As mothers’ day is just around the corner and people are posting on how great their mothers are or how lucky they are to have them, I have something that will take most of my readers by shock. A story.
It all started that day when she was merely 18 months old. The flashes from that day still fresh in her memory. Hot, red flames rising from ground of her bedroom and all her father said, ‘Baby! Go to your granny, RUN.’ Without much delay, she did as her father told her. She ran towards her granny in the kitchen and hugged her. Her sobbing self didn’t know what was happening. She didn’t realize then that she won’t be seeing her mother EVER. She lost her mother to the engulfed fire in the bedroom. She grew up just fine. With other people in the family to love her and treat her as a princess, she never missed her mother. Until when she was 11.
It was the same, regular night as everyday. Her father came home from work, they both had dinner and went away for a drive. It was during the drive that her father asked her if he could get her a new mom. Until then, she had known her paternal aunt as her mother. She was taken aback and confused. She felt cheated. Her father told her that the next day they would be visiting a friend. ‘she is very nice, you will like her’ said her father to her. She didn’t want to meet, she didn’t want to like her. But she was only 11, what else she could do. Things fell in place for her father and he got married to this wonderful woman. She was happy because of 3 reasons. 1. That her father will not have to spend a lifetime alone. 2. That this woman would now be her mother and 3. That she got an elder sister (the girl was the daughter of her new mother).
Things were going fine for her. She never hated her step mom or step sister. Her step mom wasn’t as evil as portrayed otherwise. There was only one thing that bothered her. How did her mother die? The fire from her memory was still fresh. She had been asking her aunt whom she was extremely close to about her mother’s death. On not getting a closure, she had started forming assumption in her mind. She was sure that it wasn’t a natural death. She had heard people from her neighborhood, talking about how nice her mother was and how troubled she felt in her marriage. This led to a huge fight in her mind. Was it an accident, a suicide or a murder. To believe it was an accident and that her father was trying to save her from the fire was an easy option out for the little girl. But she wasn’t the one to go for easy way out. The other 2 options just made things worse for her. In any of the 2 case, her either parent was to be blamed for the hollowness that was left behind in her heart by her mother’s death.
She often spoke to stars thinking her mother was watching. She cried, thanked and smiled at them. She had no one else to share what resided in her heart. She gradually started feeling let down on not getting a response. How stupid of her to expect response from stars. So she stopped talking and picked up her pen and wrote her heart out. Her outlook towards life and world had changed when she graduated and started working to lead an independent life. She didn’t look back and moved on to have a good future.
But every year on mother’s day, when she sees people praising their mother for being the best cook, the best friend or the best person, she secretly envies them for not being able to keep up with it. She still didn’t get her closure on that topic but she is happy and content with herself for being the woman she grew into.