Winter evenings are so beautiful. Sunset, flowers, trees. “Perfect view” I said to myself.
Right now I was sitting on a bench in the park. After work, I straight come here to enjoy the weather. Children laughing, running across the park in winter evenings. Children, kids, babies. I shuddered at the thought. It’s been a year but still it haunts me.
As the sudden flow of wind blew my hair across my face roughly, a shiver ran down my spine. Something doesn’t feel right. “What is it” I mumbled to myself. Taking a last look at the park and the sunset I stood up from the bench and started walking towards my house.It had turned dark till I reached the line of my house. Holding my coat tightly around myself, I kept glancing around me. I don’t know why but I was feeling anxious as if someone is following me. I had been feeling like that since a week.
“It’s nothing” I kept saying myself. My heart was beating fast in my chest. Half walking, half running I finally reached my house. As I looked at my destination, something caught my eye. On the terrace wall, something was there. A baby? I blinked, not believing what I was seeing, and it was no more there, like it was never there. “I must be hallucinating”, I thought.
When I got at the main door, I turned on the porch light and started searching the keys in my purse. Suddenly my hand caught something and that something was slimy and soft. Confused, I almost took it out of my purse and as soon as I realized what it was, I hurriedly threw my purse on the floor along with it. I took support of the main door as I didn’t trust myself at that moment to not fall. My heart was thumping in my ears.
How a fetus got into my purse?
Somehow I managed to control my breath and unlocked the door with the keys which I took out from purse. I entered and closed the door. Leaning against the door, I heaved a sigh. I looked around, other than my heart beating there was absolutely no sound. It wasn’t comfortable silence, it seemed more like the silence before a storm. I carefully started walking towards my bedroom. As quiet as a mouse, I checked every area while going for any signs of a intruder. Everything was as it was when I left.
Just as I was trying to figure out, I heard some choking sounds behind me. I turned to see from where it was coming and my eyes popped out of their sockets at what I saw. There was a baby about a year old, naked, trying to walk towards me with his hands around his neck, eyes wide and some soapy lather gushing out of his mouth. It was horrifying. His whole body had turned purplish and he was looking like he was about to die. Just then a woman came casually and lifted the baby in her arms. That woman was no random lady. It was my mother.
How could it be? She is dead. Then she started breastfeeding the baby. She started coming towards me all the while slightly shaking the baby in her arms trying to shush him. She didn’t see me.Too frozen to move I just kept gaping at her with heart beating like a running horse. She was just about to pass by but she stopped and turned towards me. And then I realized all this time my mother’s eyes were all white, her eyeballs rolled upwards.
She then slowly raised her hands and pointed towards me, no, behind me. Very slowly, I forced myself to turn around to see what she was pointing at and it turned out to be my dressing mirror. I saw my reflection in the mirror and I found myself turning purple just like the baby. I started to feel nauseated and a little dizzy. As soon as I realized what was happening to me, I lost my balance and fell on the ground with a thud.
I was writhing in pain just as I heard mom say,” you shouldn’t have killed him after all he was your baby. I don’t know why you didn’t want him”.
Soon it all went black.My eyes flipped open just like that and I sat and took in my surroundings. I was in the bedroom and mom and the baby were looking at me. I asked them how long was I out and I couldn’t believe my ears after what they said. Well the proof was in front of me, lying behind me to be precise. I stood up and looked on the floor behind me and there was my body, pale, devoid of any signs of life with lather splattered across my mouth. I was upset, confused. I turned towards mom and stared at her with questioning eyes for I don’t know how long.
After a long silence, she spoke,” Now do you remember what I used to say to you?”.
“Yes I remember” , finally truth hitting me like a slap on my face. Recalling her words I spoke “What goes around comes around”.
–END–
