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Suchismita Sahu

Tragedy

5.0  

Suchismita Sahu

Tragedy

Dark Room

Dark Room

6 mins
1.6K


When that day, Aaji opened the door for work, she froze at the doorstep for few seconds…The sight in front of her was very strange for her…!!! Five years old Ria sitting on her little play chair, was fastened securely to the chair by a dupatta. She body was covered with sweat, her neck and chest were damp with the tears of helplessness, hunger and unfamiliar emotions, those were raised within a five years old child.

Aaji immediately untied Ria, took her on her lap, called up and informed Prashant: Ria’s father to come back to home, mentioning that Mona: Ria’s mother had tied up Ria to the chair.

Mona, who was lying unconscious on the sofa till now, woke up hearing the Ria’s cries. She rushed to Ria, but Aaji wheeled around. She was in no mood to show the woman’s face to Ria. She kept whispering in Ria’s ears, “Beta, did not happen anything…everything is all right…we will play our rhymes….!!”

Mona tried her best ways to take out Ria from Aaji, but Aaji did not allow her to touch Ria. After getting failed on her try, Mona sat on the sofa with a feeling of helplessness…

Prashant entered through the open door fand rushed to Ria. Ria’s cries grew louder at the sight of her father. He took her in his arms and walked briskly to the bedroom and Aaji followed.

Mona jumped to her feet to follow but Aaji closed the door at her face. “She is my daughter too. Open the door” Mona yelled at the top of her voice. No one bothered… The banging and howling continued till her hands gave away.

After half an hour, Prashant opened the door. Mona was up on her feet again. Prashant grabbed her by her arm and almost dragged her to the other bedroom on the other side of the hall and then shut the door behind them.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Prashant jolted her back and forth as if to bring her out of a spell.

“You could have suffocated her, she is just five years old” he plucked his hands from her arms.

“O, you think I would do that to our daughter?” Mona fought back.

“You are a crazy woman, how stupid of me to leave Ria in your hands. Doctor was right. I should have left you in that mental health unit or maybe I should put you in there now. Come let’s go” Prashant was clearly annoyed and once again reached for her arm.

Mona stepped back in refusal.

“I am not leaving Ria and going anywhere,” she snapped.

Prashant dashed to the door and yelled “Just go to hell then” and slammed the door.

Mona was undergoing treatment for her prolonged depression which she had acquired after the loss of her job. A belief of Ria’s motherhood was responsible for her loss of job, had grabbed her mentally. After Ria’s birth, she was not able to concentrate on her job, as she had to spend lots of time on taking care of her. She believed she could have managed it more effectively, by having a proper work-life balance. She had started feeling that she had become completely useless…just working in a house like a housemaid…that even Aaji can do…This self claimed torturing was pushing her into a deep well of darkness. When she didn’t seem to come back from her trauma, Prashant took help of a psychiatrist, who diagnosed her with severe depression. She was given daily pills. The first few months Prashant had his parents to look after Ria, but when Mona showed recovery he sent them back. Her pills were now reduced to alternate days.

Things took a toll when one day Prashant and Mona had a feud fight over an irrelevant matter. Crossed over it Mona drank a whole bottle of wine, against her doctor’s strict prescription. She slept off that day but soon after she started talking to all the furniture’s, utensils even to her jewelries as though they reciprocated to her words in some parallel universe. She drifted from this universe to parallel one. Mona would eagerly wait for Ria to leave for school, after which she would plunge into the parallel universe. Aaji informed Prashant of her activities, but he clearly had no time for this. Things got worse eventually. Mona’s subconscious mind knew of her unusual activities but conversations comforted her. The parallel world was more welcoming. And since she was calm Prashant came into agreement with her state.

Mona threw herself to the bed after Prashant left and tried to figure out what happened that afternoon.

As usual Ria came back from her school and Mona bathed, fed and sung her to sleep. Soon after she went back to the kitchen and meandered in to her parallel world through that invisible door only she knew existed. She must have been there for quite some time because Ria was awake now. She walked to the kitchen and saw her mother in intense conversation. She called out for her to which Mona responded by showing her palm. Ria was impatient, she kept going on ‘Mama Mama’ as a rhyme, and obviously it was fun for her. When she didn’t seem to stop, Mona turned to face her. Ria saw a different Mama in Mona. Her chin was almost touching her chest, and her eyes were wide open filled with rage, the iris sticking to the upper lashes. She took a few steps back. “Mama sorry” was all she could say. When her mother didn’t respond to those words, to which she would always respond, Ria made a run for the door frightened. Mona leaped for her and grabbed her in time. Within a few minutes, Ria was bound to the chair by her mother’s dupatta and soon gagged to silent her pleas. Mona went back to the kitchen mechanically, as if she had kept someone waiting.

After an hour when Ria’s tears dried, she went in a deep slumber on the chair, helpless. A few minutes later Mona too exhausted sunk on the sofa. She saw Ria, but the parallel universe had made her forgetful of her own daughter. She woke up to see Ria in her maid Aaji’s arms, it is then her mind slipped into the real world.

The reality felt like an arrow which just made a clean hole in her heart and crossed over. Mona sat awake on her bed now. She looked around and it was black. She reached for the side table lamp, and once the light flooded the room she broke down into tears, tears which showed no signs of stopping. She was shamefaced, fearing to remove her palms from her face even to an empty room as though every single article in that room was watching her. How could she? Ria was the greatest blessing to her in this world. She wanted to open that door and run to hug her, but will she hug her back? She wanted to tell Prashant everything, but why would he believe her?

Guilt started consuming her, as she couldn’t ignore Ria’s crying face dancing in front of her eyes. She started looking for a sharp object convinced that she is unworthy of life. Her hand came across a Swiss knife in one of the drawers; she flipped the sharpest of all, because she wanted to feel the pain….Yuhh…a sharp stream of blood came out from her wrist…! She was feeling the pain very calmly…her eyes started flickering and by chance it I fall on the photo frame where Ria was smiling in the photo…she crawled ear the frame…tried to touch her for the last time…she tried to hug her….kiss her…feed her…dress her….take her on her lap…but she could not…she hands fall down from the table where the photo frame was kept…she fell down on the floor and lost her last breath, while closing her eyes….


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