Tuesday 10 August 2021

Shyna Gupta, ShortStory 2021 Longlist

REVENGE FOR BLOOD

Each year the cold melts away with a promise of spring that marks new beginnings but there’s no surety that it won’t leave any imprints behind.

Some yonks’ ago in East Anglia , the weather warmed up to mark the fresh breeze of young love between Daniel and Diana, the two grads starting the real journey called Life unaware of the storms waiting for them to pass through .And As the various stages of years that showed they were deeply into the love belt where one would have been just a soulless being without the other . But there was one more soul who’d Daniel be incomplete without, and it was, his Dearest Father Dan..

But as life doesn’t promise us an infinite presence with our loved one’s, so was the life of the old man who was lying on the death bed folding hands to the almighty, thanking his family for the wonderful life and went for his divine abode that very day..

Months passed by and Daniel was still not over with the agony he had been traumatized with . But as the promise of spring breaks the cold ice, glad tidings occurred and Daniel and Diana decided to get married. Though the path had not been smooth for them as Diana’s mother was against their marriage and the gullible father had to follow his wife’s footprints because Daniel came from a position of inferior status.

But the barrier was too late to broke the two off as Diana was carrying Daniel’s offspring and Diana’s mother had to agree so as to sustain the family’s pride and the two happily got hitched.

A month passed after the big day and they were excited to plan their child’s arrival with the animal paints tinting the skin of the wall, the wardrobe filled with tiny twig clothes and pre planned ceremonies to be booked for the year.

Where Diana’s mother had agreed , the flames of bitterness had still not blown away and she decided to plot something that would break their relationship into repented pieces . Daniel thought the baby was the reincarnation of his father , so the lady threw the chip on the shoulder by saying that the birth would mark an inauspicious omen upon Diana and had called a fake pandit for a pit of fall in those chalked out words and forced her to get an abortion. Poor Diana being stuck on the very note followed her mother’s path.


The havoc created and the house caught the vibes of venomous feelings after the big shock that hit Daniel hard and the pungent of blistering and roaring revenge in him was burning inside like that of a scorching sun,

As the night approached, the sun set and the house became as cold as the glacier , where the quakes were just waiting to collapse the whole mansion into nothing but just leftover bricks , broken pieces of antique statues and just the dust to be cleaned by the janitor the next day.


Daniel wanted to make a revengeful plan full with a rancorous strategy so before throwing the big shot he rather began by apologizing for the preceding day and having put a knife at his in-laws face, Diana’s mother cried heavily and apologized for committing such a sin ,but who knew this was not the closure but rather the beginning of dreadful nights to come and the unraveled truth that Diana hided ,she kept the child safe inside her womb.

But The rage was boiling inside of Daniel like the fire that had just been ignited as he was unaware of Diana’s secret.

The mystery further resolves around the big sin which eventually took Diana’s parents lives….


On a stone cold morning when the combat had settled of the house but not in the heart of Diana’s mother, she again tried to plot a strategy of painting Daniel as a cheater husband, but it was too late as the father heard her through the door and got aware of her vicious acts and wrote a letter to Diana describing her mother’s ill deeds and kept it safe with him. He went straight up to his ruthless partner and warned her to back off but the argument just blustered and she coerce the man by putting a knife at him meanwhile Daniel heard everything outside the room and his blood just ran cold and came in to save the father , the volcano had erupted ,she panicked and thought would be the best way to separate her from Diana as she would paint him as the killer of her father and get away with it. And as the knife turned to Daniel the father started crying for help as he lost his inhaler under the bed and had difficulty moving from the wheelchair, the fight grew more vehement and aggressive as Daniel had clasp the mother’s fist saving from the brutal attack she would cause to one of them and as she approached towards Daniel , the knife got turned towards the lady dispatching her ferociously through the stomach. On the other hand the father was distressing for help and Daniel got his pump but the man was left with just a jiff of his breathes and gave Daniel the letter to be shown to Diana as a proof of her barbarous mother. Seeing the blood on his clothes and both of them dead left a flabbergasted impact on Daniel, he didn’t want Diana to know the truth of her mother as this would leave a deep gash on her but before he could justify himself Diana came in and was horrified by the scenario getting the betrayal of her eyes, she called the police and Daniel got caught in crushing the letter tightly in his fist.. And this event came as a watershed in each of their lives..

As the seasons changed , Daniel got out of the joint as his innocence was proven in self-defense and got the breeze of free life but it wasn’t until he’d find Diana. He went miles in search for her and couldn’t find the destination , he didn’t throw in the towel and went on his journey and fortunately one fine day someone acquainted him with a nearby village where Diana worked in the plantation. He decided to pay her the visit at night . When he knocked and got the glance of Diana it was like the renaissance of their latent love and the birth of a new one when he saw a baby running to the door. Their eyes met with the same jejune intimacy they had years ago and Daniel insisted on coming in but that dreadful night was unforgettable and she was too rigid to pay a single ear to him. Daniel had the hint that words and tears won’t break down Diana so he took out the compressed brown letter and showed it to Diana , she started whimpering as she went through the note written by her father , stared at Daniel and clutched him into her arms apologizing for everything. They furbished up their relation and Diana revealed the secret she was hiding for the past four years and handed Daniel his legacy…..


“In order to save our children of the fears we possess we end up staking their whole life”.

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