Short Stories Read online



  THE SHORT STORIES OF N.G. DIAN

  * He Put A Flower In My Hair

  * I Know I Miss You

  * The Miracle of My Aunt’s Hands

  Copyright © 2012 by N.G. Dian

  HE PUT A FLOWER IN MY HAIR

  The soft shimmering of piano tones crept slowly and very melodically through the air, yet took my soul to across the deep blue ocean. I wanted to dance with him under a full golden moon, witnessed only by the silvery twinkling stars. How beautiful it felt to glide tenderly in his arms. It was all so beautiful, all so perfect. And yet…

  I was confused, also. I realized I was in a large room all painted in gloss white; everything shone, and the bright whiteness of it all made a strange impression within me. The room was dominated by a white piano, and a giant statue of a black bat stood, menacingly yet peacefully, and slightly spookily, in one corner. I felt as if it was ready to attack me.

  The floor was made of sparkling white granite, shining my reflection from it. I walked carefully to approach the man in a black coat who was playing the piano so elegantly. I stopped moments before I reached him, because I suddenly smelled the fragrant scent of flowers filling the room. I felt like I was in a garden of a million flowers that I never experienced before. I started to close my eyes and let the fragrant beauty fill my senses, bringing me a very comfortable feeling.

  “Dost thee want to dance?” a very tender, low voice asked me. I was surprised that he seemed to read what I was thinking of. He stopped playing his piano. He stood up from the piano chair and turned toward me with the sweetest smile. I was hypnotized by that smile. My heart fluttered.

  “Oh… his magic smile has taken away my heart!” I murmured inside. And he continued to speak, gently “Let the tinkling piano play it’s soul for us. I would love to dance with thee”

  I felt a bit scared when I saw the piano continued to play a romantic tone by itself, but thought it must be a clever kind of technology. He walked over to me, and his hands were wearing black shiny gloves. He held my fingers and stroked them gently, with feeling, and then he lifted my hand to kiss it. He pulled my body closer to him, and put his arms around me. He led me to dance, and I felt comfortable following his feet artfully sliding in arcs and circles to the sound of the melodic piano. We made lots of eye contact with many sweet smiles.

  The tinkling of the piano stopped, and then he lowered his face towards my ear and whispered, “Thanks for the sweet dance, dear.” He calmly raised his hand, smoothly touching my neck yet slowly crept to my face, “Do not be afraid of the dark, it will not harm thee, since thou hast been in my arms, my dear”.

  He spoke with a gentle, melodic voice. Suddenly he raised my chin up, his intense eyes penetrated my heart, I heard his last words, “Sleep, my dear!”.

  *****

  I realized I was lying on a strange bed of soft flowers and straw, in a strange new location, lost in a dark place. I was too afraid to move… how long had I been asleep? Over the next short while, I faded into and out of wakefulness. My family found me unconscious in a dark cave after looking for me all day.

  Since then, the man I met in my strange dream continued to haunt me. One night, I saw a figure at my window. It was midnight. I faced the figure. It was shocking me because I recalled him. He was the man who danced with me; his gaze as sharp as eagle eyes and his skin as white as new snow. He started to smile, and it was then that I saw two white, shiny fangs emerge, ever so slightly, from the sides of his smile. My body was shaking and my heart was pounding hard. A dark, fearsome chill crept through my blood; fear began to paralyze my body. I tried to run out of the room, but could not move my frozen feet. I struggled to scream but my lips would not open.

  My eyes watched, terrified, as he moved closer to me, calmly, with slow deliberate movements. Then he grabbed my neck with his strong arms. His mouth opened wide, and with surprising speed his face lunged forward to my neck. Eagerly, forcefully, he sucked my fresh blood.

  Then, he stopped suddenly. A long pause, and then... Strangely, it seemed he’d thought better of it. He retreated a step, while taking a flower from behind his long black suit. Gently he put the small, pale flower in my hair. His low smooth voice murmured, “As thou fills my heart, I will never hurt thee.”

  Then he swung his body left to right, left to right, slowly at first, then faster, and in a strange fluttering movement, he shimmered into a dark winged shape and disappeared from my sight, forever.

  •••••

  I KNOW I MISS YOU

  On a dimly lit night I took a walk on the beach. I could feel the waves touch my toes calmly and warm. Twinkling of distant stars decorated the dark sky. The golden full moon coloured the deep blue ocean. Warm breezes touched my hair gently. This romantic night knew exactly the way I felt.

  I sat on a large stone on the right side of the beach, and made my little notebook computer set on the stone comfortably. I started an online session.

  I found a beautiful email from him. It made me feel so important to him. And I replied to him just to let him know that I need him now. My little fingers were dancing on my notebook’s keyboard while my eyes glanced over the screen to make sure I typed with no spelling mistakes.

 

  Love,

  I got your beautiful email, so I decided to reply to you right away. I want to let you know that my love is real. Love, distance never separates two hearts that really care. We may not get to hold each other all through the night as we like. But you are the one that I love, I know it from the deep in my heart. This melody of my heart beat is letting you hear the way I feel to reassure you that I can not let you go. I miss your touch and I miss your kiss, but I am feeling you everyday.

  Because I love you, I will be waiting for you here. You should know that I have dreamed last night. In my dream you and I were in the rose park. And you picked a red rose for me. With your love you put a red rose in my hair. My heart was blooming as bright and fully as the red roses in the park. Now I keep one of the red roses you gave to me in the park of my dreams.

  Because I love you, I will not let you down as your girl, and I want to be your precious light for your life, and always be around. I am hoping that you will come to see me soon. Love, I miss you so much tonight, witnessed by the waves of the deep blue ocean, by the golden moon and by the twinkling of the stars, and by the beat of my heart.

  Love you.

  Now I am feeling so warm and relaxed, after sending off my email to him. A soft, comforting guitar melody whispered distantly from someone who played guitar under the coconut trees of the beach. It sounded like he had a broken heart. Further along, there were some couples who spent their night together in the warm night of the beach air.

  My Love is so far away beyond the sea. But our love does not fall apart. I believe that someday he will come for me because Time understands Love.

  •••••

 

  THE MIRACLE OF MY AUNT’S HANDS

  I was there one day at the empty little house of my aunt. I sat on an old sofa, feeling dull and alone. My aunt was doing ironing for her neighbours for a small payment. My eyes wandered to every corner of the simple room that had no expensive furniture. There was only a small 14 inch TV to entertain those who lived in the small house. It was my first time I had visited her for a long time. I knew that my aunt’s life was hard since her husband left her and her two little boys. Often, I felt kasihan sekali bibiku (“Very sorry for my aunt”).

  The hot weather of Tanggerang (a city in Indonesia) had made me uncomfortable; the sweat was heavy on my face and my neck. I needed to go outside to get some fres
h air. I grabbed a glass of water off the table and drank it in moments; it provided a little bit of help from thirst and the heat. Then I went outside for the fresh wind. It surprised me when I saw my aunt sitting alone outside with blank eyes and sorrowful, sweating in the tropical heat and tears welling up in her eyes. I felt sorry for her, I wanted her to be happy and have no pain inside.

  I spoke up, “Hi aunty, let me know about your feelings, please!”. Then I sat down beside her on a long wooden chair.

  She glanced at me and tried to smile at me to hide her sad feelings. But she could not fool me; I knew being a single parent was not easy for her.

  Finally she spoke, “I am not feeling good. When I heard my younger son wanting a new book, and when my old son cried for proper food, I think of him.”

  Her face looked very uneasy because of the hard life that she had been facing. I suggested “I understand you have suffered for years, but I wish you would notice that you are still healthy and strong enough to do any work you get to feed your two sons. I am really proud of you; you are my best aunt I ever had, and I thank you for all the love you gave me when I was a baby.”

  “You were a cute baby girl.” she replied, and gave me a big hug. Then, she recalled when I was two years old and swallowed a 25-cent coin. Everyone worried, but the coin left naturally when I was in the bathroom, and then my aunt picked it up and cheered loudly. I was laughing and she giggled while she embraced me. It was so wonderful to hear her laughing again. She said it was so weird; a strange and yet funny experience she had, when I swallowed the coin in front of her. She said she would never forget it. The next morning, my aunt came out with fresh joy on her face. She asked me to sit beside her because she wanted to tell me about her dream last night.

  “Jesus has come to me.” she was exclaiming. Then she continued, “I was in very deep worry, sad, and mad. In the middle of the night, I went out and sat down on that stone near the window facing the dark garden. I was crying and feeling hopeless, thinking about my destiny and my two sons. Because I feel I cannot send them to the senior high school, my situation had depressed my mind. I could not stand it anymore. I was even thinking perhaps of suicide... it seems I only can do the washing and ironing of other peoples’ clothes.”

  She stopped at that moment, seeming to see a special figure that only she could see. Then she said, “When my mind was dark, my feeling was cold in the pain. Suddenly, I saw a bright light appear from nowhere. The glowing light filled the dark in front of me. And it was slowly forming into a man... a man with a long white robe. He stood only two steps in front of me. He had very peaceful eyes, and his face was glowing. He raised his right hand in a peaceful sign. I was so scared and stunned; this was the most amazing moment I had ever had in my life. And then I saw his lips speaking, yet I could hear his voice whispering right into my ear so very softly. Then he whispered, “My child, do not worry. Tomorrow, when a mother comes to need your help, do not reject her. Answer her, saying ‘yes’.”

  “The voice was that of the wisest man I ever heard” my aunt continued. “I could not blink my eyes, but I was crying. Soon, He disappeared very fast. My legs trembled and I began to believe that Jesus had come to comfort me, then I kneeled down and cried. Jesus never let me alone. He came for me and gave me that short message.”

  To hear her amazing story made me begin to shiver. Then I held her arms to calm her down, “You have been blessed by Jesus, auntie!”

  While we chatted about her miraculous dream, suddenly from across the street we saw a boy crash his bicycle, and his mom came out from her house to help him. The boy was in pain, I heard his cries. In a short while, his mom called my aunt to come. Then she and I ran to her to help her little boy.

  “Could you help my son leg? He is injured… he feels hurt when he moves his leg.”.

  My aunt glanced at me, she was wondering how to help the boy’s leg. She has no medical experience and has never trained as a massage professional. I reminded her about what Jesus said in her dream to her. “Try it, aunt! Believe in Jesus and remember his message last night!”.

  She nodded and she said, “Yes...”.

  She begun to rub the boy’s leg, and something miraculous happened… somehow her hands automatically moved smoothly and easily, and even she was wondering how her hands suddenly acted with the skill of a professional masseuse, even though she never had any certificate or training in professional massage. I saw her face become so calm and she continuously smiled at the boy. The boy did look to be enjoying her massage and seemed to feel secure and reassured.

  The next day, we saw the boy riding his bike again to school. My aunt was happy and she said, “I thank you Jesus; because of you, the boy is fine.”

  Since that time, scores of people in her village have come to her for her healing touch. Her abilities continue to improve. All are helped, and she now earns enough to have her boys sent to school for years.

  •••••