Land lord's pet
Shalini was
looking towards photo in that frame. It was so odd. That photo had pleasant
look in it. But she felt as if she knew that lady. She knew that she couldn’t
know that lady since that photo belonged to late grandmother of house owner.
She was not connected to house owner anyway. She was just paying rent to stay
in that house. But still that photo looked so connected. She was going to stay
here alone. Until now she always stayed with her mom but last month her mom
died due to heart attack. She had few relatives but she didn’t want to keep
connection with them. Especially with her brother! She knew that her brother
might took interest to know about her but when he took interest his family was
not so happy about it. It was frustrating for his wife. His wife wanted him to
pay attention to their family & children. Shalini took care of mom so her brother
didn’t need to actually stay with their mother but her brother kept helping in
few things. It was very upsetting for his wife. Shalini never felt much
attached to their family. She wanted to stay away from them. So, she decided to
shift in this village. She was so happy to stay in this village. She wanted to
feel fresh for new start. She wanted to begin her life once again in that
middle age. She desired to find some peace. Her entire life had become struggle
due to her father’s attitude. He managed to handle all as per his wishes. She
was always kept out of everything. She tried to make earning but sadly she
didn’t manage much. Her earnings were low. She couldn’t get any respect for it.
Soon they reduced from low to none. She knew that her father wanted it to
happen. Many times, she felt intentionally her father guided her in wrong way
& create obstacles for her. But then she told herself that it was just her
imagination. She was feeling so sad & negative about all. But now she
needed to stay in her present tense. Now her mom was also dead so she didn’t
have any connection to her past. Her past was totally buried. She told herself
to relax & live in her present tense. Suddenly someone put hand on her
shoulder. She was so scared. She looked behind. It was Mrs. Satish owner of
house. This house belonged Mr. & Mrs. Satish. They were admired in this
village as good & respected people. She decided that it would be best place
to stay. She smiled towards Mrs. Satish & asked “I came to stay in my
room.” “Oh! Let me show you your room.” She felt little tense. Now she was
going to stay in some room. She always preferred to stay in her fixed
locations. She needed to choose those places where she had childhood
connection. This was first time when she was shifting in some place which was
unknown for her. She was first trying to break her own rules. She was planning
to find some new adventure for first time. She told herself that it would be
great. She began to walk towards that room with her suitcase. She managed to
collect most of her things already. She was going to start her new life. She
wanted to new beginning & she was getting it. She smiled towards Mrs.
Satish who began to ask “So you live alone?” “Yes.” “You are unmarried or…” “I
am unmarried.” “Oh! So, you always live alone?” “No…no my mom used to live with
me but now she is dead. I wanted to shift in different place. I wanted to
settle in different weather.” “Weather is so much better here. Sometime ago I
went in city. It was literally suffocating.” She didn’t found cities
suffocating. She just wanted new beginning but she didn’t plan to explain this
to Mrs. Satish. She just smiled & nodded. Finally, they reached to her room
& Mrs. Satish left her alone in her room.
Shalini was so shocked. That room was
really Big. She never lived in such big room in her entire life. She always
lived in small rooms & in small house. Her house was so small that in this
room her entire house could fit. She didn’t understand what she supposed to
feel. She got such big house in such a low-rate rent. She began to admire
village already. But then suddenly she sensed that she didn’t know anyone here.
She looked out of window. One tree was standing there in firm way. She looked
towards it. She was observing out of window carefully. She began to notice on
that tree different sort of bird was sitting. She didn’t understand their
types. But she didn’t feel comfortable around them. She began to feel uneasy
due to them. She was watching those birds carefully. She knew that they were
not all of bad type. She saw just one at beginning then slowly step by step she
began to see more. She started to feel that she needed to think positive about
them. On that time suddenly one shadow came towards her. She felt as if
something was attacking her. She ran towards bed. She wanted to hide under bed.
She was in such hurry. She finally went under bed. She took deep breath. She
tried to control her fear & tell herself that it was just girl. On that
time, she heard loud sound of cat. She saw that a cat was trying hard to climb
in window. She was so scared when she saw some drop of blood. She began to feel
that cat killed someone. She began to scream & call for help. Then Mrs.
Satish came running. But she sensed that she had locked door. She needed to
open it. She took deep breath & she ran towards door. She didn’t care about
what was around her in room. She opened door & immediately Mrs. Satish
screamed “Go away.” Then Mrs. Satish started to run after bird. It was injured
but it managed to go away. Shalini could sense that bird didn’t want to live.
She wanted to offer shelter to that bird. But it was so hard. She knew that she
couldn’t pet a bird like that. Before she could say anything. That cat jumped
on bird & Mrs. Satish immediately closed door of window. Mrs. Satish “That
cat is so naughty. He kept playing with birds” She nodded. But she knew that it
was not playing. She was sure that cat managed to hunt bird. Shalini slowly
said “I will keep that window closed.” “No problem. I will love it.” Shalini smiled & Mrs. Satish immediately
went away. One thing was clear to her that she needed to keep that window
closed but, in few seconds, due to wind it got opened once again. She ran to
observe what went wrong. She sensed that wind was so strong. She couldn’t
expect landlord to change entire window for her. On that point her landlady
Mrs. Satish came & said slowly “Actually that window didn’t have proper
lock.” She smiled & said sweetly “It’s okay. I will keep it open.” She
didn’t want to close it any way. She began to feel so suffocated inside. She
knew that bird might not come but that cat was going to stay with her any way.
She was feeling so negative about that cat. She immediately closed door. She
didn’t want to noise of that cat around her. She was so scared. She came here
to enjoy life & from first day she was scared. She just didn’t understand
that how could anyone keep such pet! She knew that people keep cat & dog as
pets. But still she felt so upset. She kept telling herself that it was normal.
Mrs. Satish slowly began to pet her
cat. She felt so angry towards Shalini. She didn’t like her a bit from
beginning. She always felt that Shalini was just one woman who was doing show
off. She was so angry when her husband permitted her to stay in their house on
rental basis. She knew that they didn’t have so much clutch of money. They had
lots of money but still her husband wanted more. She didn’t understand why.
They didn’t have any children so they didn’t need investment. She wanted
privacy & happy life but her husband forced this tenant on her. She began
to feel so nervous. She didn’t understand why did Shalini hated her cat so
much. She knew that even her husband hated her cat. She loved her cat so much.
She took her cat in arms. She carefully arranged all. She needed to clean her
cat. She was so nervous that her husband would find out that cat managed to
kill bird. She slowly took that cat inside one room. She tried her best to make
everything clear. But she felt so upset. She didn’t like her fear but she knew
that her husband should be very angry. She began to feel so nervous. While in
Shalini’s room she started to feel relaxed. She didn’t tell herself that now
there was no one to criticize her so she didn’t need to feel scared. She just
sat peacefully. Then she smiled. That cat was acting in her natural way. She
began to feel that she needed to make friendship with cat. It was so wrong to
blame that innocent animal. She slowly opened door & she began to search.
She sensed that someone cleaned entire house. She knew that cat didn’t wander
in entire house but Mrs. Satish was cleaning every corner of house. Shalini slowly began to go towards
room when Mr. Satish came. He began to scream loudly with Mrs. Satish’s name.
She came out running. “Your cat is such big monster. She killed one bird
today.” Shalini looked towards Mr. Satish nervously. It was matter between
husband & wife but still she didn’t like the anger. Shalini began to feel
so nervous. She shivered. Suddenly one memory of past began to appear in
Shalini’s mind. She didn’t permit it to appear. She tried to calm herself. She remembered
clearly that day when her father angrily threw away entire vase on neighbour’s
dog. Shalini was crying so loudly. Her father was upset since that dog came
near her. Her father kept saying that dog needed to be shot with gun & kept
abusing. Shalini shivered so much. It was Shalini’s favourite flower vase. It
could have protected if she didn’t get out. She wanted to just sit in garden
& that dog came. She began to remember all. She started to get tense. She
knew that this was not going in right way. Before she could control, she
screamed “What happened? Why you need to scream so loudly? That bird was just
stray bird not anyone’s pet. Come on. I need some peace.” Mr. Satish was angry
but he just nodded. After all she was tenant so they needed to give her some
peace. Mr. Satish went in his room & Mrs. Satish ran in kitchen to arrange
food for him. Shalini didn’t like this start but she knew that this was
beginning & she needed to face it. She returned to room & once again
locked her door. Shalini began to feel so uneasy. She was never caring for cat.
She tried hard to ignore voice of that cat but it kept coming in her ears. Most
importantly now she was no longer negative towards cat. She began to negative
towards her landlord. She didn’t like him anymore. She began to have strange
desire to kill him. She never felt this way. She was so scared. She locked her
door carefully & she went to sleep. She told herself that she would be
fine. She didn’t need to worry. She was asleep peacefully. But when she woke
up, she was in room of her landlord. They were screaming on her. She looked
around with confused expression. She saw that she was not sleeping any more.
Mrs. Satish screamed “Just go away & I don’t want her in my house. She is
walking in sleep. She is mad woman.” Shalini felt so scared. This was shocking
for her. She went back in room. Then she packed her things. She immediately
went out next morning. Landlord gave her money back. She was so tense. When she
returned to her old home which she still belonged to her, her brother didn’t
find buyer. Some argument managed to cancel that deal. She once again settled
in her old house. She sat on her old bed & called her old doctor. She
requested for Psychiatrist’s number. She got appointment of next day. She told
all to Psychiatrist. Psychiatrist nodded & said “ You needed treatment for
your stressful childhood & you went there without it so some small incidence
like incidence of cat instigated mental issue. Don’t worry everything would be
fine.” She nodded. She began to listen to Psychiatrist. It was reducing her
tension. She needed to feel hopeful. She knew that she might return one day to
that village but she could never go back in same house. They would never keep
her as tenant. But she didn’t even plan to go back in that village it was
stressful to think about it. Then she decided to just concentrate on today. She
began to follow psychiatrist’s advice & decided to just wait for positive
that trying to run after it. She began to tell herself that everything would be
fine.
The End
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