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| Debjani Mukherjee |
The dark night seemed to be in its full demonic incarnation. The rain was roaring down to the earth like an infuriated monster of the celestial world. Randeep slowly removed the cover and his heart cracked into thousand pieces. He was on his regular night patrolling session when he noticed the baby legs peeping out from the jute sack beside the dustbin of the murky lane. He leaned over the lifeless baby girl and started pumping her little heart with his fingers. He blew air into her tiny lungs through mouth. He had no hope of her survival but somehow he couldn’t just give up. He tried once more and to all his surprise the baby cried out.
“God has given her to me” he thought in his mind and after completing the formalities of adoption he brought the baby girl home as a ray of hope in his barren life. Days passed like shifting shadows as Kiya turned into a beautiful girl with milk white skin and grey eyes. But there was a strange thing about her which remained unnoticed initially. Like when the next door dog which used to bark at her fell sick and become mute or when old Mrs Iyer broke her hands just after scolding Kiya for plucking flowers from her garden. But when the mean girl from Kiya’s school got hospitalized instantly after teasing her for being left out by her mean biological parents, things got perturbing for all.
Kiya was now a teenager and things keep happening around her in regular intervals. Speculations were thrashed upon her ruthlessly and she barely had any friend. Being a police officer Randeep sometimes feels the urge to investigate the matter less for the others but more for his own daughter who was seen with mistrust every now and then. But he couldn’t just question his little girl just because superstitious were whirling people’s mind. Kiya was a very loving and well behaved girl so accusing her for accidents happening to others was just ridiculous. But one day when Mr Trivedi the middle aged man form next door was found dead mysteriously in his home, a mist of fear engulfed Randeep. He knew the constant sound of coughing of that chain smoker used to irritate Kiya like anything. Though hesitantly but he realized it was time to ask his daughter few questions. He went to his daughter’s room but when he gazed at her beautiful face brimming with innocence, he hated himself for thinking that she could ever cause any harm to anyone. He was about to leave in self-despair when Kiya called him from behind. “Do you want to ask anything Daddy?” she smoothed over with her honey glazed voice. Overcoming a brief hesitation Randeep went closer to his daughter and kissing her forehead he asked “is there anything you would like to tell me Kiya? Anything which you might have done in spite of knowing it was wrong?” Kiya smiled at her father and replied “no daddy I haven’t done anything which I shouldn’t have, but if you are asking me about the man from the next door then let me tell you, he used to piss me off with his constant rattling coughs so I just made him stop.” A chill ran through Randeep’s body as he looked at his daughter with chocking horror. Kiya was still smiling but it wasn’t innocent anymore.
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