Hrida's P.O.V
As soon as my eyes opened wide, my eyes were searching for the presence of Mom and Dad but I felt only my voice in the entire house, which gave me the chills sprinting in my veins. I called out your name," Tapish, tapish, tapiiishh, where are you ?, If you can hear me, give me a meow."
Still, I didn't get any response from you, so, I went downstairs and found you carving on a beautiful artifact through your scratches. I remember picking you up and taking you back to your room.
Out of the blue, the phone started ringing loudly which made our heartbeats skip for a second. I received the call and talked with Shashi for a few minutes, then he invited me to play games and I accepted with a joyful reaction because Mom and Dad weren't still home yet and that gave me a room of extra time.
An hour passed while I was enjoying playing online games and the whole house felt alive again with moments of warmth and silliness being painted within those closed walls.
For some reason, Shashi went offline and messaged me that he realized that he hadn't written an essay given as Hindi( language subject) homework to be submitted the next day at any cost. He promised me that he would come online again after an hour till then I needed to stay awake and not even close my eyes for one second.
I was feeling bored already and only one minute had passed. I clicked my instrumental song playlist and played it on shuffle mode to make this more fun and interesting. After some time, I looked at the time and it made me sigh but then suddenly something took over me. Disturbing and terrifying scenes being projected at the main theatre of my brain, I rubbed my palms and hummed softly a strange tune, which I never heard of but who cares? As long as my parents weren't back home, I played with my doll house along with you.
I was busy making my doll house a perfect and sweet home like mine. I had a sweet family which I believed in and I was doing the same for my dolls making them a sweet and perfect family. The harmony was interrupted by loud, pitchy, and noisy frequencies that made me cover my ears.
I looked out the window and saw my parents coming out of a nightshade black colored car and along with them, some branded-clothed people came out as well. I was relieved seeing them and hurried to my door but my movement halted like a sudden car break as my phone started ringing again in loud volume. I jumped back onto my bed and received the call as fast as I could. Shashi called out my name many times but I didn't spit a word and let the silence be the answer instead.
I put the phone volume on mute mode and arranged my dollhouse into perfect alignment within seconds, switched off the lights, and put up the pretense act of being deep asleep. Just the next moment, the door opened and I felt not one but more than two people standing there watching me.
I heard my mother say," She is a good little girl, you see. Even though we came home late, she didn't ignore my command and like always slept early. That's why I like her as she is my beautiful and sweet creation like these dolls. These dolls are worth of a great value in the market of people/ society should I say." Mom sounded sweet but still, that was a weird compliment which I didn't understand at all.
Another young manly voice uttered in a prideful tone," I AGREE. Now that you have seen her behaving like a perfect doll, I just feel ecstatic that I got evidence of your skillfulness in motherhood. Now, can I have a glimpse of her after all I want to know whether she has inherited beauty genes from you. "
Mom's friend sounded like one of my classmates named Siri i.e. queen of sugarcoating in my class although I didn't believe that my mom would befriend a person like that. I just kept on stretching the thread of silence as long as I could. Eventually, the thread split apart and the rings of constant phone calls caught my uninvited guests' attention and plunged them back into my room.
The ringing stopped as I heard my mother complaining with a bit irritated tone," Shashi, this friend of hers again calling her at this hour. It's already past 11 o'clock and still, he didn't stop from ruining my sweet doll with indiscipline habits. I apologize-" Her sentence gets interrupted as the phone again starts ringing piercing the room's silence and then I heard a strong thud. I also heard Mom mumbling something inaudible to me.
Suddenly I heard Dad's voice apologizing for what I didn't know. Dad's voice was muffled out by a chirpy sharp female tone," Please, can you cut this drama and all? Rash, I didn't come here to see your family opera rather I am here to have some fun for ourselves, you know. Let's go downstairs because my hands are itching to play a game. Let's go, Rash, Ananta and Manan."
I didn't know my parents had a close friend named Mr. Manan, which made me wonder how they hadn't mentioned even once about this particular friend who had never visited their house even once. I felt confused and also an unsettling heaviness rose in my stomach at the same time.
I felt a figure towered upon my bed but I couldn't see through that thick blanket that kept me safe and warm underneath. The person suddenly stepped back when my dad shouted," Mr. Manan, have a little patience. Patience can provide you with a satisfactory reward feeling. Shall we go ? "
The door closed again with a soft thud. I peeked out from my blanket and realized they were gone. I stepped down from my bed and my eyes were searching for you in every corner of my bedroom but you weren't there. I rubbed my palms while my mind was processing ways of slipping back into my room because I couldn't think of getting to bed without you. I walked out of my room with light footsteps like a feather to sneak you in without getting busted. I pranced downstairs with shaky legs while giving a glance at each second around me.
I felt like I was in kind of some horror movie waiting for some uninvited monster to breathe into my surroundings and probably would have sent me 100 waves of chills welcoming my veins. Joke aside, next to the guestroom, the kitchen space is surrounded by a dimly lit. I was able to see half of the kitchen and decided to check there.
I crawled into the kitchen keeping my head down but I stumbled and hit my toe against a metal surface and my whole body surged through a rush of painful shudder. Somehow I resisted the urge to scream out loud and muttered gibberish rants directed toward the metal-like object. I bent down and caressed my toes while my eyes fell upon you staring at me back with alert glowing eyes while resting underneath the basin. I scooped you out of the table and carried you in my arms and were going upstairs. My movement stalled when I overheard my mom's laughter sounds coming from the hall room.
My feet couldn't help but tiptoe to the hall room and tried to observe and scan them because they were laughing so weirdly while being gathered on the sofa near the wide window covered by vicious blood-red curtains. I propelled forward by literally crawling behind the wide bookshelf and ultimately stood flattened against the wall corner hidden from their angle of view. I unconsciously started humming under my breath and tried to eavesdrop on their conversation because I was concerned about my parents who were acting weird in the presence of their friends.
I heard Manan bhaiya( elder brother-like figure)'s viciously sweet tone," I must say you both are impressive players, who I can bet upon. Well played, just like you both have been playing a daring game for years in front of your daughter. I must say you have a lovely daughter, Rash."
I felt lost at their sentence game because everything was bouncing above my head yet I lingered till I got an idea about what exactly was going on. My Dad spoke in a playful tone," Manan, we are always the best players and we always bet on the winning player, that's what we did."
A middle-aged lady seated next to Manan bhaiya was dressed like she was in some kind of fancy dress competition and she looked kind of funny to me. She whined out dramatically spreading her arms, " Can we focus on a poker game and not talk about your sill-, I mean the doll-like daughter of yours? Hmmm?"
My Dad commented," Are you jealous of our daughter? You should be, she is made perfect and doll-like under my Rash's guidance." He turned towards my mother with excited eyes," Rashanda, today is a special day for us. The day has finally come when we are about to finalize our biggest deal for which we have waited for years. Isn't it Manan?"
Manan Bhaiya responds with a smirk on his lips," 100 percent! You are right, Ananta. Like your name's meaning infinite, you both have been blessed with infinite abundance. Thanks to you, I would have a new addition to my collection of precious dolls."
I pondered for a second," Wait, dolls ! What does that mean? What-", My thoughts were interrupted by a thundering laughter coming from my mother, who was laughing like crazy and others started laughing as well.
This was like an unreadable puzzle, which I was unable to decode.
My Dad exclaimed," Woo! I won. I scammed all the money from those innocent losers who thought I was helping them financially. I proved them wrong, and that too right under the noses. I feel so joyful whenever my nose gets a sniff of money. What do you say, Rashanda ?"
This turned out to be more and more complicated and denser for me.
My mom spoke with a rigid tone," Don't call me Rashanda, I prefer being called Rash. Being a mother is hard, especially at the part where I had to shape my daughter into a perfect little doll. Like the caring mother that I am, I made her wish come true by molding her like one into a pretty doll that she loves the most. I also gave her a dollhouse and a real one."
I was glad that my mother thought of me as one pretty doll. Nevertheless, her statement didn't make me as joyful as I thought I would have been on hearing that.
That fancy dress lady again commented in an attitude-like tone," Seriously, I could never forget those marvelous expressions on the faces of whomever you both have looted money from. Honestly, if I count both of your winning streaks until now, it would be around approximately 30 people.
Waaah! It is impressive. Ironically, your daughter thinks you both are working at a bank that manages public money in safe hands. And in reality; it is the same except the fact that you manage people's money by collecting them under your safe hands via the skills of a trickster. I am sure, your daughter would have been proud witnessing your glory.
Manan, you know, what's funny? The most valuable client is their daughter, who would be the key to accessing their treasures, this is what you call funny. Lucky Pretty Doll will be transferring into a new dollhouse. Think again! Are you sure, you want to make this biggest yet risky bet? What if you later regret it? "
My mom laughed but her laugh didn't sound pleasant that time as she confirmed her thoughts," I don't fall into these guilty and emotional traps. After all, I have always loved dolls because they are pretty, obedient, and naïve. I am confident that Hrida would never betray us even if we exposed our beautiful truth to her.
Suppose, we were like " Hrida, we don't work in a bank, we work on our own instead by looting money out of people with our magical skills. And she would be like- Wow, Mom and Dad, you are magicians, you make people's money disappear by your magical hands, then it is returned after the show. You both are so cool." And I will be like- Of course, our daughter, this is all for you. Wow, doesn't it sound magnificent to all of your ears? " My mother ended her statement with a giggle while others laughed along.
I felt my vision blur out with water filling in my eyes but I didn't know why. Maybe I felt betrayed for being lied to all these years. I felt my lips quivering, ready to cry out but then I blocked out my voice by shutting my mouth tight through my hands. My knees were ready to fall but when I felt a caressing stroke at my leg, I swallowed my breath and stood my ground. I gathered my strength and looked down, and found you staring at me with your same curious gaze. I grabbed you in my arms and climbed back to my room without making a single noise.