Chapter 3: Asad's point of view
After my trip, to the horror house, I end up going into school late, saying something to the attendance lady about having car problems. This is not even going to matter. This is my senior year. My grade sucks. Badly. I am not going to go to college. Everyone, including my parents knows this. Everyday after school I find myself elbow deep in salad.
I see ammi setting up plates on the dinner table. Ammi and abbu have this all planned out. Since, I am not going to go to college, they want me to handle part of the family business.
Whoo-hoo!!!! Lucky me.
Najma, my younger sister comes running towards me. "How was school, bhaijaan?"
I bend down to my knees. I run my hand over her hair. "It was awesome, tamatar." I say. I call her tamatar because she turns red when someone compliments her.
"Do you want to know what I did in school?" she asks.
"Yes' but let me guess."
"Okay." She says with a huge smile on her face.
"Did you draw a picture?" I ask. She loves drawing. She says that when she grows up, she wants to be an artist. She is only eight years old. If anything happens to her, I don't know how I would survive.
"How did you know?"
"Magic." I reply.
"Wow." She whispers. Her eyes turn huge. She is really gullible. I laugh.
"Come on, let's eat." I hold her hand.
Ammi's name is Dilshad. Abbu calls her a doll. I think that nickname suits her perfectly. She does look like a doll. She is a wonderful mother. She knows everything about me, probably even more than myself. Abbu's name is Rashid. He is an older version of me. He has brown hair, and brown eyes.
My parents have been sweethearts ever since high school, but their families knew each other even before that. They have made a good life together. And they expect no less from me. They expect me to graduate high school. They want me to marry a nice girl. Together we'll have a few children. They will grow up. The cycle will repeat again.
But that is not going to happen. It can't. I want to do something in my life. I know that college isn't for me. But, I don't want to be an idiot. Which is why I took a trip to that mental hospital this morning. When I saw the headlines that it was going to be torn down, I thought it was perfect idea- to make my movie, and capture a bit of history.
I have decided to enter a contest I saw recently on the Reality TV network. They are offering a summer internship to a soon-to-be high school grad interested in pursuing a career in the TV biz. If the summer gig goes well, maybe they'll hire me full time.
All I need to do is to win myself the gig is get my hands on a video camera, find myself a full cast of characters, and get our butts in the hospital for a night.
I have less than a week to do it. Easy, right?
No, not easy. Not even possible. This is going to sound a bit cheesy but I believe there's a reason I saw that contest ad. There's a reason that guy brought me up there this summer. In the daylight. When I could really see everything, when I could see things through his eyes. There is a reason I saw the headlines that the place is going to be torn down.
I have to try, or at least to say that I tried something. Or else I will end up doing something I will regret for the rest of my life.
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