If it Hadn’t Happened …

If it Hadn’t Happened … –  Short Story on Forgiveness
Photo credit: wildrocker92 from morguefile.com

Looking out of the window, I saw the scenes went past. Those were beautiful natural scenes – the green trees, the azure sky, the clear clouds, and the high mountains that seemed so far away. The scenes were lapsing at a moderate rate. I liked to look at the picturesque sceneries.

I drew my eyes back into my place. Inside the train, sitting on sofa seats, I was drinking a soft drink. I looked at the people who were in the same compartment with me. Because today was not holiday, it was not crowded. The people were all in a good mood, probably anticipating the enjoyments throughout their trips.

As for me, I was not in the same mood as them. I was a tourist too, but I came for no sightseeing. Perhaps it was a bit misleading – in fact I was still taking a vacation in the place – but I knew well about it. I was no ignorant visitors, despite being a foreigner. I loved that place, the natural landscapes, sightseeing spots and all about it. I liked to spend my time there forgetting all my worries, especially sadness and sorrows. This time it was of no exception.

A gust of wind came in from an opening window beside me, I felt a bit chilly. At that moment, I searched for my coat, but it seemed to be left in the luggage and it would be a trouble to open the suitcase. The woman sitting next to me suddenly held out her hand and said

“Excuse me, are you feeling cold?”

I looked up. The woman seemed to be in her late thirties and had a warm-looking face. She seemed to be a gentle person. She was wearing a sky-blue dress and a white scarf, with a sapphire overcoat on top. I felt a bit embarrassed and replied “Yes.”

She stood up and then took off her scarf and put it around my neck.

I felt warmer, and returning gratitude and a smile. I studied the woman carefully. She seemed to be talkative, with long hair touching shoulders and tanned skin. She had a slim body, and a charming smile, as she smiled at me when she returned to her seat.

“Glad you feel better. Do you come here for sightseeing often?”

I nodded. I thought “I do come often, but it is only that I would like to recall the happiness in the past.”

She told me “These years I come here often too.”

“Oh! You must have loved the natural sceneries here!”

“This is part of it. In fact, I would like to go to the temple not far from the train terminal to pray.”

The train kept moving, and I, out of curiosity, asked “Do you have kids?”

“Yes, a little girl. On the 15th of next month, it will be her 7-year-old birthday.”

The 15th of next month! It would be the seventh anniversary when my parents bid farewell to me forever. I could never forget that day…

That was a weekend when my parents and I went out for dinner. Sitting in the backseat of the car while my father was driving, I proposed incessantly where to dine. Suddenly, at a turning, a man wearing a grey working overcoat came out from nowhere. My father quickly turned the wheel to avoid hitting the man, but in vain. I had no idea what was happening. I saw the man with grey overcoat smashed into the front of the car, the window glass broken, and he was knocked to the ground. Our car traversed to the other side of the road and ran into the hillside. At the onset of the impact, I felt a sharp pain in the chest before I lost consciousness. The car didn’t stop then, and eventually somersaulted. My parents and I were trapped, and till then the car finally stood still…

“Hey, are you okay?” The woman asked me kindly.

“Oops, excuse me. I just reflected on something in the past. Hey, are you travelling here alone?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Is your husband taking care of your daughter at home?”

“No, she is taken care of by her grandparents. As a matter of fact, my daughter and I lived with her grandparents.”

“How about your husband?” I blurted, immediately realized my faux pas.

“Oh, he is dead, in a car accident. Seven years ago, on 15th November, the day of my daughter’s birth, he hurried to the hospital after work and that’s when he met his accident midway. ”

I was almost stunned. Is the past which I didn’t want to recall unavoidably recurred?

“What happened?” I would like to know whether my guess was correct.

“That was a weekend. My husband still had to work in his factory on that day. When he knew his child had been born, he didn’t even take off his working suit after work and rush to the hospital. The police said he dashed out of the road, and got knocked down by a vehicle. He was dying when he was sent to the hospital, and his grey overcoat was imbrued red.”

She couldn’t hold off her tears, and I gave her a packet of tissues. The train slowly moved on, but I already had no mood to view. She wiped her tears and continued to say-

“Actually what I felt the most sorrow was that I heard the driver and his wife sitting beside him were dead on the scene, and their child together in the car was badly injured. I once went to visit him, but his relatives didn’t allow me to see him.”

My heart sank. For the death of my parents at that time, I still felt anguish till now. To avoid me suffering more hassle, my relatives declared to the outside public that the driver’s child was a boy.

“I knew from newspaper that before the accident their family would often go to a place every year. The place is where I am travelling to now. I hope I could make compensation for my husband’s fault. These years I went to that place and visited a nearby temple not far from the terminal to pray, hoping the deceased in the accident would rest in peace. The child in the accident is safe and sound. Oh! He should be twenty two by now! At that time he was fifteen.”

“No, ‘he’ was seventeen at that time. Now ‘he’ is already twenty four years old. And ‘he’ should be a ‘she’.”

“You… You are her?” She exclaimed in astonishment.

“Yes. I am.”

I looked outside the window. The train kept on going towards the terminal. As for all the remorse caused by that accident, could I really forgive the person who triggered off this consequence?

The woman and I didn’t talk again anymore on the train. When the train arrived at the terminal, I talked to her “Let’s go to the temple and pray!”

And she agreed with a smile.

__END__