Welcome to the Short Story segment of WriteUp Cafe. Every month we would give a new theme based on which interested writers are invited to send in their entries. The theme could either be a small paragraph consisiting of 2 to 5 lines, a few unrelated words, a scenario or a simple picture. Read More You may contact us at stories@writeupcafe.com if you are interested in exchanging links with us.
You are free to post your regular short stories too which may not be a part of the contest.
Please send your votes for the best story of the month to votes.stories@writeupcafe.com. We are happy to announce our joint winners for Aug 2009 - The Scars left in Rain and She wants to live. Congratulations to the winners...
Theme of the month for Sep 2009
NB. The theme for Sep 2009 is extended till end of Oct 2009.
A beach is the location, self doubt is the theme. A picture frame is an object that plays a part in the story.
Complete the story in not more than 2000 words.
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That day I ,Louis Peindertan could never forget it.I was reading "the horror stories told and retold."The clock rang 12 but I could not keep the book down because the story was so much thrilling slowly,12 became 1........
There was no sound everything was silent,
there was pitch darkness outside
I could hear the tiny waves dashing against the rocks in the far off shore,it was so clear there was no other sound,expect the slow deep breathe of my sister and the sound made by that fan.
I too decided to sleep otherwise I would go on reading,
Now I should go and switch of the lights and then sleep,
but
I did not have the courage to go and switch off
But I couldn't leave it as such,then
the next day my breakfast would be cut by mom(poor soul how much time she could be kind)
I had to do it,
slowly I got up went and switched off the light
Everything was pitch black
I went and lied near my sister who had slept long ago,closing my eyes tightly,
I could only hear the rustle of the papers,Oh!I wish I should have closed that book,
No,sooner I thought something feel over me,it was so huge strangling me,
It was so huge
and strangling me
I tried pushing it down but it was so huge,
I could not breathe and soon would be strangled if it continued to do so.
With all the strength I could muster I kicked it hard in the chest it gave a great yell and sprang upon the floor,it couldn't regain at once.
taking that fraction of second as an advantage I tried waking my sister no use.....
Oh!no
the creature has got up.
it is coming towards me,
I just ran banging the door
The main gate was open
I just ran out,there was no one only the street lights glowing
The creature was running slowly,still looking straight at me,as it would never leave me,
I have reached the sea,no more to run expect jump into the sea,
But there is something
a deep chasm
I could reach the sea
before the chasm
no some one has dug it recently
yet it was very deep
and
and.............
it had a
the tombstone which read
Louis Peindertan
Born:04.09.1984
Died:09.08.2009
Oh!that's today
Oh!no
Before I could regain from the shock the creature has come near me,
I had no way to go except to accept the defeat,
but I am not going to die easily,
whatever it has come seeking for is not going to be that easy,
I fought with all the strength I could muster
but it over powered me,
soon I was dieing falling inside my grave
I just moved my hand vaguely so that I could grasp something,
I felt something long and silvery
I just pulled it. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
there was a great yelling sound
everything went black again
I was in my bedroom pulling my sisters hair.
A short story that i wrote when i was probably 14, If you want to follow my blog its available at http://chaoticone.com
She was walking down the road, the road that seemed to go nowhere; the only thing on her mind was her loneliness and the rain, which had started pouring in. All along the road were trees, they were on both sides, the trees were of the stubborn kind, and they had seemingly covered the sky, so as to to form a roof.
Yes rain was filtering through them and so was losing its effect, but was still reaching her drop-by-drop.
She was starting to hate rain, when it touched her skin, she would wipe it off as if it was something foreign. She didn’t like changes, and this rain was changing her, it was a signal to her that there is something beyond those trees from where it was coming. The road was becoming slippery, she hadn’t seen anything like that before, and on every step, she would slip a little off-road. In her stable and preconceived world, this was chaos.
For 19 years of her existence what she had seen was this same old, but straight road; it turned sometimes, but most of the time it was straight. The trees were everywhere, surrounding her like fleas, they had become part of her life, in her small world, they provided her with the roof and the boundaries, they told her how to walk in straight line.
When she was small, around 10 or maybe 11 she stumbled against them, they blocked her way, and at that time she knew that the only way to go through is straight, and so she had been walking straight since then, but today it was different there was something coming from beyond those trees, which was unconceivable. THE RAIN.
One thing is for sure, she was not prepared for it, it was increasing in speed, and the trees were having difficult time stopping it from getting to her, it was becoming increasingly difficult for her to wipe every drop from her body, they were everywhere, she was feeling uncomfortable. So at once she decided I should take refuge under a tree, So she ran…
Her loneliness had deeper underpinnings, although there were trees, they only reacted when she changed her course. In time, she had realized that her existence is for herself only, that she was lonely. However, recently she had started enjoying her loneliness; she had become her own best friend.
However, this time, the rain which was now swift had compelled her to take refuge under a tree. She reached a tree but didn’t stop running, she thought that it will embrace her, but she was wrong she stumbled again. This time the tree hit her with such power that she lost all her senses, in time she recovered. She had tears in her eyes, she was crying. She took a step back, it must have been the rain, she slipped and fell on her back, but what she saw changed everything. The rain had made inroads and the roof at this point was a little shattered, So the first time in her life, she saw beyond the trees. She saw the SKY.
The limitless sky!!! She saw a truth beyond what she conceived to be true, she saw everything, which she shouldn’t have seen, and it was for just a moment, because the trees were quick enough to cover it again. Nevertheless, that was enough for her, for the first time in her life, she was FREE.
“The sea returns whatever it takes from you “– that’s what people say. And that’s what Aman believed in the last days of his life.
Aman – 28 years old, a scholar from IIT and an MBA from IIM- A, had everything in life. He was smart, educated, rich, had a great job at a foreign bank, and was the most eligible bachelor in town. But above all, he had Avantika – his childhood love. For him, she was the most beautiful girl on the face of the universe. They were family friends and their relation dated back to almost more than a decade. It was the kind of love story which is written in Heaven.
“Avantika – short, plump and innocence personified.” Aman thought.
He sunk his feet deep into the sand and felt them escape through his toes as the waves retreated.
This was the very place where he saw her last, heard her voice for the last time, felt her warmth and smelled her tears. This was the place where he had promised her that they would meet again – in some other world …
The thoughts came gushing along with the waves. Each wave brought a fresh memory along with it, her contagious smile, her kohl eyes, her frizzy hair, her tantrums, her agony, her death.
“Huh!” Aman let out a deep sigh.
“How could I ever forgive myself?” he questioned himself.
Everything was the same. The sea, the coconut tress, the hotels, the star studded skies, the smell of dried fish – Everything but Avantika!
One mistake of his and things changed like day changes to night.
2.
Aman was in USA for work. It was in the month of January, last year. He was almost freezing to death, with the mercury plummeting down to -13.
He picked up his cell phone and managed to dial a number with his numb fingers, which he felt had been cut off from his hands.
“Hey Aman!” answered a girl in an American accent.
Well, that was Christine, the only good friend cum guide, Aman made on his 3 months official tour.
“Hey yourself, Chrrr-istine” Aman stammered. “How do you guys survive here?” he asked.
“We drink silly, silly!” Christine jeered back.
“So, what are you waiting for? Come over to my apartment and don’t forget to bring the thing which keeps you guys warm” Aman stammered again.
That was it, a small private party, music, wine, popcorn, a movie and then - THE MISTAKE.
3.
Next morning, Aman woke up with a heavy head but was still feeling warm. It was a clear morning. Christine was gone, but had left a note.
“Sorry Aman, it should never have happened.” The note almost shouted out the truth.
The entire night replayed itself clearly in his mind and Aman’s lungs filled with guilt. All of a sudden, he couldn’t breathe.
“Oh! Avantika” he gasped.
He picked up the phone and dialed her number.
“Hello” Avantika answered in her sleep.
“I love you baby” Aman said almost choking and fighting his tears back.
“Baby, its 2.00 am in India”
“Oh! Right, I just wanted to tell you that I love you”
“I love you too honey. I need to sleep, have an early morning presentation”
Aman tried to hold back his tears with all his might. He knew that Avantika had this magical ability to read his mind, even if he sat on some other planet in some other galaxy.
And under no circumstance, could he succumb.
“Good night, honey, see you soon” Aman switched off his cell phone.
That day, he decided that he would never mention this to Avantika. She would be shattered, and the thought of losing her was already shattering him to pieces.
4.
“Ouch!” something pricked him.
A crab was biting his toe. May be even the crab was trying to bring him back to the present. Tears rolled down his cheeks.
“I have killer her” he shouted to the sea.
“I gave it to her, gave her the virus”
“Take me to her please”
He shouted at the top of his voice.
The sea seemed to respond back. The sizes of the waves doubled.
“Why did you take her away? She didn’t even know anything about it” Aman sobbed.
Aman clenched the sands in his fist with all his power. But, he was drained off all of it. The sand escaped from his hands, just like Avantika escaped from his life.
He was in the last stage fighting against the deadly virus. A year back he was detected HIV positive.
But he had already passed it to Avantika and pushed her towards death by then.
Aman plunged his hands inside his shirt, and slowly pulled it out - A picture frame.
Avantika was smiling through it as Aman was trying to make a funny face.
Her smile was infectious, he always thought. The smile which had swept him off his feet, which could make his heart stop beating, which became so difficult for her during her last days.
She loved the sea. She used to say that the sea had its special song for everyone and for every mood.
“Listen to the song of the sea” she would tell Aman during their happy days.
She wanted to die here – on this beach. That was her last wish
“Don’t let me die in a hospital room” she had pleaded to all.
“Please let me watch the waves, smell the salt, hear the song of the sea while I end my journey” she requested Aman, when he tried to protest.
And just before breathing out her last breath, she had shut all her pains in her eyes and just had one question written all over her face- distorted with lesions.
“Why Aman?”
He bowed his head and looked into the picture. A tear dropped on her smile.
“I hope you have forgiven me by now” Aman spoke through his tears.
“I’m coming to get you my baby” he said firmly.
He rested the photo frame, face down on his chest and lied down on the sand.
The waves washed over him……. The sea sang its last song.
It was early morning.It might be 2 'o' clock or 3'o'clock not more than that.Sam,was looking at the picture on the wall.It was the family photo.His family is not too big,just he,his mother and father.And it happened to be his parents wedding day:
12.12.1932.
Sixteen years has passed since their married life.
Sam too has brought a gift for them and was just thinking of a special way to give in.
How much he loved them.He had no friends,he would not mingle easily in fear that they would tease him.His parents were his only friends.
He loved his parents so much that even the distance between the heaven and hell would not suffice.
He might be 14 but even now he is afraid of dog's bark,darkness,horror movies........ the list would be too long.
He even felt sorry for himself,but he couldn't help it.
The consequences are many:
One day during his English class at school,a long ago, an incident happened which made him popular as the
"the coward of the class"shortly CC.
Everyone called him like that from that day on, even his juniors.Though it was so long the name remains as such because even now he is like that
as the incident goes.....
One fine warm sunny day,after taking the lunch Sam went to his English class.His teacher was teaching him grammar,according to him grammar was of the least importance and of no real use,as he supposed that he knew English very well.
His lunch too was his favorite,so he had sure that there was not a bit left
His mind swayed he was just looking this side and that side and finally was dozing,
At that time to his unfortunate a great lizard fell right in his head, Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
He yelled
and there was a roar of laughter
From that day on his name became like that,even the teachers called him like that.
He did not like that,but everyone called him like that,so he remained secluded.
Every time someone calls him that way and teases him he would cry to his mother and father.
He again looked at the photo with utmost love and respect that someone might think that he is actually looking at persons.
He was just thinking of how to deliver the gift and was glancing here and there
There lied the old news paper ,not very old it was the day before paper.
He just took it.
The front page had just one news Jews become prey for the Nazi:
The rate of Jews death has been on the increase since the last two months.Now special order has been given by the Nazi government to enter into Jews residence and......
it went on.
It covered nearly the whole page
Won't these people change thought Sam.
Sam too is a boy of Jewish parentage.He lived in a place where may Jews lived.
But the Nazi had not started their attack yet,they may start it later,one month later,or tomorrow or even today,who knows.
Many people has already fled and Sam's family too would be leaving that day or the next day.
Their area was the only place where the Nazi has not yet started the attack.
It would be their next target.
They very thought terrified the Coward of the Class.
But Sam had other important things in his mind,like his parent's wedding day.
How can he give it he just was thinking..
Can he just jump in and bang the door and give them the gift.
He had taken nearly a month selecting the gift,it was a heart with two doves sitting symbolizing peace and the intense love for his parents.
He could not wait any longer he is just going to bang the door jump in wake them up and give the gift.
He was about to open the door.He touched the door knob he felt that it was very cold.No sooner his hand had touched the knob he heard footsteps,someone was banging against his house door.
Could it be.........
No,he don't want to imagine.
He just wanted to hide.
But he could not move.
Bang !!!!!!!!!!!
the door had been opened there were footsteps there could probably be 4 or5 persons running. Aaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!
he heard his mother yelling.
A breaking of glass.
chaos
and a long deep shot,
and further more chaos,
and he heard his father shout
"Run Sam,run.........."
and another long shot
and a great yell.......
Again chaos .
Does that mean his parent's are dead
Could this possibly be a dream.
He just went towards the photo and glanced at it.
Again he heard the footsteps
but he could not do anything
"Mum"....."Dad" he whispered and hugged it
Bang!!!!!!!
the men were there too,
"But look how pale and frightened he look" said one of the four.
Sam began to shiver.
One man who seemed to be the leader asked"Hay Dick can we spare this little kid"
A man replied probably Dick,"No,certainly not if he is a Jew"
Of course he is..
look at the photos it is those stupid Jews we killed and he laughed.
The laugh echoed............
again Sam took one look at the photo,he felt something,
"It's my chance now I will kill him"
He raised the gun.......
Sam looked it is this very stupids who killed his dear mum and dad.
Something striked him he did not know what he was doing.
The man fired
Sam dived
"Hey look at this kid doing gymnastics""I will have a try ".said another .
And fired his pistol
but before that Sam had taken his hunters gun and took another huge jump and fell head long over two men knocking them down while their pistol fell away,
he just fired vaguely at the other two,
The four had not expected this sudden attack from the little cowardly boy.
Though the two did not die the injury was sure severe they just collapsed.
Meanwhile Sam turned towards the other two without pistol and fired
while the other two who were injured fired at him hitting at his leg,and the man fell down,
he grabbed the gift and fired vaguely at the 4 again and ran.
He ran , ran, ran......... to gift the world with peace,love,friendship and courage.........
I rubbed my feet repeatedly against the mass of sand, which much more felt like millions of busy ants on my skin, in an attempt to ascertain my existence. Waking up from a bad dream when I was younger, I would pinch myself to make sure that the pitch darkness of my room was a reality, and that it wasn’t a daunting sequel to nightmares where ghouls would come out of the abyss and continue to choke the air out of me as my bi-nightly visitors usual did.
I am alone on this secluded beach, where I can see the waves and the gold of the sand, but I cannot hear a thing! No. That would be lying. I am alone, aside from the girl in the frame, and all I hear are my thoughts, which circle me stroking my hair as a mother would. My mother is dead. When she died, I pinched myself, and I felt tremendous pain. So, I knew that it was real, and that she was gone, and that I was stuck, stuck with his penis inside me every other night. See, he alternated with the ghouls; the nights when they would give me a break, he would come and do the haunting in their place. Sometimes, he would fall asleep inside me, and I would feel his spilt milk filling me up as if I were a bowl of Fruit Loops. No, actually it felt more like glue. You know the kind you get when you’re in primary school? Also equipped with a pair of safety-scissors, you craft something beautiful out of colorful paper so your parents could ouh and ah over it. Yeah, that kind of glue. I was glazed by my father’s glue, and he would call me by my mother’s name.
The girl in the frame is gorgeous. Red hair that flows down to her back, ocean blue eyes reminiscent of flying saucers; her lips are a natural red, plump like a berry ready to be plucked. She looks so much like me, down to the scar on her left collarbone. But, how can she be me? She looks so sure. I’m not sure about anything anymore. I can’t even hear the ocean, but it’s moving; I can’t even feel the air on my naked breasts.
The glass frame is in pieces! I took the picture out and threw it in the ocean; they’re both part of the same unreality. Jagged edges across my wrists, I see blood, but feel no pain. I feel no pain!
James Patterson was failing to grab Akruti’s attention for the very first time in his writing career. But she doubted Patterson’s writing skills had anything to do with it.
‘All this noise’ she sighed, attributing her lack of concentration to the sounds that drifted in from the adjacent room.
People laughing, talking in loud voices, clatter of dishes…
It sounded like a small party in progress which in actuality it was.
None of this was new to her though. This is what always happened whenever they came down for a visit. It was a re-union of sorts.
Dr Sen was her dad’s college friend and both families had been close for years now.
But strangely enough she couldn’t relate to the merriment. She had refused to join them an hour back citing a very lame excuse(that of reading her book). It was hard to believe that people could actually be so happy and contented. It was as if there was not a care in the world-no grief, no suffering, no problems or any nagging doubts.
Maybe she lived in a different world altogether.
Yawning slightly she put the book aside and looked out the window.
‘I need a walk.’ she thought.
After having changed her clothes she made her way towards the bed to retrieve her cell-phone. She was about to stuff it in her pocket and leave when something inside her half-open travel bag glinted in the fading rays of the sun.
Curious she inserted her hand inside it and brought out a silver photo-frame.
‘Of course.’ she thought. She had brought this thing with her even to this short trip which didn’t make any sense.
The last thing she needed was a reminder of the painful truth.
It was a picture of both of them. He was forcing a huge piece of cake into her mouth and even though there was an expression of shock on her face, she could also discern the slight smile that was playing about her own lips.
It was taken on her 20th birthday two years back.
These words were scribbled at the edge of the frame-
~THE BEST OF TIMES~
‘What a lie!’ she thought.
2
The beach was almost empty as she had assumed. This was the wrong time of the year to come down here in the first place.
So no tourists. Not many of them anyway.
She only noticed a few fishermen tugging at a huge fishing-net at a distance and a few other people most of whom appeared to be locals.
She saw a family of three splashing in the waves, a couple of kids, a middle-aged guy and a solitary panipuri-vendor.
And this suited her just fine.
It was just her and the sea. Just like old times.
She sighed and inhaled deeply. The sea smelled the same.
Slipping off her pink flip-flops she bent down and rolled up the edges of her jeans and moved forward fearlessly.
The warm waves lapped gently at her feet. Then as she kept going forward the waves grew more frolicsome. But she didn’t care.
Nothing had changed since the last time she was here. The beach,the way the sand felt beneath her bare feet, the way she loved the wind messing up her hair. Nothing.
And yet something felt different. Something had changed.
And that something was probably-her.
And suddenly everything came back to her in a flash-the happenings of the past few months-the day she found out about him, their confrontation, the way he had shouted at her blurting out all those ugly truths, the way she had walked away without a word, the way she had still waited for the call which never came, the way her parents started feeling anxious and decided to bring her here to ‘take her mind off things’.
‘Excuse me…’
This brought Akruti back to reality and she turned her head to find a middle-aged man clad in a full-sleeved white shirt and a pair of black trousers looking at her curiously. In the brief moments he seemed to be scrutinizing her,she took in his disheveled appearance and surprisingly grey eyes.
He was the same guy she had spotted strolling casually along the beach a few moments ago.
Now that she looked carefully at him he didn’t look middle-aged to be precise-maybe 35 or 36.
Akruti suddenly felt a little wary.
This must have been evident from the look on her face ‘cause the stranger shrugged and said ‘It’s just that your shoes are about to be er engulfed by the waves.’
And sure enough as Akruti turned around she found both her slippers afloat on water and steadily drifting away a little distance from where she stood.
Without a second glance at the man she made a dash across the waves and picked them up. A few seconds more and they would’ve been lost to the sea forever.
She put them on and started walking away from the sea.
How had they managed to drift away? She had placed them carefully on the stretch of sand she thought was safe from the water.
She always did the right things didn’t she? There was nothing in this world that she trusted more than her own judgement.
She was always right. Everybody said so.
So why was everything failing her? Or was she failing herself?
And suddenly without knowing it she sank to the ground on her knees. Her body could support her weight no longer. She didn’t know what was the right thing to do anymore.
She hid her face in her palms.
She had never been the one to mope. She was always a ‘strong girl’, just like her mother believed.
Maybe she was wrong, wrong throughout.
And just like that the tears came-the ones she had been holding back all these months.
‘Take this.’ someone said in a deep, soothing voice.
Akruti looked up to find the same man who had informed her about the slippers holding out a kerchief.
Oh god she hadn’t even said a ‘thank you’ to him and just walked away like that.
‘I’m so..sorry… I just forgot….thank you.’ Her vocabulary was failing her for the first time.
The man just looked at her for a while and then repeated what he had said earlier…
‘Go on…take it.’
And this time she obliged. She took the handkerchief and dabbed her eyes with it. But that did not stop the tears.
Instead she started crying even harder.
The man did not leave her side nor did he say anything. But he just stood there staring at the open sea with his
hands in his pockets while she kept crying.
It was embarrassing to cry in front of a complete stranger. But somehow it also felt highly satisfying.
‘Thank you.’ She finally looked up and held out the handkerchief to the man who just shook his head.
‘No you keep it.’
‘I can’t. It’s yours.’
‘Never mind that. It’s just a piece of cloth.’ he insisted.
And giving her an uncertain look started to walk away.
It was weird how a few minutes earlier Akruti would’ve given anything to be alone on the beach, disturbed by no one or nothing.
But right then as she looked at the stranger’s back she wanted anything but to be on her own.
‘Wait.’ She shouted out over the sound of crashing waves not sure whether her voice would reach him across this distance.
But thankfully enough it did ‘cause he stopped in his tracks, turned around and looked at her.
3
The sand still felt warm from the afternoon heat of the sun. But it had started to cool down. The wind was a bit stronger now but she liked the way it blew her bangs out.
Sitting right there far away from home with a total stranger, watching the progress of the sun along the western sky, Akruti felt a strange sense of calm spreading through her. It felt as if it were healing her from within.
‘So…’ said the man finally breaking the silence and interrupting Akruti’s chain of thoughts.
‘Boyfriend troubles?’ he asked without looking at her.
Akruti smiled.
‘Can’t there be anything else troubling a girl in her twenties except boys?’
‘Well..’ he mused… ‘there could be I guess.’
‘…If you’re either on drugs or pregnant’ He added.
Akruti glared at him.
He just shrugged.
‘I was just trying to cheer you up.’
‘Wow that’s a real nice way of doing it.’ she said sarcastically.
He looked at her squarely in the face, his expression serious.
‘I’m right ain’t I?...someone ditched you and that’s why you were crying so hysterically before.’ He said.
This time Akruti couldn’t avoid the question and strangely enough she didn’t even want to.
‘I ditched him.’ she said stoically.
‘Why?’ came the counter-question.
‘He was two-timing me.’ she said simply.
‘Ouch.’ he said.
‘I know.’
‘It’s okay if you don’t wanna talk about this.’ the man said wrenching his gaze away from Akruti and concentrating on the panipuri-vendor instead. A group of teenaged girls had gathered all around his tiny stall by this time.
A few moments of silence followed.
‘It’s not his fault. Who’d want to stay with a control freak like me?’
She said bitterly.
‘I used to call him to wake him up for college, nag him 24*7 to finish his assignments on time, be more serious about his life and career…’
She went on.
‘I didn’t even allow him to get as physical with me as he wished to…now who’d want to put up with all this crap?’
She finally looked at him.
‘Do you think this is why he cheated on you?’ he asked.
‘He shouted at me saying all those things.’
She tried to swallow her tears back but couldn’t.
‘He looked so angry…’ she sobbed pitifully.
‘I..it felt like there was nothing in this world….he hated more…’
‘All those times were a lie weren’t they?..’
‘I lived a lie for 3 years..’ she continued sobbing.
‘I’ve never quite liked the beach.’ he said suddenly.
Akruti looked at him.
‘I’ve hated the sea ever since I was a kid. I feared I might drown.’ He continued.
‘But then Meera came into my life and things changed. She loved coming here on short trips, gorging on sea food,clutching my hand and walking barefoot on the sand.’
‘And slowly I fell in love with the place too. We used to come down here every year...until..’ his voice trailed off.
‘Until?’ Akruti asked breathlessly.
….until she fell sick.’ He sighed.
‘She died of cervical cancer last year.’
Akruti felt like the wind had been knocked out of her.
‘The 7 years I had with her were the best years of my life. We shared everything-the good times, the bad times,the sadness and laughter….
And every one of those moments are dear to me. ‘Cause being with her made me happy.’
‘The thought that I’d never get to hear her laugh again does hurt. And I wonder why I’m still alive…’
‘And it is only then that Esha’s face comes into view and I get my answer.’
‘Esha….my 5 year-old.’ He smiled.
Akruti just stared at him.
‘So would you say that all the times I spent with my wife were a lie too?’ he finally asked her.
She had no answer.
‘He was the wrong guy to be with. But you did love him, didn’t you? And that can never be a lie.’
And suddenly she understood what he was trying to tell her.
Even though it was meant to end in heartache all those moments she shared with him had given her memories to be treasured for a lifetime.
Maybe right then they were causing her a lot of pain. But someday she’ll realize the significance of it all.
She could see the silver photo-frame in her mind's eye-
