Stephen part-2

To read from beginning, click here

A prejudiced mind's perspective happens to be half blinded, Stephen was concerned with knowing why his mom is interested in eating out his nerves all the time, he thought her love for him was degrading with every moment passing by, his immaturity pampered his thoughts well supported by his wildest imagination. He was busy finding reasons to prove that she never loved him, and to his rescue, he soon got the most powerful reason. One day while playing at his backyard, the ball bounced and went flying to the neighbour's yard, he silently, slipped into the neighbour's compound, took the ball and was about to get back, but the conevrsation in the house stopped him, his neighbour was talking about Stephen's family. He preferred hearing them and soon a shock wave screwed his nerves, he found himself sinking, he ran back to his home, he was no longer in the mood of playing.


He ran to his mom, she was busy in the kitchen. He didn't speak anything, but was staring at her, Gracy felt a pinch of inconvenience with what was happening, she asked," Hey Stephen, whats the matter , why are you staring like this, are you seeing me for the first time?". He kept mum, she was busy in her work and so didn't get into further enquiries. He slowly turned and walked back to his room. His face was gloomy, his silence was like still waters, his silence was speaking loud and clear, infact it was raising questions that was further deteriorating his own mind. He kept asking to himself, " Could it be the reason why mom hates me? Am I an orphan?".

There was a serious transformation in Stephen's behaviour, he was no longer very mischievous, he preferred to be silent, and his parents were happy at this change. They thought he had become a "good" boy since they felt he was now getting busy with his books. But the fact was that he didn't read a single line. The feeling of insecurity was creeping within him. He started to feel that he was all alone in the world and whom he thought to be his parents were mere strangers. He felt, "Thats why mom always scolds me, even dad does, they don't want me, they don't love me".

Stephen's performance at school was degrading, infact it was miserable. His teachers called on Gracy and David and told them their child was terrible in academics, he doesn't listen in the class and seems to be dreamy all the time, this was one of the many complaints that the teachers lodged against him. Now Gracy knew there was something within Stephen that was causing problems, she felt she must be soft-spoken to him regarding this and try to fix the bug out of him. But she was possibly a bit late, Stephen by then, had gone far away from them. He was building a world of his own where his so called parents were only strangers.

The very night after the meeting with teachers, when Stephen had gone to bed, Gracy moved into his room. She sat besides him, caressed her fingers through his hair. He wasn't asleep, he turned and looked at her. His blue eyes were raising many questions and Gracy was feeling uncomfortable when she looked into his eyes. She felt she had to ease out her child's pain and was trying to break the ice. Just when it seemed she was framing words to convey to her son, Stephen, in a half cluttered tone, asked ," Mom, ...I.., am I an orphan?".

To continue click here