A Forlorn Hope

Chapter - 5

Waking up in the middle of the night to faint noises outside your door and the faint smell of smoke is definitely not a good feeling.

And I was experiencing exactly that when, as soon as I opened my locked door, Rob's hand appeared out of no where and before I knew what was happening he was dragging me through the hallway, while I was half running to cope up with him.

"There's fire in the palace. I didn't know whether it was a wide spread one or not, but couldn't leave you alone in that room when I suppose its in a room under yours," Rob informed.

We entered a big room painted in rich light cream.  As soon as I entered, I spotted a tense Crail standing in the center talking to man dressed in all black. The man then hurriedly left the room and Crail looked down at the little girl standing by his side, clutching his leg and rubbing her eyes, only half awake. It was the little  adorable girl whom I saw in the garden the other day.

"Is the fire under control now?' I heard myself speak.

"Fire? FIRE! Cray! Is there a fire here?" I saw the girl's eyes widen in alarm as her sleep was long forgotten. Her expressions turned to the one of pure fright as she gazed at Crail through her wide eyes.

Her reaction was definitely not a normal one, as far as I knew, children her age definitely didn't react like that to the news of a fire. No, there had to be something more, I was sure.

Crail looked ashen and deeply agonized for a second as he looked back at the girl. But soon he rearranged his expressions in the split of a second, scooped her in his arms and in a very gentle yet firm voice murmured to her, "Its alright, Christy, you will be fine, I promise."  It seemed as if that single sentence of his hid a very deep secret and a promise.

Then without a word he left the room asking Rob to look after the girl until he came back, but not before shooting me a dark and chilling glare which was enough to freeze me to my place.

I don't remember seeing him this much murderous ever.

It were Christy's next words which shocked me to the core.

"But.. the last time... mommy and daddy said I'll be fine, they... died... " 

Nothing could have prepared me for those words of her. I didn't know her, and those words of her shouldn't have shocked me so much, but seeing that little girl choking, with tears streaming down her pretty face, looking so lost...

I couldn't control myself, I ran and took her in my arms, held her tight to my chest and tried not to cry myself.

She flinched from my touch, looking up at me with her questioning blue eyes, trying to get away from a stranger, her earlier sorrow somewhat forgotten.

"You know, Christy, my mommy and daddy are dead too." The truth spilled from my mouth unbidden.

This seemed to catch her interest. I didn't know what I was doing, I just wanted to stop her tears, just wanted to help her as much as I could, to bring her back from the world of fear, hurt and unending pain. No, she didn't deserve this, no one her age deserved it - with her long life ahead being tainted by this sense of loosing her loved ones,  it was worse for her because for her it was her parents.

Looking at her had opened a long healed hole in my heart - as healed the hole could be - the hole caused by the death of my parents. But it had never been so difficult for me, because I didn't know my parents - they had died when I was one, or so I'm told.  Though, she had definitely brought back the memories of the times, sitting alone,  I had wondered how my parents would have been, how would have my life been, had they been alive or how much did I look like my mother. My uncle and aunt often told that I looked like my mother, that my green eyes were just like hers.. But only I knew how it felt  not to know how much exactly did my eyes look like her.

Lost in my thoughts, I didn't see that Christy's tears had momentarily stopped as she looked at the curious strange girl who had held her or should I say restrained her in her arms.

"U know, Christy, I'm sure your mommy didn't like to see you crying, right?" 

She studied me for a moment before I got her hesitant nod.

"She's seeing you from the sky right now, you know? Do you want her to see you crying?"

She shook her head. And then after thinking something, asked me, "If I tell her something right now, , will she listen?"

I didn't know what she wanted to do, but I nodded my head.

"Mommy," little Christy began, "I miss you.. a lot... Why did you go away? Why did you leave me daddy? I miss you mommy-daddy.. especially during the Parent Teacher Meeting at school. Everyone asks me where are my mommy and daddy.. and I ... I don't know what to tell them, mommy. But you know what mommy? Cray and grandma always buy me lots of chocolates and ice- creams when they come to attend the meeting. And that too, chocolate chips ice-cream, my favourite ! But you already know that's my favorite don't you, mommy?"

And at the end of her 'talk' Christy looked a little better, her tears had stopped and there was no sign of that pain on her face. I didn't know if it was talking about  ice-cream that had made her a bit better, had distracted her or it was her belief that her mother had actaully heard her that had made her feel better. But whatever it was, it had worked and she clearly was looking better now,

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Crail, he had returned, I don't know when, and was standing by the door, looking at Christy with a puzzled expression on his face, which soon turned to something else when he looked at me.

And as I gazed back into his deep blue eyes, I think I saw a mixture of surprise and wonder, but then I could be wrong.

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