By Zohaib Ahmed
It was a cold day of the summer. Dark clouds have covered the area just before the night fall. The winds were making scary sounds, warning the people that a storm is coming. It was a small town near the shore. Most of the people who lived there were fisherman who spent all the time fishing so they can feed their family. The town was dark and shabby. There was no electricity in the town so people of the town place fire lanterns at their windows sill which were blown by the roaring wind making the town very dark. The only light available was of lightning striking every now and then.
She was sitting near her window sill. Her head was hidden in her arms, her hair was mess because of the blowing wind and she wasn't making any attempt to stop the wind hitting her head. She used to be so scared of the dark but tonight she wasn't even caring that all the candles have been blown off. She was deep in her thoughts; tears have made black spots on her face. Her eyes were dark and swollen. She has been crying for hours.
She was among the rich people of the town. Her father wasn't a fisherman like most of the town people but he owned an Inn, one of the town famous Inn. Their house is a big one with a lot of furniture. The ground floor of their home is the famous Inn his father made with his life efforts. He died with a heart attack on her sixteen birthday leaving his widow and three daughters with enough money to live their life without any trouble. The town people respect their family a lot and they supported them in every scenario.
After the death of her dad, she and her sisters were running the inn. They were running it in style that it is still the famous inn and loved by all the local fishermen and a must visit place for foreign fisherman and traders. Her mother who was in her mid fourties couldn't get over with the death of his husband and now she was always in her room, in her own world not caring about her daughters and hardly speaking. She only cares about her own stuff and if one of her daughter messes with her stuff, she beats the hell out of them.
Today was her eighteenth birthday, she was missing her dad. Life has changed a lot for her. Her sisters were seven and ten years older than her and were always busy with their life, leaving her to her own. They both were in relationship with the husky fishermen and were busy writing letters to them. She never liked that, she mostly ends up alone. She was her daddy's favourite princess and when he was alive, he used to take her to many places. They used to go to the shore every weekend and built sand castles and surf in the sea. He even took her to highland city to let her buy whatever stuff she wants. Once every month they both used to hunt sparrows and fish and have barbeque party at beach till late at night. He was her hero. Life has changed so much for her now.
She is locked in her home and is not allowed to leave the place or else her mother will beat her brutally because she thought that is the only way of protecting her. Most of her day is spent while serving at Inn, the Inn in which she grew up eating as special guest. Now she had to clean the floors of the Inn and do all the cleaning and dishes too and if she makes a mistake, her sisters scolded her. When they were having a busy day, she ends up washing dishes till early morning. Only few times and on occasions she got allowed to play with street girls and hang around them.
Today was her birthday and her sisters who do love her called the neighbors in for a party and they all celebrated her birthday. Her sister had made her chicken stew and a cheese cake. She had good moments when she opened her presents and got a hair pin and a pair of shoes from her sisters. Neighbors’ got her pudding, a silver necklace and sea stone ring. Everything was nice until she started talking with her friends. They told her about their birthdays and they told her that they aren’t lucky like her to get many gifts but their mama cooks special food for them and all the things they do with their mums. It all ended up badly for her and she rushed to her room crying. She felt so much alone in this world. All she wanted was love and care from her mother, she was her mother and everything in the world says that there is nothing like mothers love but why she never felt that. She was hurt, she want her mother to talk to her even wishing her birthday would be enough for her to make her day special. She misses her dad because he cared for her and loved her, she was treated like a princess but now everything was gone, snatched away from her. She envied everyone around for their mother loved them. Whenever she go out all she saw is mothers telling their children to take care, to wear that dress, to eat properly and what not. She misses the voice of her mother, who never calls her. She tried many times to get close to her mother but all she got was cold response. She felt so much broken from inside. She wanted to be like other girls of her age, she wanted to fly like butterfly but without her mother she can’t. She will always be a caterpillar.
Her head fell in her arms again and the room was filled with her sobs…
A mother’s love is a blessing, show some gratitude and respect because not everyone in this world got that.