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The little boy didn't understand where his mother went.
His home was filled with people who kept talking in hushed voices, saying that she was gone, but nobody explained where she had gone. Where could his mother possibly have gone? Just earlier that morning, while she fed him spoonfuls of dalia and picked dried Cheerios off of his table mat, she had promised him that when she came back from her office at exactly six in the evening, the two of them would play UNO together, like always.
Yet as little Vivaan sat perched on the couch, looking through the sea of family friends that had suddenly flooded his house, he couldn't find a trace of his mommy, with her trailing sandalwood fragrance and sleek, shoulder-length black hair, her deep laughter and her brown lipstick-smile. He looked expectantly at the clock. It was already half past seven, much later than when Mommy usually came.
Where was she?
Vivaan looked into the crowd again, and this time, he saw two familiar figures emerging, but neither of them were his mother.
Instead, it was his father and a family friend, Mridul Uncle, who had his arms around his father's shoulders.
"I'm so sorry about Madhuri, Nitin," Mridul Uncle said. "I promise, time is the biggest healer. Soon, everything will be better."
Madhuri? That was Vivaan's mother's name, although she was just Mommy to him. And why was Mridul Uncle sorry?
Vivaan raced towards his father and Mridul Uncle. To his shock, Daddy's eyes were red, and there were tears dripping down his beard.
"Daddy!" Vivaan shrieked. "Daddy! Why are you crying, Daddy? And where's Mommy?"
In response, Daddy looked down and buried his face in his large, calloused hands. Vivaan could see the marks on his finger from the thick gold band he always wore, something he explained was a wedding ring. He wondered why he didn't just take it off. It looked painful.
"Nitin," Mridul Uncle said quietly, before turning towards Vivaan. "Vivaan, beta, sit down. We have something to tell you."
"Okay! But when is Mommy coming home?"
"Sit down, beta," Nitin begged, and Vivaan did as he was told.
Slowly, Mridul Uncle and Daddy began to speak to him. Vivaan watched as large words left their mouths, but they were hard for him to comprehend.
Office...car accident...Mommy...death...dying...dead.
It took minutes, even hours for his little three year old brain to understand what Daddy and Mridul Uncle were trying to tell him. But by the end of everything, when Daddy's tears had dried into hollow rivers on his face and the miniscule blood vessels in his eyes were prominent, Vivaan understood exactly what they were trying to tell him.
Mommy wasn't going to be coming back.
YOU ARE READING
UNO Cards
Romance"I know nothing about loving anyone." "Nor do I..." "If you know nothing and I know nothing, perhaps together, we know something." Their story began when they were children, one scarred by fresh tragedy, crawling into a dark void filled with fear an...
