An Atheist

Walking on the street was a young boy, wearing plain white clothes and a white cap, going to pray in the mosque.
Judging by his pace, he was probably getting late. Observing the scene from a window, was a guy, about 20 years of age. Born in a religious family, he was raised up to be religious. Only, he was not. He was an Atheist, by choice. He smirked.
Aayan didn’t even flinch when his front door swung open without a knock. There was only one person who could do
that.

“What are you staring at?”, asked Sahil, his best friend from childhood and a firm believer in God.

“Just some silly people, who think ‘God’ exists!”, replied Aayan, stressing the word God.

“You were good once, you know? You believed in God too! You can still be that!”, replied Sahil.

“That was before what I saw with my own eyes! That was before I thought over it!”, he retorted.

Sahil rolled his eyes. “Oh please! Not that ‘scene’ thing again!”, he said.

Before Aayan could come up with a witty reply, the door bell rung.

Sahil shrugged and went inside Aayan’s bedroom, leaving his friend to his guests.

Aayan opened the door. There stood an old man with white beard and tattered clothes. He supported his weight on a
staff.

“Yes?”, inquired Aayan.

“Son, can I get some food, please? I’m very hungry and I have nothing to eat! Please?”, asked the old man in a pleading voice.

Aayan wasn’t just going to ignore a pleading old man who wanted food, he was raised better than that.

“Please come inside, I’ll bring something for you to eat.” He said, opening the door wider.

Aayan went inside and brought the food from kitchen.

He found the old man sitting cross-legged near the door. He placed the tray in front of him and the old man started
eating immediately. Aayan watched him, but his eyes started to loose focus. He was back there… hiding… helpless…
it was happening…

“You look troubled, young one. What bothers you?”, asked the old man, still eating his heart out.

Aayan smiled sadly. “It’s nothing. Just some memories.”

“Memories have a tendency to change our way of thinking. The more you think about it, the more it differs from
reality. And the more troubled you will be. You can tell me what bothers you. As an old man that I am, I won’t run around telling your secrets. Besides, maybe I can help.”, said the old man with a smile of his own.

‘What do I have to lose?’, thought Aayan. There was something about the genuine and honest eyes of the man that
made Aayan want to trust him. He smiled and started speaking.

“Last year, there was a terrorist attack. I saw a bomb explode with my own eyes. I watched as it blasted the people
around it. I saw people getting killed. Innocent people. Children, women, old people, alike. People dying when
shouldn’t be. All this chaos and I couldn’t do anything. I just watched as the people who were alive ran for their own
lives. Because no one could help the dead. And everyone feared for their own lives. I was forced to run away too. I
couldn’t do anything. Anything! That’s when I thought about it. About God. About why the people He created were
subjected to such brutality. Why didn’t He do anything? Why did He just let it happen? And that’s when I realized…
it’s because He doesn’t exist. There is no God!”, he finished and looked up at the old man, who was listening closely
to his confession.

“Is that all?”, asked the old man.

As much as this question surprised him, “It is all.”, he replied.

“When man was created, he was given a gift. A gift that no other creation possessed before. A gift that is as much a
responsibility as it is blessing. It is, the freedom of choice. No other creation had this freedom before man. No other creation can even think to disobey the creator. But humans can. They can choose to obey or disobey God. They’re free.
The Almighty never asked them to create chaos among themselves. It’s a human doing, not divine. If people kill
people, it is because they choose to kill others. And the guilty will be punished accordingly in the hereafter.”, said the old man and smiled.

“That still doesn’t explain how do I believe in the existence of God.”, Aayan retorted.

Thunder flashed outside and it began to rain.

“Look around! What is it that you can see that has created itself? You see this rain. Doesn’t it just give you a feeling
that someone sent it to you? Has it ever happened that you prayed for something and have not received it, or been given a better alternative, which made you think how you not have wanted it earlier? Haven’t you seen joy in the eyes of parents and their offspring when they’re together? Haven’t you seen love in this world, at all?”, asked the old man, calm as ever.

“I.. I don’t know!”, Aayan stammered.

“Those who do these terrible things will be punished accordingly. No one dies before their time. They die when they
have to, only the cause can be different. You be good, you’ll get heaven. You kill, you go to hell. He knows and sees it all.”, said the man with the white beard.

Aayan was lost for words. He just stared into an empty space. Minutes passed before he realized where he was.

He looked around. The old man was gone. The food that he was so greedily eating a while ago, was there, on the tray.

Untouched.

This didn’t scare him. He knew what was happening. He walked over to the same window and stared out, that young
boy in white was coming back from praying, looking content. At peace.

“Who was on the door? You never came back.”, Sahil came and stood next to him.

“When is the next prayer in that mosque?”, Aayan asked, without removing his eyes from the window.

“Around two hours.”, he replied, “Why do you ask?”

Aayan smiled, tears tricking his eyes. “Because, I’m going.” He closed his eyes, tears rolling down. He let them fall. It
was about time.

__END__