Short story

The Ugly Duckling

The scene at the labour room was becoming intense. She struggled very hard to deliver the mass that she had borne in her womb so lovingly for 40 long weeks. Despite her effort & the aid provided by the restless hospital staff, the baby seem to protest entering a hostile new environment leaving her mother's cozy womb.

A deafening cry of an infant announced that the struggle has been put to an end. "She should have undergone a caesarean, she heard someone saying. Even though the experience was terrifying & she has lost a lot of blood, she was eager to see her precious child.

A nurse wearing a beautiful smile presented her with a baby that was remarkably beautiful. It had a strange resemblance to its mother, yet there was an inexplicable difference. The nurse was quick to understand the change in the mother. Shriyani howled like a wild animal who has just received a mortal wound.

"Take it away .... This is not my baby ... take it away from me". She screamed pushing the baby away. She became so aggressive so that several members of the staff had to chain her to the bed. Everyone looked puzzled about this bizarre behaviour.

Her husband who was anticipating his child was taken to a room. He sensed something fishy in the atmosphere. As the doctor entered the room, he poured out a number of questions to which the doctor calmly answered,

"Mr. Jayasinghe, your wife & child are physically ok. You can see your child. I'm afraid you will have to consult the psychiatrist before seeing your wife".

These words were like a heavy blow to him. "There is nothing wrong with me", he said himself. Why do I need a psychiatrist?

The psychiatrist, a bearded man with a concerned expression entered the room with his assistant.

"Doctor there has been a mistake ..." he protested, but the psychiatrist gestured him to sit down.

"Be calm Mr. Jayasinghe I need to discuss an important matter with you", he said. In a few meaningful sentences which never added any sense to him, the doctor explained the present circumstances.

"Your wife is suffering from a postpartum hysteria", he said. "Is there any family member in her family known to have a psychiatric condition?" The immediate answer was "no". The rest of the conversation was like a bad dream. He answered as if he were dazed & intoxicated, not knowing what he was doing exactly. "You may see your wife now, but please understand her situation".

He was confronted by a grief stricken Shriyani, who was not the wife he knew earlier. She was muttering to herself endlessly in panic. She couldn't recognize him. It was terrible. Gods seem to have cursed on him.

Shriyani saw the look of misery & inexpressible sorrow etched on her beloved husband's crestfallen face. Yet how can she tell him that the baby was really her twin sister! The one whom she killed! She has come to punish her. She screamed as a burning pain whirled across her head.

"It is high time to punish you ugly duckling" she heard her sister's voice echo in her head.

The villagers have often commented on the two children who played in the beautiful backyard of "Sirimedura". They were twins. One of them were so pretty that anyone would easily be fond of her. The other however was not that beautiful, was always neglected & suppressed under the powerful radiation of her good-looking sister.

Shirani was admired & cared for by everyone, even her parents couldn't resist to discriminate among the two of them. In contrast Shriyani was dark with a messy hair.

She wasn't clever at school. Her jealousy mounted up day by day. Adding salt & pepper to her unending envy towards her own sister, Shirani often teased her sibling calling "the ugly duckling".

This was too much to bear. There were times she has cried bitterly, deeply hurt too numerous to mention. It was an agonizing experience to remember how she was harassed by her arrogant sister even though she tried her very best to make a good relationship with her. Yet nothing can be compared to the agony amplified by the guilt of the memory of that pathetic incident.

They were playing in the backyard near the neglected bathing well which was no longer used. Shirani made a very bad mistake, a fatal one. This was beyond the capacity of Shriyani's endurance. Trembling with uncontrollable anger she rounded up her sister & pushed her ...

She descended 15 feet into the depth, of the earth & lay motionless!

Shriyani ran all the way home struck with panic. It took her a little while to inform her parents about the accident. (Of course she didn't intend to do that. It was sudden provocation.)

The events that followed were like a dream to her. She never wanted to lose her sister so soon, this way. She couldn't speak for a few weeks. Her parents & relatives thought that her beloved sister's untimely death has deeply affected the poor girl. But no one knew the bitter truth.

25 years after this tragedy her sister has risen from the dead to punish her. To ruin her life. She has come to haunt her in the appearance of her own daughter. She had the same glittering eyes & the skin texture, the adorable hair of her dead sister. How can she bare to look at her? I need to make confession, she thought.

An hour later she was taken into a room occupied by her beloved husband & the psychiatrist. She disclosed her dark secret in front of them. She felt as if a huge weight being lifted away from her mind. After a long silence the doctor broke the ice in a concerned voice.

"Can you forgive yourself & your sister?" She hesitated a bit feeling uneasy to look at her husband. "Can you accept your child as your own? Are you ready to love her as a correction of your fault?"

"I will" she said in a convincing tone, smiling at her husband. After all she never wanted her sister to die. That is the honest truth.

Dilshan Perera, Wattala.