Children Short Story – The Lost Child
Photo credit: irkengirdib from morguefile.com
Rahul was a seven year old, typical Indian kid enjoying his summer holidays with his neighbour friends. He was well known all around the place for his naughty behaviour. His mother loved him nonetheless. She was the only one who tolerated all his rackets patiently, always trying to teach him good behaviour. His father was too strict on him, creating a kind of barrier between them. This small family lived in Bangalore, the Garden City of India.
One sunny afternoon Rahul was busy playing cricket with his friends in a nearby playground. He was the one batting. He swung his bat blindly and hit the ball for a six. Before he could celebrate, his friends started shouting at him, for he had hit the ball behind the bushes. Finding a ball there, was too difficult a task for a seven year old. Rahul had no choice but to go look for the ball, or he would have to get a new one for them. He went alone leaving his friends waiting impatiently. When he did not return for more than 15 minutes, things got serious. The kids got scared, especially Suraj, who was Rahul’s best buddy. Suraj ran to Rahul’s house and informed his mother. Tears started rolling down her cheeks instantaneously. To add to her worries, Rahul’s father started shouting at her for being too lenient towards their son. Rahul’s mother,without answering her husband, ran out of the house, towards the field. Her husband followed angrily.
They looked all over the place but could not find their son. Rahul’s father called some of the neighbours’ to help find him. It was near sunset, but all their search was in vein. They straight away went to the police station to register a ‘lost child’ complaint. The mother’s condition was bad. No one can truly understand the pain of a mother’s heart craving for her lost son. The father too had lost all his anger and was worried badly for his son. They came back home by an auto rickshaw. Just as they got down from the vehicle and the father was busy paying for the ride, the mother gave out a loud scream which stunned him. He turned to see what had happened. He could not believe his eyes, there were drops of blood all over, near the door of their house. They stood frozen for a minute.
Then suddenly, the father realized that the door of their house was slightly open and the drops of blood lead straight inside. He banged open the door and rushed inside. He felt it like a dream when he saw that his son was sitting on the sofa, with a puppy in his hand. A cloth was tied around the puppy’s leg from where the blood was dripping. Rahul had torn a piece of his shirt to tie around the wound. The mother ran towards her son, hugging and squeezing him tightly.The father understanding what had happened, took the puppy and went out to get it treated by the vets.
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