Khawar went to visit his friend and classmate, Naveed, at his house. Naveed’s house was located in a small colony on the outskirts of the city. The colony was surrounded by corn and millet fields, which made the area extremely quiet.
Khawar had gone to meet Naveed in the afternoon, a time when the streets of the colony were usually deserted. Because of the intense heat outside, everyone stayed inside their homes. As Khawar entered the colony, he felt as if he had arrived in a graveyard.
He was walking along a narrow road with corn fields on both sides. The fields made the weather feel even hotter, and at the same time they created a sense of fear. After walking some distance on the road, he suddenly heard a scream coming from the field on his right. It sounded as though someone had placed a hand over the person’s mouth while they were screaming.
Khawar was terrified by the scream. His whole body began to tremble. He immediately turned around and ran back as fast as he could.
The next day, when he met Naveed at school, he told him about the incident.
“Do you remember that place?” Naveed asked.
“Yes, I remember it. Even if I went there now, I would be able to identify the exact spot in the field from where I heard the scream. But I’m not going there again—I’m scared,” Khawar said.
“Come on, there’s nothing to be afraid of. I’ll be with you,” Naveed reassured him. “Look, we should find out what really happened. What if some cruel person murdered someone there? You know, there have been a lot of murders these days.”
Encouraged by Naveed’s reassurance, Khawar finally agreed. After school, the two of them set off toward Naveed’s house.
When they reached the place where Khawar had heard the scream the previous day, he said to Naveed, “This is the spot where I heard the scream.”
“Alright, let’s go into the cornfield and take a look!” Naveed said as he stepped toward the field.
Terrified, Khawar tried to stop him.
“Naveed! Naveed, stop! Don’t go into the field!” He grabbed Naveed’s arm and tried to hold him back.
But Naveed pulled his hand free and walked into the cornfield.
Khawar remained standing on the road outside.
A few moments later, he heard Naveed scream. The sound made him tremble from head to toe.
He was just about to run away when Naveed called out to him in a frightened voice: “…”
“Khawar! Khawar, come here quickly!”
Khawar was very timid, so he hesitated to enter the field. But when Naveed called him again, he left his schoolbag on the road outside and went over to him.
There, he saw Naveed sitting on the ground, staring intently at something.
Khawar sat down beside him as well, and the moment he saw it, a scream of terror escaped his lips.
Lying on the ground was a human ear.
Trembling with fear, he asked Naveed in a shaky voice: “…”
“Naveed, Naveed! Look, this ear… this means that the person who committed the murder must have cut the body into pieces and scattered them all over the field. It is very likely that the remaining parts of the victim’s body are also in this field. Come, let’s go inform the police.”
After thinking for a moment, Khawar replied to Naveed: “Not yet. First, let’s find the remaining parts of the murdered person’s body. After that, we will go and tell the police.”
He had just said this when they heard the sound of corn plants shaking, which made their faces turn pale with fear and their legs feel weak. They realized that the killer must be coming. He probably has found out that we are definitely going to search for the body parts, which will expose him. Now he will not leave us alive.
Khawar, in particular, was in very bad condition. His heart was beating so fast that its sound felt like it was reaching his ears and temples. He was about to faint from terror when suddenly the corn plants shook violently again and a dog appeared in front of them. Seeing it, their fading heartbeat returned to normal, and they started scolding the dog. The dog, scared by their shouting, ran away in the direction it had come from.
Then Khawar said to Naveed: “Friend Naveed! Let’s get out of here now. Otherwise the killer might come and attack us too. I even left my school bag outside on the road. If someone sees it, they might come into the field, and then this murder could be blamed on us.”
Naveed this time agreed with Khawar and stood still. They were just about to leave the field when, from the same path through which they had entered, Sheikh Matloob Sahib, who lived in Naveed’s colony, came into the field. He saw Naveed and Khawar and scolded them, saying, “Hey boys, what are you doing inside the field? Your school bag is lying outside on the road. If someone takes it away, where will you go looking for it?”
After saying this, he looked around on the ground as if he was searching for something.
Naveed and Khawar noticed that Sheikh Matloob looked somewhat worried. His hands were trembling and his face kept changing color. However, like obedient children, they replied to him, “Sheikh Sahib, when we were coming from school, we saw a rabbit hiding here in the field. We entered the field to catch it.”
Saying this, they quickly came out of the cornfield. Outside, Khawar picked up his school bag, and both of them walked quickly to Naveed’s house. By the time they reached home, they were out of breath and their faces had turned pale.
Seeing this, Naveed’s mother gently placed her hand on their heads and asked lovingly, “What happened? Why have your faces changed color? And why are you so breathless? Have you come after fighting with someone? And why are you so late from school?”
Instead of telling his mother the truth, Naveed lied and said that they had been playing cricket at school, which is why they were late. Then he took Khawar into his room, placed their books there, and both friends began talking about the dead body in the field.
In a whispering tone, Naveed said to Khawar, “My guess is that the killer first murdered a person. Then, out of fear that people might discover the whole body, or that if he buried it, dogs might dig it up, he cut the victim into small pieces so that crows, dogs, and scavengers would carry them away and destroy the evidence. The ear we saw is one of those pieces that remained behind. Now we need to find out who the victim was. If he were someone from our colony, there would already be chaos here. He must be from some other area.”
After agreeing with Naveed, Khawar said, “Why don’t we go to the police station and inform them? They will find out who the victim is. Once the victim is identified, it will also become easier to find the killer. Obviously, the killer must have some connection with the victim—either a family relationship, an enmity, or they might have been business partners. The police will definitely catch the killer quickly.”
Naveed replied, “No, friend, we shouldn’t get involved with the police. They might start questioning us instead.”
The second possibility is also that the killer might become our enemy. We should first carry out our own investigation. Oh, I just remembered—Sheikh Sahib came into the field. What is your opinion about him? Did you see how much he panicked when he saw us? I think he definitely has some connection with the victim.
Agreeing with Naveed’s assumption, Khawar said, “I also feel that Sheikh Sahib definitely has some connection with this murder. Otherwise, why would he come into the field and scold us? He was trying to scare us away so that the secret would not be exposed. Therefore, we should keep an eye on Sheikh Sahib.”
While they were still talking, Naveed’s father entered the room. He asked them, “What are you talking about, children? I heard you came back late from school today. What happened?”
Naveed couldn’t hold back anymore and told his father the entire story. After hearing everything, his father became worried and said, “Is that severed ear still lying there? And was there blood near it?”
Naveed replied, “When we left there, the ear was still there. I don’t know about now, because Sheikh Matloob was still there, and dogs were also roaming around.”
Naveed’s father said, “Come with me, let’s go and see whether the ear is still there or not. After that, we will decide what to do—whether to inform the police or conduct our own investigation.”
After that, Naveed, his father, and Khawar left the house and went to the cornfield where Naveed and Khawar had seen the severed ear. The ear was no longer there, nor was there any blood at that place. However, one thing was noticeable: the soil where the ear had been lying had been disturbed, as if someone had turned it over with a stick.
From this, they understood that whoever had taken the ear had also turned the soil to erase the traces of blood.
Naveed’s father told both boys, “We three will walk around this field. Maybe we will find another piece of the victim’s body somewhere here, or perhaps we might find a place where the killer has buried the parts after digging the ground. You go that way, and I will go this way.”
Saying this, Naveed’s father walked toward the eastern side of the cornfield, while Naveed and Khawar went toward the western side.
After reaching one spot, Khawar saw that the ground was dug up…
He called out to Naveed to draw his attention: “Naveed! Naveed! Come here and look—this ground has been freshly dug!”
Naveed went to Khawar and looked. Indeed, a large portion of the soil there had been freshly dug. He then called out to his father. Hearing his voice, his father immediately came to them. Looking at the soft, freshly turned soil, he said, “Surely the killer has buried parts of the victim’s body here. Come on, dig this place with your hands—we’ll find out soon.”
Saying this, he started digging the ground. Following his example, Naveed and Khawar also began to dig. They had only dug a little when the corn plants shook violently and Sheikh Matloob appeared standing over them. He looked very frightened.
As soon as he arrived, he said to Naveed’s father, “Majid Sahib, why are you digging this place?”
Naveed’s father replied in a firm tone, “A body is buried here. We are trying to recover it.”
Hearing this, Sheikh Sahib’s face turned pale. In a nervous voice he said, “Who told you that a body is buried here? Why are you wasting your time?”
Naveed’s father continued digging the soil and said, “We will find out soon.” Saying this, he began digging more forcefully.
After digging up a lot of soil, they recovered a large plastic doll. Seeing it, both children gasped in shock.
Then Sheikh Matloob addressed Naveed’s father and said, “Majid Sahib, this doll belongs to my grandson. It has been a month since he went to Canada with his father. His name was Ehsan and he was two years old. I loved him very much; he was like a toy for me. After he left, I became very upset. I could not forget him even for a moment. I used to try to talk to him, but this doll kept reminding me of him.
So yesterday, I gathered courage and buried it here so that I wouldn’t see it and wouldn’t be reminded of Ehsan. When I entered this field, a dog attacked me because it thought it was a living child. It scratched my hand and attacked this doll. I snatched it back from the dog. In that struggle, my hand also got injured and one of the doll’s ears fell off. I somehow managed to take the doll back from the dog and buried it here. Later, I found the ear today and buried it in the same place where it had fallen. But my heart still does not find peace, and I keep coming to this field again and again.”
Saying this, Sheikh Matloob broke down like a child and started crying bitterly. Seeing this, Naveed’s father embraced him and handed him the doll.
Holding it, Sheikh Matloob became happy and kept kissing it again and again.