"Crys! I love you. Remember that I love you. I want you to know that."
Someone's voice echoes around in the dark. I am standing in the dark and a single source of light appears ahead of me. I walk towards the source.
And the light disappears all of a sudden.
It goes pitch dark.
When the light comes back, I see myself standing in a stranded pavement of a city. The skyline of the buildings are hovering over me from behind.
The sea is spread ahead of me.
There are small and medium shacks to the left and the right.
I look down at my feet and I see that I have no shoes on. My feet are deep in the sand.
It looks like a beach I have been to. As I think of it, I hear the laugh of a child echoing behind me. I try to recall. This place looks like a place, I am well aware of. I try to concentrate, to think and to understand where am I? And suddenly,
A voice calls.
"Mom..."
A slow whisper.
My heart skips a beat listening to the voice. My child. My baby. My daughter is here. But where is she?
I turn around and look in every direction to see her.
I notice someone watching me from the far end. A male. He is hiding behind a broken boat. Crouched. I see his balding head and the moonlight shimmering over it.
And he is now in front of me. He doesn't look like a good human. In fact, he is not human at all. I look into his eyes. Those red eyes reflecting the thirst for blood.
I start running. I keep running.
It goes dark again. I don't stop running. The ground beneath me starts shaking and I fall.
I keep falling and falling.
And he catches me in his arms. My husband. My love.
"Crys! I love you. Remember that I love you. I want you to know that....."
And a bullet hits him straight in his head and he drops down along with me.
I hear an evil laugh. The same man. The same man with the balding head and those red haunting eyes was standing a few steps away with a gun in his hand.
His laughter fills the darkness.
And I scream as my husband stops breathing. I scream and I do not stop.
I wake up sweating all over and I realize it was a dream.
But a dream which might come true...
••
I stand there with my eyes open carefully watching every move of my daughter. The grace with which she was dancing. It was her rehearsal to the upcoming show. I look at her with happy tears in my eyes. I feel so proud. I am so proud to be her mother.
Bharatanatyam - a dance of south India. Something which doesn't belong to our religion of Christianity. But my daughter has excelled in it.
I never taught her to follow one religion or told her to be a true devotee to either Jesus or any other Gods.
I have taught her how to be a good human which I am sure she is.
She stands there still with her left leg crossed over the other and in the air and her hands perfectly aligned for the "Nataraja mudra". My eyes well up with tears when she comes running towards me down the stage -
"How was it Mom?," She asks me with a slight concern on her face. I have been her worst critic. Because I am her teacher.
"It was the best," I say tearing up.
She hugs me tight out of happiness.
Dance had been my life. Without which, I would have been nothing but a dead rock. I want my daughter to know how much it means to me. And I know that she knows. Realizing that your kid has the same love and passion for what you think is your life, is an awesome feeling.
"Go get dressed now," I say handing her the Pattu saree which she is supposed to wear as the costume for the dance.
She takes it and walks towards the dressing room. As I watch her walk away, I realize how much she has grown into a woman and how much I love my daughter.
••••
"Mom. I am scared. Will I do alright?," my daughter worriedly enquired.
"Oh dear. You will be wonderful and I know you can do it. I assure you I will be watching you all the time. And as long as I am watching, nothing wrong can happen. If you ever feel nervous on that stage again, even in your future, remember that Mom is watching you. Nothing can come your way when I am there," I say reassuringly.
"Thank you Mom," She says just as I said to my Mom when she said the same words.
I go backstage and watch my daughter getting on the stage. She stands with her back to the audience in mudra. The curtains pull up.
And there she is, dancing like the Lord Shiva, himself.
Suddenly, the light goes off on the stage. The music stops. Everything goes dark for a moment.
"Mom!!!", I hear my daughter screaming.
"Jo!," I call out her name.
No answers. The audience start chattering.
The light comes back and I see no trace of my daughter.
But I see someone among the audience. Someone I am well aware of. Smiling evilly. And my heart skips.
After a few months....
Still no signs of my daughter. I know it is him who has taken her away from me. I cannot reach him. I just cannot reach him to get my daughter back.
I close my eyes to picture my daughter in my mind. But he appears instead, with his fiery red eyes, his balding head with scars and his disfigured face.
"This is not going to do any good Crys," My husband says sitting beside me. I did not realize that he had been there for a long time, watching me cry over my daughter silently.
I nod.
"The police is not showing any interest anymore. It is like some old news. Thousands of kids get kidnapped in a day. It is one of them for them. I say that we got to do something on our own to find Jo," He says.
I nod again.
"Say something Crys. I know you know something."
I look at him and look down back again.
"For god's sake! Crys! Talk. I cannot take it anymore. Your silence is killing me. What is it? Can you just tell me already?," He yells.
"I cannot," I say patiently.
"You cannot??? You CANNOT? This is what you can help me with, right? Crying over her loss is not helping to get her back. You got to tell me Crys!," He yells again.
Though my husband is right, I cannot help but cry even more at his comment. I cry even more for myself. The guilt stabs me for the thousandth time.
"It is a man," I say finally.
"Who? Do you know him? Did he call you after he kidnapped Jo? How much is he asking for?," Matt asks impatiently.
"No. He did not."
"Then how do you know? Did he send you a letter asking for money or did he contact you in anyway?," Matt asks again.
"No. He did not try to contact me. He never contacted me for anything. I just know it is him. And he doesn't need the money," I say gulping a big lump in my throat.
"What does he want then?," Matt asks now in a serious tone.
"Your life Matt," I say looking at my husband's blue and crystal clear eyes for the first time in months.
••
A/N:
Click on the orange star if you liked it. Thank you for reading. :D Comment too. Xx
This is one of the stories which I discontinued because I really made a major blunder in the plot. So, I just shared it here. :) Hope you like it.
pythagoraswasadouche (08/01)
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