The Twist

She was going home after 5 years. It was just five days ago, she was talking to her mother on phone and today she came to know they all died. Her mother, father and two younger siblings all turned into smoke in the road accident. They were waiting for her to come back for ages but she kept avoiding. Dshriti Gorma, a fine lady in her mid-twenties, originally from Gangtok. As a teen, she had started photography as a hobby to capture the unique movies, nature had stored in its infinitely long reel, to her own man-made chips. The hobby took her to Kolkata. She was now a paparazzi and clicked photos of beautiful faces and handsome bodies with the meanest heart while nature’s film went on in her home town without her. Now that fate had knocked her off, she was compelled to return to her childhood, her only console.

The journey back home was not easy. All those familiar places with steep roads, houses that descended down, lowly hanging clouds and pleasant breezes did not bring nostalgia but guilt. She neglected her conscience and followed her greed. Her hobby lost its thrill, she lost her passion. Finally, the cab stops in front of her house, yet she feels lost. Numbness grips her and she shivers as if buried foot deep in snow. One, two, three, four... she remembered the tiles lying on the ground across the yard. She used to count them every time she went out or came home, as a kid. Beyond the walk way, the garden still had several small bushes, the sal tree under which stood her mother.

She stops abruptly. How can it be? Her mother was dead. Yet, the lady looked just like her mother, the same way as her mother stood waiting for her to come back home from school.

“Dshriti! You are finally home my dear.” Her mother came running towards her, hugging her sobbing loudly.

“M... M.. Mother you are alive!” she stammered.

“Of course I am. But your wait almost killed me. Come inside dear come, oh if your father hears of about your arrival.” Her mother took her inside through the neatly kept garden. It was just as she remembered. But how is this possible? The newspaper said there was an accident and the police confirmed. Yet she was standing in front of her family who hugged her and rejoiced. Her head was suddenly bursting. And then it came to her. They lied. They all lied just to bring her back, to her home. The atmosphere changed. The numbness went away. She laughed and chatted with her family. Just then a man came in through the door. He had a bag in hand. It was her bag and he was the cab driver.

“You left this in the cab, Madam” he murmured looking around strangely.

"Oh, Thanks. How much do I need to pay you?" Dshriti asked.

"That would be 66 rupees Madam". Dshriti pulls out her wallet.

"Er.. wait. I don't have change. Father, can you lend me some change?" Dshriti looked around to her father who was reading the newspaper and ignored her.

"Father?" Dshriti called again.

"Mother?". No avail

"Madam?" the cabbie said softly. "Whom are you talking to?"

“Can't you see them?” she asked fear gripping her

“Er... whom?”

“My family”

“Yes, madam. I'll go now” and he leaves without taking his fare. Dshriti calls him out but he merely waves and walks away.

Suddenly things start to blur, her vision obscures as if time is dilating. Her family starts moving around her without giving her a second look. They were moving around fast while she remained stationary. It felt like as if a movie has been fast forwarded. And then they all were leaving

the house. Going out somewhere maybe. But nobody tells her. Dshriti feels a mixture of confusion, fear, and madness closing on her.

“Mother?” she calls again. No response.

“Father?” Still no response.

One by one they left the house. She followed them to the door. She glanced at the digital clock at the door. It said 10:45 am of April 5. Her family is out of the house. her siblings making way towards the gate through the tiled walkway. She too gets out of the door before her mother locks it. Then it hits her.

5th April happened 5 days back. It was the day on which they died, while she was in her studio in Kolkata. Maybe God was doing this, giving her a second chance to change things. She has to stop them. This is her only chance. Too late they were already in the car.

“STOP” she yelled, “MOTHER, PLEASE STOP. FATHER NO.” But he hits the accelerator and they were off. She runs to the cab which was still there in the front road. She throws a thousand bucks at the driver and asks him to follow her parent's car. She yelled at the cabbie to drive faster and giving him directions furiously. They were now on the very road the accident was supposed to take place.

Suddenly the car in front of her jerked, going zigzag over the road and then the car hits the tree with a crash. The tree gives it away and the car further slides down the valley and explodes. “NOOO” she screams. But it was useless fate had done it, her second chance gone. The cabbie stops the car and Dshriti rushes out. She starts crying and howling. In the end, she faints in depression.

She is woken up by the cab driver. She sits up and looks around. She was still the accident spot, but it was dusk. There were no remains of the explosion. The cab driver looks at her worriedly. She bursts in to tears and tells everything to him. He consoles her and takes her back to the house. The same garden but it was unkempt and the door was locked. Nothing made sense. Had she really traveled in time?

“You did not see your family, but the memory you had of them. You never went inside the house and sat under the sal tree the entire day. All of sudden you started shouting for them to stop, but all the time you were just imagining what would have happened when they died.” She cried as he explained.

***

Six months later....

“Didi you are the most beautiful bride, Sikkim has ever seen.” Her sister stated proudly while the rest of her family stood around. Six months back her family died. Six months back she came back to her home and went through the most confusing day that changed her life. Six months back she met Kaach Serpa her husband to be. He was the very cab driver who saw her going through the madness. All these days she could see her family moving around with her. It was strange at first, knowing they were dead and yet imagining them so vividly. But Kaach helped her. Told her it's not her madness but the unsaid love for her family which she kept inside her for five years.

And now she is used to them. So is he to her schizophrenia, but loves her. She loves him too.