Family Short Story – Children Of The Non Believers
Photo credit: earl53 from morguefile.com
Freya knocked at the thick carved wooden door, with her shivering hands. Her damp eyes continued to over flow. No matter how hard she bit her lips, she could not stop crying. Her mind was filled with the uncomfortable echo of two particular voices that she couldn’t mute down. The voices that she had once loved and believed in were now starting to scare her. The fifteen year old girl’s mind was crammed with questions and her heart was heavy with the burden of choice. A severely painful numbness slowly developed into a feeling of insecurity as she waited for her grandmother to open the door.
Hitakshi was quite surprised to see he granddaughter at her door step so late in the evening. The girl looked very badly broken.
“I can’t do it anymore.” She wailed as she crashed in to her arms.
Hitakshi felt a painful stab of pity as she walked the sobbing young girl into the living room. She felt guilty and sorry for the girl as she realised that the situation had worsened.
“Drink this.” She handed her a huge cup of hot chocolate as they sat down on the couch. “Just talk. I’ll listen”
Freya immediately cried again. Words came out several minutes later.
“They just don’t believe that they can love each other anymore. I think they’re considering splitting.”
A short pause.
“Today, they started brawling over a glass of water.” She said between a few suppressed sobs.
“They kept shouting at each other, for almost three hours. They are simply over consumed by their hatred for each other that they don’t care about me anymore. And now, no matter how much I try, I find it hard to believe that they love me or that I’m important in their life. I walked out when they were still arguing. I bet they wouldn’t have even noticed that I’m missing. ”
She paused again.
“What is love, Grana?” Freya asked “What is love, if it never lasts?”
Hitakshi watched her sensitive grandchild‘s eyes fix into a grim rigidity as she thought about her parents. She knew that his son’s marriage was falling apart and that he had the right to dissolve it, but she felt nothing but pure hatred for the two adults who forcibly sent the child into waves of depression.
There was a long silence before Freya continued.
“I don’t think want to marry when grow up.” She said. “The very thought of sharing my life with someone scares me. Even if I do, what if I can’t love?”
The floodgates opened again.
“Is this what happens to the children of broken marriages?” She continued. “This is very cruel.”
The old lady listened very carefully before she started to speak. Freya laid her head on her lap and pulled up her limbs in foetal position. She buried her face in the soft fabric of her saree as her grandmother placed her hand and gently patted her shoulders. She started speaking in a soft lullaby like voice.
“Adults these days have a rather unimpressively sharp ego and a very short temper. No wonder the number of children caught in the grip of hatred increases every day. But, Freya darling, children like you should be very much thankful for all these events that you’re spectating. Yes, it starts out as depression, develops into hatred, but, in the end helps you become something that you never expected to become. ”
Freya looked up, very much confused.
“Children like you, have from a very young age witnessed all that could go wrong in a relationship. You will be very certain and careful not to make those same mistakes again, when you grow up.”
Freya looked at her grandma’s face for a quite long time.
“What do children like me grow up to be, Granna?” She asked.
The old lady smiled as she gave Freya a third eye kiss.
“They grow up to be the world’s greatest lovers.”
__END__
