Prologue

The night was as clear as glass. It was almost 2 o clock. Stars were shining brightly, with glare of the full moon setting the stage for a perfectly romantic meeting for star crossed lovers. All the occupants of Kasai Gali were safely inside their abodes that were always bolted from inside. Kasai Gali was not specifically a street as the name suggests but in fact a combination of more than 6 or 7 streets placed on each side of a main road that passed between them at an angle of roughly 30 degrees. So it was a locality of about 1.5 kilometers squared, which was named Kasai Gali because most of the occupants that inhabited the houses which were all built before the Partition, were either butchers or had in one or the other way had to do something with the meat trade. Many of the men who lived in the neighborhood used to work at night in the slaughterhouse which was nearby almost a kilometer away from Kasai Gali. The slaughtering of the animals as per Islamic Laws was done in the slaughterhouse. In the evening many livestock merchants used to bring their animals in the small ground adjacent to the butchery. Most of the cows, bulls and goats were bought by butchers to be slaughtered the following night and their carcasses to adorn their meat shops in the morning that followed. Buffaloes were a different matter altogether, they were brought there but only the old ones who weren't able to produce milk anymore were bought in cheap rates by the poorest butchers to slaughter and sell. The good ones were readily taken by the Gawalas- milk traders- who used to frequent this daily cattle market of sorts.

So to that effect most of the men where not home that night as usual and the womenfolk had bolted the doors shut. Although it was not unusual for the men to turn up late at night, as the ones whose job was to only slaughter the animals and leave the further work to their assistant used be home by the time of false dawn.

As Ishaq was coming home after his share of work from the slaughterhouse, he saw a woman entering the street where he lived, he was amazed that a woman was out at this time of night. The woman was wearing a black burqa, and was covered from the head to toe. She moved in a very elegant manner as though she was hovering in the air. Ishaq maintained his distance but still followed the woman. He wanted to know who she was, from which household she belonged to, so he could complain to any male member of her house about her conduct, like it was his moral obligation to do so.

The woman took a sharp left and entered the very lane in which Ishaq's house was, and then she stopped right before the door that opened to a flight of stairs that lead on to the second story portion that Ishaq had rented. She sat there in front of the door and what she did next almost made Ishaq scream with fright but the scream never came out of his mouth.

The woman took of the head and place it on the stone step before Ishaq's main door. And the head started wailing, screaming and lamenting. The kind of waayn- a kind olamenting done on the death of someone that Pakistani woman as infamous for locally. The head less body started thumping her chest, beating it with both arms.

Ishaq was stoned by this display and it was like he had lost his voice. His mouth was open for a scream but no sound came from it. He was a tough man he had thought all his life, because it took great courage to take a life and to slaughter one was another level. Everyday he slaughtered animals and the sight of death and blood was nothing from him. But now all his courage had left him. He wanted to recite the holy verses of The Quran thought to him as a child but he couldn't remember them.

The head on the stone step was wailing and crying saying, "haye mar gya.....tere mard mar gaya Naseem. Tu kahin ki nahin rahi Naseem. Haye koi toh wapas lay aao. Naseem tera banda maar gya...." ("He is gone... your husband is dead Naseem. You are doomed Naseem. Someone please bring back her husband. Naseem your husband is no more.)

The name of his wife being taken by the wailing head almost made Ishaq faint and he could feel urine trickling down his thighs but still he was glued to the spot.

The woman picked up her head from the stone step in one swift motion and the other second she was upon Ishaq. She unveiled her burqa to reveal a face as white as blank paper with hollow sockets for eyes with blood coming out of them. She opened her mouth to bring out a serpentine tongue and licked the urine from Ishaq's legs. With that she stood up and with a strong gust of wind she and her victim were gone from the scene. The only residue of Ishaq left was the urine on the ground.