RAMPANT

Disclaimer: 

The story is completely fictitious with non-fictitious characters.

The story is not meant to offend any body.

It is written just for entertainment purpose keeping current circumstances in mind.

Characters:

Main lead: Areeb Irfan, Haya, Mahnoor Maqbool, Manahil Kurd

Supporting characters: Mehnaz, Haseeb, Urwa, Faryal, Abdul Hai, Adeel, Uraiz, Huzaifa, Damni, Khadija, Afeefa, Manahil Abbas.

Cameo appearances: Dr. Zeba, Dr. Rafia, Dr. Munawar, Dr. Sarwath, Dr. Sabiha.

Plot:

Story begins with the very first day of students in a dental college. New faces seemed excited, driven and of course a little bit nervous. Some introvert students preferred to sit alone, on the other hand some students were really confident, were ready to make new friends and to find commonality between them.

Areeb was one of the fun loving student, sitting in the corner alone and seemed really quite. Mahnoor Maqbool was a very friendly girl. She came towards Areeb and asked him about his educational background. She found Areeb as a good and decent guy. Then Mahnoor Maqbool met three friends from the same city, Manahil Kurd, Haya Shah and Mahnaz khalid. They became friends. Mahnoor Maqbool introduced them to Areeb.

“Bell ranged”

Students went to the lecture hall, where they were having their first lecture with beautiful and charming teacher Dr. Zeba, head of department physiology.

The lecture was quite interesting! Some good students came in the limelight, like Haseeb and Urva.

Haseeb: “Physiology is an interesting subject”!

Urva: “Indeed it is!” 

Some were having fun and cracking jokes like Faryal, Abdulhai, and Huzaifa.

Faryal: “I like her style.  She is so adorable. I am wondering how she is so perfect!”

Abdulhai: “it’s easy I will tell you how to be perfect!” 

Faryal: “No thanks bro!” 

Huzaifa: “Hahahhah!”

And there were pretty good students like Manahil Abbas , khadija Siddiqui, Damni, Uraiz, Afeefa and Adeel.

A week later the dynamics changed and all the students were comfortable and mingled with each other.

One day, Dr. Sabiha (vice principal of the dental college) along with  Dr. Sarwath,  entered the lecture hall. Everyone got nervous because it was the  first time that the vice principal came to interact with us, (the newly admitted batch).

Some students were gossiping about what was going to happen.

Khadija: “I can’t guess but ma’am looks very angry!” 

Manahil: “Maybe she has come to punish us!”

Mahnoor Maqbool: “But what we have done?”

Areeb: “No! I think  she just came to meet us.”

Mahnaz: “Perhaps!”

Adeel: “Yo Uraiz!”

Uraiz: “Yo Adeel!”

Dr. Sabiha: “My dear students! Welcome to FJDC, it’s really good to see you all here”. 

Then she announced about dangerous viral disease (COVID-19) that had spread in most part of the world and now has entered in Pakistan.

Everyone got panicked. She gave some tips to follow during this pandemic.

There was a brave and empathetic student Haya, when she heard about this, she thought to find its cure. She had no idea how to handle it, but her spirits were high. One of the good students “Areeb” started making fun of her. She got crazy on Areeb and she determined that she would prove him wrong!

Areeb: “When I first met you,  you didn’t look that dumb!” 

Haya looked at him angrily, “what do you mean by that?” Haya muttered!

Areeb: “It seems like some people live in the world of  fiction! They think they can do everything!”

“I know it’s hard but at least we can try and if you don’t want to help , I will do it by myself. I don’t need anyone’s opinion ah”!! Haya replied angrily!

Areeb: “I am sorry! But I am just trying to save you from wasting your time.. it’s funny really!” Areeb laughed.

Haya’s eye rolled and she left without saying a single word!

Areeb didn’t like her attitude!

 Now, Haya wanted to find the cure, not only to save the world but also to prove Areeb wrong!!

They both had an ugly fight! 

Next day, everyone knew about the fight and everyone supported Haya.

Students like Khadija, Damni, Afeefa, Adeel, Manahil, Mahnaz and Manahil Abbas supported Haya, while Mahnoor Maqbool was on Areeb’s side. Mahnoor Maqbool felt this was not an easy task to do. She tried to convince Haya but all went in vain. Haya had already made her mind and she promised to herself that she will find the vaccine no matter what!

Areeb was cornered in the college as everyone was against him. He wanted to take revenge from Haya.

On the other side, coronavirus cases were growing steadily day by day.

Areeb thought  coronavirus was just a hoax and he ignored it.

He continued to have fun, partying meetups with his friends.

Soon he realized that coronavirus was not a joke, as he watched news and online updates of COVID-19 from different countries, revealing him the truth of how contagious COVID-19 was!

He apologized to Haya and promised to help her in research about COVID-19.

Haya was not in the mood of forgiving him and she thought something was fishy.

Students thought Haya was getting rude so they all supported Areeb.

Mahnoor Maqbool was Haya’s roommate. She realized that Haya wouldn’t quit and nothing will deter doing  her research day and night.

Mahnoor Maqbool discussed this with Adeel, and in turn, Adeel told this to everyone. Everyone made fun of Haya that she is not even a doctor or scientist but wasting her time instead of studying.

Manahil told Haya that Mahnoor Maqbool was the one who disclosed her secret, so Haya ignored Mahnoor Maqbool and stopped  considering her as a friend.

Haya become very dull student, Dr. Zeba also warned her to focus on her studies instead of doing that research.

The best thing was that Dr. Munawar used to  encourage her and  helped her  in solving many issues.

After realizing Haya’s passion,  Mehnaz, Manahil, Faryal and Abdulhai decided to help her, meanwhile Areeb and Mahnoor Maqbool planned a plot against Haya.

After doing research, Haya got to know how to make a vaccine of COVID-19. 

But it was not proved whether it will work or not. 

Abdulhai and Faryal had big social media circle and they had thousands of followers on social sites so they helped Haya by sharing her news of vaccine against COVID-19 on social media.

On the other side due to his own negligence, Areeb caught coronavirus infection. Areeb was hiding this truth from  his friends. Mahnoor Maqbool was the  only one who found out about his sickness. She stole Haya’s vaccine and gave it to Areeb. When the college got to know that Areeb was COVID-19 positive, they advised Areeb to take off from college and instructed him to get himself quarantined at home until he was well again.

When Haya got to know that her vaccine was  missing, she was shocked but the formula was on her mind. Some scientists and doctors contacted  her and after initial trials on mice with excellent results, they carried out the trials on patients, willing to be tested the vaccine on themselves in a tertiary care hospital of the city. 

Later it was proven that the vaccine affected positively only on two patients out of twenty. Results were discouraging. Haya was disappointed but her class fellows and teachers supported her and praised her struggle. The head of department of oral biology, Dr. Rafia decided to give her an award of honour for her struggle to find a vaccine for COVID-19 in this pandemic.

No one met Areeb after this event. No one knew if he was alive or dead and whether Haya’s vaccine for COVID-19 worked on him or not!

By Areeb Irfan & Haya Shah  

2nd May, 2020