A moment of bliss

The loud cackling, aiming for each other’s faces to throw the banana peel. That’s how we four siblings spent every night before going to bed. We lived in a house with just one room and a tiny little place called a Kitchen. It was an independent house, there were no houses above or below us. At times we siblings felt that we lived in a mansion.

I was the third among my siblings; my younger brother was a riot and a bully. He had a soft toy, a teddy bear which I used to adore, and I was envious of him having it. My parents bought it for him since then he’s never parted with it once. We had fought over it all the time. Our house was always the noisy one sometimes our neighbours would knock at our door asking us to maintain silence. There was noise indeed, but it was never a cacophony.

The next morning, I got ready to go to school. It was a bit surprising as there was complete silence because at this hour of the day, our house was a war zone. I saw my mother preparing my lunch box, I went up to her and asked, “Where’s everyone?” My mother looked at me with droopy eyes and said that all my three siblings had fallen ill, and they would not go to school. All hell broke loose. I was damned. I bawled and yelled and threw a fit, but my mother didn’t pay a heed. I was forced to go to school while they’d be together, and I would have to miss all the fun.

I dragged myself to school. I’ve never liked to go to school alone, my siblings were a part of me even though we were always for each other’s throat. Luckily, that day two teachers were absent, hence, I was able to leave school a bit early. As I was walking from school towards my house, I saw a cloud of smoke embracing me. My eyes started burning; I could barely keep my eyes open, but I continued to walk home.

There were hundreds of people outside my house and the continuous siren made me dizzy. A bright yellow caution tape was stuck outside my house. What I saw blew my mind completely, the house which I left in the morning was now charred, and what laid there were only debris. My eyes were still filled with smoke, and tears just cascading. I reached my hand to tear off the caution tape when suddenly, I felt a heavy weight on my shoulder. I shoved my elbow on the person’s stomach and entered my house. Everything was gone, ashes all around me. I looked for my family – my mother, my father, my siblings – no one was there. The house was finally silent. My eyes fell on something, I went towards it. I saw my brother’s favourite teddy bear. It was untouched, unharmed. I held it tight, and I felt an instant moment of bliss. I squeezed the teddy bear tightly and put my head between my trembling legs.

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