Short Story by Raconteuse

Hi! I am Axl. I am 5 years old and I stay with a nice young lady, Nancy. We are not related. I know this because one day when we were going to the park, I saw a house and something forced me to stop and look at it. Nancy was perplexed at first, as she didn’t know what made me come to a startling halt. Realizing that the house might have created some emotional turmoil for me, she said, “That was your home before we met. The people who run this house succour the homeless. I had come there to look for the cutest baby and look! I got one! Do you remember it?” I didn’t say anything because for as long as I could remember, Nancy has taken care of me. She is all I needed and all I cared about. I just didn’t have any other memories.    Nancy and I have no secrets. She tells me everything honestly. I know I can trust her with everything. She takes good care of me. And these days w e spend a lot of time together. She has been working from home for some days now. I know something is not ...

  The leopard took her away, Was it a dream or reality-I couldn’t tell She was like a penny lost at night  My tears were real- this I could tell   These lines have tarried too long in my head. Over the weeks, I have come up with other verses but I have been unable to find the right capper. I am at the end of my tether. I know that I need to occupy my mind with other projects but my mind seems to be in complete disagreement. In one of the many attempts, I have been forcing myself to keep busy and so when my Dad insisted me today to come and clean her room, I agreed.   I start by climbing on a ladder and cleaning the bookshelf from the top. Ruth is holding the ladder. She has covered her face with a stole, as she is allergic to dust.    I want Ruth to clean the table instead of simply holding the ladder, but I have been told by Dad to be polite to my sister. Being the youngest one in the family, Ruth gets the free pass to escape all her chores. I don’t resen...

Mr. Oliver usually visits the park at dawn but this evening he wants to be close to this old sycamore tree in the park. The serenity of the tree assuages his pain and today, being his wife's death anniversary, he needed to be closer to the old sycamore tree.   The tree is located at the east entrance of the park. There is a bench located right under it. Nobody sits under the tree because it’s close to the entrance and the city road runs right outside it.   Mr. Oliver wanted to reflect on a number of issues alone but when he enters the park, he sees a lady, in her mid-30s, sitting on the left end of the bench. She was dressed like one of the joggers. Her eyes were closed and she seemed to be in a state of trance.    Mr. Oliver was laden with languor of his disquieted mind, and so decided to sit on the other end of the bench quietly. The lady didn’t notice.    After a few minutes, a young boy nosily impinged on the bench, between Mr. Oliver and the lady. The ...

  “The victim’s daughter has been pushing for the investigation to be opened. She says that we might have abandoned the case too soon. The media seems to be in complete agreement with her.” “Why do u think that is? The case is ten years old. We could not find even a single lead then. What makes them believe that things would be different now?” “She claims to have discovered a pattern on her own. She says that the perpetrator has been killing every two years since her mother was killed. She claims the pattern is same but the investigating officers have failed to draw analogies.” “Do you think there is any merit in her claims?’ “I cannot say for sure. But after having spoken to her personally for about an hour, I have realized that the cases she claims to have been by the same perpetrator, are some of our cold cases. I believe there is certainly no harm in unearthing some untouched dimensions. If her claims are true at all, we might have a breakthrough in many cases. It might help pr...