were standin wearing white overcoats and hiding their faces. Saiteen stopped at a point and so did Hina. The man on the throne started speaking.
“The weather is given to me. The sustenance was given to my sister. We all brothers and sisters have some things that are important to the immortals. We oversee them and ensure everything is smooth. I am the guardian of the weather. My name is the Weather Lord. Your grandfather happened to be here once. He begged us to make him the next Controller of the Keys.”
Hina did not know what was happening around her. She felt like she was in a dream. But it was all real. Her facial expressions changed every second. From terrified to curious, from curious to scared.
“2 years after we handed him the Key, he lost it.” said the Weather Lord.
“He was a bad choice from the start. Due to that incel, we are going to face severe consequences.” The man in the white overcoat said.
“He lost the key, and he could not find it. We tried for 50 years. But we could not find it. No one can find it except the Controller.”
A man wearing a white overcoat moved forward, he took out his hands from the overcoat’s pockets and said, “The key can be seen by the controller. We believe you, being from his lineage, may have the ability to see the key and find it. There are chances that the key would take you as its Controller because there is a blood pact signed between the key and controller.”
For the first time at the moment, Hina spoke but only a few words. “Me? Me?”
“Yes, we believe you can find it for us, for Abdul, for everyone or destruction would overtake us and the entire planet will undergo havoc.”
“But why is the Key so important?” asked Hina.
The man replied,” It will close the door from where Destruction comes in. Your father was in Attock when he lost the key. Saiteen will take you there.”
She looked at Saiteen. Then they both were in Attock. A “best of luck” in the man’s voice resonated when they reached Attock.
Hina looked at Saiteen, and she asked about the key’s location. Saiteen was also confused. It had been 50 years since her grandfather lost the key. No one knew what happened in 1973. Where would they go? To the Police Station? Did her grandfather file a report at the police station? They all were thinking of various possibilities that Hina heard her name. Someone called her. She asked Saiteen about that but Saiteen was also clueless. The voice came from the west.
“Maybe it is the key that is calling you.” Said Saiteen.
They both ran to the west. She could hear her name. All of a sudden, the sky was covered with black clouds. It started raining. But they did not have time to stop. In the west, they could only see the Attock Fort. The key was calling her from there. They stopped outside the Kabuli gate. When Hina focused on the voice, she felt it was not coming from the inside of the fort but from the other side. From the side of the fort. As she was moving there, the voice was getting stronger and stronger. Hina barged into a small dhabba and started throwing things away. The floor of the dhaba was not tiled or made of cement. She took a spoon from the table and started digging there. The owner of the shop tried to stop Hina but due to the heavy rain, the roof fell. The three of them were under the fallen roof. The dhabba had a weak roof and so it fell. The journey ended here?

The mighty Attock fort on one side, a full and about to flood everything river Indus on the other side, and two of them under the debris of a dhabba’s roof. A plank of wood moved, another brick, and so Saiteen and Hina came safe and sound from the debris of the roof. Saiteen saved them using her supernatural powers. After coming out of the debris, Hina started running. She tripped once, Saiteen was behind her. She was running like an athlete who has won the race. She has won the race of her life. Tears rolled out of her eyes. For the first time in her life, she felt like doing something purposeful. Saiteen then teleported them to the Gate of Destruction.

The gate was about to be broken, black, amorphous creatures were coming out of the gate. Those were destruction’s children. If they broke the gate then they would cause destruction in the world via the weather. Destruction is present everywhere. Waiting for someone to get weak and to use it as a hotspot to spread chaos.

Hina ran to the gate, the children of Destruction were getting out of the gate. They tried to stop her by holding her hands and legs. Hina did not stop for a moment, she ran and ran. As she got near the gate, she saw the lock where she had to place the Key. The children of destruction were there, coming out, stopping her. She jumped to reach the gate before they could break it; tears, cries, hope, she felt like her grandfather’s hand on her right shoulder, the lord’s hand on her left shoulder, Saiteen on her head. For the first time, she was surrounded by hope from people; her entire life she longed for someone to have hope in her, to expect something from her, to not feel like a failure, this sight brought tears from her eyes.

The cat ended the eye contact, vanished, the rain stopped, and the clouds disappeared. Hina went downstairs, and sat in the drawing room where everyone was waiting for her mother. Her mother brought the watermelon. She picked up a slice. She would not remember what happened but she would remember the feeling she had after saving the world.