The falling seasons

Part 16

Sunanda could hear her voice echoing in the small passage of a room that was present between the doors to the ceiling and the end of the staircase. She didn't care for the guest to hear her out, because she didn't care all of it anymore, all of the things her lady had done all these days.

"Haru... Haru... Please open the door..." Sunanda banged the door twice and then there was a whisper

"Aunty, did I do something wrong?"

Sunanda almost felt like crying when she heard the feeble yet painful voice of Haruni, she could tell by her voice that she was crying her heart out. But still, she tried to mask it and that's how she sounded.

"You did not dear..." Sunanda put her head to the door as she felt Haruni doing the same thing on the other side, with her voice vibrating through the door.

"Then did I make a wrong choice by being... A good girl?"

Sunanda smiled.

"Do you think so?"

"I don't... Know..." Haruni started to cry again and Sunanda wanted to hold Haruni tight but she didn't want to persuade her to open the door, she felt like this was the right way.

"But did you blame it on someone?"

Silence followed her question and Sunanda knew the answer. Haruni could have blamed it on her mother, but she hadn't and she wouldn't. And so Sunanda took her head from the door and said

"Haruni... Come down when you feel like, but don't..."

'Act reckless' Were the words that got to Sunanda's tongue but did not leave her lips as she knew Haruni wasn't a girl who would do anything reckless.

"Don't stay outside in the cold for long..."

Then Haruni heard footsteps going down and that's when she truly felt all alone. She couldn't have blamed her mother for everything, but now she thought about it, she could have. All the time she had been just outcasted from even talking to her then what value did her mother hold towards her daughter? She looked at the star-filled violet sky, with the wind cutting her plump cheeks. She sniffed in and thought.

What if I never had a mother, Would it make a difference? Just like papa?

She felt disgusted just by her thinking skills.

"How could I even think of such things about maa?" She pinched herself but suddenly the words of her mother dawned upon her

You were and always will be a worthless child...

The words made her feel a lump in her throat as tears simply flowed of her eyes. She couldn't stop and the silent night was filled with her sniffs and gasps. Her white dress was all wet when she raised her head to the sky.

"I don't like mama, I hate her..." She yelled as she got back to her crying position and she didn't know the silent night sky would always be patient, hearing people. It heard people blurting out their deepest secrets to their fantasies, and sometimes it just simply made true the thoughts that a person would behold. And Haruni had thought of a life without her mother and night sky had simply listened to it.

***

She didn't know how much time she had spent at the ceiling, but when she came down, she saw that all the candles of the room were unlit and her house was a dark place except her mother's room. There was eminence of bright orange light that seemed to partially light up the hall. Haruni saw that her mother was reading something, she seemed like she had been sad. For a moment she thought it was due to her, but the same moment she knew her mother never cared, so it surely wasn't because of her. As she was leaving, Haruni stood unfazed as she saw her mother staring right back at her. She felt as though she would be yelled at again but she saw that her mother feebly smiled. Haruni couldn't stand anymore and she ran towards her room. up the stairs and all Azuma could do was fold the letter her husband had written for her and smile at it.

"I guess... it's time!"

The candle of her room was also unlit and then the night was silently waiting.