Outstanding Stories » Cold Night

“Cold Night” is one of the outstanding stories (junior) of the second biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Aarya Butolia, Delhi Public School, Surat, India.

Cold Night

It was a cold night in the borders of India, the mighty hundred, a trained group of commandos were marching on the snow path ahead clearing the snow with their weapons. Over the past few months, they were trained heavily for the border war and now, they were facing it. They were moving towards the hideout of the terrorists, which according to the given information, was just five miles ahead. They were armed with the best of weapons. Those commandos were heavily built, agile and alert. There amongst the young men was Major Rohan, who was leading the troop. He was just twenty-five years old. His ambition from his childhood was to become an army man. He had served in the army for almost four years and thought to resign, after the war was over. He wanted to live a life of a normal person, who was well respected in the society.

Rohan, who was leading the troop, saw a small light flickering in the distance and ordered his mates to form a group of five. Soon, there were twenty groups formed, all were ready to strike with their arms. They were informed about the landmines, which the terrorists had buried deep under the snow. It was hard to figure out exactly where it was buried. They were moving cautiously and suddenly, one of the groups, stamped on the mine unknowingly and there was a huge blast. Hearing the noise of the blast, terrorists started firing.

The formation of the commandos broke down and they were running blindly. Most of the mines started to explode, which killed most of the commandos. Rohan was one of the commandos, who were fighting back, he was hiding behind a tent. The fight became very fierce and he knew his team was outnumbered. He was with his injured team mates. The only way for escaping was to create distraction. Rohan knew that this would be his last moment, he had to keep up his responsibility. He went out from his hiding place pumping bullets into the enemies. He fought bravely but suddenly fell down gravely, because a bullet had pierced his chest. Soon, the rescue team arrived and killed the remaining terrorists, all the injured people were given help, all the hostages were rescued.

Rohan's diary was recovered and it was read during the funeral, his wish to lead a normal life was heard by everyone. On Republic day, his mother received the award of her son, Paramvir Chakra award, the highest bravery award in India. His mother proudly lifted her head as she had highest respect in society and said, "My son now rests in peace, he has all the freedom he wanted". There were no tears on her eyes, that day.