• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 653 0

night, with your friends in that old house, your Midnight Palace, while I was telling you my story I kept thinking that I’d never had the opportunity to be a child. I grew up surrounded by old people, by fear and lies. The only company I had was beggars and people I met on our travels. I remember I used to invent imaginary friends and spend hours talking to them in station waiting rooms or on the long journeys we made in covered carts. Adults would look at me and smile. To them a little girl who spoke to herself seemed adorable. But it isn’t adorable, Ben. It’s not adorable to be alone, as a child or as an adult. For years I’ve wondered what other children were like, whether they had the same nightmares I had, whether they felt as miserable as I did. Whoever said that childhood is the happiest time of your life is a liar, or a fool.’

Ben observed his sister and smiled.

‘Or both,’ he joked. ‘They usually go hand in hand.’

Sheere blushed.

‘I’m sorry. I’m a chatterbox, aren’t I?’

‘No,’ said Ben. ‘I like listening to you. Besides, I’m sure we have more in common than you think.’

‘We’re brother and sister.’ Sheere laughed nervously. ‘What more do you want? Twins! It sounds so strange!’

‘Well, you can only choose your friends,’ Ben said, ‘so having family is a bonus.’

‘I’d rather you were my friend,’ said Sheere.

Ian had come over to them and was relieved to see they both seemed in good spirits. They were even cracking jokes, which, given the circumstances, was no small achievement.

‘As long as you know what you’re letting yourself in for. Ian, this young lady wants to be my friend.’

‘I wouldn’t recommend it,’ said Ian. ‘I’ve been his friend for years and look at me. Have you come to a decision?’

Ben nodded.

‘Is it what I think?’

Ben nodded again and this time Sheere joined in.

‘What is it you’ve decided?’ came Aryami Bose’s embittered voice behind them.

The three youngsters turned to see her standing motionless, half-hidden in the shadows beyond the doorway. The silence was tense.

‘We’re not taking that train tomorrow, Grandmother,’ Sheere replied eventually. ‘Not me, not Ben.’

The old woman looked at each one in turn, her eyes ablaze.

‘So the words of a few senseless children have made you forget, in just a few minutes, what I’ve been teaching you for years?’

‘No, Grandmother. It’s my own decision. And nothing in the world is going to make me change my mind.’

‘You’ll do as I say,’ retorted Aryami, although the pain of defeat could be heard in every word.

‘Please—’ Ian began politely.

‘Be quiet, child,’ snapped Aryami, her voice cold.

Ian suppressed his desire to answer back and lowered his eyes.

‘Grandmother, none of us is a child any more. That’s why I’m not taking that train,’ said Sheere. ‘And you know it.’

Aryami glared at her granddaughter but said nothing.

After a long pause she finally spoke again. ‘I’ll be waiting for both of you tomorrow at dawn, in Howrah Station.’

Sheere sighed and Ben noticed her face going red again. He touched her arm and motioned for her to drop the argument. Aryami turned away and her footsteps disappeared inside the house.

‘I can’t leave things like this,’ Sheere murmured.

Ben let go of his sister’s arm and she followed Aryami into the candlelit living room, where the old lady had sat down once more. Aryami didn’t turn her head when she came in, ignoring her granddaughter’s presence. Sheere drew closer and put her arms around her.

‘Whatever happens, Grandmother,’ she said, ‘I’ll always love you.’

Silently Aryami nodded, and her eyes filled with tears as her granddaughter walked back to the courtyard. Ben and Ian, who were waiting outside, greeted Sheere with the most optimistic expressions they could manage.

‘Where will we go?’ asked Sheere, trying to hold back her tears, her hands trembling.

‘To the best place in Calcutta,’ replied Ben. ‘The Midnight Palace.’

THE LAST LIGHT OF day was beginning to fade as Isobel caught sight of the ghostly angular structure of Jheeter’s Gate Station emerging from the mist by the river. Holding her breath she stopped to gaze