His Redemption

He came home from his busy 10-hour shift, packed with meetings and office politics. As soon as he entered his home, he shouted his wife’s name. No one responded. Exhausted from what was his busiest day at his workplace, Zamaad decided to sleep. He already knew his family was away at a relative’s house. As he reached his cosy bed, a thought rushed through his mind to check his inbox. Whether his wife has informed him about this sudden absence or not. But confident of their pattern of visits, he decided not to.
It was mid-February, the regular season of birds chirping, bright sunny days, and a wait for spring. Zamaad woke up at his usual time, but to his astonishment, the house was as empty as the ruins of a temple, untouched, unvisited for centuries.
“My wife and children have been missing for the past 12 hours.” He told the inspector. “I have called every relative’s house, every club and community centre we used to visit, but no one has seen them.” He spoke with trepidation. The inspector was prepared for the moment when he would collapse. But he kept on mentioning his efforts and how he would become insane. A call came from his HR, and he yelled at the phone and threw it away. The inspector advised him to rest.
“A week has passed, and you have not found anything?” Everyone could hear him wrangling with the inspector. He had become a helpless man. He could not comprehend how on earth he came from work and found his family missing. Every other person seemed to have forgotten them. No one knows anything. His mind was jammed with thoughts. How were they? What were they doing right now? Are they breathing or not?
He tried finding them on his own but to no avail. It seemed like someone had erased them from the land and from the memories of the people. His friend recommended him to a psychologist. Instead of therapy, Dr. Aaron took him somewhere else. His room was filled with statues of Zeus, Hera, Athena, Ares, etc., the walls having the text written with illegible handwriting. His overall personality was hard to elicit. Zamaad was not interested in the features of his personality and his room. He only wanted his family back. Aaron, in his session, mentioned many things; to heal him, to let him move on, and even to start a new life. But in all these stories, Zamaad was interested in Persephone and Hades’ story. Hades took Persephone to the underworld, and so Zamaad decided to embark upon a journey — a journey to the underworld. Intrigued by his valour, Aaron assured him of his assistance. He searched an old archive and told him how to enter the underworld. Zamaad sold everything he possessed and reached Japan. In the centre of Japan, there is a village, and in the centre of the village there is a tree. The tree has a hole, large enough for a man to pass, at the base. It becomes visible during the middle of the day. After a day’s search, Zamaad found the tree. But it was evening. So he camped there and waited for noon. The villagers reckoned why he was there. So after a long wait, at noon, the hole became visible, and then Zamaad entered the underworld. At the entrance, he met a two-faced dog with a peacock’s tail. Zammad mentioned why he was there. To his surprise, the creature did not resist his existence and did not try to tear him apart. But everyone on his way welcomed him and guided him to Altar. Zamaad, upon reaching the place, saw his wife and two kids. They were tied with a rope and were on their knees. As if they were going to be executed. Once he entered the Altar, the gates closed. A person started beating a drum and made an announcement, “So, another helpless creature has arrived. Another sacrifice and another moment for you all to bet.”

Soon he was surrounded by strange, indescribable creatures. Someone having two heads and someone without legs. It was like a scene from a movie he loved very much; Gladiator. From behind his family, another strange creature appeared, having four eyes. It was hard and gross to look at his face. Soon, the one beating the drum announced, “now the captain will ask him.” The roar of the multitude peaked after hearing this. It was like they were enjoying his helplessness. And so the four-eyed creature spoke, “you have to sacrifice one. Name a family member you want to sacrifice, and so we will let you and the others go freely without any harm.” His eyes still; his heart stopped for a minute, and it was like it had forgotten to beat. He had to sacrifice one family member to free others. One of them had to die. Which one? His wife? Who taunted him at minor inconvenience, but she loved him too. His elder son, who disappointed him because he could not score a goal in the football match? His younger son? There had to be one. It was a tough decision. In any case, how would he live afterwards, sacrificing his one family member? How would his sons live without their mother or how would his wife live after letting his son get killed by the demons? Zamaad’s existence was filled with resentment, shock, and fear. He had to do something. And then the four-eyed creature started counting from 10 to backwards, while counting, he was circumventing around him. He had no time left. He had to sacrifice one. He had to kill one. And so Zamaad closed his eyes and opened his mouth to name someone. The man circled around him, the roaring crowd, and his sons and wife shouting and yelling. The dark arena was illuminated by light. It came from the west, and then he heard the cries of someone. But they were not of his family members. He opened his eyes and saw a herd of horses. They were destroying the arena. It was an attack of brightly illuminated horses. He did not know what was happening around him. But he saw the four-eyed creature smashed by a horse and lying on the ground. His family was safe and intact in the assault of the herd. He freed them and ran to the south.

Zamaad woke up from sleep and saw his wife and sons lying on the ground. They were under the shade of the tree from where he entered the underworld. A villager at a distance saw this. He smiled, and then he turned in the other direction. Zamaad looked at the sky, and he could see a blue sky between the dark green leaves of the tree. Sunlight was piercing through the leaves and falling on the left side of his eye.

Our good deeds sometimes come at the toughest and the hardest parts of our lives and rescue us from plight. A good deed never goes wasted, and a bad one never goes away without teaching you a lesson. So, Zamaad went to his office and apologised to his co-worker whom he was targeting in office politics. Before the event, he decided to not give money to this one hospital helping the poor with their bills. But after the event, he went there again to donate his money.