Lost Relations

‘Charlotte! Come on, honey. It’s bedtime!” It was Hannah, Charlotte’s mother.

‘Coming, mum!’ Came the reply.

 Hannah went to check on her daughter, who was playing in the living room. Charlotte was playing her imaginary guitar to a non-existent crowd.

‘Come on, dear. Show’s over. Every performer needs their beauty sleep and so do you! Come one now, chop, chop!”

Hannah picked her up from behind and carried her to the bedroom. Charlotte laughed as she flopped over on her tummy on the bed.

‘Mum,’ she said. ‘One day I’m gonna play for a huge crowd, aren’t I?’

Hannah smiled warmly at her daughter’s enthusiasm. ‘I’m sure you will, Lottie.’ She said, kissing the child’s forehead. ‘Keep on dreaming.’

‘Goodnight mum.’

‘Goodnight, dear.’ She whispered back as the lights went off.

Time passed swiftly- plants grew into trees, seasons changed and the years rolled by at an unnatural speed. In the blink of an eye, the small girl grew into a young woman. With her, grew her passion for music. While still in school, Charlotte would post videos of her singing on the internet and perform locally around her neighbourhood now and then.

A few years later, it was time for her to be sent off to college. Charlotte didn’t hesitate a second to leave her parents and her hometown to go study in the city. After her departure, the little town grew gloomy and the house lacked the joyful, musical atmosphere that it always had. It was as if the light of the house left with Charlotte.

One on chilly day in November, Hannah and her husband sat facing the bare trees in their garden which they viewed through the open windows. A cold breeze blew into the room.

‘Golly, it sure is getting quite cold, isn’t it?’ Said Nick, as he stirred in two sugar cubes to both his and Hannah’s tea cups.

‘Winter’s nearing, dear.’ Agreed Hannah.

As Nick settled down beside her in an armchair with his tea, Hannah asked worriedly, ‘Any message from Lottie recently?’

Her husband sighed deeply and shook his head. Hannah’s face wilted like a delicate flower.

Just then, there was a ring from the telephone. Nick assured his wife that he would go and look to it. He picked up the receiver and spoke into it.

‘Hello?’

‘Hi, dad. It’s me, Charlotte.’

Nick’s face lit up at once and overjoyed he said, ‘Lottie? It’s so good to hear from you! How are you dear? How’re the classes?’

Hannah turned around in her chair and looked at Nick at the mentioned on Charlotte’s name.

‘Fine, fine. Everything’s fine.’ Said Charlotte. Her voice seemed like she was in a hurry. ‘Listen, I have something to tell you,’ she continued. ‘I, uh…I left school.’

Nick froze. His ears had heard the message, but his brain was refusing to believe it. He tried to remain calm but was failing at it a wee bit. ‘W-what happened, darling? I-is there any, any problem?’ He stammered.

‘No, no problem at all! I just, I rented a studio to do my song recordings and yeah, I have taken to song writing, dad. I have a couple of friends here and we’ve gotten together for this. But we decided that we couldn’t make music while studying, too. Cause then it becomes too much of a burden. But really, no problem.’ Charlotte replied.

Nick drew in a breath to say something but he couldn’t say anything. Instead, he beckoned Hannah over and handed her the phone. Hannah frantically fumbled with the receiver and said, ‘Hey Lottie. Anything happened? Dad grew silent all of a sudden…’ She threw a quick glance at Nick, who was now sitting stiff as a ghost.

Charlotte swallowed, thinking if she wanted to repeat the conversation all over again. So she quickly said, ‘Uh, yeah, no, I told dad everything. He’ll explain it to you. So, yeah, I have to run now. Talk to you later, mum. Okay?’

Hannah took a moment to understand the situation, then said, ‘Oh yeah, sure, hon. We’ll talk later. Take care, alright?’

‘Alright, bye mum.’

‘Bye, dear.’

She set down the receiver and walked over to Nick. She asked him what had happened. He hesitated at first, but then he explained the whole thing to her. By the time they had finished talking, the sky grew dark and both their tea had gone cold.

A few more months passed with similar rare phone calls from Charlotte. Gradually, a whole year had passed and one day, all of a sudden, a post arrived at their house.

Nick and Hannah were overjoyed to find two tickets and a tiny note inside. The note said- ‘Hey, these are the tickets to my concert. Try to attend. Address is enclosed. It will take place in exactly one week from since you receive this. Thanks, Charlotte.’

The parents were bubbling with excitement at this news. They both started packing from before a week itself. They waited impatiently for the day to arrive so that they could watch their little girl perform for everyone. At last, after much anticipation, the big day arrived. The couple left on the local train early in the morning to the city.

On reaching the place, they marvelled at their surroundings for it was nothing like they’d ever seen before. The city was filled with lights and tall architectural marvels that stood magnificent above everyone. In the evening, the city was filled with lights and huge posters and banners.

The parents had hoped that they could stay with their daughter, wherever it was that she stayed, but much to their disappointment, Charlotte disagreed. So, they rented a room and stayed there for the day.

The night of the concert arrived. Hannah put on her best dress and a bit of make-up and she did all she could to make herself look better, so as to not be any sort of embarrassment to their daughter. Nick and Hannah were giddy with excitement as they got out of the taxi on reaching the venue. Going in through the stadium doors, they felt proud, but unfortunately, it was not to last. As they were going in, they were stopped at the ticket booth abruptly.

‘Sorry, sir and mam, but the seats in the venue are full.’ The attendant told them. The poor couple were taken aback.

‘Wh-what do you mean? We have tickets!’ Nick protested, but in vain. The persons refused to let them in and stayed stubborn with their decision.

Heartbroken, the couple returned outside the stadium. The scene was horrid. They were not allowed in to see their own daughter’s concert. They could hear the audience clapping and cheering as their dear Lottie performed for the crowd which she had dreamt of since she was little.

After the show ended, swarms of fans surrounded her as Charlotte got out of the stadium and walked towards her car, waving to everyone on the way. In the crowd somewhere, were her parents. She hardly spared as much a glance at them while walking. She simply got in her car, slammed the door shut and drove away.

The night grew cold as the crowd dispersed away, leaving Nick and Hannah in the middle of the street as they watched their daughter drive off in dismay.

After a couple of moments, Nick whispered, ‘Let’s go, Hannah.’

‘Nick! What-‘ Hannah began. But Nick cut her off.

‘She doesn’t want us here, Hannah. Let her live her life. Let’s just go home, dear.’

Nick’s voice and face were stone-hard but an involuntary tear rolled down his cheek, He didn’t bother to wipe it off. Hannah said no more and nodded, crying quietly as Nick put his arm around her shoulder and they walked back to their room. Neither of spoke a word during the long journey home.

Charlotte had a sting of regret as she drove away from her first concert. She had not met her parents, even though they had come all the way here, just for her.

Pushing aside her fears of facing her parents after the night’s incidents, Charlotte made a mental note to herself that she had to all her parents as soon as she reached her place. But unfortunately, because of her mistake, they never picked up her calls. She tried again the day after, but to no avail. She tried every week for months, years…

So that was how it had become. Due to Charlotte- the loved girl who became so caught up in her own world that she pushed aside her family, she lost them forever now. The family broke in half as they never crossed paths again…

-Iniya V.J.