Short Story 14 : The Birthday Gift

The Birthday Gift

                               - T ABRAHAM

    Pinky has turned nineteen years old now. Time has passed like a stream of river going at its own phase with rocks and obstacles in between. The Blossom cottage has been renovated into a bungalow and it looks like a palace of the royal family. Mr. Cephal has retired recently and has moved to his brother’s house in the valley to have some change from his static life. It was during the beginning of the month of May. Mrs. Cephal and Pinky were the ones who were there in the cottage.

(SOURCE: AI GENERATED IMAGE)

    Pinky had her birthday in the month of April and it is now almost a month since she had received the birthday gifts. She did not unwrap some of the gifts she had received from her friends as it was the time when she was having her exams.
    ‘When are you going to open the presents Pinky? It’s almost a month now’, said Mrs. Cephal to Pinky. ‘Once the exams gets over mama’, said Pinky and went to her room.
    All her exams got over. ‘Pinky…. your birthday gifts!’, said Mrs. Cephal to Pinky. ‘I will open them mama’, said Pinky to her mother. It was almost afternoon when Pinky had started to unwrap all her gifts. The gifts ranged from small keychains to a laptop. Mrs. Cephal was with her daughter all the while, ‘Aren’t you going to open that last gift which you have received from papa?’ asked Mrs. Cephal to her daughter.
    Suddenly Pinky noticed that she had forgotten to unwrap one of the gifts and began to remove its wrapper. ‘Who is this mama?’, asked Pinky. The last gift which she had received from her father was a portrait of a young teddy bear. ‘Give it to me!’, demanded Mrs. Cephal and forcibly grabbed the portrait from Pinky’s hands and went into her room.
    Pinky was clueless and she heard her mom crying from her room. Pinky went near the door and asked loudly, ’Why are you crying mama? Who’s that in the portrait? Tell me mama! Tell me!’. It was almost night and there was no sound from the bedroom. Pinky tried to unlock the door but it was locked from the other side.
    ‘Who’s portrait was that? And why did mama get angry and also started to cry?’, thought Pinky. ‘I should find out who it is’, then Pinky made a call to her father, ‘Hello Papa! Mama is crying continuously’, said Pinky to her father. ‘Why my child? What happened?’, asked Mr. Cephal to Pinky. ‘It was after seeing the portrait which you have presented to me as my birthday gift papa. Who’s that papa? Does mama know the teddy bear before?’, asked Pinky to Mr. Cephal. The call ended abruptly and Pinky was unable to find out the answer about this mysterious portrait being presented to her by her father.
    Pinky went to her room and had fallen asleep. It was during the middle of the night when she heard her mother talking to someone. ‘Why did you gift her this portrait? She should not know who he is. Pinky has to complete her studies and we shouldn’t reveal this to her now’, said Mrs. Cephal to Mr. Cephal over the phone.
    All the while Pinky was overhearing this conversation and was still clueless about what was going on. ‘Is there any mystery prevailing in our family history?’, she said to herself and went to sleep. Pinky had a nightmare where she was seated in a park with a little teddy bear and it was suddenly shot dead by someone who was holding a pistol in his hands. Then suddenly she woke up from her dream and she was drenched with sweat and was also shivering. Mrs. Cephal was already there inside Pinky’s room as she had also let out a scream while witnessing the gory sight in her dream.
    ‘What happened Pinky?’, asked Mrs. Cephal and hugged her daughter. ‘I saw someone being shot dead in my dream mama. A little teddy bear…’, said Pinky to her mother. Mrs. Cephal started to cry upon hearing this and revealed all that was behind the portrait. The mystery behind the portrait was revealed. It was none other than Pinky’s younger brother who was shot dead by a psychopath when Pinky was a little child. This incident had happened when they went to the park. The nightmare which Pinky got after seeing the portrait was a real incident which had happened seventeen years back in time.
    Pinky was shocked after hearing this but Mrs. Cephal consoled her and asked her not to worry about this. The birthday gift was something which was an eye opener for Pinky. The family history was presented to her by letting her know about the mysterious death of her little brother. Her memories were kindled by her father to make her into a strong woman. And he had succeeded in it as she was behaving more mature and responsible after this incident. Her father’s gift was forever a life changing one for Pinky.