A Butterfly Gyre

Friday was the most favorite day for everyone especially once the sun starts to set. It was the day which is followed by two holidays in most of the cases. As soon as I saw the clock ticking 5, I started packing my bags and was heading to hospital to collect my reports. The last few days I had a pretty hectic work schedule and at one point of time I even fainted in my office. This may be because of the lack of proper food and sleep. I used to work a lot and even stretch more in order to get my promotion. But things weren’t the same until she came into my life. I used to make sure that I complete my work by 6 and get back to home as soon as possible. But last few days I was bound to stretch in order to finish my work and that has resulted in this problem of giddiness and mental stress. I thought it was high time I consult a doctor, coz I couldn’t concentrate on my work and my mind was wavering all the time. I’ve even heard people often saying that I speak something else while my mind was out of station. Some even made fun that I’ve become mad but that wasn’t the case.
I reached the hospital and was waiting in the queue for my turn for collecting my reports. It’s a pretty big queue and wished I had started a bit earlier. I need to meet the doctor as soon as possible and head back to home, coz she is alone. I was staying in a corner house all alone from the time I reached this city and it’s almost 5 years out of my 10 years I was staying alone here until she came into my life. It was altogether the same life for me, early to work and then back late from office. I have only quite a small amount of friends and it’s not so often I used to hang out with them. After 5 years of my all alone life a small family got shifted to my neighborhood. It was a small and beautiful family comprising of a father, mother and their cute little daughter who was just 4 years of age. We soon got introduced with each other. Every day evening if I happen to come back home a bit early I used to play with this cute kid. She was like a colorful butterfly and every day I used to get chocolates for her. Their parents didn’t mind that and even liked someone so affectionate to their daughter in a new place.
The queue is getting bigger, thought even this doctor has to stretch a bit today in order to attend all his patients. It so happened that once her parents have to leave for their native and she was having her exams that time, so they asked me to take care of this little butterfly for 3 days until they came back. It was a bonus for me, coz she is one who bought colors to my life and I’m going to spend almost 3 complete days with her. I immediately applied for 3 days leave and my only duty was to look after her all the while. I used to wake up early in the morning, prepare food for her, then give her bath take her to school and wait there till she comes back. Her school used to end by 12.30 pm and I was gifted with the remaining time. In the evening I used to take her to the nearby park and play with her until it gets dark. Once we get back to home I used to call their parents and make her talk to them ensuring that their kid is in safe hands. In these 3 days she was so much attached to me that she didn’t even want to miss me even for a moment. This was something quite unusual for me.
After 3 days, their parents came and that’s the day I saw her crying as if the world is going to end for her. She didn’t want to depart from me even after realizing that I was just next to her door. Well kids, they always gets attached to someone who are so much affectionate with them. On seeing that kid’s reaction that day her mom was a little bit upset that day, because their daughter was getting attached to someone who is not even a blood relation for them. Well it was something accepted from a mother’s point of view. Soon that butterfly’s visit to my place got reduced which was something I couldn’t digest. Every time she sees me getting out of my house she used to call me ‘Dada’ from her compound stretching her two hands indicating me to lift her, but I just used to kiss her on cheeks and walk away as though I had some important work. One day her father came to my place and explained what my butterfly’s mom was going through coz even in sleep my butterfly used to tell my name and she wrote a small book full of my name with a drawing of my face in the first page. Tears filled my eyes and I closed my note before my tears could wet that beautiful work. Her father felt sad for me and even for her kid. I made sure that I don’t upset them anymore.
Destiny is the name people always give to wanted or unwanted situations and I was made to face destiny. One fine day her father came and told that he had got transfer to another city which is far from here and they would be moving that evening. I wanted to meet her for one last time to which their parents agreed. This was a day for us to depart forever. I hugged her tight and kissed her on forehead. She immediately pulled out a small gift from her bag and said “Dada this is for you.” I again kissed her and bid adieu. When I opened the gift it was the same small notebook in which she had written my name, the first gift of my life. After quite a few days I wasn’t able to sleep properly, she was always in my thoughts, dreams and I could visualize her everywhere. I tried hard to get out of that which was a bit tough. A year later I got married and we had a baby girl. My wife died as soon as she gave birth to our kid. I took care of the baby girl exactly the way I took care of that little butterfly.
It’s been almost 4 years since I was staying with my baby in my house. None of my other neighbors or friends visited my place, so I didn’t have any disturbance while I’m with my daughter. I always make sure that I reach home back within 6 else my daughter would be waiting for me outside with an angry face for making her wait. We used to eat, sleep, play and even watch TV together. Whenever there is an insurance ad on the TV for child benefit, I immediately used to call the helpline enquire about the plan and start investing money for my baby. Every day I used to get her a chocolate and tell her a story to make her sleep. I can’t even imagine of getting late to home coz my sweet little darling will not talk with me, but I know how to console her. It was quarter past six and it was my turn to meet the doctor. He had a close look at my reports and asked me what was I going through and I explained him everything especially about both the kids, the sweet little butterfly and as well as my baby. He asked me lie on the bed to examine as he kept the reports aside. The fan was running at its maximum speed as the pages of the reports started to turn. It read “Mr. X is suffering from Folie (mental disorder). He was never married nor had a kid; it’s just because of his first impact given by the small kid (butterfly) whom he lost within no time. He is unable to come out of that gyre and it has created a huge impediment in his life. This wife and kid story was framed by his inner brain in order to forget the impact left by that small butterfly. It’s just an illusion.”