After that encounter, going to that place became a habit. I started going there every week. Nobody knew where I went except Ikarus, but he did not say anything. He was always lying on the sofa or the bed whenever I came back or was going outside. I did not tell anything about it to any of my class-fellows. Yes, that is what they were, or I considered them to be. I did not use to do anything except talk to her. Sharing her thoughts and listening to her made me feel a bit relaxed. It made me feel less dissociated and anxious. There was something in her words that was magical. One day we got on a topic that I still remember very clearly. 

“Have you ever considered dying, Elliora?”

“No. Why would I?”

“Well, there is just too much suffering all around. Some children have lost their parents to war. Some families have lost respect, to blackmail and harassment. Old people are rotting in homes without anyone coming to ask about them, even their children. Pearls like you get tarnished and wasted. There are gofers in good, recognized institutions because they have money to back them. The powerful get forgiven for whatever they do but the weak get robbed of everything and still do not learn the lesson in the end. Families turn on themselves for a mere part of land, house, or money. The bad people keep on getting the good things in this world while the good ones are always alone.” 

“Enoch, if you think that I will confirm your justification for suicide then you are wrong.” 

“It’s not what I meant. What I wanted to say was something else.” 

“What was it?” 

“Is there any value to this thing that we call living?” 

“Well, that is some absurd question. Did you figure out any answer to it?” 

“I suppose. I think there needs to be meaning to our lives. We are meant for a greater purpose than to be just born and follow a path that guarantees success, marriage, and a wealthy life.” 

“Well, that is quite good. Let me give you a hint. This world is full of suffering, Enoch. The suffering will never end, even if you try your best to eradicate it.” 

“Why is it though?” 

“Because He created this world like that, to begin with. If good things happen to good people and terrible things happen to bad people, there will not be an issue.” 

“Right, would not that be good for everyone?” 

“You are missing the point, Enoch. It is the unexpected consequences of our actions that make this life worth living. It is what shows that what we do is by our own choice, and we are not just doing good to get a reward or refraining from bad to protect ourselves from something. The thing that we call morality would be different for everyone, but it is not like that, right?” 

“Yes, I suppose. Then where did this thing morality come from?” 

“The Creator.” 

“Now, who would that be?” 

“Don’t you know?” 

“Well, I can conclude that we are not a product of some stupid evolution or that the whole universe appears as it is now, just because of coincidence but after that, I can think of nothing.” 

“Enoch, there is an entity that created this whole universe that we see with our eyes, the superiority and power and essence of Whom, we cannot understand. An entity that transcends the confines of time, space, matter, and nature. Many more things, which we do not even know. A being Who Has always been present and always Will be present.”  

“Who Is that mighty entity, Elliora?” 

“It is God, Enoch. The one who created all of us, this world we live in, the sky, the stars, the planets, and everything that is between the Earth and the skies. There are many names in different languages but almost all refer to the same; Allah.”  

I stood there watching with amazement, the pupils of my eyes spread as she looked towards the white ball in the sky, and her lips straightened, and her eyes twinkled in the silver light that was illuminating the darkness that was all around, while the wind pushed her hair back. She was the light that appeared at the end of the cave. A torch that guides lost people to their destination in the dark, cold, and hostile environments where one not only fears the attack by bandits whilst sleeping or finding the route but also painful death by dehydration or the poisonous sting of animals inhabiting those lands or suffocating to your end under the pile of sand. Just like her name, the guiding light.