Freedom of Expression

Another story I have entered for a competition!  The topic was: Freedom of Expression

1633 AD, Rome


“Steady there”, exclaimed the driver, pulling at his reins as the carriage screeched to a halt. I jumped out impatiently, and ran up the steps. Kaeso, my manservant hurriedly picked up my belongings and shuffled out after me. I say man-servant, but in truth Kaeso was only two years older than my twelve years of age. I rushed past the manservant who opened the doors and went straight to the hall. My mother was there, instructing the maidservants who were dashing around holding precarious piles of cutlery or sheets. I dodged past everyone and ran to her side.
“Where’s father?” I asked anxiously, tugging at her voluminous skirts. “Is he back?”
My mother glanced down at me in surprise.
“Benito!”, she exclaimed, “When did you return? Il Rossi didn’t bring you back?”
“No, he couldn’t come” I said shortly. I had more pressing things to discuss than my tutor. “So is father back?” I asked again looking up at her.
“Yes of course he is back. He is in his office. He has got important guests with him so don’t go barging in…” but I was already off, tearing up the stairs before she could complete her admonitions.
I ran through the spacious rooms and corridors until I came to a room right towards the end. Its heavy oak door was slightly ajar and I could hear voices coming from inside. The voices were all raised. They seemed to be having an argument. I paused outside, suddenly uncertain. One of the people speaking was my father, I recognized his deep baritone voice without difficulty. However, I could not place the other voices. They were not my father’s usual friends or any of my uncles. Someone inside with a high pitched voice suddenly started shouting, but I couldn’t make out the words. Keen to know what the argument was about, I pressed my ear closer to the crack.
“…the fact that it has been published” the man was saying agitatedly, “ and is being read by hundreds as we speak is itself alarming. Who knows what ideas it shall put into people’s minds! He is making a mockery of the church!”
“And so you proposed the trial?” asked my father in his grave voice.
“Yes”. It was the other man who replied. His voice was low and hoarse, as though he was not used to speaking much. “It’s the best way”
“What’s your opinion” asked the first man, his voice sounding anxious.
“Naturally, I disagree with Galilei’s views. My loyalties lie with the church” said my father calmly.
“Excellent! Then you shall come to the trial?” asked the first man. My father must have nodded, for there was no reply. Instead the sounds of chairs scraping on the floor came from inside. The guests were no doubt getting ready to leave.
Panicking, I pushed open the door. The two men, who were in the act of reaching for the door looked at me standing there in surprise. “Father”, I exclaimed turning to him where he stood behind his chair, and covering the distance between us in quick strides. “You’re back! How was Florence” I asked, giving him a quick hug. “Much as usual” he replied bemusedly, “Why suddenly?” and before I could answer his question he turned me around to face the two men and said “This is my son, Benito. Benito this is Cardinal Barbieri and Cardinal Marcello” he swept his hand first to the man with the high pitched voice and then to the other one. I made a polite greeting. If the two men were surprised at my impertinent entrance or at being introduced to a twelve year old, they hid it well.
Cardinal Barbieri beamed down at me. “So Benito, what are your views on this whole controversy issue?” he asked jokingly, obviously not expecting a reply.

“Oh I agree with father. I believe the Earth is the centre of the universe and that it is the sun which moves around the Earth, just as the bible says. The Dialogue is wrong because it makes fun of the church”, I said glibly. I held in my laughter at the stunned expressions of the two cardinals. Father had already explained to me about the whole controversy surrounding this scientist called Galileo Galilei and his book The Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems. With the help of the telescope he had invented, he had proclaimed that the Earth was not stationary like the bible said, but moved on its own axis as well as around the Sun, which was the real centre of the Universe. The sun on the other hand, which we saw move across the skies everyday, didn’t move at all. Even to a child such as me it was evident that these theories were absurd. If the Earth moved would we not feel it? And we clearly saw the sun move everyday, causing day and night. Father, being a devout catholic, naturally brushed his theories away, and if father, the wisest person I knew, chose to discredit what Galileo said, there could be no room for doubt in my mind.
“That’s right”, said Cardinal Barbieri, recovering himself. “Galilei is indeed wrong to dispute the church. He has no right to say something that suggests the bible is a falsehood!” He turned to my father with an amused expression, “What an informed son you have” he said. My father smiled but made no reply.
“Perhaps he would be interested in attending the trial as well?” Barbieri continued, looking first at me than at my father.
I looked up at my father hopefully, but Cardinal Marcello interrupted.
“He is just a child, you can’t bring him to a trial hall”, he exclaimed, frowning heavily.
“You forget who you are speaking to”, said Cardinal Barbieri, turning to him and smiling.
“This is Marco Beccaria, he can do anything he wants, and no one would dare stop him”
I looked up at my father. For some reason he did not seem pleased by the flattery. He felt my gaze and looked down. “Would you like to go, Benito?” he asked softly. Unsure as to what reply was expected of me, I stayed silent. However my eagerness must have showed in my face for after looking at me for a moment he sighed and said “Very well”.

***

I squirmed in my seat which was wedged between that of my father and my uncle. Our chairs were right at the back of the room. The trial had been going on for hours and my attention had drifted immediately after the people had begun speaking. I could not follow most of what everyone said, and if I asked my father about something I didn’t understand the people around us would glare at me. I looked up at my father. He was listening with a rapt expression on his face. I sighed and turned again to look at the person on trial. I had been surprised when he had first entered to see how old and shriveled he looked. I had been expecting the creator of such controversies to have a more dynamic personality. Instead this man had a defeated air about him, as though he had ceased caring what happened to him. Right now his eyes were half closed, and he seemed oblivious to the procedure going on around him. I yawned and settled back into my place.
At long last the trial seemed to be drawing to a close. The Inquisition officers had finished presenting their case to the Pope, who sat in state behind his desk in the centre of the hall, and had finished reeling out their accusations against Galileo. Now, one of the officers approached Galileo and halted before him.
“You have already heard the accusations against you. You have only one option open before you, and that is to admit you were wrong in all that you have stated in your book as well as the beliefs you have harboured till date. If you admit your error, your sentence shall be lenient. However if you stick with your erroneous beliefs, you shall undergo severe punishment”
After a few seconds of tense silence, Galileo bowed. He then started speaking. I only understood fragments of what he said, but it was evident that he had relented and was admitting his mistake.
‘I held, as I still hold”, he said, “As most true and indisputable, the opinion of Ptolemy, that is to say, the stability of the earth, and the motion of the sun... I affirm, therefore, on my conscience, that I do not now hold the condemned opinion and have not held it since the decision of authorities… I am here in your hands—do with me what you please”.
Applause broke out in the room and the cardinals congratulated each other, triumphant smiles lighting their face. Everyone around me was cheering and clapping. Laughing with joy myself, I looked up at my father, expecting to see him as happy and relieved as the rest. Instead, his face was furrowed with sadness.
“Father, what’s wrong?” I asked worriedly, “Its alright, the church has won!”
“Yes’ replied my father, his gaze upon the shrunken form of Galileo, “but it has been the defeat of something much greater”
I stared up at him uncomprehendingly. “You mean Galilei? Or…” I remembered what Galileo called his own theories “science?”
“No”, said my father. He looked down at me, a sad smile upon his face “Freedom of expression”.

The Children of the Night

Another short story of mine which won a competition! The topic was a line from Bram Stoker's Dracula: “Listen to them, the Children of the Night, what music they make”

The Children of the Night


I stepped out of the taxi, holding my bag nervously. This was the fifth orphanage that I was being sent to. I never seemed to last long at any of them. The nuns and the doctor would whisper sympathetically about my traumatic experience when they thought I wasn’t listening. They seemed to think that it had affected my social skills, making me quiet and withdrawn. I could have told them that it had nothing to do with the incident. I had always been what they termed an introvert. I didn’t interfere with others, and it would be a lot better if they didn’t interfere with me.
The steps on which I now stood were of the Cross Academy, reputed to be the severest in the country. It was reserved for the worst cases among orphans, children who were the most ill-behaved or showed minimum potential. Brute force was said to be the mode of enforcing discipline here. The orphanage was situated in the outskirts of the tiny town of Pachmarhi. It was in a secluded grove which looked as though no man had come across it in a thousand years, and indeed no one would wish to. The building was an old English bungalow with a few more wings that seemed to have been added later. Behind it tall fir trees loomed, announcing the beginning of the forest. The forest surrounded the house on three sides, an effective shield. It seemed to be guarding the house along with its secrets.
Dr. Chetan, the head the academy, ran out of the large front doors at this point, interrupting my musings. His eyes glinted in a pleased fashion behind his shell-rimmed glasses as he looked me up and down. He extended his thin bony hand, deeply calloused with numerous burns, and let out a hearty welcome. I shook his hand briefly, and then followed him inside the house in silence, tuning out his enthusiastic patter.
I was introduced to everyone. During the introductions I noticed that everyone had the same sunken look in their eyes, as though they were well past caring about anything or anyone, and certainly unconcerned about any new arrival. The doctor alone radiated any energy. The only help he had running the establishment was from a girl who would be about eighteen years but looked much older. She cooked the food and swept the house. Otherwise the children were supposed to clean up after themselves. The children in this place were different from those in the other orphanages I had been to. Their faces had lost all colour and their eyes were dull and lifeless. They had none of the impetuous curiosity or wicked sadistic instincts that the children I had previously known had had.
I found that we had rooms to ourselves, another discordant factor, but a pleasant change from noisy dormitories. It was tiny, since each fair sized room of the bungalow had been partitioned into eight such rooms, but it was private. The partitions were hand made. Someone had put a lot of effort into this.
I could not sleep that night, not an unusual occurrence for me, so I did what I usually do on such nights- I went for a walk around the house. In fact my tendency to wander at nights was one of the reasons I had been sent away from so many orphanages. The night always made me feel more alive than the day ever did.
I wandered into the hallway and stood looking out of the large old fashioned windows set deep into the walls. The air was completely still outside. Suddenly, in the midst of all that stillness, a haunting melody arose from deep within the forest. It was as though many small voices were humming this eerie tune. The song slowed down for a few seconds, and then began with a new, even more haunting melody. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
“Listen to them, the Children of the Night, what music they make”, said a voice softly in my ear. I spun around, my heart hammering, and saw Dr Chetan standing before me, a strange smile playing about his lips as he too gazed out of the windows.
He then turned to face me, and said with an even broader grin, “You seem to prefer the night. That’s good”
When I made no answer, he continued: “I heard your parents were murdered”. I noticed that he did not say ‘are no longer’ and avoid the word ‘murder’ the way other adults did. Perhaps it was his bluntness, but his words made a scene rise unbidden before my eyes- My parents, covered with their own blood. Their eyes horrified, fearful, disbelieving… their voices pleading… to no avail.
“Yes”
“I see”
He stood there staring at me in silence for a few minutes.
‘The children here’, he began suddenly, his voice taking on a new tone-hushed and excited, “they aren’t ordinary kids. They are special creations of mine”
I made no reply as I continued looking out of the windows.
“I am a scientist, and with these children I have accomplished something extraordinary”. His voice was fevered now and there was a manic gleam in his eye. He gestured towards the forest as he referred to the children.
‘I came here thirty years ago and it was then that I heard the legends of the children of the night- creatures looking deceptively like children walking amongst us. They were supposed to be musical and possess great powers. Since then it had been my greatest wish to create such creatures of legend and have them do my bidding”
His words tumbled into each other with rising passion. His eyes, as they gazed into mine, were alight with a sort of religious fervor.
“I have experimented with the orphans under my care. Oh they can sing, but they are of little use besides...” his voice was filled with disgust. “Ah! But you…You seem different ... And you may have power…I need power!!” the last words came out in a shout, and the singing voices in the forest immediately fell silent.
He grabbed hold of my arms. “You, my dear, shall be my greatest project till date…you will bring me power, glory...” He started pulling me across the hall towards a room at the end, which had been heavily padlocked the day before, but now stood with its door wide open.
It happened in an instant. We were halfway across the vast hall when he abruptly let go of my hand and wheeled away from me. He fell with a thud on the floor and looked up, his face pale with shock. Blood was splattered everywhere, shining wetly in the moonlight. I leaned over and gently ran my tongue down the rip I had made in his cheek. Placing my fingers on his chest, I made another rip, causing a fountain of blood to burst out.
I bent down and started feeding hungrily, quenching the thirst of many years.
When I was sated, I straightened up and looked into his dying eyes.
“The children of the night cannot be created. They are born, to parents unfortunate enough to have them”
I walked back to the window and stood before it. Lifting my gaze to the crescent moon, I hummed a melody. Immediately I was answered by a dozen melodies as one by one the orphan children appeared before me. They came and made a silent circle around me, waiting expectantly.
“ I have found you, my flock, after much searching. Now we belong together”
I smiled, finally at ease amidst company of my own choosing.

Strange Adventure

An original short story of mine which won a story writing competition in a weekly paper when I was still in school :)

Strange Adventure


May Day…May Day! My hands froze on the controls as the plane lost altitude quickly. The pilot sat slumped beside me with a single hijacker’s bullet lodged in his forehead. 79 frightened passenger’s lives depended upon me…I had never flown an aircraft before! I wiped my brow, whispered a silent prayer and stared ahead at the onrushing mountain peaks…To think this had all started with a harmless family vacation.
It happened like this. My parents and I were on a flight to Srinagar when to my tremendous delight I found that I had won the pre-flight lucky draw, which enabled me to sit up front with the pilot. Halfway through the journey we realized that something was wrong. Two of the passengers had stood up with guns and were holding us hostage! They were hijackers! One of them opened the door to the cockpit and shot the pilot dead before he could call for help. They probably planned to fly the plane themselves, but before they could move a few passengers leaped up as of one accord and pinned them down. In the struggle that followed, accompanied with much wild shooting, we found that one of the hijackers had shot himself dead, while the other was stunned. In all the commotion the door to the cockpit had somehow jammed shut and refused to yield even to the combined effort of all the passengers and myself. I also found that a hijacker’s bullet had landed on the controls, making it go haywire with the result that we were completely off-course, rapidly losing height and about to crash on the huge mountain peaks ahead. So here I was, alone, and with certain death before me.
Averting my eyes from the dreadful sight of the slumped up figure of the pilot, blood oozing from his temples, I looked desperately at the controls and finally spied a big, inviting red button which I had a sneaking suspicion was not there before. Not knowing what else to do I pressed it hard. At first I thought nothing happened, then suddenly I felt the plane lurch and the entire bottom of the plane dropped below us! The passengers and I were hurtling through the air towards the icy peaks below!
We landed however on something surprisingly soft. I kept my eyes tightly shut, firmly believing that I had died and was now wherever it was that we went after death. I could hear strange musical voices above me, which confirmed my belief.
“Do you think she is all right?”, I heard one voice say.
“Yes, of course she is, they are all all right. My magic never fails”, another voice seemed to reply.
“Two of them are dead though”
“They were dead from before”, this time the tone sounded offended ,“Anyway I have healed them”.
“Are they supposed to see us?”.
“Of course not! Once their plane is fixed they will be sent back and never know what happened, no one is awake to see us.”

At this, I opened my eyes just a crack, and saw, to my wonder, tiny creatures who looked like they were carved from ice. They were shiny and cold with figures vaguely resembling humans. I quickly shut my eyes again, hoping it was all a dream, and I must have drifted off then for when I next opened my eyes I was back in the plane and the pilot, whom I myself had seen dead just a moment ago, was smiling cheerfully at me and saying, “Dozed off, did you? No matter, we have almost reached”. I looked back. All the passengers were in their seats, including the two hijackers, who looked a bit confused. Everything seemed normal. I wondered, was it all a dream? After all it was just too bizarre to be true. Still, it had all seemed so real. I was still wondering when we landed at the airport and went to claim our luggage. It was then that I saw it, a small icicle on my shoulder. And then I knew for sure. Something had happened out there. Something only I remembered.
Pocketing the icicle and smiling slightly, I took one long look at the distant and unexplored regions of the mountains where I had had that bizarre adventure and where those creatures probably lived, undiscovered and unexploited by humans, and then I quietly followed my family out of the airport.