Family Short Story – Writings on the wall…
Photo credit: chilombiano from morguefile.com
(Note: Image does not illustrate or has any resemblance with characters depicted in the story)
The saying which says that “you cannot experience the actual pain and suffering of someone until you step in his shoes” had a great impact on my life as it reminds me of a incidence that I would never b able to forget till my last breath…..
Nothing was really different that day. It was around 12 by my watch and i was just strolling my car throughout the city as I always used to do. My collage had recently ended and night out with friends was a regular things to do. I was the only child to my parents so I was pampered a lot. My every wish was happily fulfilled. All this made me a great spent thrift so I used to spent all my pocket money and asked for more which was happily given.
Although,these things could not hide my hidden passion for journalism. I used to admire the work journalist do to put up our media at such high standards.Only a month before I had signed up for a citizen journalism competition organised by a leading news channel. To win,a person had to submit a report about anything in the city. When I was strolling throughout the city, I saw an old man sitting next to a traffic crossing. He was wearing an old and torn brown coloured blazer with pants and black glasses on the eyes. Though the site was not very interesting but I couldn’t get my eyes of it.
Suddenly I decided to cover his story for the competition. I parked my car at the roadside,walked to him and then stood there for a long time. I noticed that he was selling pencils. I asked,”what the rate?”.
He replied,”5 for rs.1o”.
I bought 10 pieces and then started talking other things with him. Then suddenly I expressed my desire to know more about him to which he refused and walked away.
After approaching him for a long time, he agreed to share his story with me. He took me to a barren colony with big and old houses which were very spooky. Then we finally entered in a house much bigger than the rest. The structure had absolutely nothing inside it. I only saw a table,a bench,some papers and some old photos. I went through the pictures meanwhile the old hag told me his name, its was Robert Tiago. He was once a very rich man of the town. Everyone used to respect him.
Then he said,”I was living my life life happily and then.. I met a girl with whom I fell in love. Her name was Amy.”
He showed me an old portrait of the lady. I asked about her but Robert didn’t reply, he instead went on with his story. He told me that he and Amy married each other and after an year…they both had a baby girl who they named Sara. The pictures in my hand justified every thing Robert told me. But then I heard something,it sounded like sobs of an old and helpless man and I was right.
After a pause Robert told me that all was good until one morning Robert woke up with a bad feeling. That day Amy had decided to go to shopping but Robert was afraid of the feeling insisted Amy to stay but she convinced him and went away. Robert waited till evening but Amy didn’t come back. Robert was afraid because he was not able to contact with Amy as her cellphone was switched off. Robert tried to seek the help of local police but even they were not able to locate Amy. They recovered Amy’s cellphone somewhere on the interstate express way but thee were no sign of the lady.
The sluggish police search was not yet over when 3 days later,a van arrived at Roberts house. The men inside threw out 2 dead bodies…yes they were Amy and the 8 month old baby girl Sara. Robert ran out for the van but they ran away. Robert held his wife close to his chest as tight as he could possibly have and roared out his tears.
After the incident Robert was completely horrified. He was numb because of he couldn’t get over the fact that he had lost his precious possessions.The post mortem report said that Amy was assaulted very badly by many 3-4 people and then suffocated to death while the baby girl was shot in the head by the brutes. The case was soon closed by the police without any reason. It was said that those men were working for a very high level government official. Robert didn’t fight back much. He said,”when you have all the doors closed on you…you lose your spirit.”
He was so mad at himself because he thought that Amy’s death was on him because maybe If he had stopped her from going out, should would have been alive. He said that he couldn’t get this blame of himself and he was so drowned in misery that he himself punctured his own eyes. He lost all his money and wealth in sometime he was even going to kill himself but he decided to live on.
I came back from the story to the present time and realised that tears were rapidly falling from my eyes.I could not stop them and I surely knew that even if I try I’l not be able to console him cause his pain and suffering was beyond my mindset. I stood up, I dug my hand inside my pocket and poured in all the money I had into his blazer pocket and went away without a word. I went back home,finished my report and submitted it to the news channel.
I won the competition with my story.On my way back I decided to see Robert. He was not at the crossing so I went to his house. I saw Robert,dead. Robert lost the struggle with his life. He laid on the floor holding a portrait of him with Amy and Sara. Maybe Robert was with them now,up with the Gods so I didn’t move the portrait and had the man buried with it in the graveyard. I was pained by this tragic scene of life but although I never stepped in his shoes but still cant forget the feeling I had for while hearing his pain. but now i move on cause its said that whatever happens its all as per the writings on the wall…..
–END–
