What it could have been!

FRIDAY THE 13th 1998

 

Looking first at the ambulance, you would not be able to recognize the persons inside even if you knew them. Covered in blood, dirt, scum and grime, they looked nothing like the aristocrats they were but like the filthy labourers.

 Cecilia, “the mother hen” usually a handsome lady with her stoic expression and her bob held tightly in place by pins, always carrying an air of someone who had endured hardships and come out like a shining knight , now looked haggard and weak. Baker, with his gold-rimmed glasses, his tall personality and his ever-straight face with never an unconditional expression to mar it, now looked like an old and crumbling building. Arnold, with his elder brother attitude and protective nature now reduced to self-pity, Kloven with her lady-like grace and her all-too-knowing gaze and Velma, the only person who could keep her head in the direst of situations, looked like small and scared children in the middle of a storm.

Peter, with his impossibly blue, piercing eyes, his calm, detached demeanour and his soldier-like patience now seemed on edge. Karl, the youngest of them, a toddler actually was the only one who seemed unaware of the situation that had ripped the family to pieces.

 

TWO YEARS AGO

 

It was a starry, moonlit night when the LeBlanc family had decided to “take a vacation” to the Isla Serene, a journey that would haunt the lives forever. Baker was sitting by the fire, tired after the tedious day, relaxing and reading the morning news at night,Arnoldwas lecturing Kloven and Peter about the endless fight that they got into and the whole house was calm. Nothing would ever be the same after that. It was like the storm that was brewing under the folds of stillness. Randy, their guide had told them not to go on this trip as it was dangerous but they all turned a deaf ear. They had just reached about halfway to the Isla when Baker suddenly got up and went to Randy. “As much as we all owe you for bringing us here, we cannot afford you to sabotage our plans. So sleep tight because there is nothing more important to us than our son” was the last the thing that Randy heard before drifting off to sleep after feeling a prick in his arm.

The plane that they flew now landed on a deserted island, away from prying human eyes.

What they saw there surprised them. The things that they had left behind were all, intact , Baker’s fishing gear, Cecilia’s red pumps and everything else ,all were strewn here and there.  Then in the distance they saw a light shining and as they neared it they came across a cave. The same cave that had stolen their precious son, Duncan.

Roger, their bodyguard agreed to go first.