Short Story - 05 - Eggshell

Eggshells are easy to crack. You can crack it using a dull weapon like a spoon's convex surface or, you can crack it with a sharp weapon like a knife's edge. They look like tiny white stones but they are as weak as a normal human's mind.

There was a boy, who lived with his family. He had two brothers and one sister. He was the middle born.

First one was the eldest so he is quite the dependable one. Third one was the youngest, so everyone sdored him. And the sister was a girl, so she was treasured by all.

Receiving no kindness and love from his family made him timid and weak in mind. Just like a eggshell. He was easy to crack. All blames of his siblings' mischief would fall upon him. He was just like an eggshell. Easy to crack.

The siblings didn't hate their brother. But they were annoyed by his timidness. He too knew this. But he never abled to change. Because he was like an eggshell. Easy to crack.

That one day, he was late after school, no, he was not bullied. Because of a girl? No, that wasn't the case either. He was simply late because he didn't like to return home. In the end he was too timid to run away.

He got home late. But no one said anything to him. It was like no one cared. He threw his body on the bed. For a while he stared at the celling fan. Will he die if he hang himself from the fan?

He was thinking very odd things for few days. There were many times, he thought of suicide. But he didn't.

One day, his test results were out. Like always, he passed with an average number. He never tried to get good place but he was to scared of failing. Just like an eggshell.

Since then many days had passed. Bit by bit he grew up and became a graduate. He fell in love. His timidness disappeared little by little. Even an egg will be hard to crack when it was boiled for a long time.

His family became accustomed to his change, now everyone sees him in a new light. But one day, he and his lover was walking on the streets at evening. They went into a store to buy clothes, because his lover's birthday was coming.

But unfortunate things happen with fortunate people. That day the store got into fire. An worker was smoking in restricted area and threw the bud in the floor where the new lot was stored.

Everyone was running away. The boy was also running away. The false cellings were slowly falling one by one. He was grabbing her hand. They were both running away.

But unfortunate things happens with fortunate people. A burning piece of celling fall on her. He ran towards her and tried to remove the debris. But he was afraid of getting burned.

The whole building was in fire. Many people got stucked and many got away. There wasn't much time. He saw everywhere but didn't find anything. The fire was spreading. And looked at lover's face for a while.

She was still gazing at him with a bit of hope. He couldn't looked at her anymore. He whispered, "Sorry...". And started running towards the exit. The girl was staring at the back of her loved one.

A thought came to her mind, "I suppose that's that....huh". A burning debris fall on her head. In the end he was like an eggshell not an egg. Easy to crack.

He didn't stop running, and reached his home. "What have I done?". That's the only thought came to his mind. But he was scared too. The parents and siblings asked if about what happened.

"No-nothing", he was afraid of telling the truth. Just like an eggshell. He went upstairs. It's been few days. He didn't eat anything. He was afraid if someone asked him about what happened, so he locked himself in his room.

Finally he made up his mind. At midnight, when everyone was asleep, he went to the roof and stepped his right foot on the air. But suddenly he shrank his leg and fall on the roof floor, staring at the night sky. In the end couldn't do it. He was too timid. Just like an eggshell.

Just like that two months passed. Because of malnutrition, his body became a skeleton. He couldn't bear anymore. His family was too scared to even see or ask him anything. They didn't able to gave him the required love in the end.

And one day he passed away. He was scared, so he ran away. He was timid, so he couldn't tell anything to his family. He was weak, so he didn't able kill himself. In the end he passed away without able to bear his guilt.

Just like an eggshell. Easy to crack.