A fateful day

"I am going to Tracy's place dad; don't wait for dinner!" Jamie cried out from the patio before shutting down the door noisily behind him.

Phil smiled briefly as he got seatead next to the window while watching his son pull out his bike from the garage underneath. He knew the phase of life Jamie was going through very well. He, too, had been in the same juvenile days; which though were ages back, yet seemed to have happened just a while back. Those are the times when a man is teeming with energies and rebellion; his desires being wildly turbulent.

While his mind got teleported to his heyday, he chuckled at the thought of the craziest things he did in his life; traveling almost half the world with no money; falling in love with Amanda, the prettiest girl in town; pestering all his teachers all the time; and how he drank and ate uncontrollably. It was young blood after all; passionate, energetic and untamed.

With numerous memories of his youth chiming in the background, he sat on his armchair comfortably with a novel resting on the lap; and gingerly picked up the bowl of vegetable broth lying on the coffee table and took a couple of sips. Sometimes he surprised himself by the proficiency of his own culinary skills; the soup today was teamed up with just the right blend of spices; the hint of cardamom was gelling well into the lemongrass broth. Amanda will surely love the dinner tonight; poor Jamie will have to miss it.

He glanced at the watch at the other corner of the brightly lit room; and his mind got slightly vexed at the thought that it was nearing dusk and Amanda hadn’t returned from her field duty yet. She was doing research at the university on applications of new medicinal herbs and more often than not had to take rounds to the town’s outskirts in her herbological forage. Just like college days, she was still the prettiest woman around and always managed to turn heads wherever she went. Sometimes he used to feel that she hadn’t aged at all after bearing Jamie; her face still beamed as it did when she was in her twenties; her skin still being soft and supple as always. Thinking about Amanda always brought a lingering smile on his otherwise pensive countenance.

Giving the sudden gush of thoughts a rest, Phil returned to the warm clutches of his book and was soon caught under the sheets of slumber. It was a sudden crackling whip of lightning outside that broke his sleep. He got up only to be surprised by a heavy downpour lashing on the tin roof of the garage. It was only the middle of summer and given the heat of the scorching sun earlier in the morning, no one could expect that the winds might turn the way they did. It was raining cats and dogs with the pitter patter of the raindrops being frequently punctuated between heavy thunder and bright streaks of lightening. Though it was only an hour since he was last awake; but the ground already was all soaked up and not a soul could be seen treading on the roads. His thoughts immediately raced to the wellbeing of his son and his wife. Darn! He almost dropped down at the thought that Amanda was going to the Raven cliff today all by herself.

He dashed towards his cellphone and saw a text from Jamie, “Dad, strange twist of weather.. its on national news.. they are saying it’s a cloudburst.. I am fine; the calls are jammed so couldn’t talk.. I will come back as soon as I can, but please Don’t step out of the house at all”. Relieved at the assurance of his son’s safety, Phil then tried frantically calling Amanda’s cell phone but it was switched off. The next moment he was racing down the stairs, stopping only to grab his overcoat and benz’s keys from behind the door before dashing towards the garage.

Phil was driving at a mad pace on the half submerged roads while the relentless rains continued to hammer the top of his car. It was pitch black darkness outside with power transmission plummetting in the downpour; though the occasional silver lightening streaks would pervade the stretch of the skies and illuminate the view only to reveal bent trees and a soaked ground. His pulse was throbbing as the voice in the radio mentioned about damages in the eastern areas of the town; the river had galloped and eaten away most of the surrounding cliff lands.

“The eastern regions near the river have been badly hit; large parts of the Raven cliff is reported to be washed out.” the voice of the news spokeswoman echoed in his ears. “Is Amanda okay?”, “Has she  eaten something?”, “Could she have been hurt in the cliff washout?”, "Why is her cell switched off?". Millions of thoughts swarmed his mind when he missed noticing the sharp bend in the drive in the darkness. Before he could react to anything, his benz crashed into the thicket of trees with a colossal momentum; slamming his body sharply against the steering and sending glass pieces of the front window on a flight over his face. He felt his chest crush to the impact and the only word he could mutter before passing out was a faint murmur “Amandaaah”.

The next thing Phil knew was him lying in a hospital room with a teary eyed desolate Jamie sitting next to him. “Son, any news of mom?” were the first words he managed; the pain in his jaws were excruciating.

Jamie sat there blankly with a tied up face unable to speak; his well-knit frame stooping and eyes constantly welling up. With as much strength he could muster he spoke, "Dad, I know this is hard for you. As soon as I saw the rains yesterday, I was worried you would try to go to the cliff again looking for mom. This is why I texted you to not step out. Mom will not come back now; she is gone; dead; it has been 20 years since she left us." Jamie spoke in a broken voice as he took his dad’s palms into his own. The stream of tears continued to roll down his eyes.