The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge was first held in 2010. The challenge is that we have to post every day of April, except on the four Sundays. April 1st is a theme with letter A, 2nd with letter B and so on till April 30th which will be Z themed. This year, I’m planning to do short pieces of fiction (not a series), or a poem based on a word with that letter.
QUIET!
“It’s your fault.”
“Quit doing that!” whispered Rajneesh, sipping coffee at the counter. The café around him was empty, quiet except for a few youngsters seated around the corner table.
“You should’ve protected him.”
“What could I have done?” he questioned back. His face fell. The voices were now bringing back the memories.
“You seated him in front of you. You! You! YOU!”
“QUIET!” yelled Rajneesh, throwing the Styrofoam cup to the floor and startling the youngsters.
Seeing them get up to leave, he muttered a quick “Sorry!” to them and to Anjali, the girl at the counter, before asking for another cup of coffee. He remembered everything. Picking up his neighbor’s son Jojo and helping him to sit in the front of his Activa, and taking him for a round around the block. He remembered a black Scorpio speeding away after hitting them from behind. He remembered waking up at the hospital to the news that Jojo hadn’t made it. By the time he got out of the hospital, his neighbors had moved. They didn’t want to live in that place. But in doing so, they had deprived Rajneesh of the inkling of a chance to make peace with the ghosts of that day.
“They will never forgive you!”
“QUIET!” yelled Rajneesh again, just as the youngsters opened the glass doors to leave.
“Survivor’s guilt,” whispered Anjali, apologizing as one of them came to pay their bill.
The youngsters nodded, and quieting their own inner voices, got into their black Scorpio and drove away.
Like last year, I’m taking the challenge along with my friend Bhavya. We’re writing on the same themes each day, and giving each other the themes on alternate days. Day 17, the word chosen by us was ~Quiet~.
(© 20th April 2015)
Vinay Leo R.
Poetry & writing are to me, a breath of fresh air in a life that is sometimes covered by the smoke of sorrow or self doubt. They also become the sweets I share to celebrate when life offers me a reason to. But most of all, they are to me, my life. For each word I write is a piece of my heart, a thought that just had to find its way into the world.
Entammo!
Point blank on the heart.
Excellent writing Leo!
Thank you, Pooja. Glad it touched your heart.
(Vinay Leo R. recently posted…QUIET!)
That is an eerie coincidence!! Sad story Leo. Can’t even call it a story… it might have happened to so many people…. survivor’s guilt is hard to live with 🙁
(Bhavya recently posted…Shhh… Quiet)
Might have happened to many indeed. Possibly a realistic fiction, Ishi.
(Vinay Leo R. recently posted…QUIET!)
Well written.
(melanie schulz recently posted…A to Z: Q is for Quest)
Thanks, Melanie.
(Vinay Leo R. recently posted…QUIET!)
Leo this is really touching. You are a perfect story teller.
Thank you, Usha ji!
(Vinay Leo R. recently posted…QUIET!)
How do you come up with ideas like this! I bet I can see you like the next Jeffery Archer! Mark my words! 🙂
(Shalini recently posted…Forever alone No more- Q)
I just write 😀 Enthu thonnuno, ath ezhuthum. That’s all, Shalzz.
Jeffrey Archer? Moi? paavam Jeff might fall unconscious in shock, keto 😉
(Vinay Leo R. recently posted…QUIET!)
This one is a powerful story that shook me to the core! Awesome piece of writing, Vinay!
(Shilpa Garg recently posted…Q is for Quirky #AtoZChallenge @AprilA2Z)
Glad it had that effect, Shilpa. Thanks!
(Vinay Leo R. recently posted…QUIET!)
Nice twist in the end. The guilty conscience is never quiet. I was a little creeped out in the beginning though 🙂
Really? I was creeped at the end too, Prasanna!
(Vinay Leo R. recently posted…QUIET!)
Brilliant as always! I so enjoy my visits to your blog. Your stories are so different from the norm.
(keiths ramblings recently posted…Questions)
I enjoy my visits to the Ramblings too, Keith. though I do it at a stretch
Glad you liked the story and found it brilliant!
(Vinay Leo R. recently posted…QUIET!)
Poor Rajneesh! He’ll probably live with his guilt all his life. But those other guys…. just too much. Nice story Vinay
My A-Z: http://sundarivenkatraman.blogspot.in/
They don’t have a conscience, Sundari. They’ll live all their life, but ignoring the voices.
(Vinay Leo R. recently posted…The Red Ribbons)
Oh! They were in that killer Scorpio? Tch!
Your posts leaves me at a loss for words… or should I say, “quiet”?
(Kaddu recently posted…A to Z of Blogging: Q – Quality #atozchallenge @AprilA2Z)
Yeah. It kind of did that for me too, Chicky. The ending is such.
(Vinay Leo R. recently posted…The Red Ribbons)
“Survivors guilt” those two words say so much more here. And yes another vote for the Jeffery Archer comment.
(Jaibala Rao recently posted…No Good Deed)
You vote for comments often 😛 Silly Jb. Glad you liked the story.
Guilt is one small poison. It just kills the person slowly…
(Sheethal recently posted…Ritu …)
Yep. Very slowly, SSJ. And from the inside.
twist in the tale! Survivors’ guilt does not extend to the scorpio drivers, I guess.
(Shailaja recently posted…Reflection- #AtoZChallenge @AprilA2Z)
No Shailaja. They didn’t survive, right? They inflicted.
A queer coincidence.. hopefully the guilt extended to the Scorpio driving youngsters.. A really awesome climax to this scene.. Would call it perfection rather than climax!!!
(Shrikant recently posted…Sunset)
Glad you liked the climax, Shrikant. Yes, perhaps there was a bit of guilt there, but they suppressed it and moved on. It’s only Rajneesh, who had lost someone, who faced the voices within.
I second that, Shalini 😀
(Sims recently posted…Save the Mother Earth)
Agreeing to another’s comment is definitely not your style, Sims.