"Our son listens to each and every instruction of ours, never disobeyed us," says a couple with a smiling face; their smile portrays how happy and proud they are of their son. They should be; every neighbor has seen that kid grow up with proper etiquette and manners, never caused any trouble to anyone, or engaged in any unethical activities. Everyone marks him as an ideal son, student, and good boy.
College life has passed now Rehman needs to move to another city for his higher education. For the first time, that couple has left their son away from them for a better future. They were worried about his new journey, as well as they were confident about their upbringing. Rehman's parents had a concept to describe their son, "There are two entities, good and bad, angel and the devil, everyone knows that devils are bad, and so we must be careful about that, and on the other hand, angels can't do anything wrong; we can trust them blindly, no one has slightest of doubt about them." Rehman's parents' thoughts were kinda similar to angels about him.
Rehman's parents were cautious about their kid, so they would contact their kid multiple times throughout the day. They would try to know whatever their son is doing, wherever he is going, with whomever he is meeting. They won't be interrupting anything as they know Rehman won't be doing anything that his parents may get offended, and he didn't either. Time kept going, and this way, life was moving ahead.
"Time is not good, keep a keen eye on your child. He stays far from you, in the capital, there are lots of bad influences to corrupt these holy souls." says a neighboring uncle.
"Yes, we have thought about that and so we keep communicating multiple times a day with him to know about his activities. Moreover, we have complete faith in your kid, he won't go out of our upbringing," says Rahman's mother with lots of pride and confidence.
No matter how much one says or tries, none can keep a constant eye on a university-going kid. He has lots of things to do there: classes, labs, assignments, friends, and so much more. For that, he needs to be left alone. They did too; relatives kept warning his parents to keep a constant eye on, monitor his behaviors, and talk to his teachers and friends; they are always worrying as if he is being spoiled. Rehman's parents would often ignore them pretty hard, they trust their kid, and he won't do anything like that at all; people's warnings are like questioning their upbringing and their kid's character. As we know, Angels can't be bad or make mistakes, so they do believe so too.
"Your son is charged with murder and is now in police custody; contact the respective authority as soon as possible." one phone call and the whole world got blank for the couple. They kept trying his phone, but it was unreachable; they called a few of his friends and learned that it was true. The whole world seemed to be upside down for them. For the first time, they visited Rehman's place, where he stays with friends; it was not an angel's place; everywhere, they could see marks of the devil. Two of his friends were caught too, hearing the deeds they could not believe, they were expecting it to turn out as a nightmare, but it was the reality, he indeed murdered someone, there were lots of other charges against him from time to time.
Meeting Rehman, they could just utter one line: "We have always thought you to be our angel, treated you like one, when did you become a devil?" and farewell.
Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash