short story #30: Déjà vu

The little brick house was the first and the only one that her father had built. Amala and her parents had turned the small house into a beautiful home. They had been extremely happy…until a freak accident snatched her father away from them. His death hit them hard – emotionally and financially. Amala and her mother struggled to make ends meet. It was a long struggle but they didn’t give up. Amala’s mother worked odd jobs to cover their daily expenses. She worked multiple shifts to pay for Amala’s education. Amala took up a part-time job at a pizza joint to help her mother. There were days when they went without a meal. Their beloved home was greatly in need of repair – the roof leaked, weeds engulfed their once pretty garden. But money turned out to be a bigger problem than they expected. When they failed to make the mortgage payments on time, the bank repossessed their beloved home. Amala still remembered the day they lost their only home. Little Amala remained oblivious to the heated discussions around her. The bidding war for their house’s ownership continued. Her lips trembled and her eyes welled up with emotion. Her little hands were wrapped tightly around her mother’s.

Amala stopped reminiscing and suddenly became aware of her surroundings. 20 years later, she and her mother were in front of their first home with tears in their eyes. Amala was no longer a sad little girl. Her hard work and her mother’s prayers had paid off. Amala was now a newly recruited IAS officer. And they were the proud and happy owners of their first home.. once again. Amala heard heated discussions in the background and that evoked a deep sense of déjà vu. This time around, the heated discussions were between the interior designers that Amala had hired.

Author’s Note:

That was an emotional story. I swear that I had tears in my eyes by the time I was done with the finishing touches. I hope this story touched your hearts as well. 🙂

For non-Indian readers, Indian Administrative Service (IAS) has been termed as one of the prestigious services among the 24 government services. The Indian Administrative Service is the administrative arm of the All India Services. Considered the premier civil service of India, the IAS is one of the three arms of the All India Services along with the Indian Police Service and the Indian Forest Service. It is one of the toughest competitive exams in India.

This poem was written in response to Sue Vincent’s Thursday photo prompt – the #writephoto prompt. The challenge is to use the given photo prompt as an inspiration to create a post on your own blog… poetry, prose, humour… light or dark, whatever you choose, as long as it is fairly family-friendly. Thank you, Sue for hosting this challenge. Click on the link to know more about this challenge and to read the entries by my fellow bloggers.

For visually challenged writers, the image shows deeply worn stone steps, scattered with plants growing in the cracks, leading up to a blue-painted door.

Image courtesy: Sue Vincent

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