The door creaked open, a musty, rotten odour crept into his nose. The
house was dead silence except for the creaks and moans that would
come and go occasionally.

Black and brown mold can be seen on the roof, evidence of rain seeping through. He quietly entered the dark living room.

Windows covered with grime and dirt, the striking
afternoon sunlight struggled to penetrate the darkness in a thin thread of rays.

His house was in shambles, it felt like no one had been in that house
for years, but the more pressing matter for him was finding his
mother.

He searched through the house, the house had a large living
room, and with it a smaller space for dining with a kitchen attached to
it. The house design was elegant in a minimalist sort of way, yet still
echoed the natural world outside the house.

He searched around the house calling for his mother but no one
replied, just as he was looking around he heard muffled breathing
coming from the master bedroom and found his mother sleeping in
her bed, a sigh of relief passed through him as he saw her.

But there was something odd about her, the body felt like it had been
lifeless for some time, it looked like there was nothing but bone to her
cheeks and hair seemed like they hadn't been washed in years if it was
not for the wheezing and breathing that was happening he would have
thought that it was a dead body.

He reluctantly drew his hand forward to make his presence notice to
his mother.

He put his hand on his mother's shoulder and suddenly
with a jerking motion his mother turned and he could see the gazinghopelessness in those white eyes like they felt pity for him and a
moment it felt like she was trying to whisper something to him.



"Ishaan"

"Ishaan"

"ISHAAN!” his mother said in a worried tone.

Suddenly it felt like he woke up from a nightmare when his mother
called his name and for a moment Ishaan was startled seeing his
mom's face again because it didn't look like it looked a minute ago. It
looked like a familiar face that he saw in his childhood all young and
familiar, filled with glow, and now that he looked clearly, she was not
as skinny as she would have seemed a moment ago.

She said again “Is it you Ishaan, how did you, when did you get
here?” a concerned look appearing on her face.

Ishaan was still very confused but he tried to shrug off his initial
impression as something his mind made up due to his stress and long
journey because he could see that she was well.

“I came to see you maa, I thought you were unwell, why haven’t you
been calling me? I was so worried about you”, he said hurriedly in a
single breath.
“The phone is broken and the new medicines just make me sleep all
day long, so I have not been able to get it fixed”.

“But you could have just asked some neighbor to call auntie or me,
we would have come to you, what if you had to call someone in an
emergency”.

He was surprised by how his mother said that in a nonchalant tone. But he was relieved seeing his mother alive and well.

“Speaking of your auntie, you have gotten so pale and skinny, haven't
my sister been feeding you properly, where is she, I will scold her,
where is she? Not properly feeding my son”. His mother started to
look behind him.

“Maa auntie is not here I came alone here to see you”, Ishaan said
nervously. He knew his mother would get angry when she would get
to know how he had run away from home at night to see her. But to
his surprise his mother didn’t get angry at all, she only said that he
shouldn’t do such things and how his auntie would be so worried
about him.

“Come with me, let me make something, you must be hungry after
such a long ride”, his mother said getting out her bed. She was
wearing the same old crème colored dress he had seen her growing up
in, her almond brown hair waving at the end. Her face so welcoming
and warm to everyone and she didn’t look a day older since he saw
her last.

“Come we will have lunch together and then I will inform your aunt
that you came here ok,” she said in a sweet and assuring tone.

The story continues
© rachitsingh1997