He was sitting at his desk, deeply engrossed in writing on his notebook with his head bowed down. Hearing approaching footsteps, he turned around to look. Mom was standing right behind him. Seeing the clear signs of anger on her face, he quickly stood up.
"Mom! Why... why did you come here?" he asked nervously.
"Son, I called out to you three times. When you didn't answer, I had to walk over to you myself. And this isn't the first time it has happened," Mom said quietly. "It’s true that you are growing up now, but I will always need your help with small chores."
"Why always me? Rehan is here too! You never send him to the market for anything... Why?" he raised his voice slightly.
"Because he is still little. He doesn't know how to shop for things yet," Mom replied calmly.
"Little... Hmph!" he made a annoyed face.
"Son, I can see that you are forgetting the lessons I taught you, and that is not good at all. If you don't change your behavior, you will regret it deeply one day. Mark my words."
When he was younger, he used to run happily to do her little errands. He spoke in a sweet voice, remembered all the good values she taught him, and followed them closely. Because of this, he was not only dear to her heart, but everyone in the neighborhood loved him too. But as he grew older, she could clearly see a negative change in him.
"Mom! What good manners am I forgetting?" he asked.
"I have told you many times..." she sighed gently.
"Oh Mom... you always do this! Alright, tell me, what needs to be done?" he asked, putting the book in his hand down.
Mom looked at him closely and turned around to leave. He quickly stepped in front of her.
"Mom! You get angry so easily."
"Son... mothers never get angry, never..." she said with a heavy, choked voice and quickly walked out of the room. He rushed right behind her.
"For God's sake, let me go! I want to go home!" Arshi pleaded with tears in his eyes, holding his hands together in front of them.
The scary man standing before him laughed loudly and said, "We didn't tie you up with strong ropes just to let you go! Listen, where you are tied right now is a very terrifying place. You are in our custody. Do you know who we are?"
Arshi stayed silent.
"We are the ones from whom even death hides its eyes! You cannot melt our hearts with your tears. We are very hard-hearted," the scary-looking man declared.
"Please, let me go!" he begged. "I will get you lots of wealth from my father. Just let me go!"
"Wealth? Ha ha ha! Do you think we will let you go for money? Never! We will punish you, understand?" the scary man turned to his companion. "Rahmat! Hang him upside down from that tree and give him at least fifty lashes!"
They hung Arshi upside down from the tree and began lashing him. When the fifty lashes were completed, the leader said, "Now take him down and apply the ointment to his wounds so he recovers, and we can prepare him for the next punishment."
Arshi had fainted. His body was bruised and bleeding. They brought him down from the tree. The scary man applied a strange, green-colored ointment over his body. The moment the ointment touched his skin, Arshi instantly regained consciousness. To his surprise, his entire body felt completely healed. There was no pain left at all. He was stunned!
Meanwhile, a mysterious smile appeared on the scary man's face.
"This ointment has healed your wounds. You feel no pain now. Come on, get ready for the next punishment!" the scary man ordered his partner. "Rahmat, light a fire! We will hang him over the flames now."
"Right away!" Rahmat replied, obeying his companion's command in the blink of an eye.
Soon, a fierce fire was burning. The roaring flames reached toward the sky. Arshi was hung from the tree once more, right above the fire. His screams echoed through the dense forest until he lost consciousness again.
As soon as he fainted, they pulled him down. The scary man pointed his finger at the fire, and it instantly vanished into thin air. Everything was quiet again.
Arshi was brought back to his senses once more.
"What is all this? You punish me, and then I am healed instantly! What is going on? Why don't you tell me?!" he screamed as soon as he woke up.
A strange smile remained on their faces.
"Listen, you are being punished again and again, and there are more punishments to come," Rahmat smiled.
"But why? What harm have I ever done to you?" Arshi cried.
"What harm have you done? Hey Rahmat, tell him what harm he has done to us!" the scary man said in a strange tone.
"You have done us great harm!" Rahmat laughed.
"You're wrong! I don't even know you people. All I know is that I got separated from my friends in this forest, and you caught me..."
"Arshi! You know us very well," said the scary man.
"Oh! So you even know my name?!" he asked, surprised.
"We know you very well," Rahmat added.
"But I don't know you!"
"And that is exactly why we are punishing you!" the scary man said loudly.
"What do you mean?!" Arshi jumped in shock.
"Arshi! You used to know our names very well. As long as you remembered us, you were happy. People respected you, and everyone was pleased with you. But ever since you forgot us, people started disliking you. Everyone became upset with you. You ignored us so much that you even forgot our names! So, we were ordered to punish you. As you can see, we have given you many punishments, and we will give you more. Punishments that you won't be able to bear!"
Arshi fell into deep thought. He was trying to figure it out.
"Wait... are you men sent by my enemies, Fayyaz and Irfan?" Arshi asked suddenly.
"You got it wrong. Listen, let us tell you who we are. My name is Akhlaq (Good Manners), and this is Tameez (Politeness). Ever since you forgot us and became rude and ill-mannered, people stopped respecting you. Rude and ill-mannered people never get respect in this world or the next! If you promise that from today onward, you will stay away from rudeness and bad manners, we can forgive you," the scary man said.
Suddenly, his terrifying face transformed into a remarkably beautiful one. Seeing this, Arshi was left speechless.
"You haven't answered," he smiled gently.
Arshi made up his mind in a split second: "I promise! I will always speak to people with good manners and politeness. I will never let rudeness come near me again. Yes, I promise!"
"Alright, we forgive you," Rahmat smiled. In the next moment, both companions vanished into thin air.
Arshi stood there in utter amazement. Just then, a small pebble hit his shoulder. Surprised, he looked to his right. His friends were standing there with their legs spread, glaring at him angrily.
"You crazy guy! You're standing here with your eyes closed while we were searching for you all over the forest!" shouted his friend, Yasir.
"What can I tell you, my friends? I had forgotten the lesson my mom taught me. Someone found me alone here and reminded me of it," Arshi smiled brightly. "It's getting late in the evening. We should head home right away. My sweet Mom must be waiting for me!"
Arshi laughed and started walking toward the car parked a little distance away. His friends looked at each other in total confusion, shrugged their shoulders, and ran after him toward the car.
