The horrible shortest straw.

The four friends were living in the hostel. They were teenagers. Kasim he was very afraid of darkness. And Salim was not. Salim was a nasty and courageous kid. He was very nasty and naughty kid. There was a flaw in him. He could not demarket the boundary between fun and cruelty. There are times when people forget the boundaries between when they need to stop their fun. When it is causing harm to other people. Salim was this kind of guy. The other two roommates always stopped him from teasing Kasim. But he never stopped.

He used to do dirty tricks in the name of joy and fun which literally traumatized Kasim one day Salim and the other two friends were sitting in the room Salim did not tell his intentions to other two friends he told them that we will play a new game today and we should wait for Kasim the other two friends had literally no idea about it they thought that it will be a nice little fun game before the weekend their exams were starting in two months Kasim was a very serious person when it came to his studies.

Qasim knocked on the door and came inside. "Hey Qasim, we're going to play this game which is very fun," Saleem said. Qasim said, "I am very tired today and I am not in the mood to play games. I want to focus on my studies because exams are due within two months." "Oh, come on, don't be such a kid. You know we can cover all the syllabus," Saleem emphasized.

They managed to convince Qasim when Salim kept on emphasising on playing game. Qasim also agreed because he knew that two months are enough to prepare for the exams. It grew dark and they waited till midnight, then it rang twelve on the clock. They said that the game starts now. Salim had four straws in his hand, he had cut the mark on the straws and he had marked the straws. He was very clever and cunning, he knew which straw was shorter. And he had somehow managed to convince other friends into tricking Qasim. He told them which straw was the shortest and told them not to choose it, but he did not inform them about the punishment or the task that he was going to assign to the person who would choose the shortest straw.

When Qasim ended up choosing the shortest straw, Salim had a very cunning smile on his face. He knew that his plan was going to be successful. He told Qasim that he had to go to the abandoned washroom of the hostel. Upon hearing this, all three of the friends were shocked, especially Qasim. Qasim was shocked to the core because he was so afraid of darkness. "Are you mad or what? You think I am going to be stuck in your tricks and go to that abandoned washroom in all that darkness. No, Qasim, you are wrong. I am not going to do that," Qasim replied.

Salim said, "Look, if you did not want to play, you should have told us already. But you have agreed now, you have to play. Otherwise, I will spread the rumor around the entire university and in our hostel as well that you are a coward. That you are afraid of darkness. Now you have to complete the task." The both friends were silent as they did not know what to say in this situation. Qasim had a considerable influence on them, but the influence of Salim was way more on them. This is why they kept silent.

Qasim agreed somehow because he did not want to be bullied by the entire hostel or by the entire university. He went on and got closer to the washroom. Qasim was showing so much courage, but Salim and his other friends were looking at him from the other corner. They told him that he had to open the door of the washroom. The worst thing that Salim had done there was he had placed a basket on the door. When Qasim pushed it, it fell on the ground and made so much noise and it came as such a shock and surprise for Qasim that he fell on the ground.

It was this moment when Salim realized that he had crossed a limit. He had crossed a boundary. The fear of darkness was too real for Qasim. That this incident of a falling basket nearly gave him a heart attack. He was unconscious for almost two hours. And in these two hours, Salim was the one who repented, who continuously prayed for the well-being of his friend Qasim. He then realized that he had to respect the boundaries established by other people and he has to learn to distinguish between what is fun and what is not fun.

It was a life-changing night for both. Qasim learned to face his fears and Salim learned to respect the boundaries and fears of other people, especially his friends who cared about him.

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Ps. The pictures are mine taken with my Google pixel 6a