Tushar was your regular 16-year-old teen. He studied at a school near his home and walked to school every day. One Wednesday morning, there was a thunderstorm. It seemed to describe his mood better than he could. His parents were having another stupid and petty argument, while his grandparents had put on the television for the entire building to hear. With the amount of noise coming from their house alone, he wouldn’t be surprised if they won a prize for the noisiest household on the land. Along with all that, there was school pressure because their teachers were barely giving the children any time to study, and he couldn’t concentrate at home with the television turned on 24/7 at a blaring high volume.
On the whim, he packed his things with a small wad of cash and left for school. After school hours, instead of going home, he went to a small alley to think. The pressure was too much. He didn’t realise he was crying until he felt something wet on his cheek. Tired with a throbbing headache, he dozed off with his head against the wall. What felt like a 5-minute nap was for an hour and a half which he realised later when a cop woke him up.
“Kid….kid wake up….”, the cop said.
Tushar grumbled, “What?!”
“Okay kid, you are going home”, saying this the cop pulled Tushar to his feet and took him home in silence, tension looming large in the air. As soon as they reached, his parents bombed him with questions, occasionally scolding him. He explained to his parents why he didn’t come back after school and they promised not to fight again, while his grandparents said that they would watch television at a low volume.
‘Ha, I’ll see how long these promises last.’ he thought to himself while heading towards his room. Then he overheard his parents talk.
“It was anyways your dad/mom’s fault. Your dad/mom would always start the argument.”
“What? What do you mean MY fault! It was yours! YOU would always start the argument”
… and the promise broke. He shook his head playfully and sighed.
‘At least grandpa and grandma kept their promises’, he pacified himself.
Suddenly, the television seemed to have been switched on with the volume at 100%. Or not?
He had spoken way too soon!
// This fictional story has been penned by 11-year-old Kimaya Avadhani from Grade 6 of J.B. Petit High School for Girls, Mumbai as a part of a writing task given to the kids during the regular creative writing classes at Beyond the Box //