The Splintered Life
Samya is half asleep, when she is woken by Palak’s mumbling… Palak is talking in sleep again… something she does almost every night. It is beyond Samya’s understanding. Though scared, Samya sits up and starts patting Palak’s cheeks lovingly with her small plump hands, “Mumma! Talk to me if you want. See, I am here.” She is too young to understand the intricacies of human relationships and the complexities of human mind. Samya is just six, and interpreting this vile expression on her mother’s face as a mental sickness, is out of question. Palak opens her eyes and finds her lovely daughter peering at her with surprised doe eyes. Palak’s expression softens, as she pulls Samya into her arms and straightens her silky smooth pigtail with her fingers. Palak is not sure about her unconscious behavior, but from little Smaya’s description of Palak’s condition, she definitely knows that her disturbed inner-self is getting manifested in some way or the other. She shall never share with Samya the...