A Fatherly Lesson
Words 195
“You don’t want to go to school?” Hariya shook Ramu, his 8-year-old son. “You want to play in the jungle all day?”
Ramu nodded.
Enraged, Hariya dragged him into the jungle. “Then stay with the animals and ghosts of the jungle.” Hariya walked away.
Ramu explored the jungle to his heart’s content but it wasn’t much fun without his friends. Plus he was hungry. He decided to return home, but to his despair, he couldn’t find his way out. “Amma! Babuji!” Ramu screamed loud and long but no one came.
Darkness fell abruptly and closed in on him. Fear gripped him. He ran to the lone lamp and looked around in dread at the shadows hovering over him. He clung to the lamppost and held on for dear life. Then the unthinkable happened. The bulb flickered and died. Darkness engulfed him, threatening, choking, strangling, “Amma! Babuji! Where are you? Please take me home. I promise I will always go to school.” The wind howled and the trees swayed. Leaves blew into his face. Terrified, Ramu bolted but something held him back.
He opened his mouth in a soundless scream and collapsed in a dead faint.
***
Written for the Sunday Photo Fiction – a story in 200 words or less.
Note: Unfortunately, the above narrative is not completely imaginary. Recently there were reports of a 7-year-old boy being abandoned near a bear infested jungle by his father as a punishment for misbehavior. Fortunately, the police rescued him after a week of intense search. But another 12-year-old boy wasn’t as lucky as his father stabbed him to death for not studying for a school exam.
For readers of Moonshine, here's Chapter 79 along with Hobbes having fun at Calvin's expense :D
Stories and more 
You can feel the fear in his voice, and his actions. Such a pity that some parents will do that. THey don’t deserve children, and people like that should be locked away.
Stabbing a 12 year old for not studying is sick in the worst possible way. I know I have told my kids I would leave them in the park, what parent hasn’t? But to actually do it, you have to be a special kind … [INSERT WORD] … to do that. I hope the boy in your story is as lucky as the first one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope he is lucky too. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and hosting the challenge regularly despite the computer issues!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Dahlia. Thankfully my new laptop doesn’t have the same problems so I m able to do it a lot easier. It was annoying during those times as I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get the post out on time, or even at all. Writing it from my phone at one point was infuriating as I had very few images to use. I am glad most people stuck by it.
Thanks again Dahlia
LikeLiked by 1 person
Computer issues can be terribly frustrating, almost like having to work with both hands tied but still you managed! Great perseverance and congrats on the new laptop 🙂
LikeLike
Amazingly written, dear. It was short (and I imagine hard to write) but delivered effectively.
Hard to imagine that this wasn’t entirely fiction, parents worried about the future of their children are now – threatening lives of the same. A sad world we live in.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes it is a tragic world and I do try not to focus too much on these aspects but sometimes (like these reports) are quite all consuming and terribly disturbing. Thank you for reading and your encouraging note – it did take several drafts 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I try not to focus on these things since the world is full of tragedies, but like you said – it often gets to me.
Surrounds me in the sadness even if I resist and I hate that I do not hold the power to help significantly in such matters, I am only left murmuring my prayers to God.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Apparently we have other things in common. I dropped by on your blog and what do I see – IPKKND! Unbelievable! Have we met before or is this a coincidence?
LikeLiked by 1 person
No we haven’t! Are you a fan of IPKKND too? 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
OMG! This is crazy 😀 I began writing because of IPK. Before I started this blog I wrote Silver Streaks at http://hinditvadda.in/Entertainment/TvSerials/?revid=33180. My version of Arnav and Khushi’s life after the serial ended and covered over 25 years of their wedded blitz : D. I finally decided I needed to diversify and hence this blog. Glad to have met you – amazing actually. Unfortunately I cannot find the comment box on your blog. Perhaps you haven’t activated (checked) it?
LikeLiked by 1 person
No way, I write there too! And IPKKND did inspire me to write my first ever fiction. This is definitely crazy or all Devi Mayyia’s doing haha 😀
I will definitely be checking out your fic, I love Arnav and Khushi stories ❤ If you click 'Saving Grace' and you will be taken to the index, if you scroll down you can see 'Please feed my raven..' where you can comment.
I still can't believe this but I'm so glad we met in this virtual world.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Absolutely it’s all DM’s doing – feeling quite overwhelmed. Always great to meet a fellow (crazy) fan 😉
LikeLike
So sad. This is the worst kind of child abuse. Unfortunately, as you say, it sometimes happens. I hope this story has a happy ending. Good writing. —- Suzanne
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for reading Suzanne
LikeLike
That again is a beautiful picture. The tree is barren but yet the light falling on it gives it a beautiful glow!!
The reality is harsh and painful!!!! Can’t imagine how a parent could be so abusive…. sad!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes – I was horrified to read the newspaper reports
LikeLike
@The Girl of Ravens… Glad to meet a fellow fan of IPKKND 🙂 🙂 It definitely is a small world and our show has made it that much more tiny 🙂 🙂 Would love to read your blog… will check it out soon!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
It is definitely choti si duniya of Arhi (like Khushi said) that made us bump into each other in this virtual world. I’m glad for this collison though, always a pleasure to meet a fellow fanatic 😉
Try this URL because after changing address, something went wrong and it doesn’t redirect to my blog when you click on my profile.
inkywingsofsolitude.wordpress.com
P.S I hope you like what you find.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Phew! Thanks for the link – was quite frustrated at being unable to reach ur site 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, had checked and the link was not working. Thanks for the new link!!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Scary!..scarier even, to know that it’s not completely imaginary.. silver lining is we can imagine a happy ending for the fiction..but really sad to realize that I can’t say the same for the madness that happens in real…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes reality is worse than the worst fiction imagined – just the other day there was another report this time somewhere in Delhi where a mother ran away with her 5 year old son leaving her two younger daughters at the mercy of her drunk husband. He couldnt feed them, so he locked them in his room and disappeared. When the girls were rescued they had worms crawling out of their heads – amazingly they are physically fine but nobody from their wants to take them in…
LikeLike
Oh my!…Both the mother and father are sick…such a hard life for the kids… a horrendous childhood!..but glad to know that they were rescued…and hope that they wouldn’t be pushed into the same dark pit again
LikeLiked by 1 person
My Dad would have just assigned more chores. Stabbing goes beyond extreme. A very tense scene you created here. His fear and terror came across clearly.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for reading.
LikeLike
Very well expressed, though the later description is very disturbing, but we need to draw lines on our aspirations from our children, after they are kids only…I always pray that God should always give me sense for a better behaviour towards my child….and others…
haunting realisations but good learning…thank you!
LikeLike