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A Childhood Nightmare
#WritcoStoryPrompt39
Nightmares are important.
The way you handle them tells you more about yourself than dreams.
This is something she believed in too.
Being an 8 year old girl in a family of four couldn't be more troublesome for her. She had always had a love-hate relationship with her brother, who was 11 years older.
What they repeatedly had was more than just sibling squabbles. Falsely accusing her of things that were sure to hurt their parents, tell-taling everything, eavesdropping on her just to gather some secrets to blurt out to the world. The "crimes" committed by her brother against her saw no end.
Was it normal?
He resembled their parents very much, but she didn't. She was the only brown skinned in a family of wheat-complexioned people. But did that take away the fact that she was their blood? Their daughter.
The constant fear of hurting her parents was just too much. She had been having a dream that her parents chose their son over her. The acts of her conniving brother made her feel like that dream was a nightmare. Her parents never acted on her brother's accusations against her, but she could always see some gloom in their eyes as a result.
The gloom which said that she was a mistake they had committed. It took time for her to realise that the gloom in their eyes was guilt.
This constant battle within and without kept eating away her childhood. Two more years had passed. Her brother had completed Bachelors and was going abroad for an MBA.
She felt relieved. She was preparing herself to correct the wrongdoing when he leaves. She would prove to her parents what a great daughter she was. She looked different, but she was their's no less. She would put an end to her nightmare.
The day had come. His flight was booked for 11 am and he had to leave by 6 in the morning. He hugged their parents, kissed mom goodbye and turned towards her.
"I wish we had a better relationship", he said.
"But then what else do you expect from an 11 year old who had just lost his beloved sister and is asked to accept an outsider as her replacement?"
© Ishita Nigam Garg
Nightmares are important.
The way you handle them tells you more about yourself than dreams.
This is something she believed in too.
Being an 8 year old girl in a family of four couldn't be more troublesome for her. She had always had a love-hate relationship with her brother, who was 11 years older.
What they repeatedly had was more than just sibling squabbles. Falsely accusing her of things that were sure to hurt their parents, tell-taling everything, eavesdropping on her just to gather some secrets to blurt out to the world. The "crimes" committed by her brother against her saw no end.
Was it normal?
He resembled their parents very much, but she didn't. She was the only brown skinned in a family of wheat-complexioned people. But did that take away the fact that she was their blood? Their daughter.
The constant fear of hurting her parents was just too much. She had been having a dream that her parents chose their son over her. The acts of her conniving brother made her feel like that dream was a nightmare. Her parents never acted on her brother's accusations against her, but she could always see some gloom in their eyes as a result.
The gloom which said that she was a mistake they had committed. It took time for her to realise that the gloom in their eyes was guilt.
This constant battle within and without kept eating away her childhood. Two more years had passed. Her brother had completed Bachelors and was going abroad for an MBA.
She felt relieved. She was preparing herself to correct the wrongdoing when he leaves. She would prove to her parents what a great daughter she was. She looked different, but she was their's no less. She would put an end to her nightmare.
The day had come. His flight was booked for 11 am and he had to leave by 6 in the morning. He hugged their parents, kissed mom goodbye and turned towards her.
"I wish we had a better relationship", he said.
"But then what else do you expect from an 11 year old who had just lost his beloved sister and is asked to accept an outsider as her replacement?"
© Ishita Nigam Garg
