The Rania Diaries

A few books and notes in hand and her bag slung across her shoulder, Nada was walking fast on the pavement. It was almost 8a.m, and she was late for school. She wished her teacher would be late too because otherwise she would have to spend the lecture outside the class as a punishment. Immersed in her thoughts, Nada suddenly heard a maniacal laughter from behind her. But she didn’t look back and continued walking swiftly past a pile of bricks outside a building as she already knew who that was: the madman who roamed the street every day. Nobody knew about his family and no one cared what he was doing. He would often say rude comments to passersby and sometimes would start talking to himself as if he were two persons. The community people totally ignored him overtime, but mostly people talked equally rudely to him if he got to their nerves. Like everybody else, Nada also ignored him. Suddenly, Nada felt a hard push from behind and she was knocked on the road side face-first,...

                                   It was a clear sunny day. The afternoon sky was crystal blue with streaks of clouds here and there. Warm rays of sunshine shone on flowers of all hues in the garden. Peter, a young boy of about seven, was lying on the velvety carpet of grass outside his home after school. Both hands behind his head and legs bent at an angle, he gazed and gazed in the mesmerizing blue depth of the sky. He could hear his mother calling him inside the house to start his homework but being weary of his monotonous routine, he decided to lie down for a few more minutes. He continued staring towards the sky. A couple of hawks were swarming in the sky. Peter felt soothed seeing their gliding movements in the sky. “If I were a hawk, I would hover around in the sky all day without any worries”, thought Peter with longing…  No sooner had he thought this that one of...

Up until last year, I was an ardent lover of cats. However, I never really had the opportunity to officially raise one. Fulfilling my primordial wish, one day, my eldest brother came back from work with a surprise for me in his car trunk; a beautiful grey kitten with protuberant yellow eyes. I instantly fell in love with this cute kitten. Apparently, the poor creature was being ‘bullied’ by other older cats in a plaza where my brother found it. Since, we didn’t know if it was vaccinated or not, I was only allowed to keep it in our back yard. Being young, kitty was highly energetic but at the same time very jumpy and the later bit of information incited quite a bit of trouble for me. One rainy afternoon, while taking the laundered clothes off the line in our back yard, suddenly, a bolt of lightning hit the sky. It was probably kitty’s first time experiencing one because as soon as the thunder sounded, kitty leapt up on to my knee in sheer fright. In this attempt, its long claws ...

        “Detective Salar! This is Officer Hadi from District Police. Report to me immediately at number two forty-eight, street nine”, Officer Hadi hurriedly informed Detective Salar on the phone while he was himself at the crime scene. Detective Salar got up from his bed, all alert now. He put on his round spectacles from the bed side table and glanced at the wall clock. It was eleven o’clock at night. “But number two forty-eight is a bank, isn’t it? Is it a robbery case?” Detective Salar asked as he quickly got dressed. “It’s a far complicated case than a simple robbery, Detective Salar. Please come asap.” Officer Hadi said as he hung up. Detective Salar grabbed his inventory case and hurried outside and drove to the bank. He parked the car a few yards from the crime scene. As he got out and walked towards the bank, he could see a crowd of people, all gasping and scared, their eyes glued in the direction of the bank entry. Detective Salar moved quickly thr...

Maya was standing, facing the teacher, head bowed, tears silently pouring from her beautiful protuberant dark blue eyes. A hush had fallen in the class. I quietly gazed up at her round face now pink, trying to say something to soothe her.  “Is this what I have taught you? You couldn’t even solve the simplest problem in this test! I can’t believe a student with A grade throughout the year can perform so horribly!” the teacher screamed at Maya who was now sobbing. The teacher threw the test at Maya.  “I’m really disappointed in you today! You cannot even maintain your good grades at the end of the year! I want you to write the whole test ten times till tomorrow!” the teacher shouted as the pack-up bell rang. Maya picked up her test from the floor with shaking hands and stuffed it her bag and without waiting for me, ran out of the class, one hand hiding her tears. I quickly followed her. I got a push from behind me; it was so crowded at the pack-up time. I lost Maya in the r...

I came back from school and headed straight to the kitchen where I found my mum and said, “Good afternoon, Mum!” She smiled at me and said, “How was school today, Misty?” “It was great!” I replied, “Today we learnt about a special type of parasites- ectoparasites!” “Do you know any examples of this type?” she asked me, seeing my enthusiasm. “Us!” I replied promptly, “And that’s because we feed on our hosts!” “That’s good, Misty, you’re certainly getting smarter”, Mum praised me, “We, mosquitoes, are considered the most noble instances of the ectoparasites”, then she added grimly, “But it’s just that we’re a little notorious among human beings. Anyways, what would you like to have for lunch?” she asked. I instantly replied, “Let’s go hunting today! It’s been a while since I’ve tasted fresh human blood!” Mum agreed at once and then gearing up, we both went out in search of lunch. After flying a few yards, we came across a tiny cottage surrounded by a little fence. Fortunately, I spo...