The Cries of the Butterfly - A LOVE STORY (49 page)

Robin walked out of Sister Blessing’s office.
Get rid of Stripey before nightfall.
She trembled. How could Sister Blessing even ask such a thing of her? How could she, Robin, even live without Stripey? Stripey was her child—her heart and soul. Moreover, how would Stripey survive on his own? He had known no life outside of her…he completely depended on her for everything. Left on his own, he would die in an hour. Perhaps Sister Blessing’s temper would ease by evening and she won’t say anything anymore. Robin badly needed to see Daddy right now. Why hadn’t he come last night?
See, he doesn’t come one day and all this happens.
Then she remembered Daddy’s words:
I want you to be strong. No matter what difficulties you face, you should not go weak.
And then he had added:
I want you to be my hero. Will you be my hero?
And she had nodded her head vigorously and replied:
Yes, yes, I’ll be your hero, Daddy, I’ll be your hero, I promise.

She had to keep her word to Daddy, she told herself. He couldn’t see her like this, crying like a little baby all the time. She had to be Dad’s hero—she
wanted
to be Dad’s hero. She had promised him, hadn’t she? She could not go back on her word; she could not fail him.

She went through the day, trying to be strong and happy. Tonight, Dad would surely come. Then it would be all fine again. Yes, so she would have to sleep on the floor. So what? She would sleep on the floor. But she would not tell Daddy about it. Robin knew Daddy no longer had any power over anyone at the Home—he wasn’t welcome anymore. So why unnecessarily get him worried by telling him her little problems? She would deal with them herself.
I will be strong…I will be Daddy’s hero
.

And one day soon, she would catch the person who was doing all these horrible things to her. And then, she would… She suspected it was one of either Angela or Joy or Kelly. Or, more likely, all three of them collectively. They were always after her these days. Either teasing her, or saying nasty things about Dad and Momma, or trying to pick a fight with her. Luckily, she had Moon-Moon, and they were all so scared of the big girl.
One day soon, Moon-Moon and I will teach these rascals a real lesson.

The images of the poor little puppies came back to her, like it had all night, and she shuddered brutally. What sort of a person would do such a horrible, evil thing? She stopped for a second, took a deep breath, wiped her mind clean of all thoughts, then moved on. She desperately wanted to speak to Daddy, but she saw no way she could do it. Even Sister Clara had strictly said “No!” when Robin had asked her in the early morning.

That evening, she hid Stripey in her closet once more. It was after a long time that Stripey was being put back in jail. He didn’t like it one bit and he made a huge racket and kept trying to jump out, but finally Robin prevailed. It broke her heart, but for his own sake he had to be hidden away. After dinner, Robin was called to Sister Blessing’s office again.

“Where’s your creature?” the Sister demanded.

“He’s gone, Sister,” she lied. She knew she was shaking a little.

“Gone where?”

“I left him. He went away into the trees.”

“Are you lying to me?”

“No, Sister.”

Sister Blessing searched Robin’s face for a while, as if trying to find a flaw. But Robin remembered Daddy and remained strong.

“If I ever see that creature again, you’ll be punished severely. Do you understand? You may go now.”

Robin was almost ecstatic as she walked back to her dorm.

She picked up her key from under her pillow and opened the closet door. She glanced around the room again, but she needn’t have worried—the girls were all in the TV room.

“Stripey,” she called out.

But Stripey didn’t answer.
Ah, he is sulking,
Robin thought and smiled. She searched around with her hand.
The naughty fellow wants to play hide and seek.

After another five minutes, Robin finally lost patience. “Enough, stupid boy! You either come out now or I’m leaving you here for the night.”

But Stripey wasn’t prepared to show himself.

“Fine, I’m going…bye.” And she shut the closet.

She waited quietly for a minute, then reopened the door. She scolded some more, closed the door again, waited two minutes this time.

Finally, Robin realized Stripey
wasn’t
in the closet. Somehow he had opened the door from within and escaped—as if by magic. But how could that happen? She didn’t understand it at all.

She called around the room, but there was no response. So the silly coot wanted to play games with her.
Yes, so play!
In a way, Robin didn’t really blame Stripey. After all, the poor chap had been locked up—it had hurt his self-respect…his freedom had been snatched away for no fault of his. She shrugged—he would show himself when he wanted to, she wouldn’t worry anymore. So she went to the TV room and joined her friends.

But Stripey didn’t come.

It was ten o’clock and the lights of the hostel went out and yet no Stripey.
Where are you, you silly idiot?
The fool was over-playing the game! Robin waited, annoyed now. When she thought the girls were fast asleep, she quietly got up from her bed and went out. Sister Blessing had relented—Robin could sleep on the bed, but no more mattresses for her. She would have to sleep on the wood, and could have her pillow and blanket.

“But if there is one more incident, you’ll lose the bed, the pillow and the blanket. You’ll have to sleep in the hallway then, on the floor,” Sister Blessing had warned.

Robin went to the terrace. She looked around, calling out. But there was no answer from Stripey. She got very angry now and severely scolded her invisible boy. Finally she stomped off.

“I have better things to do. Dad will come any moment and I must be there for him.”

She found Sister Clara waiting for her on the third floor hallway.

“Where were you?” the Sister demanded.

“I went to the terrace, Sister. Stripey has run off.”

“You haven’t got rid of it yet? What if Sister Blessing comes to know?”

Robin didn’t say anything.

It was eleven o’clock. No sign of Daddy yet. They went to the office and on Robin’s pleading, Sister Clara called Wolf.

“The phone’s turned off,” she announced.

“Can I call him?” Robin blurted.

“Why? Don’t you trust me?”

“No, no, nothing like that,” Robin said defensively.

“You know, I’m really tired of you and that man. You people have made my life hell! If Sister Blessing finds out about this, it’ll be so shameful for me. For you people, it doesn’t matter, does it? You have no shame at all.”

Again, Robin could only gape at her.

At midnight, Sister Clara called it off.

“That man is completely shameless!” she said angrily. “And you call him your dad? What sort of a dad is he who leaves his so-called daughter in the lurch all the time? He doesn’t come and he doesn’t even have the decency to call. On top of it, he so cleverly turns his cellphone off. What a dirty man!”

“Don’t call him a dirty man!
You
are dirty! YOU!” And Robin ran out of the office, in a sudden burst of tears.

She ran up the stairway to the third floor. And she threw herself on the bed and clutched her pillow and sobbed big racking tears. Everything was falling apart—Daddy wasn’t coming to see her, Stripey wasn’t returning to her, dreadful things were happening to her every night, she had lost her mattress, Sister Blessing was screaming at her constantly, and now Sister Clara, who had promised Daddy she would look after her, was acting so cruel. She had tried to be strong…oh, she had tried so hard. But she didn’t have any strength left anymore. She dug her face in the pillow.

When she finally abated a half hour later, she looked up. She had sensed something…someone…near her bed. She wiped her eyes and sat up. She let go of the soggy pillow and instead clutched the blanket. She looked about, but there was no one around. Then her eyes fell on something at the foot of the bed.

She immediately shrank from it, thinking it was another of those horrible things that always happened to her. But then she realized it was only a plastic container. She leaned forward and peered. Indeed, it was a small lunch box.

She let go of the blanket and carefully picked the tub up. Perhaps Daddy had turned up when she was crying and he had quietly left this gift for her to find. Daddy often did things like that—he liked to surprise.

Suddenly she panicked.
If Daddy was here, then he saw me weeping.
What would he be thinking?! He had told her to be strong—to be his hero, and now… She straightened her back and quickly wiped her face on the blanket again. She filled her lungs with a huge helping of air and her chest puffed out. She smiled, then smiled again, smiled wide.
See, I am okay, I am strong.
She was Daddy’s hero once more. Silently she got to her feet and looked around the room.
Daddy is hiding someplace!
Where? She looked here and there, behind the other beds, but she couldn’t spot him. Perhaps he was somewhere outside in the hallway.
Clever Daddy!
He was so smart—always so smart. She sat down on the edge of her bed again and opened the tub…gingerly. Slowly she brought it to her face.

And a huge smile spread across her mug all over again.
Pudding!
He had brought her her most favorite food, as if to make up for this delay and for not coming last night. Daddy was so sweet!

Around the pudding were sliced bananas. She smelled it.
Yummy!
Smelled of rose syrup. There was a small plastic spoon on one side. She cast a look around, but Daddy continued to hide.
Yes, so you want me to taste this first. So yes, Daddy, I will then. Whatever pleases you, okay?
Quietly she picked up the spoon and dug it in the soft pudding and lifted a morsel.
Yummy, yummy!
It tasted great. Real great. Soft and delicious. She nodded earnestly and pitched an appreciative look around. Trust Daddy to always bring the best things for her. And what style he had too.

When Daddy still didn’t show up, Robin understood he wanted her to eat the full thing first. Only then would he present his beautiful face.
Yes, if that is what you want, Daddy, then I’ll make you happy.
She began to eat the pudding with relish, realizing she was suddenly hungry. And she finished it in three minutes flat. She didn’t quite feel like eating the bananas though—she was too full now. She laid the spoon down and got to her feet. She was grinning, happy as a cub.
Come on, Daddy, I’ve done my part. It’s your turn now—show me your lovely face please. Pleaseeeee!

Some sixth sense made her return to the tub and look beneath it. Attached to the base by sticking plaster was a small sachet. Robin opened it. Two things fell out. One was a haphazard piece of thin, soft and glossy cloth. It had a familiar design on it. The underbelly of the cloth-like thing was red and sticky and Robin recoiled.

The other article was a folded chit. Slowly she spread it out. She pulled out her pencil torch from under her pillow. And she squinted and read.

DEAREST ROBIN, HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE PUDDING. STRIPEY TASTES REAL GOOD, NO? HOW DOES HE FEEL IN YOUR TUMMY? WONDERFUL? BE HAPPY.

A sample of his skin. Just to remember him. Sorry but couldn’t get it all out.

After she had vomited, she fainted.

.

S
he wandered the streets, not knowing where she was going, what she was doing. Somehow she had evaded the security at the main gate (who were as usual comatose). She was an uncontrolled robot, sightless, routinely banging into things. But nothing stopped her. Nothing hurt her. She felt nothing at all. She just kept moving about randomly…toward nowhere. The city was as dead as the night—there wasn’t a soul in sight.

But then a hand fell on her shoulder. Unmindful, she kept on moving. The hand grabbed her now. Suddenly panicking, she screamed wildly. But the cries of this little Butterfly got throttled in her throat. Then as one hand became two and lifted her off the ground, she threw up and passed out once more.

“
SO
are you going to sue Sister Clara for allegedly assaulting you?” asked the interviewer, a young lady called Jerydine Salls, of NHTV.

Allegedly?
Wolf thought. “No. But I am going to file a suit against the St. Teresa Children’s Home and their trustees…especially sister Blessing.”

“On what grounds?”

“Multiple counts. Obviously, for negligence. For allowing a little girl to disappear just like that in the middle of the night. Just look at the security they employ. Except on rare occasions, these guys are perpetually asleep on their jobs. Shouldn’t the Home management keep a check on their staff? Because of their carelessness, the children’s lives are constantly imperiled. But why just this incident? Let’s go back two years—if Sister Blessing had been conscientious about her work, Robin wouldn’t have lost her arm…and almost her very life; Blessing wouldn’t have allowed wild brush to proliferate unchecked within the Home premises, and there would have been no snakes. That was criminal negligence of the worst kind and Blessing deserved not just to be dismissed but to go to jail. But did anything happen? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Why? Because all the trustees are hand in glove in such unpardonable behavior and, really, all are responsible.”