Christmas has bid adieu making everyone unhappy. Elroy removes one of the window's curtain and opens the window. He leaves a sigh seeing the usual glory of the noon being engulfed with a sudden darkness. An unknown silence is prevailing in the air. The leftovers of last night's Christmas party is not visible anymore in the living room and the big Christmas tree is standing all alone at a corner. Bringing out his phone from the pocket, Elroy calls someone only to encounter nothing but some small beeps and then cut! Luna comes out of the guest room. Water is dripping from her hair on her shoulders. She spots a stressed Elroy and comes downstairs.

"Bro, is there any problem?" Luna walks up to the dining table full of various dishes. Picking up the bottle of water, she slugs down half of the bottle. She moves towards Elroy who is still calling someone.

"Hello! I'm talking to you. Why are you making faces?" Luna stands in front of a frowning Elroy and snatches the phone. "Whom are you calling?" She glances at the phone screen where Shelley's name is flashing.

"New girlfriend? Are you cheating on my best friend?" Hearing this, Elroy snatches his phone from her. "Shut up! Dumb woman. How can you even think?" Elroy gets frustrated and slumps on the couch.

"I'm kidding old man. Now spit out. What's the problem?" Luna also sits besides Elroy as her off white  coloured fit and flare dress blends with the couch.

Elroy heaves a long sigh and speaks, "Shelley is Ciana's nanny. It was getting stressful to manage all on our own. So we hired her last week. She is punctual, knows her responsibility and has a son. Yesterday she left early to bring her son for the party. But she never came back. I thought maybe they want to spend Christmas with each other and will come today as usual. But it's already half past 12, and she has not arrived yet. That's the reason I'm calling her. But I don't know what's happening. Her phone is not connecting at all."

"Maybe she wants to take the day off?" Luna tries reasoning the situation.

"Yes. It can be. But then her phone will at least connect. I don't know but I'm kind of having a bad feeling."

"Bad feeling? What happened?" Iris comes down wearing a full-sleeved baby pink coloured maternity dress.

"Shelley happened." Luna gets up and helps Iris to sit on the chair for lunch.

"Shelley? Where's she?" Iris drinks a glass of water while Elroy walks towards the dining table.

"She has not come today and her phone is also not connecting." Elroy pulls a chair and sits.

"Wait. I have her neighbour's number." Finding out the number Iris calls.

Ring... Ring... Ring...

Hello! A sweet female voice echoes through the phone.

"Hello. I'm Iris. Can I speak with your neighbour, Shelley? Actually, she works here as our nanny but has not come today and she gave this number to us as her emergency number."

Yes, ma'am. I was waiting for your call. But ma'am, she is not here. This morning, when I was returning from my friend's place, I saw her getting inside a cab with luggage. I ran to see what's the matter and heard Shelley telling the driver to take her to the airport.

"Strange. Do you know the reason?" Iris frowns realizing that Shelley has left with no early notice.

She said, her aunt is ill, and she wants to meet Shelley and Shawn. She also told that if I get a call from her employer, I should say sorry on her behalf.

Leaving a deep sigh, Iris replies, "It's okay. Please tell her to contact us when she comes back."

Okay, ma'am.

Iris cuts the call and looks at three anxious faces of Elroy, Luna and Ciana.

"She has gone to meet her aunt. Her aunt is ill and wants to meet her." Iris forwards the news with disappointment.

"Oh. Okay." Elroy eats while Ciana keeps on looking at a tensed Iris who is nibbling the food. Seeing this, Luna breaks the ice.

"Ahem! Guys, don't you feel bored always staying at home?" Realizing what Luna is trying to do, Iris glances at her.

"I do." Ciana and Iris speaks in unison and then looks at Elroy who is busy having food. Feeling three stern gazes upon himself, Elroy looks up.

"What? We're not going anywhere." Elroy again looks at his plate pretending to eat.

"But you agreed in front of the doctor." Iris whines like a kid puffing her mouth while Elroy keeps on eating. Luna nudges Ciana who is sitting beside her. Ciana makes puppy dog eyes and speaks, "Please daddy!" Elroy looks troubled as soon as his eyes fell on Ciana's cute face while she continues, "I have never seen sunrise on a mountain top. Please." Both Ciana and Iris pouts peeping at Elroy.

"Okay fine. I'll call the travel agency after lunch. Now happy?" Elroy smiles but with a frown.

"Yes. Very." Iris nods with a bright smile admiring her face while Ciana kisses Elroy's cheek. Elroy nods and smiles genuinely seeing her family happy.

"Yes! Finally the house will be mine." Luna gets up taking her plate and walks inside the kitchen. When she returns, she feels three pairs of eyes eyeing her up.

"Don't give me this look. I'm not going. My boyfriend will arrive within three days and we'll settle here for some years." Luna clears the dining table.

"Woo! So, that's the main reason." Elroy helps Luna in picking up the plates while Ciana and Iris leaves for the kitchen, giggling.

☆☆☆

Sitting on the couch, all the girls are looking curiously at Elroy who is talking with someone.

"Okay. Thank you!" Cutting the phone, Elroy turns to them.

"So, when are we leaving?" Ciana asks prancing from the couch.

"We'll be leaving at 7 in the morning." Elroy ruffles Ciana's hair as she hugs her father's waist.

"Seven? Luna! Hurry, help me in packing." Iris nudges Luna while she herself tries to get up.

"Wait!" Stopping Iris, Elroy makes her sit. "We're leaving on 29th, not tomorrow."

"But?" Iris looks at Luna and Luna puts her palm on Iris'.

"Girls, in which world do you live? According to the weather forecast, a snowstorm will hit tomorrow and it may exist till 28th." Elroy takes Ciana on his lap and sits on the couch beside Iris. Iris' face has darkened. Elroy gives her a side hug and plants a kiss on her hair. Iris leans against his chest and closes her eyes while Luna grips Iris' palm.

While bright rays of happiness are busy blessing Iris' family, in a dimly lit room, a woman is sitting on a rocking chair. The flickering yellow light is falling on her long black hair. Rocking the chair, the woman mutters, "Enjoy these two days to your fullest because after that..." She stops rocking and leans forward. The flickering light falls on her chapped nude lips which slowly twitches upwards leaving a sly smirk.

☆☆☆

29/12/2018, 6:55 am.

Iris is standing at the door with Ciana while Elroy is coming down with luggage. Luna takes the bag from Elroy and walks towards the door.

Whoosh!

A black car halts in front of their door. An aged man comes out from the car. He has a chiseled face with few wrinkles on the forehead and at the corner of the eyes. His chocolatey face has brown-coloured beard. As he stands in front of the family, his hazel eyes narrows with a slight grin on his face.

"Hello sir! Hello ma'am! I'm Bob, your chauffeur." They shake hands cordially.

Bob takes the bag from Luna's hand and goes behind the car. With a final goodbye, Elroy and Ciana gets in the car. Luna hugs Iris and whispers, "Have a safe journey dear." Breaking the embrace, Iris says, "Yes. Take care of yourself and my home. Goodbye." Iris waves Luna with a sweet smile and gets in the car. Leaving a gust of smoke, the car leaves. Luna looks at the retreating car as long as she can and finally with a smile enters the home, closing the door with a bang.

☆☆☆

The car is running on a snowy road. Unknown trees cover the sides of the road. The trees are hovering over each other restricting the scarlet dusk to touch the depth of the forest. A blanket of fog is engulfing the whole place. Slumber has embraced Ciana and Iris but Elroy is wide awake. He keeps on looking outside, frowning and sometimes towards Bob, who is driving for the past 11 hours. Suddenly, among the dense forest, Elroy sees a bungalow. But when Bob crosses the bungalow, Elroy asks him, "We're not going there?"

From the corner of his eyes, Bob looks at the bungalow and gives a toothy grin.

"No sir. That bungalow is for the forest officers." Bob replies fixing his eyes on the road.

"Okay." Elroy heaves a sigh of relief as he sees the sign board of forest bungalow. The frowns on his forehead removes. "So, when will we reach?"

"Within next two hours." Hearing it, Elroy nods and rests his back, closing his eyes.

☆☆☆

Screech!

With the halting jerk of the car, Elroy, Iris and Ciana wakes up.

"Finally." Parking the car, Bob opens the car door. Ciana jumps off the car while Elroy helps Iris, holding her hand.

"Wow mommy! This's so beautiful." Ciana runs towards the cozy one-storied cottage standing in front, in the midst of the snow. It's a wooden house and soft snow has painted its roof. Above the door the word 'HEAVEN' is carved. Thecottage is on a highland and beside it, a small calm lake is visible. Chirping of unknown birds are blending with the cool breeze. Iris looks around but the dense fog is hiding every mystery of the place.

"Welcome to Heaven! For tonight, I'll be your host as others have not arrived because of the snowstorm." Bob says as he enters with their luggage.

"Okay." Holding Iris and Ciana's hands, Elroy goes inside the house.

☆☆☆

In a vast land of snow, howling wind is blowing. The misty dawn is hiding an old, tattered two storied wooden house. As the mist slowly removes, the house comes into view. The unsheltered porch of the house has snow and small wooden pieces are peeping from the snow. A woman's shadow is hazily visible behind a foggy window. The woman moves away from the window and walks towards the bed. She is clad in black except her green eyes which are glowing maliciously in the timid white light of the room. With a wide smile on her face, she sits at the edge of the bed and caresses a dusty pink coloured cradle. With a duster, she clears the cradle and brings out two old dolls from the bag kept on the floor. As she untangles the tangled hair of the dolls, her smile widens and her eyes glisten. Keeping the dolls inside the cradle, she takes out a new pink coloured dress which has small white floral prints. She embraces the dress and gives it feathery kisses. As a drop of tear trickles from her closed eyes, she gets up and puts the dress on the bed. Fixing her eyes on the bed, she moves backwards and comes out of the room. Taking a long breath, she comes downstairs and locks the house from outside.

The golden sun is melting the icy snow as the woman comes out of the house. She walks towards a lonely tree whose leafless branches, laden with snow are looming over the ground. The woman stands beneath it and looks at the rising sun whose golden light shreds off the mist clearing the sky. She removes the black scarf from her face. Her golden tanned skin along with the long wavy black hair shimmers in the sunlight. Her dark green eyes glisten as one corner of her lips twitches upwards. She whispers into the air, "Finally, the day has come." Soon a blanket of dense fog engulfs the bright light shadowing the woman's smirking face.

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