Lucid dreaming – Cancer, Orphans, God Mothers and Girlfriends
By: Bhavna Rana
Tags: Fiction, Fiction Writing, Narrative, Dreams, Short Story

The house looked a little different. As you entered, there was a room to the left and an adjoining bathroom to the right in the lobby leading to the drawing and dining room.

The room didn’t have a balcony ahead of it like the drawing and the TV room. You could directly look down at the people entering the building from the gate. Convenient?

That was my room it seemed. But why was I back there? The downstairs neighbour was back in Patna for a while, and the upstairs neighbours seem to have moved out and put the house on rent.

A young girl and her brother seem to now occupy the house on the second floor and the same maid employed by our house now worked both houses.

And then I draw awareness to myself, I’ve had my breasts removed completely. I now sport a curly bob, which is short for ‘a mess’ on my head. I’m in my night suit and almost as if waking up.

The dog was missing. That beautiful, intelligent, attentive but hyper excited Labrador, Marshal. Probably out with the owners of the house. Was this Sunday? Was he at the daycare?

Who knows?

The story begins with a knock at the door. Lo and behold an old lady with four kids ask for shelter from the police. She says they are her grandkids and that their parents wanted her to leave their house so she left but the kids followed. They didn’t have a moment to spare, her’s and four young pairs of eyes stood there pleading. Hush as a ribbon in the wind. And without thinking twice, I let them in.

Yup, dumb and impulsive to help as always.

They scuttle into my room but I tell them ‘Not here! They can see you from the window here…’ and lead them to the TV room. Since the bathroom is attached, it’s easier to keep them contained there. Because clearly, I’ll have a lot of explaining to do once the owner gets home.

It begins to rain outside.

Pour.

Cats and dogs.

I feel weak, and I pass out cold in my bed. I wake up to the sounds in the kitchen and I see the kids running about the rooms and the old lady in the kitchen. ‘…what’s going on here!?…’ I examine and ask half asleep and alarmed.

‘The kids needed food. They were growing impatient. So I had to do something about it.., I was actually just figuring out what is kept where..’ the women explained.

But then I turn to the two rooms at the end of the hallway. Both stood open. I didn’t remember them being left open. The owner of the house always kept them under lock and key?..

So I say ‘ok’ to the lady and then get hold of the kids and I lead them back into the TV room. ‘Wait, some of the trinkets around the drawing and dining room seem to be missing’ I think to myself. ‘Or am I feeling a little out of place and delusional?’…

I’ve always felt delusional in this house. Something about it has always been unsettling. Why am I even back here? Who in their right minds would let me in here? Let alone give me a room in this house!?

That aside, I switch the TV on and ask the kids to stay there, while I lock the door behind myself. I then go over to the kitchen to help the women prepare some food.

I was never a fan of junk food in the house, always kept frozen fruits, natural made ice creams, syrups, yoghurt, muesli, dry fruits and seeds and freshly cut fruits and vegetables in the fridge that could be cooked into a dish or two at a moments notice. I didn’t like serving food out of packets. Personal touches were important to me. But now I see these things missing. Clearly, for whatever reason I’m here, I’ve not been here long enough.

So I step into the kitchen and ask the lady who is looking through cabinets what she is looking for, to which she replies ‘whatever junk food I can find, the kids are quite finicky….’

So I help her look and we find a full stack of Maggie, Doritos chips, some Real apple juice and we pull it out to prep. Put them into small bowls, plates and glasses and head to the TV room to serve the kids.

I see two of the kids take their food and go sit in the drawing-room. So I head out with them. I try to make small talk, asking if they are fine, if they want something with their food and quickly I see the conversation shift from food to their escape (kids really can’t hide things for long I guess?). The boy starts to explain how his parents were really bad to him and the girl echoes that it was why they left. Her parents didn’t let her go to school even, and they made her do all the housework. So escaping them was inevitable.

I clearly don’t have much to say. I pity them, tell them it’ll all be ok, to eat and to put their plates into the kitchen sink once they are done and to get some rest.

I head to my room where I find one of the children, I am surprised to find this little girl, who has a boy cut and is easily mistaken for a little boy there. ‘I just left her in the TV room with her food!’… But nonetheless, I sit by her on my bed and surprisingly enough she too begins to talk without even being nudged.

‘They didn’t want me.. they made me work at home. Running away was better than staying with them. My fathers younger brother tried to assault me too… I couldn’t take it anymore.. so when granny came to our house.. and asked me to go with her... I said did!’

Ok then… I’m summarising the conversation in my head.. seems the old lady asked them to come along.. not that the children left voluntarily?.. I mean sure they had their reasons…

It hit me simultaneously to go check up on the two rooms that were now open.. so I leave her there in my room and go over…

Something is off. Looks like someone went through the cupboards and bathrooms in a hurry.

Now I have my suspicions up about why the old lady was in the kitchen when I initially woke up.. but there is only one last thing to do, talk to the fourth child. Check if the stories match?

He is sitting in the TV room with the old lady, I decide to lure him out with chocolates. With the abundant supply, I keep hidden in my room at all times. And just as I call out for him, the light goes.

Crap.

It's late evening, it's raining outside still and now the house is dark and the kids have nothing to do but huddle together. And just then the old lady declares she is going to sleep and locks herself inside the TV room.

‘I need to find a way to bring the contents from the two rooms into conversation’… all four kids must be between age 7 and 11… not much you can’t get out of them at their age. Unless of course they are professional con artists and I’m fucked, to begin with.

I don’t know what’s in the two rooms, to begin with, but I do know that the owners keep some pooja stuff, some silver god idols somewhere... if someone was looking for things to con, they would probably pocket those along with anything else of value.

So I bring up the conversation about ghosts. And begin to tell the kids that I’m not the owner of this house.. and how in fact I don’t even believe I’m real.. and seeing things shift from their place and if this is all real?..

I mean common, it's a dumb but easy story to sell with the lights out and my missing hair thanks to chemo and removed breast. If nothing, i do look wild. (I chuckle to myself)

I tell the kids they must pray for their safety, and that of their grandmother.. surely God will protect them! If only they had an idol to worship to…

And the little girl pulls out a silver Parvati idol from her pocket and flashes it to me...

My mind goes numb. …fuck.. what did I miss? Why was I stupid enough to let them in? There are too many of them to monitor and control! Is the grandmother even asleep? Well, kids are quite a way to disarm someone!? Anyone could have gotten this wrong, right? And it's raining outside! And it's also the one day Marshal is not home. Damn.

I leave all of them there in the drawing-room, I tell them to pray while I have to go change out of my night-suit and head to my room to find a phone. That one thing I used to be glued to in my past life! Now I can't bother to keep it at arm's length? Or in my line of sight.. well, I need to do something?

The fourth child, a boy who was eating in the TV room now follows me to my room.

‘Great…’ i think to myself, right when I need to do something and need time to focus.. anyhow, what could this child possibly do?

‘You know right? You know we lied?’ Says the child as soon as we’re in the middle of my room...

‘She’s not really our grandmother.. leave alone our godmother…’

‘In fact, I’m tired of all this and I want to go see my parents.. it has been 2 years.. she threatens to kill us, our parents.. but I think she lies to us.’ he says.

This kid is a little too aware and articulate for his age I think.. he must be 9 I think? So I ask him...

‘How old are you?’

‘11?.. no, 12 I think. I know I look younger... I was the first child she abducted..’ he tells me.

My eyes are focused on his in the dark. I can see his face and his frail body from the street light coming through the windows...

I wonder what the time it is? And I turn my face to the windows for a second and I see the owner and his girlfriend enter the front gate.

‘Whyyyy…!?’ I see them enter the gate and come up...

I tell the child to sit still, that I will help him and the other kids out. And I bolt for the door.

I open as soon as I hear a knock. I block the doorway and say ‘hi!’.

I don’t see his girlfriend. I do see her legs and her heels headed upstairs to the second floor.. ‘oh, so she’s the girl who now stays upstairs?’ I think to myself.

Anyhow.

I tell the owner to step out with me for a minute. I tell him to trust me and to follow my lead. I tell him we need to dial the police and to be welcoming of the kids and women inside the house. And to not be alarmed… come, what may.

Fortunately, he knows what I look like when I’m serious and the fact that I always think very quickly on my feet in moments like these.. and that he has no other choice but to find out what’s going on inside for himself, as I don’t have time to explain further!

I tell him that we needed to go look for something to tie the lady or to put her to deep sleep and needed his help diverting their attention.

Of course, he entered as his charming self. (Why was I even surprised?) and he greeted the children sitting in the dark with his phone torchlight, ensuring they knew he was a friend, safe.

He began engaging with them casually, asking about their well being. I head back to my room and the little boy is still in my room.

Why do I feel like he knows what we’re up to? I suspect it and decide to go with my gut. It tells me that I should tell this kid.

‘We’re going to try to help you… Just as soon as I can find my phone…’ I say struggling in the dark.

‘It's with her.. that’s the first thing she goes for. This light out too was planned. Today the light won't come back for another few hours on I think.”

I’m stunned. They are used to this routine I guess? Oh ok, so going on my hunch I ask the child ‘Any chance you can help me find something to put her to sleep?’

And to my surprise, he pulls out a small veil from his torn short’s pocket.

‘We put most of this on your pillow when we entered the house.. it was my duty.. but I dropped some on the floor so this is all I have left.’

Wow, this was supposed to go a lot more wrong than I had suspected! I seem to have just gotten lucky with waking up when I did and to what I did.

Now, something told me that maybe they had even kept an eye on the house for some time now, waited for a day Marshal was not home. And to my surprise that is exactly what he said next.

“Actually she keeps an eye on houses, especially those on the first floor as they are easy to escape from. And today your dog wasn’t home… and we saw you in this guest bedroom which is usually empty. But we took our chance..”

“Actually, she might have prepped the way down from the TV room, through the balcony by now. No one thinks about people leave while it's raining you see…”

All I can think of while he says this is how much easier I seem to have made their heist (if I may call it that) by actually sending them directly to the TV rooms where the balcony door opens!! Oops.

“Ok, give that bottle to me and go join the others. And wait a minute... I can trust you right?’ I say it and realise what a dumb question that is to ask right now.

The kid nods sideways in the dark and leaves the room. Of course, I understand nothing. These Indian nods make no sense!!

Now I return my gaze to what’s now in my hand. I need to verify if this really is some sort of chloroform but I have no time for that. I find a small cloth and I make a ball out of it and hold it in my hand. This liquid seems lighter than water, maybe if I add it to the cloth right now, it’ll evaporate? Not that I’ve had experience with this?

It's growing darker. We’re losing time.

I head the owner and the kids who are now singing a prayer. I can't help but giggle at the sight and how stupid this tactic is. But I hope they are loud enough to wake up the grandmother.

I go out and take the owners phone and dial the police from my room. And within minutes I come back and tuck it back into his back pocket. Then I gesture to the group to sing louder and move towards the TV room door.

At this point, if the downstairs neighbour was around, she would have come up screaming. But luckily she isn’t here. And just as I think of this, there is a loud banging on the front door.

‘Wait, this is too quick for the police to have arrived?’ The kids go quiet and so does the owner of the house as they turn to the door.

I swiftly move towards the door, the boy moves up behind me and follows me. It's her. The upstairs neighbour aka the girlfriend!

A look of surprise that quickly turns to disgust and then almost settles as anger goes over her face before she realises she’s showing so too many emotions and then makes her expressionless obvious. I guess this is what you call a resting ‘delayed resting bitch face’?

‘What are you doing here? And what charade is this now? Adopting kids now are you?’ She demands to know. And yes those questions sting.

I look down for a second at the boy tugging at my nightshirt. Almost as is wanting me to nod yes to her last question.

‘No, we have guests. And to be honest, I’m not sure why I’m here either. You might as well ask him?’

As soon as I finish the sentence, the owner comes running up to the front door hearing her voice. And takes her outside, shutting the door behind him.

Okay. That was awkward.

I guess it's on me now. I dart back to the TV room’s door. And as I almost reach there I hear it unlatch. ‘Click’...

The cloth and vile are still in my hand. I don’t think I can pour it and shove it to her mouth just yet. And she comes out looking pensive and a little wet.

‘It's getting late, I think the kids and I should leave..’ she exclaims.

‘Oh ok, sure… but how did you get wet?’ I ask her.

‘Did a pipe burst in the bathroom? Or are you feeling unwell? I’m not sure it's a good time, it's raining cats and dogs outside…’ I say. Of course, I was trying to cover my own awareness of the current situation..

“Yes I turned on the shower by mistake.. but I’m fine. We just don’t want to impose... I’m sure the police has left by now..”

I move in closer to her while pouring whatever is left in the bottle onto the small cloth which I think is too small to cover her entire nose but I have absolutely no time to think!

‘No no, it's absolutely fine, do you want me to go fix that shower or get a mop? The kids might slip in the bathroom. Let me get you a mop, it's in the balcony in fact…’ I saw as I close up on her...

And all of a sudden I take the cloth and shove it to her nose. Fuck!!

How long does it take?

Was I supposed to shove this to her nose or her mouth?

Was there enough chloroform?

So many questions and thoughts go running through my head while I’m still stuffing the cloth under her nose.

She seems stunned and remains quiet for almost 5–6 seconds.

And then, the very next moment she falls forward and I barely get out of her way. Her head hits the floor and the three kids begin to scream.

Right then the front door opens and the sound of the police siren approaches the house.

The owner comes in with his girlfriend and he beings to round up the kids while the girlfriend quickly gets a few wire ties from the kitchen and ties down the grandmother’s hands and legs.

Wow, I’m impressed. She thinks on her feet!

The boy who helped me comes to me. ‘Please don’t let them take me. Can you please adopt me? Just say I’m with you, I’ll be out of your hair very quickly..’

I sympathise and tell him I’m sorry but I just can't do it. I don’t know him and I don’t even know myself at the moment either…

The police come into the house with torches. The lady constable rounds up the kids, while the inspector checks up on the grandmother.

‘Yes it's her.. and do we have the boy?’

The lady constable catches hold of the boy who is still staring at me and asks him to move while she confirms it's him.

As the kids and the lady are being moved out of the house the inspector turns to the three of us and says, “You got very lucky. Please check all the valuables in the house. This lady and that boy have been a menace for the last 2–3 years across Delhi NCR…”

“They usually manage to let themselves in on days like this into innocent people’s homes and knock them out cold and rob them blind.”

“Madam, you underwent any operation with anaesthesia recently? Because maybes that’s why you woke up quickly from the chloroform… your body seems to have developed some temporary tolerance to it..” looking at his girlfriend.

She quietly turns her eyes to me while cuddling him.

“Yes. I did.. three in fact..” I responded meeting her gaze and then looking down at my flat chest.

And right then the light comes back on.

“The little boy is quite a menace too.” The inspector continues... “He lures innocent people into a ploy of adoption and then makes with their credit and debit cards in a few days!.. Don’t you dare feel sorry for that bunch. Seems the lady recently abducted some new children to recruit into their operation… nevertheless they will soon be returning to their families.” the inspector continues.

I catch everyone nodding in agreement at this point, including myself, and I snap out and say “Wait! That little girl with a boy cut! She was being assaulted by her father's brother.. hence she went with the lady willingly.. she was not abducted, you might want to look into that.”

Ha, I think to myself... I got that off my chest in time! Imagine what the child might have had to go through if I had missed it!

The inspector nods gives his cap a shake and ask’s the owner to come to the police station to make a statement and to collect whatever trinkets they may find on the children and the lady the next day when it stops raining.

Ok, it's going to be just the three of us.. it hits me. Chills of awkwardness and disgust run down my spine and I make for my room. (So-called)

As soon as I open the bedroom door, I fall into an abyss. What just happened? Where am I?

I wake up.

It seems I had a dream within a dream!!

Now I’m more aware of the fact that I’m sleeping and force myself up by focusing on the sound of the dog barking in my real-life background.

Marshal... I think to myself when I wake up.. oh silly boy.. how much I miss you. My bright, attentive, loving lab... Aw, I guess you’re safe where you are. You have all the love and care you will ever need.

Or maybe I was also thinking of the four kids I left behind in my last life.. the gains and the losses. We cannot compare. We cannot comprehend. And we shouldn’t…

Such is life I guess?

End.