by Palvi Sharma
CHAPTER ONE
Raina chewed fiercely on the piece of gum in her mouth as she mopped the kitchen floor. This was insane! This wasn’t even her house and here she was cleaning up a spill she hadn’t even made.
“Speed up!” Uncle Rabindra said from the next room. “I have more chores for you.”
“Gee, thanks.” Raina screamed back and considered spitting the gum out and sticking it on her Uncle’s chair. That would provide her with ten minutes of fun before her Uncle noticed it and punished her with more chores.
“After you’re done, you could call up your parents.” Aunt Lily suggested.
“No thanks.” Raina said and continued pushing the mop back and forth on the floor.
“Ever since you arrived two weeks ago, you haven’t spoken to them even once!” Aunt Lily said. “They’re worried about you.”
Raina gave a sarcastic laugh. “If they really cared, they wouldn’t have sent me to this dump in the first place. No offense.”
“How could I not be offended?” Aunt Lily asked.
“Just leave me alone, okay?” Raina said and turned her back towards her. She relaxed her shoulders when she heard her Aunt walk away. She hated this! And she hated this town! Her parents were being so unreasonable, sending her to this dumpy old town where there was absolutely nothing to do and all because of one little mistake.
It wasn’t her fault. The ones to blame for her current predicament was a girl in her class who had done nothing but lay misery upon her from the time they had met. And what punishment did she get? Nothing! And here she was, stuck making up for an offense that wasn’t her fault to begin with.
Raina leaned the mop on the counter and looked out the kitchen window. Her parents had tried grounding her, taking away her allowance and even taking away her cell phone and when she had still gone and gotten a tattoo against their wishes, they had sent her to Uncle Rabindra’s. Her uncle had been in the army and was now retired and she was pretty sure that her Uncle must have called his brother and offered to take charge of her.
And so here she was, in a drab old house, in a boring town, all alone with her Aunt and Uncle whose three sons were in the army too. Raina lifted up her t-shirt to reveal a dragon tattoo above her hip. She hadn’t even wanted to do this, but ever since she had known her parent’s stand on tattoos she was bent over in having one at any cost.
“Aren’t you done yet?” Uncle Rabindra asked.
Raina stared at his bald head and wondered how he would react if she asked him if his head needed a mopping too?
“Why? Do you want me to paint the whole house now?” Raina asked sweetly.
“No, just the garage.” Uncle Rabindra said and picked up an apple from the fruit bowl.
“You’re kidding right?”
“I don’t kid.” Uncle Rabindra bit into the apple and cocked an eyebrow. “But you do have two more options.”
“Oh, do tell.” Raina said sardonically and leaned on the counter.
“You can either paint the garage, clean the roof gutters or clean out the attic.” Uncle Rabindra said.
“Rabindra!” Aunt Lily said coming up behind him. “She’s a girl! You can’t ask her to climb up the roof."
“Or...”Uncle Rabindra said and raised a finger. “You can take ten laps all around the town.”
“You’re not in the military anymore, Uncle and you’re definitely not running a correctional institute.” Raina said.
Uncle Rabindra threw the apple into the dustbin and walked slowly towards her. “Now listen here!” he said quietly. “You will do exactly as I say or I’ll make your life a living hell!”
“Rabindra!” Aunt Lily said. “She’s your niece, for heaven’s sake.”
“I’m well aware of this fact. But I can also see the path she’s chosen and there’s no way I’m going to let her ruin our family’s reputation. She was in jail! The first member of our family to ever be in jail for vandalism.” Uncle Rabindra said.
“Whatever!” Raina said. “I’m taking the attic.”
Raina pushed past him and smiled as she heard Uncle Rabindra grumbling. She enjoyed getting under his skin and seeing him boiling with anger but unable to do anything about it.
She pulled down the stairs to the attic and climbed up while her Uncle and Aunt argued about something. Once upstairs she sighed and turned a flashlight that was lying on a box. The flashlight flickered twice before it switched on and Raina frowned when she saw three spiders crawling on the floor.
“Great!” she said and picked up an old magazine from a box. She rolled it and knelt down on the floor. “Come on little spidey!” she said and swatted at them quickly. “There we go!”
She threw the magazine aside and groaned when she saw hundreds of boxes lined up. Was she supposed to sort them or throw them out? Raina got up and shone her flashlight all around the boxes. The beam hit one of the boxes labeled ‘Photographs’ and she made her way towards it. If she was lucky, she might find some embarrassing photographs of Uncle Rabindra and then blackmail him with it.
Raina snickered to herself. Who was she kidding? When had her Uncle done anything fun that had ever led to some embarrassing situation. She imagined him to be prim and proper from the day he was born.
Did he even cry when he was born? Raina thought idly, opening the box and saw that it filled with albums. “This is going to take a while.” she told herself. She flickered through one of them and frowned. Pictures of the family!
Raina sat down on one of the crates and studied the albums. So many pictures and so many memories. She found a picture of herself in one of the albums and stared at it.
She must have been eight then, standing in a pretty frock with an ice cream cone as her parents forced a smile on their faces. Uncle Rabindra’s sons and her cousins were in it too and at least they weren’t feigning their smiles. Rohan, the eldest had been twenty-four years old then while his brothers were Riddick and Shane had been twenty-two and nineteen respectively.
Raina smiled to herself. They had always taken care of her and showered her with affection. And then they had left for the army and she had never seen them again. They were all probably stationed in different parts of the country, but Raina was never told where.
It hurt that they hadn’t bothered to keep in touch with her. Like everyone else in her family, they too had deserted her when she had needed them the most. Raina closed the album and threw it into the box. She didn’t have to think about them anymore or even care. If they didn’t then why should she? Besides, she could solve her problems herself.
She leaned forward on the crate and stared at the box of albums filled with pictures of her whole family-everyone who hadn’t been there when she had needed them. Without thinking, she pushed the box away which resulted in all the albums and pictures being scattered all over the floor.
She sighed and knelt down to pick up the upturned box. “This is just perfect!” she groaned.
“What was that noise?” Uncle Rabindra asked, popping his head through the opening.
“The box of photos, er...fell.” she said.
“That’s very careless of you.” Uncle Rabindra said and to her dismay started to climb up to the attic. “Those photos are very important to us.”
“And that’s why they’re very CAREFULLY stashed in the attic.” Raina said and scooped up the photos and threw them into the box.
“You little brat!”
“Rabindra!” Aunt Lily cried from downstairs.
“Stay out of this!” Uncle Rabindra said angrily and then turned his attention back to her. “Don’t you know how...?”
“Who’s this?” Raina asked suddenly. The picture in her hand was black and white and of an adolescent girl. Her hair was open and long, her eyes dark and her mouth small and pouty.
Uncle Rabindra gave a gasp of surprise and stormed towards her. He snatched the picture from her fingers and Raina winced in pain as the photo scratched her index finger.
“She is no one!” Uncle Rabindra
yelled and right before her, he tore up the picture in pieces and flung them on the floor. “Now pick it up!”
“Rabindra, she’s hurt!” Aunt Lily said softly.
Uncle Rabindra saw the droplet of blood on her finger and sneered. “Give her a small bandage.”
Raina wiped her finger on her jeans and stood up. “That’s fine.”
Aunt Lily walked towards her with a sympathetic look on her face and Raina wondered how her Aunt could tolerate him. Then she remembered something and went downstairs to find her Uncle.
She saw him sitting on the couch with his head in his hands, perturbed by something.
“You said I could have the evening off if I do all my chores.” Raina said. “So, may I?”
Uncle Rabindra wringed his hands. “Be back at nine. And if you get into any more trouble, there will be hell to pay! I want you to walk in the door at exactly nine. Not a minute after that. You hear me?”
Raina opened her mouth to protest and then decided it was of no use. She stepped out the room and saw her Aunt coming with a bandage towards her. “I’m fine.” she told her and then went up to her room. Once inside, she jumped into her bed and stared at the ceiling, wondering if she should cry or scream.
She wished Uncle Rabindra hadn’t voluntarily retired from the army. Why couldn’t he just go somewhere? If only she could find his weak point!
Raina sat up suddenly. The picture of that girl! Hadn’t she seen the look of shock on his face when he had seen her picture? Who was she anyway? She smiled slowly. Maybe-just maybe, it might have been Uncle Rabindra’s ex-girlfriend. It couldn’t have been Aunt Lily or he wouldn’t have reacted that way.
“I have to find out who she is or was.” Raina said to herself. Maybe if she dug up a little dirt on him, she might have the upper hand and she could finally go back home.