Shattered Facade

Illustration: TBS

Everybody thinks I am a university student, but actually I failed my courses three years ago. I tell my parents I am going to class, but really every morning I go to the mall near campus and hit the gym on the way home. It would kill them if they knew they had a son like me. They have always pushed me to be an engineer. For now, they don't suspect anything. I am grateful for that, because I would never be able to admit it. My family members are Muslims, but I don't believe in God anymore. I've fallen into a black hole of despair and I don't know what to do. By nature I am obedient, but today I can't anymore. I was surprised to find myself feeling more and more desperate as each day passes.

***

Menar woke up in pain with his throat burning. His stomach hurt, his head hurt, everything hurt.

"Your father and I are so proud of you," Menar's mother Mamoni told him at breakfast.

"We managed to convince your sister to attend your graduation tomorrow."

Ameera had been living with her boyfriend for the last six months, a boy her Bengali parents did not approve of. Canada is a multicultural country and Mamoni and her husband Mansur appreciated that, but it was important to them that Ameera married a Muslim. Menar didn't say anything. He piled a plate with food and went up to his bedroom where he sat and ate his breakfast in front of his laptop.

Mamoni and Mansur had been married for 25 years and moved from Bangladesh to Canada for 24 of those years. Menar and Ameera were born and lived their whole lives there. They worked hard for all those years to buy a million dollar house and expected the same from Menar and Ameera. 

Ameera maintained a 93% average but she was rebellious. Mansur locked her out of the house whenever he came home at midnight after driving his cab all day if she was still outside. Mamoni would surreptitiously leave the basement suit unlocked with a blanket and pillows for her in the backyard. 

Menar had always been well-behaved and studious. He did his chores and went with his father to the mosque on Eid and on Fridays after being asked only once.

Mansur and Mamoni were more concerned about their daughter. Before she moved out Mansur and Ameera would fight so fervently, neighbours had to call the police. It seemed that things were getting back to normal. Ameera was considering moving back home and would stay in the guest room that night so the family could attend Menar's graduation the next day. 

Mamoni and Mansur had just celebrated their 25th anniversary in a beautiful ceremony in a Toronto restaurant. Menar gave a speech and made a slide show to commemorate the occasion. Everybody clapped. Everybody thought they were the perfect family, no one expected that this beautiful family was falling apart.

***

The rampage began after Mansur and Ameera left the house in the morning, Mansur drove his taxi, and Ameera went to university before going to work as a cashier in a supermarket. When Mamuni and her mother were sleeping, Menar did the unthinkable. 

First, he hit his mother on the head with a crowbar, before executing her and doing the same to his grandmother. He played video games until his sister came home at eleven o'clock from work, and then his father at midnight. They never knew why Menar did what he did.

This story is part of a collection developed in a creative writing workshop run by Shazia Omar. If you would like to join the next workshop, please email her: [email protected]