The fire of truth turned everything into ash

       The fire of truth turned everything into ash

The weather was very alluring, the entire area was covered with a thick sheet of snow and bright sunlight was shining everywhere. The light golden color reflecting upon the pile of snow embellished the entire surroundings. The entire scenario was ratiocinating an ecstatic mood. Its new year eve and the city was bustling with lots of people.

In all those happiness Christine was sitting quietly sipping her coffee and enjoying the beautiful atmosphere in a grandiose mansion. She was deep in a thought and from her facial expression no one could determine that what exactly she was thinking. Suddenly one servant knocked at the door “madam please get ready soon, the guests will start coming” after being silent for some moment she replied with a sweet smile on her face “I’m coming within twenty minutes”.

After the departure of the maid she sighed and murmured to herself “mom, daddy I wish you were here today, I miss you a lot. I will avenge you, don’t worry” while saying those words tears started streaming down her rosy cheeks and she quietly wiped it and stood up.

It was really a big day for the Bentley family, after all it’s the 20^th birthday of the so called princess of Sacramento. Christine was born in a filthy rich family of Sacramento and lost her mother when she was only ten years old. Her mother was the daughter in law of the lord of Bentley family and also the acclaimed heiress. Her grandfather was the patriarch of the family blessed with a daughter and a son but unfortunately his son was not worthy of inheriting the prestige of the Bentley family and he also didn’t find his daughter fitted such an eminent post so he transferred all his power and wealth to his one and only daughter in law, Mary. She was a very intelligent, smart and diligent lady and was a very capable personality to retain the prosperity of the Bentley family but unfortunately she had a very sadistic ending.

After some moment when Christine was heading towards her walking wardrobe at that moment her aunt appeared and handed her a beautiful dress, said with a charming smile on her face “dear get ready and quickly come to the ballroom, all the guests arrived.”

Christine replied sternly “there is no profit in treating me so well am never going to hand you over the property. I will retain the prestige which my grandfather handed over to my mom, better don’t waste your energy here”

But her aunt was not disappointed with her gruesome response rather and she softly exclaimed “sweetie I think you misjudged me, over all these years I never intended to snatch the power. I just want to take care of you for my sister in law. I trust that whatever my dad did must have a concrete reasoning may be I am not that capable to be the descendant of the Bentley family rather am also not interested in all this complications”

 “auntie I know everything don’t try to fool me with your sugar coated words I know that my mom’s death was not an accident rather it’s a planned murder” said Christine with grimace.

 “fine let’s not talk about this anymore get ready soon”

Her aunt left cutting off their conversation halfway.

Bentley family was a very rich family which had their business ventures in many parts of the country and outsiders have no clue that how much money they actually retain. They were a very reputable personality in Sacramento for at least more than fifty years. When Christine’s mother inherited the family’s wealth she also proliferated the prosperity. But unfortunately she was poisoned and while her husband was rushing with her to a hospital they met with a horrific car accident. After years of investigations, no one was found to be the murderer and the case was closed but according to Christine’s deductions her aunt must have done that for acquiring her family treasures. But she had no idea that after devising such a flawless plan why her aunt still treasured her so much. She could have killed her at any moment, maybe she was waiting for her 20^th birthday after that she could easily steal everything because before her mother’s death she devised a will that on Christine’s 20^th birthday all the property and wealth will be transferred to her. So she decided to choose the easy way of just taking advantage of her innocence and naivety for extracting the wealth without committing any crimes. Thus no matter how her aunt treated her she always responded icily.

When she entered the ballroom at that instant the entire room was bustling with lots of guests. She slowly strove towards the center and soon her aunt declared “I am very thankful to each and every one for coming here and blessing Christine. From now on she will be representing our family and will be known as the Matriarch of the Bentley family”

As soon as she finished a thunderous clapping filled the entire room and Christine was bewilderedly looking at her aunt because according to her prospect her aunt shouldn’t be announcing that statement in front of so many people. Detecting her baffled gaze her aunt whispered to her with a brightening smile “congratulations child I hope now you can understand that I had no ulterior motives and I wish that you can successfully promote the prestige of our family in respect of your mom and your grandfather”

After she heard her aunt saying those words her eyes glistened with tears but she maintained her cold expressions.

In the midst of the celebration suddenly a young and handsome guy approached her with a gentle smile “hi congratulations miss Christine.”

“thank you so much” she responded blatantly.

“I need to talk with you about some important matter can you please come with me” said the man.

“you can say it here”

“I can’t” he responded with a stern expression

“what is it that you can’t say here? Are you a hired assassin of my aunt?” asked Christine with a smirk.

The man replied with a chuckle “you are just misunderstanding me, I am not here to cause any harm to you. I just want to disclose a truth to you and I hope that you will be eager to know it”

Christine had a tough exterior and she never trusts anybody too much and it was a mere outsider. Her inclinations were quite similar to her mother and she was much more sensible than any other girls of her age.

“do you think I am a fool?” replied Christine with a cold glare

The man just smiled faintly and without saying any more words he handed a photo to Christine and said softly “trust me I won’t hurt you I just want to tell you about your mother”

It was a photo of her mother happily standing beside the man, who was currently in front of Christine. She froze as soon as she saw the photo and she said out “where do you want to go?”

 The lips of the mysterious man curved into a smile and he generously added “let’s go to the nearby café then”

Christine nodded and said “fine but am going to bring two of my bodyguards” she was not at all ready to lower her guard at any moment.

Within half an hour both of them reached a very low profile café. The bodyguards were waiting outside the cafe.

They choose a table in a corner.

“tell me what you want to say?” interjected Christine anxiously.

Then the man placed a blue color file on the table and said “miss please have a look upon this papers”.

Christine quickly grabbed the file and started examining it meticulously. Soon her expression stiffened and she became more serious than ever.

After carefully going through the papers she was flabbergasted.

Detecting her gaze, the man interjected “miss I am very sorry but yes it’s your father who killed your mother for power”

Christine was still not ready to accept the bitter truth and was looking at the man with glistened eyes. Then the man started foretelling the entire incident “your mother was tricked by your father and she was forced to admit defeat to him, only for your safety”.

Christine said nothing and was just listening to him while tears were continuously rolling down her cheeks.

The man continued “when you were ten years old your father sent you in an outskirt area and his forces were so strong that your mother’s men was not able to crack. He threatened her with your life so she was compelled to act according to his instructions. she went to a desolated plot of land under Bentley family’s ownership with your father. But in the way she was able to get your location and she immediately instructed her forces but sadly your father was a quick witted person and managed to prick her with a poisoned needle, your father’s plan was flawless but your mother was more intelligent than him that’s the reason she was chosen as the Matriarch of the Bentley family. The car they were riding had no brakes and it was done by your mother. This is how they died in a car accident” the man told the entire incident to her with proper reasoning in one go.

Christine was totally shocked but still after some moment of silent cries she questioned the man with shaking voice “what if my dad hadn’t poisoned my mom then she would have died without any reason”

“mam if your father hadn’t done that she would have definitely rescued herself, she already arranged some forces for the rescue operation but your father was intended to kill her so he managed to wipe off her forces. If he was not intended to do that, they would have never scout the area before leaving. Your father was not a man to be underestimated” the man exclaimed patiently.

Christine was shaking convulsively from the shocking news and she slowly said out “it means my mom lost her life only to save me, was he actually my father?”.

“he just married your mother because of your grandfather’s compulsions he already had a lover abroad who had two kids of his but he just sacrificed to get the family wealth but unfortunately your grandfather transferred it to your mother so all his efforts went into vain that’s why as soon as your grandfather passed he devised that treacherous plan” the man replied calmly.

There were a lot of questions circling in her mind so she questioned him one after the other.

“he is such a despicable man I feel ashamed to even think that he was my father. But killing her was not his only solution he could have transferred the property to his name. I believe mom can never be so greedy” questioned Christine with tear stained face.

“you are right he could have done that but your grandfather already made clear that only your mother can transfer the property to her kid not anyone else so doing that was meaningless. Your grandfather had a strong sense of judgement and he knew his son thoroughly”

The man answered everything to her with proper explanations.

After listening everything Christine cried out loudly as she was not able to control her emotions any more, the man said nothing to convince her he just sat there quietly.

Within half an hour Christine was able to control the emotional turmoil and she slowly said out “thanks to you for letting me know the truth, it really feels like my life changed within some mere hours but young man can I know that who are you and how did you know so many things?”

The man let out a sigh and said with a complicated expression on his face “I used to live my life on streets and when I was only fourteen years old your mom took me with her at that moment I was severely injured because a motor bike hit me. From that day I never left her sight I was like her shadow and I also wanted to go with her but didn’t want me to die and kept me alive for completing this task. She was my only family, my mother, father, sister and my everything but I am such a worthless person that I couldn’t save her from that demon” as soon as he finished his words tears rolled down his tough face.

He continued “trust me I wanted to save her. I even went to the cops with these proofs but sadly nobody trusted me and I was even sentenced to five years of imprisonment by your grandmother for spreading fake accusations on the young master of the Bentley family.”

“I trust you” said Christine softly.

The man blurted out emotionally “you are just like my senior sister”

Christine just responded with a faint smile and stood up to leave. But the man said out “miss I need to say you something else”

Christine responded with a baffled expression “what is it?”

The man exclaimed with utmost sincerity “do you want to talk with your mother?”

Hearing his question Christine froze for some moment then triumphantly responded “is it really possible?” she got to know a lot of things so suddenly on her 20^th birthday, everything feels like a blow to her.

The man replied “I hope you know that senior sister was very interested in the research about the life after death, she used to know a lot of things about that field and I also learnt many things from her. Before going with your father she requested me to tell everything about her sacrifice after you inherit the wealth. She wished to bless you and interact with you if she died in that incident. So I am asking for your opinion if you are interested then only we will perform the process to interact with your mother.”

Christine was very poignant, blithely exclaimed “obviously”

“fine then let’s move”

To carry out the process of séance they both headed to Mary’s bungalow where she loved to spend time.

During the journey Christine called her aunt.

“hello Christine, where are you? Why you left in the middle of the celebration?” her aunt questioned out of concern.

“aunt I’m fine. I just came to meet up with a friend. Aunt am sorry for everything I said to you all these years, I know that you care for me and I love you” she said with a shaky voice.

Her aunt was totally bewildered with her response and sensed something was wrong so she quickly replied “silly child where are you? Come home soon I will be waiting for you?”

“mmm” she hung up the call.

Soon they reached the bungalow and everything was already prepared.

That man was going to be the host of the process. The entire room was dark only one candle was lighted. The entire atmosphere was very eerie and she could feel the goosebumps all over her body. For some reason an ominous feeling crept through her spine but she eagerly wanted to interact with her mother after so many years.

Soon the process began, Christine just sat quietly and the candle light started flickering, the table started shaking terribly, Christin got a hair raising feeling but she still maintained her composure.

Then the man signaled her to speak and she started calling her mom with a shaking voice “mom are you here? Mom can you hear me?”

No replies came, but the furniture of the room started wobbling petrifyingly, Christine was scared out of her wits and was totally soaked in sweat but she continued calling her mother.

Then suddenly everything came back to normal position, the candle light also stabilized and a creepy silence prevailed everywhere. Even the man executing the entire process was sitting just like a stoned person without even blinking. Christine could only hear her own breathing. At that moment Christine wailed out “mom can you hear me”. Then a hoarse voice responded her “baby, how are you? It’s your daddy here”.

After hearing that Christine shrieked and the only one candle lighted in the entire bungalow blew off.

-        Sudesha Kar