THIS IS A WORK OF FICTION. NAMES, CHARACTERS, BUSINESSES, PLACES, EVENTS, LOCALES AND INCIDENTS ARE THE PRODUCTS OF THE AUTHOR’S IMAGINATION. ANY RESEMBLANCE TO ACTUAL PERSONS, LIVING OR DEAD, OR ACTUAL EVENTS IS PURELY COINCIDENTAL.
chapter 5 : Hinterland
Carter came home to Evelyn perched on their balcony, sipping tea. The kitchen was a mess, Evelyn had tried to cook chicken but had lost her patience, midway, ended up burning the chicken, the stove, the crockeries, there was soot of black deposited on the utensils.
There’s so much cleaning to do afterward, Carter sighed. Sometimes he wished Evelyn was as organized as he was. There were times he hoped she put more efforts into chores, the way he did. He did mention it in passing, a few times to her but she didn’t heed them. Now there was no point in bringing up the topic, she was already in a fragile and precarious state.
“Hey Honey. I got you some dinner on my way home. Here, have some dim sum.” Said Carter handing over the packet to Evelyn.
Evelyn grabbed the box, opened it, started eating straight from it, stuffing her mouth, it was obvious that she was starving.
“You won’t believe what happened today.” Evelyn squealed with a mouth full of food.
“Relax. You can tell me once you finish,” said Carter.
“No…. No…. This is important, it can’t wait. I was at the therapy session today, under hypnosis, I recollected some facts that I had completely forgotten. These were registered by my dormant or subconscious mind as Avery said. I always knew there was more to that night. I remember clearly now that I had seen someone was attempting to save Mia. I definitely remember someone’s shadow. Our daughter is safe! We have to find her. Let’s go to the police station. Let’s tell them what I saw. Maybe they would know where to start looking for Mia.” Evelyn’s voice had an edge to it. She had been eagerly waiting for Carter to get back home.
“Evelyn I’m afraid I have to oppose your suggestion here. It is better we steered clear of cops at the moment.”
“But why?” demanded an agitated Evelyn.
“I wish, an explanation were that easy.”
Evelyn was losing her calm, the rage was slowly building up inside her, Carter could tell.
“Seriously Carter, what is wrong with you? I break such exciting news to you about our daughter and instead of cooperating with me you advise me against my search. Tell me the truth Carter, did you ever care for Mia or was it all a pretense?”
“I don’t have to explain my love for Mia to you right now or ever. Evelyn, do you have any idea how irrational you sound? I mean if someone did rescue Mia, why did they leave her torn clothes behind? What were they trying to show? Besides, do you expect the cops to believe you? They would put you behind the bars immediately.”
“Me, behind the bars!!! But why?” Evelyn wasn’t able to grasp Carter’s intent behind his words.
“Carter are you being serious right now?” she continued.
“Sadly I am. I didn’t want us to have this conversation in the near future but you have compelled me to spill the beans. Have a seat. It’s going to be overwhelming.” Saying so Carter grabbed Evelyn by her arms and made her sit next to him. She didn’t resist.
“After the accident, you were in a coma for few days. I regained my senses in a day. I had minor injuries because of the airbag and I was under water for lesser time than you. Immediately after I regained senses, I was taken to the police station and interrogated. Apparently, the cops had found the seatbelt of Mia’s car seat had been fiddled with. It was found strapped in a suspicious manner, which couldn’t have been opened quickly. The cops believed that the strapping was intentional. They suspected foul play in Mia’s disappearance or death. They were highly suspicious of you. They had spoken with people connected to us and had got to know about the drama that had unfolded on Ethan’s birthday. They had labeled you as a problematic mother. Given a chance you could, let’s just say, do unimaginable things to our kids. They even pulled out your phone records, texts, just to make sure that this accident wasn’t staged by you. It took me a lot of convincing to change their minds. I showed them the medical records of your treatment for depression. I had to show your pictures with Ethan from our happier times. They didn’t find any proof strong enough to convict you. However, once you regained consciousness, they wanted to bring you in for questioning which I did my best to avert. I reasoned with them that you would be devastated and not in a state to communicate. They agreed with just one condition that I was to cooperate and bring you in later in case they found any concrete evidence. Now after all of this, if we were to walk into the police station claiming Mia was alive and we needed their help, their suspicion about your involvement in this episode will turn into a conviction. Besides, are your sightings from a so-called-hypnosis session proof enough to start a full-fledged search for Mia. Evelyn why don’t you understand Mia is no more? She isn’t going to appear magically out of thin air. All our attempts, discussions, analysis, hypotheses are pointless. Yes, it’s extremely saddening whatever has happened. We couldn’t have imagined losing Ethan nor Mia in our worst nightmare, but it has happened and it’s past now. We both have each other. We have hope. All we need is peace right now which you are making impossible to achieve. For God’s sake, for my sake, for our sake, give this a rest and let it go, please.”
Carter’s hands were folded in an appeal to her.
She was too stunned to move. Everything that Carter had said to her was resonating in her ears, repeating over and over again, playing like a broken record. She shivered, her knees bent, she fell on the floor, clutched her head. Everything was too much to bear, too much to consume. The words ricocheted in her head. Carter’s words pierced like needles.
She was a suspect.
Mia was no more.
Carter didn’t believe her.
The cops thought she was the kind of mother who could kill her own children.
Was that the impression she had created all along? Carter wants to move on, but was she ready to let this go?
She ran into her room and locked her door. She sat down on the floor. Carter knocked on the door for a long time, when she didn’t respond, he gave up.
****************
Evelyn wakes up with a start. Her neck is sprained due to the awkward position she has slept in the night before. It takes a minute for the previous evening and its incidents to dawn upon her. She peeps through her window and sees that Carter’s car isn’t in the driveway. She wastes no time, takes a quick shower, packs her bag with just the necessary clothes, empties her savings money in the locker, walks out of the house, thinks of leaving Carter a note, later drops the idea. She exits, comes back in again, removes Mia and Ethan’s pictures from a portrait, places it in her purse, catches a taxi and off she goes.
At the airport, she watches the information panel, the flights to destinations, the decision is made, she is going far from here, far from Carter, far from this insanity, depression, loneliness, she has made up her mind to leave it all behind, escape; but exactly where even she doesn’t know.
She knows she is taking a decision in an impulse, she realizes she might come to regret it later, but nevertheless, she goes on. The thought of staying back and searching for Mia crosses her mind but she is too disoriented to focus at the moment. She walks up to the nearest counter. A smiling anticipative ground staff of an airline company looks up to her.
“Hello Ma’am, tickets please.”
“Ugh,” Evelyn says while looking onto the flight’s notice board behind the staff.
“Ma’am, may I have your tickets please?”
“Umm, actually I don’t have a ticket. I was hoping you could help me get one maybe.”
“Sure, Ma’am. Do you know where you are traveling to? If you could just give me the destination details, I could help you.”
“Well….That’s the problem. I don’t know where I am traveling to but all I know is I am traveling somewhere.” Even though Evelyn’s answer must have baffled the lady, her face didn’t make any such revelations.
“Okay, Ma’am. If my understanding is correct, you have made up your mind to travel to India but you are simply unable to finalize a destination. Am I right Ma’am?”
“Oh, you only fly to India? I am not sure of going so far. Heck, I don’t even have a tourist visa for that country. Can you look for a flight to somewhere in Europe or Australia?” Evelyn appeals.
“Sure, Ma’am I shall check. Ma’am are you traveling alone or have any company?”
“Am on my own.”
“Ok, Ma’am. If you are not in a hurry could you please give me a moment? I will be right back. Please wait here.”
Oh, she is going to report me to the authorities, so much for a covert escape! Evelyn sighs.
The attendant comes back with another senior staff.
“Ma’am you are the winner of our lucky draw today. You have won an all-expense paid trip to India as part of “Dekho to Samjho India!”, it means Watch, Grasp and Experience India. As part of this lucky draw, we select customers traveling solo every fortnight and send them on a hassle-free all-expenses paid trip to India for 3 weeks. In return all we request is for a vlog of their trip, cataloging their trip’s success. When I say all-inclusive it means the hotels, the meals, the flight tickets, a personal taxi to be used locally along with several other perks including a visa too.”
Evelyn first thought was that all this was a joke. She didn’t say a word. She was waiting for the female to say something like “GOTCHA!!!” or someone to step out of the shadows and say “Smile please you are live on camera for our prank.”
Nothing of that sort happened, rather the senior staff stepped forward with a file of documents and said “Ma’am you have 10 mins to make up your mind. It’s entirely up to you to take the once in a lifetime offer or refuse it. Once you decide in the positive, I would need your passport and a few other documents for verification. After that, you have to sign some contracts and you are all set to catch tonight’s flight to New Delhi.”
Despite herself, Evelyn felt like a child, lost, alone; she wished she had Carter or someone she could call and consult. She had left her phone at home, she didn’t want to be traced, besides leaving her phone behind meant she was not coming back. She wanted that to be very clear to Carter. This was a break she was consciously taking from everything.
India. Delhi. All inclusive. Wasn’t this what she had wanted in the first place when she stepped out of the home today morning? An escape from everything. It was as if the universe had heard her yearning and concurred. Else she hadn’t considered her financial situation. She didn’t have much to travel nor eat nor spend. How was she thinking of managing going away with the few bucks she had in her bag? An all-inclusive trip meant she didn’t have to think about food, stay, travel for the next 3 weeks. After that, she would give it a thought. But was this safe? Was it foolproof? Was it real? She wasn’t so sure. And India! India was just a name to her. She had some colleagues who were Indian. She had been to Indian Restaurants a few times and ended up with a stomach ache.
Mia has Asian or rather Indian looks I say, wasn’t that what the delivery nurses at the hospital had said? Was this predestined? Was she meant to travel to India? Would she find something or someone there who would trust her, believe her and help her heal?
She walked up to the desk and said: “If the offer still stands, I would like to accept it.”
The cabin staff and her manager both smiled and extended their hands for a handshake, in return, Evelyn folded her hands in a Namaste. She was merely copying the mascot cutout which was behind the counters and had its hands folded and head bent in a welcoming gesture.
((To be continued…….))
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Thank you for sharing this!
Thank you for reading 🙂
Wow! I love everything about this story and about your blog in general! You are an amazing story teller.
This is awesome! Your writing is really descriptive and I can feel the confusion and suspicion between these two characters. Very nice work.
Thank you so much for reading and the wonderful feedback 🙂
Nice chapter! So now we are off to India. I wonder what awaits Evelyn there. I wonder what surprises are in store. Keep up the great work.
Thanks a lot for reading and appreciating Roger 🙂
If someone offered me an all expense trip to India, I’d take it in a heartbeat!!! Can’t wait to see where the story goes from here!
Thanks a lot for reading! Ah, I wish I got lucky to get an all expense paid trip to Europe 🙂 🙂 🙂 Keep reading and let me know what you think. 🙂
India is a land of discovery……lets she if she can discover the inner peace in India…..
Yes, if one is seeking spiritual calmness, India is the best destination to be. Thanks for the comment dear 🙂
Liked the addition of Indian taste to this story, totally unexpected !!!
Thanks reader 🙂 🙂 My heart shall always wander back to my country, no matter where I place my characters 🙂
Very exciting start! Thank you for sharing 🙂
Thank you for reading and the feedback 🙂
Can’t wait for the next 😃
Thanks a lot Sup!!!!