UNTOLD
THE next morning Joe woke up not hearing his alarm, but with the sunlight falling on his face. He had more sleep than usual and it was very peaceful too. He called out for Lisa twice. But there was no answer. Lisa is not up yet??!!!He was surprised. He almost got off the bed when he saw a note on the side table written in red ink. It was Lisa's note.
Going to Holy Mass. Will be back soon. Make breakfast plzzz :)
"She called me here to make breakfast?” Joe said to himself. He did his morning chores and walked to the kitchen. There was nothing like he feared. There was only a bundle of bread and some eggs.
Joe had only finished making the omelettes when the front door opened and Lisa stepped inside. He could see her from the kitchen.
"Couldn’t you use the car Lisa?”
“I usually walk”
“That long?” asked Joe with his mouth wide open.
“No, no. There is a short cut through the forest. Maximum 15 minutes’ walk to the church. "
“Shortcut? Good. Breakfast is ready, by the way. "
“Oh, you saw that. Nice, I was afraid you might not see it. I’ll change and come. 5 minutes. "
“You still go to church every day or is there something special today?” Joe asked as they sat down for the breakfast at the small dining table
“I still try to go to Holy Mass everyday like old times.” It was evident that she was proud that she had not distanced herself from religion, from the way she said it
“That’s wonderful. So what's the plan? Is the time ripe yet? Are you going to tell me something? I think I have been in dark long enough”
A sorrow came upon Lisa’s face when Joe said it. Joe assumed that it was something unpleasant that she had to share with him and that is why she is hesitating to speak about it.
“Yeah, it’s time that I told you everything. Finish the breakfast. We'll talk outside. "
Lisa left the table saying this. That went rather harsher than Joe wanted.
Joe opened the front door and found Lisa sitting on the metal chair outside the house. He went and beside her. Her face was still sad. He took a minute to look at the villa where he spent last night. As it had been dark when they arrived there, he couldn’t get a good look. It was a single storied building made with bright red unplaster interlock bricks. It had a lot of white painted windows. Medium size. It seemed as if the space around the villa was once a beautiful garden. Clearly the garden lost its grandeur due to lack of care. Still, there were remnants of the old garden here and there.
“Joe, I want you to promise me that what I am going to tell you now will stay between us.”
Joe felt that the situation was more serious than he anticipated... “You can trust me Lisa. It will stay between us. "
“I’ll start from the convocation day. That day I had a feeling that you would tell what I craved to hear from you. That's why when I saw you moving away from your parents, I also moved away from my parents. But when you didn't come I was disappointed because I had seen you staring at me. I didn't know about the Shruthi then.
But I saw you standing in the corridor. I pretended to not have seen you, in that rage. We were leaving. I saw you flying that paper rocket through the rear view mirror. I was sure that it had something for me. So I lied to parents that I left my phone at the college. Pretending to go to the college, I went and picked up the paper. I looked for you, but you weren't there and I didn't have the time to wait. But my eyes were filled tears of joy. I was so happy. I wanted to call you initially. But then I thought I should wait do that you don't feel that I was desperate for you"
A naughty smile was on Joe's face when Lisa said that. She continued. "Few days passed, I was alone in my house. My parents were away on a work trip. I thought I would call you. Just as I took the phone in my hand, I got a call from an unknown number. It said..... It said........"
Tears started flowing from Lisa's eyes. This time it was not tears of joy. There was a spark in Joe's mind about what she was about to say.
Lisa wiped the tears with her hand and continued with tears flowing eyes and a shivering voice.
"It was a police officer. He.... He wanted me to identify two dead bodies. He said that he got my number from their phone. He asked me to reach as soon as possible. It was very short, like he was not telling me everything. I don't know how I got the strength to get to the hospital. The officer took me to the mortuary. There, covered in white cloth I found... My parents. . My Papa and Mamma"
Lisa broke into tears again. Joe didn't know what to tell her. How to pacify her? But he was a good listener, allowing Lisa to share her grievances with him.
“Oh shit. I'm sorry Lisa, I didn't know. I always inquired about you, but this news never reached me. I’m sorry.
“That’s because I didn't spread that news much. I didn't want to talk to people about it. Still, some of my friends came to know. I told them not to spread it because I was sick of hearing condolences at the funeral.
The world I lived in just collapsed in front of me. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. My parents were my life. They were my world. I was happy with the life I had. I spent days alone in my home not being able to think of a life without Papa and Mamma.
Days passed, I got out of the house only to buy supplies. I confined myself to the four walls of the compound. Life was full of emptiness. Nothing interested me. Neither TV nor books. I couldn’t handle social networking anymore, so I deactivated both Facebook and WhatsApp. I realized that I had no life without my parents. Those days I realized how precious parents are. Like it’s said you don't realize the value of something until the day comes when you don't have it.
I thought I should call you, but I couldn't get myself to do it. Something kept me from doing it. I still don't know what that was that pulled me back.
It was when life was dragging like that something happened completely out of the blue. I was arranging the books and other stuff in their shelf and I found an album that I had never ever seen in my life. It was a small one with only a few photos. You know, like the ones we get for cheap. I first thought it was their honeymoon photos. All of the photos had dad and mom in their youth posing for photos from different angles with the same house in the background"
"And that’s how you came to know about this house? "
"Exactly. You took that right out of my mouth... That is how I came to know about this house.
“Lisa paused for a moment. She took out her handkerchief and wiped out all the tears left in her eyes and moved her shiny, silky hair to the back of her ears. This reminded Joe that Lisa always loved to leave her hair free than using hairpins or something else to keep her hair unmoved. Back in college, this earned her a lot of scolding from the teachers, which was the only opportunity teachers got to scold her.
“Well, go on then"
"So impatient?”
“Nobody likes a break in a narrative.”
“Okay then. Come with me “