A for Anger !!

"What happened to Appa. Why is he not looking at me amma. Why is he not smiling back at me like he always does when I smile." Karan was pestering his mother with endless questions. His mother, was busy on the phone, talking to somebody, giving out instructions. Seeing that his questions were not being answered, he moved back to the door and peeped thru the glass partition in the door. His hands cupped to the sides of his face, he saw the doctor giving his father an injection and immediately ran towards his mom,"Amma, come quickly, ask doctor uncle not to give appa the injection, it will hurt him and he might cry like me."

She could not hold back her emotions any longer. She pulled Karan closer to her and hugged him tightly. Hiding her tears and worries behind a bright smile, she kissed him on the cheek. "Appa will be alright Karan. Now listen to amma, uncle will be here to take you home. I want you to go home and have your dinner now. And no more ice cream for today." Karan did not want to go. Even though amma was not telling him, he knew what happened to appa. 

It was evening and he was playing on the terrace, occasionally glancing down the road to check if dad was coming. Suddenly, there were loud noises and he could see people running everywhere. At the top of the street, he saw a few people hurling stones and running around with sticks. In no time, a cloud of dust engulfed the road. As the dust settled, he saw people lying on the road with their shirts torn and blood on their faces. He was too terrified to cry and wanted to run downstairs to his mother. As he stood up to run, he heard the sound of his dad's scooter. Seeing his dad park his scooter he was about to run down when he heard his dad shout. As he looked down, he saw his dad being hit by a stick. He saw the bearded burly man hitting his dad on the head and kicking him down to the floor. He ran downstairs to his mother, skipping three steps at a time and shrieking at the top of his voice "amma amma, come quickly appa is hurt." Hearing his voice, she rushed out of the kitchen and followed him out of the house. Her knees trembled when she saw her husband lying in a pool of blood. She saw the chaos on the street and was petrified. Quickly regaining her senses, she dashed back inside grabbed the car keys and her phone and hurried out. 

She made calls as she drove to the hospital. One to their doctor and one to her brother. By the time they arrived at the emergency wing of the hospital the attenders were ready and helped her in getting him out of the car. She watched as they stretchered him away into the emergency ward and turned to look at Karan sitting in the car. He looked pale, the color drained off his face. She pulled him closer and comforted him, telling him that everything would be okay. 

It had been two hours since they were at the hospital. He saw the doctor uncle come out briefly and speak to his mother which made her relax a bit. He slowly tiptoed towards his mother and stood beside her clinging to her leg. As they spoke, she told him that his dad had fell down and hurt himself. She spoke in low hushed voices with her brother and the other relatives. He was not sure as to why his mother was hiding the fact from him, but did not tell her what he saw from the terrace. 

He waved to his mother as he walked back to the parking along with his uncle. On their way home, he sat silently in the front seat, fiddling with the his favorite chocolate. As his uncle drove, he stared at his uncle and said, "I know that appa did not fall down. I saw him being hit by the burly man. But amma keeps telling me that appa fell down and hurt himself. I dont know why amma is lying to me, but i know what happened. I saw it myself. "

As he said this, his uncle slowed down the car and looked at his thin frame. Parking the car to a side, he spoke to him, " Listen to what amma is telling you. What happened today evening is not very good. The less we talk about it the better. If anybody asks you, just say that appa fell down while he was parking his scooter." 

"But uncle, I saw that burly man hitting appa. There were a lot of people throwing stones at each other as well. They were hurting each other. Appa just came home and as i was about to run down, i saw the man hitting appa". '

"Karan, listen to me. The group which was fighting is a group of bad people. They wanted to create violence in the city. That is why they hurled stones and created a ruckus. They are very powerful people. We cannot fight them or complain against them."

"But uncle, we can go to the police and tell them. I have seen the burly man many times on my way back from school. I know he stays in the next street, near the temple." 

"Enough of it Karan, his uncle said in a raised pitch. Listen to what amma and I are telling you. Your dad fell down and hurt himself. He is fine now and will be back home tomorrow. Now lets buy an ice cream and go home."

Karan looked away from his uncle. He kept staring out of the window. 

He was angry. Angry with his mother for hiding the truth, with his uncle for telling him to forget the truth, with the burly man for what he did to his dad. 

More than anybody, he was angry with himself !! Angry for being helpless, angry for being led to be believed that he was helpless. !! 

Linking the post to  A to Z Challenge

Read the next part here B for Bliss