The Story of a Lie

I had set the alarm at 5.45 the previous night. My nights generally are shorter than that of the rest of the world. The reason is my addictions that keep me engaged till I’m asleep. Last night also the same thing happened.

The alarm must have cried for mercy, because I remember having seen a musical dream. I woke up when dreams could no longer tempt me into sleep. I was surprised to see that I haven’t woken up hearing the alarm.

Checking my mobile, I realised that the time was 7.40am, which means I’ve missed the alarm and got up nearly two hours late1 “Oh shit! What will I tell my TL?!” was what came to my mind first. I had to cook breakfast and lunch, had to make my kid ready to school and then send her, had to make myself presentable too. My head went blank for a while. Without a second thought I took my mobile and started typing an sms to my TL. I wrote that my kid had to be taken to the doc and I would thus be a bit late to reach office.

Then I removed my blanket and jumped from the bed. As I was cooking, I started getting pangs of guilt. My kid had a slight cough, but nothing that demanded a visit to the doctor. It wasn’t right on my part to have lied taking my kid’s name. I decided to inform my TL that I’d lied to her early morning. The thought of confessing was disturbing, but it still was fine.

As soon as I reached office, I went in search of my TL who was busy in a discussion. Seeing me at her desk, she looked up questioningly. I just said “I need to talk to you. Just two minutes, please!” She asked me to wait. Once her discussion got over, she called me to come over. As I narrated the story of my lie, there was a smile on her face, a smile of amusement, a smile that said everything’s ok. She smiled at my silly confession and asked me to now go and work at peace. Yeah I found my heart much lighter after that.

I got a call from my husband around evening saying my kid wasn’t well. She was down with severe cough. I came home earlier than usual only to find my darling’s shrunk face. I remembered the sms I had sent in the morning. This was the cost of my lie. A lie that took away the smile from my daughter’s face.