Louise Parker was returning home from work late one night. There was an important presenting due the next week and being the perfectionist she is, Louise lost the track of time to finish the presentation.
When she reached home, she found the door already unlocked. She wondered whether she had forgotten to lock it up in the morning when she left for work in a hurry. “But, I did lock it.” She thought to herself. Nevertheless, she went in. The door squeaked shut. She thought it was due to the winds blowing outside.
This moment was just like a scene in a horror movie where a ghost is present in the house and its prey asks eerily to no one in particular, “Hello? Is anyone there?” Except the fact that the prey is scared. Louise wasn’t.
The lights in the house did not work. Feeling suffocated, Louise opened the window and only partially the curtains. The small opening of the window let in the room, a swirl of wind, but not without a swift whistle or two. The moon was hidden behind the shadow of the earth that night. Notwithstanding, the light reached down to the surface of the planet.
The sky blushed purple. Black.
Louise heard a sound. Not some ordinary sound you hear every now and then. Not a sound of papers fluttering or a vase chucked down by the wind.
Louise had been too young when she was separated from her parents at the airport. Apparently, she had stepped into the wrong plane and had landed in Frankfurt, Germany. Since then, an old lady with no heir took her in and looked after her. After a few years, she received a note from an unknown address saying that her parents were killed in an accident. She had no option but, to believe in. Half-heartedly. Her mind registered that they were dead but her heart did not agree.
Another sound brought her back from her little trip down the memory lane. This time the sound was clear. A clap. Horrendous thoughts seized her mind. Being a fan of horror films, she thought of the scene in The Conjuring where the actors heard three distinct claps from a cupboard.
One more clap after a long succession. Louise got up from her seat on the couch and looked around. Nothing or rather no one could be seen in the dim moonlight.
Suddenly, someone hugged her from behind her and that very moment, the lights flooded the room.
“Surprise, surprise!” After adjusting to the light, Louise looked at three people standing in her living room, who had just jumped up from behind the sofas. So much for The Conjuring.
Slowly she came back to her senses. “Daddy? Mom?” She asked, confused. “Louise!” A young boy of eleven or twelve hugged her petite frame. When Louise lost her family, he was just a few months old. “Jayden, my boy!”
A lone tear betrayed her eyelid and escalated down her cheek. She could not believe her eyes that her lost family had found her. “Told you they weren’t dead.” Her heart said. To say that she was over cloud nine was an understatement. “Happy Birthday, Lou!” Jayden said with happy as well as gloomy eyes. He always wanted his older sibling back.
Clear confusion was a strikingly visible feature on her face.
“Huh?”
“It’s your birthday, darling. Have you forgotten?” Being the forgetful person she is, Lou couldn’t remember her own day.
“I guess. But, today I got my birthday gift.” So, that’s what the claps meant.
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