The sudden swift severe winter storm had caught Lilly and Jack totally off-guard. They were siblings heading back home after a bright sunny day, fishing in the valleys of Nubra. After catching almost thirty fishes, they were exhausted and decided to head back home as the fiery sky descended. They used the boat gifted to them by their father, who now resides over with the stars; it has since been Jack, Lilly and their mother; Rose for the past three years. They named the boat ‘Spiridon’, named after the Greek day, 12th of December 1995, the day their father gifted them the boat.
After years of assistance, Jack and Lilly had mastered themselves at sailing. Their father left them a possession, two ores, having the name Jack and Lilly respectively. He died of tuberculosis, misconstruing the symptoms as ‘aging’ ; he breathed his last on 2nd May 1998. Rose, had been quiet ever since, she left her job of being a professor and did some seamstress work, so that she could be available at all times to her children who she loved and were all she had in the world. At night, Rose lit the lamp and taught both her children, school subjects which she wasn’t able to afford ever since her husband had died. They lived in a poor cottage a few miles away from the Nubra Valley.
Dark, gloomy and heavy clouds covered the horizon. The storm had just set in, Rose loved the rains, the sound of rain water touching the ground, the fresh smell of petrichor always filled Rose’s heart with joy she loved the weather, but with her husband gone, she found everything either completely black or completely white. She was still in a state of shock
The clouds covered the horizon of the Nubra Valley and it started pouring lightly. Lilly started screaming as the rainwater touched her sweater.
“Stop screaming! You’ll drive the fish away!” said Jack.
“The dirty water is touching my sweater! Leave the fish and let’s go home already” screamed Lilly.
“Alright just two more and we’ll go home”
The water started accumulating in the boat, rising up to cover Lilly’s shoes. Lilly and Jack started using their ores and moved the boat quickly. Due to water erosion, the sediments laying in the riverbanks had accumulated forming small stones and had all gathered in the sides of the river forming a big obstacle. Jack failed to see the rocks formed in the center and kept on rowing, Lilly was looking at the beautiful scene which stood before her at the back of the boat. Both of them were unaware of the upcoming danger that stood before them. As soon as they reached the deepest and broadest part of the river, they hit the rocks on the sides of the boat and the boat started to vibrate, causing holes on the side allowing water to penetrate into the little watercraft. Jack felt a shudder, and Lilly fell in the little chamber which was covered by a roof where the dead fish rested. Jack and Lilly were not prepared for this situation and did not expect this type of thing to happen at all.
***
The boat started to go down by the head, as water started filling in the boat, Jack and Lilly were in a delusion and did not know how to deal with the situation. The water started reaching their ankles and thoughts started to disappear from their mind as fear crept in. Both of their minds started getting flashbacks as to how their mother was reluctant to send them alone. Thinking of how to deal with the situation, Jack thought of swimming it to the riverbank. But the water was freezing, and home to ferocious animals including crabs, pufferfishes, alligators and other aggressive animals.
Help! Help! Shouted Lilly, her high pitched voice did nothing good in between the mountains and was curbed with the sound of thunder. Both the
siblings were definitely in a soup! Leaves rustled in the air, Lilly listened to the pitter-patter of the raindrops as they fell on the leaves.
The water in the boat had reached the level to their knees. Jack started panicking, due to asthma, he removed his inhaler and sat down in the boat making his coat wet. The rocks from the mountains, kerplunk and fell into the river becoming small stepping stones. Lilly told Jack about the stepping stones and asked him to use those to get to land. Jack’s face was lifted , a ray of hope was finally visible to him. He used the ore gifted by his father to gather stepping stones near them. Grabbing the heavy stones he lifted them from the water and threw it on the other side. Making the stones line up one-by-one, it created a path for both of them to leave the boat and reach land safely.
Catching his breath, Jack ordered Lilly to quickly get out of the boat, as it could drown any minute and the mountain had big rocks which could cause a landslide into the river and destroy the entire ship causing it to sink. Lilly removed her sweater, stepped on the stepping stones holding her brother’s hand as support. She reached land! There was a look of gratitude on her face towards Jack and thanked him from the land. Jack took the ores which were gifts for both of them from their father; he also took the bag of fishes caught by them.
Thunder struck a huge boulder at the top of the hill, causing it to come rushing down the hill. The boulder fell upon the boat. Breaking it into two parts. Jack's ore flew into Lilly’s hands. She screamed loudly, JACK! Jack drowned along with the boat, as the boat went down, it sucked Jack down to the very bottom along with itself.
Lilly broke down crying, before her eyes an incident had occurred which she could never forget. She saw Jack’s ore in her hand with the name ‘Jack’ written on it, she hugged it and cried even more, shaking as the cold rain drenched her in her wretchedness
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