Time To Move On

He looked at the door of his house. It was unlocked. He wondered if he had forgotten to lock the house in the morning or if the maid had forgotten to lock it after cleaning the house. He was not worried about theft as it was a gated community and chances of someone climbing three floors, unnoticed, to his flat were rare.

He pushed the door with trepidation. He saw someone sprawled on the sofa in the living room. The man looked at him and smiled.

The boy cowered in the corner of the room, trying to imagine that it was a nightmare which will soon be over. His mother lay in the corner, bloodied and not breathing. A man stood over her with a cleaver in his hand. He had used the same one to deliver the fatal blow. The man soon discovered his presence in the room and started taking steps towards him. The boy screamed and ran out.

The man came after him but could not catch the boy. In the meantime, people living in the nearby houses had come out and overpowered the man. He had been tied up with a rope on a nearby pole.

The man was the boy’s father. In a rage, he killed his wife and the boy’s mother.

The boy had hoped that this was one of his parents’ frequent fights and shall soon be over with a few blows. But that day it had resulted in a murder.

The boy did not remember anything else related to the case. He was taken away from the scene by one of his kind neighbours. Later on, he came to know that police had come and taken away his father.

As he grew up, he came to know that his father had been in jail for a long time. He had never wanted to see the man again. In fact, in his few appearances in the court to testify against the man, he had refused to look towards the man. He had looked into the eyes of the man only when he had been asked to identify the man.

Although he did not have any memory of any remorseful or cruel expression on the face of the man, the fear was still fresh in his mind.

The man appeared to be fit for his age. For a moment the childhood memories came back and he was scared. Then he remembered that he was no longer an unfortunate child but a grown-up man. The fear was displaced by loathing.

He asked the man, “What are doing here? How did you get my address? Who allowed you inside the House?”

There were many questions and he did not wait for the answers. He wanted the man out of his house. If he was not able to handle the man himself, he may have to call security. Whatever means he may have to deploy, he will kick the man out.

After a brief while, the man opened his mouth, “Son, I am just out of jail. I have nowhere to go. Your watchman kindly allowed me in the house. The decision was easy for him as we resemble each other. I hope you won’t kick me out.”

Suddenly what had appeared to cruel expression on the man’s face, turned into one of vulnerability. He did not have the heart to kick out the man.

Perhaps it was time to forget the past. Maybe the man had changed. In any case, he did not want to follow his father’s cruel ways.

It was time to move on.