And It Exploded!

It was like a day at night…” he sighed. He was constantly looking at the photo which he grasped tightly with his fingers. He took a long pause before starting again-

“It was like a day at night, the fire raged vigorously and it’s red and orange flames reached as high as heaven, or so it looked like for then I was only twelve and my height was 3 feet, more or less”, he paused again.

“ But, how did it start, I mean, the fire?” I asked curiously.

“I have never told this story to anyone…” he glanced up to look straight in my eyes, he leaned a little forward to rest his forearm on the table. “Do you really want to know?” he asked coldly.

A chill ran down my back, What does that mean? I thought. The tone of his voice perplexed me but I didn’t want to go empty-handed so I replied, “ I am glad to know that I am the first person you would be telling this story to.”

“Good, I like your attitude.” He smirked. “ Thanks”, I replied.

He inhaled deeply and then exhaled, and then, in a grave voice he started- “ That day could be counted as the most luckiest but the most unhappiest day in my life, I’m sure you could guess why…?” He looked inquisitive.

“Um…yes! Maybe”, I said abruptly.

“As far as I could recollect…” he continued, I noticed that now he was totally submerged in his thoughts, he even kept the photo aside on the table.

“- it was 7:00 pm, or no, to be exact it was 6:58 pm, you must be wondering how I can remember it so clearly…” he didn’t wait for reply and resumed, “ – because I had bought a watch that day and kept glancing at it every moment, I was so excited…” a weak smile spread on his face. 

“ I reached home at 7:10 pm. I opened the front door of my house and went inside. Some part of my brain gave me a little warning that something was not right but dismissing the thought I walked through the alley and into the guestroom, it was silent. As I moved I could hear my every footstep that pushed against the floor. There was a peculiar smell mixed in the atmosphere, that moment I couldn’t detect it or its origin…”

I was scribbling all the details in my small notebook. When he paused I glanced up, he again had a curious look on his face, “Are you going to write a book on this?” he asked.

“ I’m not sure about that, but I will let you know when I decide,” I said reassuringly.

“Oh!” He said calmly. “So, where was I, yes, there was a peculiar smell.” 

“I called out for my mom but there was no reply from anywhere or from anyone. I wondered where she was. I also had a younger sister, she was seven. She had always been so noisy but that day she was nowhere to be seen or heard.”

“ I was becoming anxious and I had a sinking feeling in my gut. There was sweat on my brow and bad things were creeping into my mind. I felt so lost and my thoughts were so fearful. Then, I heard footsteps which were approaching me, someone was coming downstairs. I turned around to look but soon I regretted doing it for I saw a tall man coming towards me and in his hands he had… he had a shotgun, a big one...”

I interrupted, “A shotgun?!”

He nodded.

“Do you by any chance remember…the kind of gun it was or its name?” I asked hesitatingly although I knew it was absurd, but to my surprise he replied-

“ I do, I very well do remember…it was vepr-12.” He said with a sigh. “ You know I had great knowledge about these guns.”

“Oh…” I didn’t know what else to say.

“That man came to me, I stepped back but he came closer to me and held my hand firmly, I tried hard to free myself from his grip but he held it tightly and dragged me upstairs with him. I was panting.”

“ He took me into a small room on the first floor. You would be surprised to know that I had never been to that room, speaking more specifically, I was not allowed to go there, so it was my first time. When I entered the room I was horrified…” his eyes became wide, “- I saw my mother there and also my sister, they had their hands tied to their backs and a man was standing there looking out of the dusty round window.

“The man who held me dragged me inside the room and threw me beside my mother. I hugged my mother and my sister tightly. The man standing there looked back, he had a wicked smile on his face…I could clearly remember the words he said to me, should I repeat them?” He asked, his eyes were intended at me.

“Um…”I was confused, “Well, if you remember...”

Then, he spoke slowly, expressing each word syllable by syllable, “He said- I have come to take you, my boy." 

“What does it mean?” I asked curiously.

“Well, let’s continue...” he said ignoring my question. “My mother shouted at him but that man never listened. He came closer to me and asked me- Will you join me? Will you serve God with me? I didn’t reply, I was too terrified, but my mother cried and said- He will never join you, you don’t serve God! You are a terrorist! My son will not be like you! Now the man’s face raged with fury and he struck my mother hard, she cried out of pain…” he lowered his face. I was sure he had tears in his eyes.

“I’m sorry…” I said pitifully.

“Oh…! It’s fine!” he glanced up again. “I was infuriated by such action. So, like any other son will do, I pushed the man away hard and he fell on the floor. The other man got enraged and took me by my collar but his boss restrained him from doing so and said- He is a child, ignore him. He got up, came nearer to me, put his one hand on my shoulder and said- Let’s go. We have several jobs to handle. He clutched my hand, I again took the unsuccessful chance to try to free myself from him. But then…” his expression was intense.

“-my mother shouted from behind- leave him! We looked back. My mother… she was holding a gun in her hand pointing it straight towards the man holding my hand. Somehow she freed her hands and got the revolver. Let him go or I will shoot you! She yelled. The man had an amused expression on his face, he said- Do you think I’m afraid of you? My mother was no less bold, she yelled angrily– I will shoot you! She unlocked the revolver, What do you think now?! The man unleashed my hand and whimpered- Look I have left his hand, now…put your revolver down. I reached my sister and freed her hands then my mother shouted – Take your sister and run away! I objected but she insisted- Run away! She yelled.”

“ I had no other option left, I clutched my sister’s hand and ran outside as fast as possible, I was sobbing. I reached the main door. The peculiar smell was still in the air, now it had become more strong. One last time, I turned around, I didn’t know what I wanted to look at or what my eyes searched for, I just looked at the deserted house. Then, I turned back and took the final step, I turned open the doorknob and ran outside with my sister.” He exhaled. Then he picked up the glass kept on the table and sipped water from it.

“Your story is fine…but still I couldn’t see any reason about how the fire started?” I asked.

He stared at me, “ That was unknown to me too until...”

“Until…?”

He glanced down at his hands, “ We ran until we were away from the house, I looked back, it was still visible. Suddenly, a loud gunshot was heard and in front of my own eyes… my house exploded. The atmosphere became lit and, hot and humid, people ran here and there. I heard my sister crying and I hugged her. I don't know whether my mother shot the bullet or that man.” He stopped.

“So… this…I mean…” I was totally confused. “Actually, I don’t understand… how exactly did the house explode?”

He smiled but it was a sad one, “ The peculiar smell which I didn’t recognise that time, I realized later that it was the smell of leaking LPG, the gas knob must be left open. And when the gun was fired everything just..." He moved his head in dismay. "I lost my mother in that explosion. I know she must have detected it earlier. She asked us to run away to save us.”

“ That’s… I’m sorry”, I said sympathetically.

He looked pale, he began to speak once again, this time I didn’t know if he was talking to me or himself, “ Terrorism had become a common thing in this world. Like me, thousands of people must have lost their family in such terrorist attacks and activities.”

“But, the government…”I said but he interrupted-

“The Government, the UN and its agencies, they won’t do anything. They don’t know, how priceless the life of each human being is, they don’t know…” he lost his words.

The uniformed officer standing behind him reminded, “Time is over.”

He got up, “I hope you got what you wanted, huh?” He picked up the photo from the table and kept it in his side pocket.

“Yes, I guess”, I replied. Then I remembered something which had almost slipped my mind, “Excuse me, one last question I had in my mind.”

He glanced back at me, “What?”

“Actually, what about your father… I mean where was he at that time?” I inquired.

Once again he presented a weak smile on his face and questioned me, “Who do you think was that terrorist in my house?” And he turned around and walked in through the door.

I just stood there, I was extremely shocked, “His father… he…”