Prairies

<pic courtesy: wheresalex.wordpress.com/tag/canadian-prairies/>

Zoya was walking through the prairies, holding the hand of Zohan, her little brother. She was feeling angry at being abandoned by their parents.

'Really? Who abandons their 10 year old daughter and 4 year old son in an unknown place?' She thought.

The grass was only waist high for Zoya. But little Zohan couldn't see much in front of him, so was clinging to his sister to direct him to some place where he could go to pee. If he didn't reach his 'destination' soon, he was sure to wet his shorts.

They reached a big old tree. She helped him undo his shorts and then walked a few feet away from him and looked in the opposite direction. She waited him to finish his nature's call.

'It was unlike them to abandon us here. Sure, they were angry with me for fighting with Zohan, their little innocent angel. "Don't make your baby brother cry, Zoya... Give Zohan the toy, Zoya."', she mocked in her mind. 'They never recognize Zohan is four years old, no more a baby. They never had shown such intimacy to me when I was that small.'

Zohan finished and turned around.

Zoya was still fully engrossed in her thoughts, 'I've been grounded many times recently. But abandonment is new. This is diabolical, even by their standards. That too along with him. How do they expect me to take care of him? Maybe this is one of their new techniques of "making me understand" '

 "Where is Mama and Papa?"

Zoya turned  around to see her brother looking at her sheepishly. She didn't respond.

"Joya !... where is Mama and Papa?"

"I don't know where they are, OK? It seems Mama and Papa have abandoned their precious baby Zohan along with not-so-precious me." Zoya blurted out in anger.

Zohan looked at her for few seconds. Then sadness spread on his face with a reddish tinge and his small eyes started to well up with tears. "No.. No.. You are lying.. Mama and Papa won't leave me.. won't leave me.. "

Zoya stared at him stupidly for a moment. Then she felt guilt for venting her anger on her younger brother.

"Oh, don't cry. I'm sorry. I just said that in anger. (Seriously, don't I ever think to whom I'm talking.) They didn't leave us here. They are coming back for us." Zoya said, and then thought for a second. "It is simply a game. Mama and Papa wants to see if we'll win. And meanwhile, they went to purchase Diwali gifts for us."

"Game... What game?" Zohan asked wiping off his tears.

"Mama and Papa wants to see how long we can be own our own. They will gift us what we've asked them for, if we win this game. So, shall we play this game?"

"Yeayyy... I'm gonna get new Transformers toys then.", Zohan started to dance around in excitement.

Zoya hugged her brother and kissed him on both of his chubby cheeks. She liked to do that when she is not fighting with him.

She looked around. To one side of the prairies, there were big old trees growing. To the other side the were few rocky hills. They were atleast as high as a ten-storeyed building. And there was a small waterfall at the bottom of  one of the hills. 'There might be a pond above the hill.' She thought.

She made a little space in the grass by stamping around and sat there watching Zohan do his dance moves which came out when he was excited. She opened her backpack and brought out the pearl necklace she was making by combining pearls from her broken necklaces. It was coming out to be really good looking. She had a talent with such sort of things. Her girlfriends in her class used to adore her for this. 'Will I ever meet them again?' Her mind wandered for a second.

She resumed with the work on her necklace. Using different combinations for color and size of pearls, it was turning out to be an attractive necklace to be worn and it was sure to attract some jealous eyes, perhaps even the jealous eyes she wanted to see.

Zoya carried on with her hobby until evening, while Zohan ran around chasing insects, occasionally stopping to complain how much boring it was without being able to watch his favorite cartoon show or play the computer game which he was halfway through.

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One week had passed. Now nostalgic memories of her home and her parents started to hit her. Zohan had asked her many times during the week about why their parents were not coming and each time Zoya gave some tactical reply. She too was worried about not seeing her parents for so long. They've never left her this long even in their relatives' homes. She had not seen another human being in the last week and that made her wonder where she and her brother have got  stranded. Though there was ample food to be had for both of them, in the form of fruits from different tress on one side of the prairies.

Zohan was playing in the beach, making sand castles. Zoya went near the waterfalls. She removed all her clothes and plunged into the water. It was very cold, but she had started to like it that way. And she finally liked this place in which they were marooned on. When their parents came, perhaps she could persuade them to make a house here and settle here at least for her summer vacations.

First few days, she used to get angry having to accompany Zohan for his bodily functions and to chase after him when he runs off in some direction getting excited on the sight of a bee or a butterfly. But she withheld her anger always, whereas previously she would have censured him till he cried or their parents intervened. As the days passed, she started to feel less and less angry at her brother's gimmicks and had started to love her brother's childish actions.

'If their intention was to make us close, that have somehow miraculously worked. If only I could convey it to them and ask them to come and pick us up', she thought floating in the water level.

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Two more weeks have passed. She had grown inseparable with her brother, something she never thought was even possible. They had explored the top of the mountains. They spend a lot of time during that day and many days after, swimming and playing in the pond above the mountain. Zoya was always very careful when Zohan was in the pond, staying to the shallow regions. She showed him the maneuvers she learned in her swimming classes when he was safe standing on the shores and they never failed to excite him and he made her promise she'll teach them to him as soon as he becomes an expert swimmer.

Zoya was happy most times of the day, except when slight memory of their parents made her sad. But she carried on putting out a brave face for the sake of her baby brother. Zohan too was happy here. The frequency with which he asked about their parents have reduced.

Though, once Zohan had come running to her and said he heard his mother say "Baby, Mama's here". She comforted him saying that when we miss someone dear, we feel their presence and like we hear them. She knew he was too small to understand that, but he didn't ask about it afterwards.

Zoya was all eager to get back to her friends and  tell about all adventures she had these past weeks. Her parents might have some trouble clarifying her class teacher about why she was absent for so many days. But she was sure they will handle it well. More than everything she wanted to show her parents, how much loving siblings they have become. She had started to take good care of Zohan and even Zohan have started to share his toys with her. It was going to be good days ahead. She was thrilled at that thought.

They have found a beach on the other side of the mountain, few days ago. Now they used to spend more time on the beach. They were enjoying the waves coming at the at a position where the waves will only get waist high for Zohan.

She thought, 'If this was their way of making me understand my responsibility to him, it is not bad after all. There is some sort of a happiness is seeing your loved ones happy because of you.' She smiled to herself.

They laughed and played until dusk. After the sun had set they retreated to foot of the hill. Zoya started to search for a towel in their backpack to dry Zohan. Not hearing his sound, Zoya turned to find Zohan frozen where he stood. He was becoming translucent, perhaps resembling a hologram. Zoya got really scared.

"Zohan... What is happening to you?"

She tried to hug him, pull him back from disappearing, but her hands simply went through where he was standing. Then in a moment, he disappeared.

 Her world was once again breaking apart. The one companion she had with her is gone, leaving her alone there. She started to cry.

"Please.. Please.. come back to me, Zohan... come back to your sister."

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"Joya... Joya... "

"Mama and Papa is here, sweetie."

Zohan slowly opened his eyes. He kept his eyes half closed in the bright light, taking time to adjust.

"Joya... Where is Joya. Mama?"

"She went to school, baby. Today is Tuesday, right? You'll see her soon."

"Oh... Why didn't I go to school, Mama?"

"Because, my baby got a wee fever. Don't you worry. Just sleep now. Fever will vanish once you wake up. Mama and Papa will be here till then."

Zohan closed his eyes and fell back into sleep, instantly.

The doctor who was standing at the end of Zohan's bed, moved to the door of the room, gesturing Zohan's parents to follow her. Once outside, she turned to them and said in a hushed voice, "It is really good news that Zohan has come out of his coma. He'll be back to normal within a fortnight."

"Thanks doctor... thanks a lot.. We don't know how we could have survived if we had lost him too..." Zohan's mother said, through tears.

The doctor patted on her shoulder and said, "He won't be remembering anything regarding the accident. You should not, even by mistake, let him know of his sister's demise in that accident. The poor child is way too young and traumatized to comprehend that. It is better you see an expert therapist for advice on how to break this news to him."