CANDLE

CANDLE

6 mins
351


It was dark. Unlike every other eclipse, this one was a little duller to make the clouds visible. I was sitting right in my favorite corner near the window of our drawing-room when I heard a sudden scream of children playing downstairs frightened because of a power cut. I looked around for my family to find no one. I guess mom was in the kitchen, Ayra was asleep, and dad, he probably went near the meter box to check the fuse. Bhai was out on a trip to Bangalore. I continued turning and unturning the pages of my book, desperately waiting for the room to light up so that I could complete my novel. I couldn’t hold my breath anymore to know what happened next. Thus, I decided to roam around the entire house, like always, in search of some light source or at least some patience if kept in mom’s cabinets of motherhood.  


       Creepily walking throughout the house, I found mom lighting up candles in the kitchen asking me to take one and place it in a corner of the drawing room. She said she’s going to visit Sara aunty in the neighborhood. They don’t have an invertor and she had mentioned about not having candles either. Sara aunty was this fair looking lady who had no good relations with her struggling husband and had two toddlers to take care of, who annoyed the entire building with their loud, irritating childish mewling. They’re a disaster.


She somewhere knows how much I hate her but she anyway can’t do anything about it. Her bitchy eyes always stare at me and give cold scary looks. I sometimes feel like she’ll kill me someday. I so wish her husband, Ketan uncle settles in the US and takes his family along. It’d be a relief to all of us to get rid of a fighter cock from the building who selectively fights only with men and is always keen on being friends with good looking women with rich husbands. Aunty was always frustrated. For some reason or the other, she managed to disappoint everyone around her.


The stress of her husband being away with two really hound kids perhaps trapped her into tension. But I still don’t pity her. She doesn’t do anything worth sympathy. She has this really terrible habit of showing pity on herself in front of everyone and trying to grab every eye. She makes sure she gets enough food for free by using her typical tactics. My mom was one of her victims. But how long is she going to take care of her ration providing and listen to her rants of how difficult it is to take care of two young kids. I was just nagging and bitching about her in front of mom when she shushed me and left the room, in haste.


      I shut the door to see mom stepping out with a huge pack of candles in one hand and a bright burning one in the other. She looks like a witch with that white nighty she wears and those pretty anklets I’ve always adored. Getting my mind off the fear of being alone in the dark, with that sound of anklets mom made all the way to our neighbor’s place, I came back to the window with the candle to complete my book. Augustus was writing a letter. I was all ears to the sound of pages and the creepy wind around; yet managed to draw all of my attention towards the letter. I was so involved in the book that I didn’t notice the door open and someone step in.


        Because of the heavy movement of the door, and the rainy wind blowing outside, the room was all breezy and in spite of me taking care of the flame, my only candle managed to blow off. The room was dark again. But this time, there was no one in the house. Ayra was still asleep and dad hadn’t come back yet. The chirps of wind creeping around the entire house were scaring me. The curtains were flying, the book kept on turning and returning its pages, the Times of India on the teapoy flew off the entire drawing room making that crisp, frightening paper sound, and the door, the door went on banging its head on the wall behind.


      Sara auntie’s kids were still crying and I heard mom making them quiet. It seemed like She wasn’t going to be home for another half an hour or so. Aunty always hands over her self-created burden on mom and gets her hands off her responsibilities. I managed to reach the door from between all the leaves of paper flying over the drawing room towards our door. Drawing my hand out, to shut the door, I had almost locked it when I heard the sound of anklets behind me. “Hush!” Said I, “I’m glad you returned. I thought you’d be taking another hour with the bitch’s puppies. I swear they’re so annoying.” Mom laughed softly like she always does and came forward to lock the door.


     I walked towards the direction of our kitchen murmuring and asking mom to shut the windows and get me another candle. She didn’t reply but only followed me to the kitchen. I guess she was pretty tired. She lit a candle across the kitchen platform and walked away from it towards the window. She loves to admire that view of children playing, people fighting, mothers taking their kids away and all the routine activities adding up to the entertainment she could get while cooking. I was still ranting about Sara aunty and her kids but mom didn’t pay any heed to my words and kept on looking outside the window at God knows what.


It was pretty dark for anything to be visible. She was probably waiting for dad to return. Or maybe she was expecting some melodrama by typical mothers and their stubborn children creating a havoc downstairs. I didn’t bother her and decided to leave, taking the candle outside. Before leaving the kitchen, I decided to ask her for a glass of water and paced towards the fridge when I suddenly felt a soft seductive touch on my belly. The palm slowly crept inside my T-shirt making me tremble like a flame in the air. The palms turned me towards themselves and tried running fingers through my hair. I pulled myself away and tried running out of the kitchen when those cruel hands managed to grab my arm, pulled me inwards, making way to my waist and another palm on my mouth.


I couldn’t scream. I shut my eyes for a moment and opened them to see lights in the house. The face shone right in front of my eyes smirking at my helplessness. “You little piece of shit.” Slowly caressing my face piercing nails into my lips and scratching my neck to reach my undergrown bosom. She looked at me and laughed. “I’ve always been waiting for this, you ugly pig.” It was Sara aunty. “Now you won’t hate my kids for I’ll love you more than them. So, shall we play?” She grabbed my mouth well enough so as not to facilitate my shout, and threw me on the floor. Before my eyes could blink, I saw that the candle on the platform had blown away.


Rate this content
Log in

Similar english story from Drama