The Vase of Vanishment (Part-1)

It was the morning of a hot summer day. The sun was fuming in the sky. People walking around the neighbourhood drowned with sweat as they made tremendous effort to take a step while convincing themselves that their destination was only few feet away from them. Lily pulled a water bottle from her embroidered backpack and she instantly doubted the light weight of the bottle. As she suspected, the bottle was empty except for a little drop at the corner.  She flipped the bottle and eyed the little drop thirstily.  

The empty bottle now lay down on the road after being emptied and thoroughly examined by lily for any sign of liquid.  

“There it is!” her mother said, pointing to the large house ahead. The house was covered with white walls accompanied by a black roof. The windows were dotted here and there. The smooth, granite steps that extended to the large oak door welcomed them as they made their way into the house. Lily’s mother softly knocked on the door as to not startle her visitee.  

“Who is it?” The raspy voice echoed through the walls. A look of unpleasantness took over lily’s face. The door, however, opened without an answer. Lily felt strongly repelled as she saw her aunt’s face. The face that was that was staring back at her was thin and tired. Her eyes resembled that of a snake that’s ready to strike, her nostrils were red for she was always angry. Parvathi was her name. 

 

“Oh!” exclaimed she with an expression of surprise and a slight hint of delight. After a formal greeting and a moment of awkward silence, Parvathi waved her hand as to gesture them to come in. As lily stepped in, she felt relieved to be finally in shade. The unique odour of the house quickly alerted her. The insides of the house were flamboyant; the walls were white whereas the ceiling was black, a perfectly traditional combination. 

Instantly, the both ladies got into a conversation about secret gossips and scintillating sarees, leaving lily in the long hall. Lily made herself comfortable in the velvety sofa, looked up at the ceiling and stared at the rotating fan. 

Here I am, spending my summer slumbering at my aunt’s house. 

Lily was motionless for an hour or so, she sat still as she stared deep in to the ceiling. She finally moved and got up from the sofa for her neck pained from a stationary hour. Pacing around the hall, she rubbed her neck looking for anything intriguing.  

It was then her eyes caught something enthusiastic, it was lying on the table; The Vase. It was nothing of any significance but nonetheless it was worth a closer look for its beautiful design. There were thin blue lines spreading over it with colour white filling the gaps.  

Lifting the vase slowly in the air, lily brought it close to the window; the sunlight did nothing but to beautify the vase further. As she observed it, she saw that there was an outline of a centaur; a fantasy critter. The image unlocked her old memories along with a tingle of nostalgia: her mother telling a story of centaur and its friends. A smile surfaced over her face. 

“LILY!” the shout came from the kitchen; the land of gossips and source of korero. It was her aunt who called with an agitating tone. First time in two years that she heard her aunt calling her name, as she turned to kitchen, she loosened the grip on the vase that eventually led to the demise of the beauty. The sudden clang froze lily’s body. She instantly seemed to hear her brain. Wild thoughts ran through her brain, but only one was audible: 

I am dead. 

Silence sat in the space, after a second of undisturbed silence, lily quickly moved around looking for any signs of eradicating the evidence of her crime of breaking the vase. Lily was very lucky for the vase landed on the carpet, thus silencing the noise. However, the carpet made no effort to not turn the vase in into shambles. 

After a second of quick-thinking, lily wrapped the pieces with a plastic cover that she found at the bottom of the drawer. She quickly went to the back window and mustered as much strength as she can, threw the cover with a blend of expressions anger and fear. Far it flew, it hovered in the air as to look where to land and finally it fell in the river.  It floated for some time in the water and went deep in the river; unseeable.  

“Lily?” said her aunt, now out of the kitchen and with a much lighter tone. 

“Yes?” lily turned around quickly. A doubt arose in her mind: 

Did she see? 

“What are you doing at the window?” asked she with her usual grating voice. Lily released a sigh and searched for an excuse to escape.  

“I was just feeling the cool breeze outside” obviously lily was out of her mind; the pressure was too much. Cool breeze?  Parvathi thought looking outside the window; the sun was fuming in the sky, boiling the whole earth.  

“Mad girl. Come inside for lunch” said she, now audible to lily for she instantaneously straightened her back and started marching towards the kitchen; still rebuking her aunt under her breathe.  

                                                        *** 

There was a chill in the air; the night was unpleasantly cold, strange for a blazing summer. Ambanapur has been plunged into darkness as there was an apparent power cut. In the unilluminated city, a damp light twinkled; hopping from the illuminated window to the streets of ill-lit town. There were unidentifiable shadows motioning in the middle of the night. 

Rinda threw her arms around and wrapped herself; unable to bear the cold anymore. The glacial air gushed from the windows, Rinda briskly walked to the open window and slammed it shut. Though she struggled in the blinding darkness, the candle light guided her to the spot on the floor, where her friends sat in a circle with the candle at the centre. 

“Thanks Rinda, let us continue” said Kiran trying to sound as spooky as possible. 

He wasted no time and rotated the empty water bottle that is situated just near the candle. After a few rounds, it came to a halt. The front of the bottle pointed to Rinda who gave a sigh. The summer is the best time of the year, obviously, the gang was not going to waste it. The sudden power issue which blinded the whole city gave an idea to Rahul. So, he called all his friends who instantly assembled at his house. 

“It is always me” sighed Rinda. 

“Truth or dare?” Rahul asked playfully, not able to control his excitement.  

Rinda chose Truth, too lazy to do anything which she had to do if she chose dare. Kiran rest his head on his palm and began wondering what to ask while Rahul did the same too. It was lily that felt out of the place for she had no eagerness nor excitement to play a game. She blankly stared at the glowing light; there was this feeling...a feeling that she cannot recognise. 

Rahul instantly snapped his fingers with a mischievous smile on his face. 

“I have always found very close similarities between your first book and another book”. He said, Kiran was puzzled as it was not a question but a statement. 

“Well...” Rinda stretched the word, clenching her hands out of tension. 

“Well?” Rahul looked straight into Rinda as she made an arduous effort to speak. Rinda looked up straight, accepting the defeat. 

“Yes...” she sighed “I did plagiarize my first book” said Rinda blushing out of embarrassment. 

“I knew it!” Rahul shouted with a triumph of look. 

“OK, ok” Rinda prompted hastily. Rahul and Kiran had not a second to savour the moment of truth as Rinda quickly started again. "Turn the bottle” she ordered. Kiran did as he was ordered, the bottle rotated for a moment, stopping at lily.  

“Lily?” Rinda shouted, waving her hands in front of her. Lily startlingly turned away from the candle for she felt as if someone pulled her from the blankness. 

“Yes?” Lily responded quickly. 

“Truth or dare?” Kiran asked. 

“...Truth”  

The three of them went to pondering again, this time it was Rinda who asked the question: 

“What was your biggest lie?”  

Lily now instantly recognized the feeling that was haunting her since: Regress. The feeling of regret hit her and spread like a poisoned arrow. The source of this has also became clear; the image of the broken vase flashed in her mind. The cool breeze hit her again, turning her numb; she noticed that the window had opened a little, permitting the cold air. 

I should have told her. 

“It may be when she lied about that chocolate vanishing into thin air,” said Kiran followed by a slight smile “That was a bad lie as I instantly noticed the stains of the chocolate on her lips and caught her red-handedly" boasted Kiran, swelling up with pride.  

“Yes, yes” nodded lily curtly with an extended arm and a menacing look. Kiran, having now understood the situation, fell silent for the last thing he needed was a slap on the cheek. 

“Anyway,” she said, looking around “Where is John?”  

“I have called him” said Rahul, “But he had not picked up” 

“I think he slept” Rinda said 

“Well, that is abnormal; he made us play hide and seek in the burial ground at midnight a month ago,” said Lily 

“Did he?” smirked Rinda. 

The sudden ring of the phone startled them all. The phone, which was lying on the bed made a ‘beep’ noise for every second, it was more annoying than alarming. The screen luminated in the darkness which escorted blind Rahul to it. Rahul groped for the phone on the bed and caught it in a swish. 

“It’s John” Rahul said. He swiped his finger up and the screen glowed. 

“Hello?” Rahul spoke. 
A great deal of confusion hit him after he heard the reply. It was not John, for one, it was his mother, but what she said bewildered him most. Rahul could sense that she was almost close to sobbing. In an arduous effort to not pass out, she said: 

“HE IS MISSING!” 

                                                           ***  

The red lights on the top of the Police car blared with a blend of red and blue lights glaring from it. In the blazing mid-day, the car hovered inside the city, knocking on the doors of citizens, showing them a photo of a slim, tall boy and asking his whereabouts. They occasionally spoke into their walkie-talkies but all they received was static followed by a look of disappointment on the officer’s face.  

“Here we are, trying to do something and this bloody thing doesn’t work” grumbled one officer shortly after receiving no reply as he slammed the walkie-talkie on the ground. 

Lily, who had been watching the officer’s anger from the window, called out to him: 

“Officer!” She waved her hand, “There is no signal here, try going to the Park” 

“Might as well go to the station” He yelled and got in the car and turned the ignition key along with the lights and the sounds again. Lily let out a sigh as the car drove away. She turned from the windows into the class, lying on her table were a stack of missing posters. She collected them in the hope of sticking them but she found that the police were already doing it, so she pushed them into her bag. 

On the crumbled papers were the photo of john with his two arms folded and a big grin on his face. It was written ‘Missing’ in bold, black letters below the photo along with some phone numbers. Sadness took over her face, Rinda rested her hands on lily’s shoulders to console her. 

The bell rang, signalling the school’s end. Instantly, everyone took their bags and hanged them to their shoulders while at the same rushing to the exit.  

“Lily, come on” said Kiran gesturing to the exit. Lily wiped her moist eyes and said in a tearful tone, “Yeah, coming.”  

“We will wait at the exit for you” said Rahul and the rest of them went out. Lily searched for her books that were scattered on the wooden bench. She picked them and stuffed them inside her bag. It was then she froze; there were mixed feelings inside her; a blend of fear and confusion. The gleaming piece lay in the desk of john’s bench. It was the piece of a broken vase! She tiptoed to john’s bench and put a quiet hand into his desk, she pulled out the piece and examined it. Lily instantly recognised it: The Vase, with an outline of a centaur on it. 

How in the world did it get here? 

She questioned herself but got silence in return. With no-thing in her mind, she followed her gut: grabbed the piece and threw it into her bag. Lily seized her bag and bolted out in a second. While she was walking in the evening, her friends discussed something about police investigation going well...but they all were muffles for lily, her mind was blank. 

The Evening sun sank deep into the mountains, emanating orange light all over the sky. The cool zephyr blew as the leaves danced accompanying the wind. The evening passengers have been reduced; The streets of Ambanapur where even breathing is harder had now lay void; the summer had quite an effect on the town. Night fell upon the dusk as the shiny, luminating moon rose from the river, throwing its beautiful reflection on the water, broken by the ripples. 

Through all the journey back to the home, only one thought echoed in lily’s mind: 

I hope the broken vase is not related to John’s vanishment. 

                                                        ***