Skip to main content
Srishti-2022   >>  Short Story - English   >>  When Great Trees Fall

Remya Odan Valappil

Oracle India Pvt Ltd

When Great Trees Fall

Little Emma was waiting eagerly for her daddy to get home from work. "Mummy", when will daddy come home? Why is he so late?", complained Emma. Sally was a skinny woman, the one who always had mood swings and never looked happy. Emma's voice, her playful and happy nature never made sally gleeful. She was always lost in deep thoughts. Often, her cooked food turned out bland and distasteful. Pots and pans in the kitchen remained untidy all through the day. Emma always wondered why her mummy was sad and depressed.

The doorbell rang.  Emma rushed towards the door. "Mummy, daddy has come!! ". Sally woke up from her thoughts and reluctantly walked forward. She unlatched the door and left in a jiffy. It was Emma's 10th birthday that day and was waiting eagerly for her daddy's gifts and cake. James looked emotionless. He handed over a birthday cake to his daughter. "Mummy, please set my table! Let's cut my cake together", Emma shrieked with joy. James took a shower and pulled over his pants and tees. Sally was arranging the table. "Happy birthday my child", said James in a low tone.

Other than the little girl, the house looked deserted and gloomy. The paintings that adorned the walls of the living room, looked ugly to Sally. She knew that secret and she was the only one who knew it! The secret the made her depressed, the one that gave her mood swings. Like the gladiators of the roman empire, she and he mind fought ferociously. At times, she wanted to open up and cry forever. But, she stayed impassable. Nothing in this world made her happy, not even the innocence of her own child.

 "Oh dear God, please take this pain from me", she cried silently in her mind. James walked to the kitchen, looking for something to eat. He found half burnt banana pan cakes piled up on a plate. He banged the door and shouted at Sally. " Bitch, why did you not cook a rotten thing today?? ".

 Emma was used to seeing the maltreatment her mother had to go through. However, she still loved her daddy dearly. As like other days, her mother was beaten and whipped by a cane. At this plight, she ran away to her room and cried bitterly. Fearfully, she closed the door and prayed that her daddy never comes and knock at her door. A beautiful day turned out to be horrific and painstaking in the eyes of Emma. The little girl wept and fell asleep. Sally on the other hand was in pain. She could barely move! He anguish had made her a psychopath. She lit a cigarette and burnt few parts of her body. It was slow burning electrical sensation followed by hours of itchy burning and she enjoyed every bit of it. She was too happy pressing the lit cigarette stubs against her skin. "A lunatic! I am a lunatic, a wretched woman, a cursed one", she repeated this until sleep kissed her that night.
 

****************************
It was October 31st, Halloween day. Everyone in the neighbourhood decorated their houses. The streets were filled with  joy, hooting, clapping, music and laughter. Emma wanted to celebrate Halloween but no one befriended her in the neighbourhood. She had a witch's costume and a mask of it as well. The pumpkins, the spooky lights, the blood dripping costumes all across the street made her fearful. "Mummy, can I go out this time please? ", she pleaded. Emma was the only blood relation Sally had and she never wanted to leave Emma alone anywhere. " Mummy please, just this time? ", begged Emma. "I promise I'll never ask you again", said Emma in her sweetest tone.

"How can I leave my child alone in the street?", Sally contemplated. "No, nothing will happen today. My eyes will not encounter the misfortune event again!!", reassured Sally. It was a narrow street with dark lit pocket roads across them. Sally and Emma lived in the outskirts. Emma looked for her daddy all around the house. "Daddy, where are you ? Mummy and I are going to celebrate Halloween. Please come along with us. ", Emma shouted in a riotous tone.  She had seen her daddy entering the washroom couple of minutes ago. "Where did he disappear?", thought Emma.

In all her excitement, she no longer cared for James. "Mummy, how do I look? Don't I look like a real witch now?", asked Emma. Sally mumbled and held Emma's hands tightly. Emma pulled her mother along and plunged into the crowd. Sally's hands started perspiring, each droplet felt like blood drops. Her temperature rose, she stood still like a statue amidst the crowd. It was a mental arrest. The eddies and whirlpools of her painful memories banged her thoughts. She wanted to cry aloud. For a moment, she turned like a hard rock.

Emma, seeing other kids in Halloween costumes, ganged up with them. Sally, regained her normality and started searching for Emma. "What did I do ? Oh God, what did I do ? Where am I ? Where is my child ? How will I find her? ", she started sobbing. The music and noise around deafened her ears. She knelt down and wept. Regaining her strength, she stood up, pushed people around and started running like crazy. Her eyes looked each nook and corner for Emma.

"Girl, we hate you!", screamed Lilith. She kicked Emma out of her girly gang. Lilith's screeching made Emma disappointed. "Why am I left alone? What is my fault? Why is this curse upon me? Why do I have so many haters?", Emma cursed her destiny. Tears flowed down her mask. She did not want to return home. Aloof is all that she wanted to be. She ran away with all her force, tears rolling down her cheeks, wetting her soft cloaks. She entered a dark passage. Hardly, no lights around, no humans or animals could be seen. Panicked, she marched forward to the unseen.

A sound of pounding and scream struck her ears. Panting and dreadful, she went closer to the sound. A barren barn with old rugs - " The Mystery House", yes she saw that! "Who is crying and what is this unusual sound ?", thought Emma. She closed her mouth with one of her palms and slowly opened the door of the Mystery house - with the greatest pain a child can bear, she saw that dreadful thing!! A man with a joker cladding, masked and armed from a sight behind was ripping apart a little girl! Emma ran towards the man and hit him hard with a wooden log from behind. He left the child, naked and shamelessly threw away his mask. In a heart wrenching pain Emma saw his face and stood still - "Daddy !!!", that great idol collapsed insider her.