The guest who knew too much

 


🕯️ The Guest Who Knew Too Much

A Psychological Thriller Set in Lahore

By Faraz Parvez
Professor Dr. (Retired) Arshad Afzal
Retired Faculty Member, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, KSA
(Pseudonym of Professor Dr. Arshad Afzal)

I. Gulberg, Lahore — Where Luxury Hides Shadows

Zoya and Faris were the perfect couple. Young, successful, beautiful. Their Instagram told the world that much. Nestled in a leafy lane of Gulberg, their modern, marble-floored villa was as much an achievement as it was a statement. Recently married, they turned part of their spacious home into an Airbnb suite — “to add a stream of passive income,” as Faris proudly declared.

They received guests from Karachi, Dubai, even Sweden. All left five-star reviews. Until Mr. Kamal checked in.

A man in his late 40s, he arrived with a duffel bag and a laptop. Polite. Reserved. But… too observant. He requested no housekeeping. Ate in silence. Stared too long at the wedding photos on the hallway wall.

II. The Clues Begin

On the second day, Zoya found a small blue marble on the hallway table. Nothing special — except it matched the ones in her childhood collection. The exact kind she'd lost in a schoolyard in Peshawar over two decades ago.

Faris laughed it off. “Maybe just a coincidence.”

On day three, a page from a torn diary appeared under the guest room door — with a child’s handwriting that mirrored Zoya’s own. It read:
“You promised you’d never forget. But you did.”

Zoya’s hands trembled. She never told Faris about that summer. The one with her cousin Sara. The lake. The drowning. The pact.

How could this man know?

III. The Confrontation

Faris installed a discreet camera near the corridor. That night, they watched the footage in bed.

3:12 a.m.
Kamal stood at the hallway, staring at their bedroom door for almost five minutes. Still. Not blinking.

Zoya couldn’t sleep. The next morning, she made tea and waited for Kamal to leave the room.

Instead, he entered the kitchen.

"Do you ever wonder," he said calmly, "how much of the past we actually forget… or just bury?"

Zoya dropped her mug. It shattered.

IV. The Revelation

Faris ran a background check. Kamal’s identity was a patchwork. The CNIC matched a man who died in Karachi in 2006. The phone number? Untraceable. The reviews on his Airbnb profile? All recently made by fake accounts.

The couple decided to evict him. But that night, Kamal was gone — along with his duffel bag. No luggage. No goodbye. No trace.

In the guest room, he had left a brown envelope.

Inside it:

  • A photo of Zoya, age 11, beside a drowned girl.
  • A map with “You must return” written across it.
  • A phone — with one video: a recording of the lake, and in the distance, a child’s voice crying, “Help me, Zoya…”

V. The Unraveling

Zoya checked herself into therapy the next day. Faris hired private investigators. Nothing came up. But every week since, a new item has arrived:

  • A rusted locket.
  • A school badge.
  • A torn piece of blue dupatta.

Each one with a note.
"I remember everything. Do you?"

They never saw Kamal again. But sometimes, when Zoya walks by the guest room door, she swears she hears… dripping water.

🌐 Read more such twisted tales only at

👉 themindscope1.blogspot.com

🎭 Your hub for fiction, thrillers, romance, and the unseen corners of the mind.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The rise and fall of imran Khan niazi... A satirical essay

Image
  The Rise and Fall of Imran Khan Niazi: From The Establishment’s Golden Boy to The Fallen Messiah Written by Faraz Parvez Pen Name of Professor Dr. Arshad Afzal Former Faculty Member, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, KSA There are few figures in contemporary politics as paradoxical as Imran Khan Niazi. A man whose political career reads like a tragicomedy, a cricketing hero who tried to bowl out corruption but ended up hitting his own wickets. Once the beloved poster boy of the establishment, now the self-styled revolutionary with a martyr complex—his journey is the stuff of a Shakespearean farce, with generous doses of slapstick and irony. The Saviour Who Needed Saving Once upon a time, Imran Khan was the chosen one . The establishment cradled him like a newborn prince, whispering sweet nothings of ‘Naya Pakistan’ into his ears. He was the hero with an Oxford degree, a World Cup trophy, and a playboy past that magically transformed into Islamic piety overnight. The masses, ...
Read more

The dying whispers of bhera haveli

Image
  Title: “The Dying Whispers of Bhera Haveli” Theme: In a forgotten corner of Punjab, where time stopped and shadows moved without reason, a cursed haveli holds a horrifying secret. What happens when someone hears the whispers that should have stayed buried? By Faraz Parvez Professor Dr. (Retired) Arshad Afzal Retired Faculty Member, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, KSA (Pseudonym of Professor Dr. Arshad Afzal) The Dying Whispers of Bhera Haveli Based on chilling oral tales from the subcontinent's dust-ridden ruins... In the neglected outskirts of Bhera , an ancient town once glorious in its Mughal past, there stands a crumbling haveli, twisted like a half-dead serpent among the eucalyptus and sheesham trees. The villagers call it “Khooni Haveli”—The Mansion of Blood. No one lives there. No one dares to enter. Except Tariq. He was a small-time real estate broker from Faisalabad. He dealt in disputed lands and run-down buildings, flipping ghost stories into desperate...
Read more

The evolution of the modern Urdu novel

Image
  The Evolution of the Modern Urdu Novel: A Literary Renaissance Urdu literature, with its rich poetic heritage and profound storytelling traditions, has continuously evolved to reflect the changing landscapes of South Asia and beyond. While Urdu poetry has long been celebrated for its lyrical beauty, it is the Urdu novel that has captured the essence of social, political, and psychological transformations over the past century. From the didactic realism of Deputy Nazir Ahmed to the avant-garde narratives of Mirza Athar Baig , the Urdu novel has transformed from a medium of moral instruction to an art form that challenges political structures, psychological paradigms, and literary conventions . Today, Urdu novelists are addressing themes of globalization, migration, gender dynamics, and existentialism , making the Urdu novel an indispensable part of world literature. From Classic to Contemporary: A Shifting Paradigm The birth of the Urdu novel can be traced back to the 1...
Read more