Fiction & Nonfiction

The Nightmare

The Nightmare

Raj and Renu came home to spend a week’s holiday with their parents.  The siblings fared well in the semester exam marking the end of another successful year of college; the satisfaction adding to the joy of celebrating the coming New Year with their parents.

Mom and Dad planned a picnic by the sea and a late evening snack on the 31st of December. They knew, the full moon night would add to the ambiance of bidding farewell to the old year and welcoming the fresh one in.

Their parents were especially jubilant because finally their paternal grandparents agreed to meet them. It was eighteen long years since they parted ways - all because theirs was a love marriage and not an arranged one. The old hearts finally thawed; might be due to advancing age or the softening of rigid mentalities. Family reunion with grandparents and cementing time-eroded links appeared the latest resolution to be realized in the New Year. Raj and Renu were excited to meet the grandparents whom they knew only through photographs.

The beach looked colorful. People, especially holidaymakers mostly from the west, flocked to the seaside resort to celebrate the New Year. They loved swimming in the sea. This resort being in the south west of Asia, temperatures were comfortable. Children were seen cavorting and making merry on that pleasant winter day. Some played ball while others wandered about sipping delicious soda and enjoying a variety of food preparations the vendors sold.

Renu and Raj’s parents strolled on the seashore. Mom loved the feel of the slipping sand under her feet. They linked their hands and enjoyed the sight of the setting Sun in the west. Both loved the break with their kids. It would enhance their enthusiasm for fulfilling their professional commitments as doctors.

“Say Veena, how do you feel about meeting my mom? She has been longing to meet you but couldn’t.
“I know Vicky. At least now we are able to do it. Best bury the past and start anew”.

Suddenly they heard a shout from behind. The couple turned to wave. Laughing and joking walking arm in arm they started to jog as a big breaker came up to their waist without warning. To their stunned disbelief, the sand under their feet started sliding away rapidly. They were dragged right into the deep by giant breakers rising up to nearly a ten feet high within seconds.

Raj and Renu ran to the road on a higher level and stared helplessly at their parents with anxiety and fear. They were both dumbfounded at the speed at which water level rose covering them both. Veena’s pink dress was spotted miles away. All of a sudden the air was rent with screams and shouts from people looking for their kith and kin.

Raj and Renu’s parents were among the tens of thousands drowned in the small hours of that fateful New Year day.
It was the year tsunami struck the coast of the Indian Ocean.

Word count: 598

written for the 500 words flash fiction Contest.