The Box, Chapter 3

The Box is a short story I wrote in 2020. It inspired my second novel, Can You Be.

This is Chapter 3.

Beach, Sullivan’s Island, SC

Read below or watch/listen to the video at the bottom of the page:

Naina lived a simple life. Her biggest indulgence was a yearly hair trim on her birthday. Every November 11, she went to the Urban Nirvana on Market Street and booked with Caroline at 12:15 pm. Afterward, she popped into Cafe Framboise and ordered a croque monsieur with a side salad and a slice of opera cake to take away. At home, she took out one candle and sang herself Happy Birthday. It was her yearly ritual.

But she no longer made a wish when she blew out the candle. She had spent many years wishing for her mother to come back to her, and it never worked. Even Naina wasn’t naive enough to accept there was no coming back from the dead. Her mother had joined the 1,700 other souls who found their deaths by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge.

Naina was pleased that the box of twenty-four birthday candles she’d bought at Harris Teeter when she first moved to Charleston had lasted this long. She liked items with a long shelf life.

Her father called her on her birthday. It was one of the few times a year they spoke. Naina took the day off from work if it wasn’t a weekend so that she wouldn’t have to worry about missing the phone call. She hated that her father didn’t tell her in advance what time he would reach out. It was the only day in the year she kept her phone in her hand, making her feel as normal as everyone around her. She glanced at the screen every time she heard a beep or a buzzing, even though she set a special ringtone for her father.

The conversation was brief. He wished her a happy birthday, asked about her work and health, and confirmed she still received the $2000 monthly deposit to cover her rent and utilities. If it hadn’t been for the recurring wire, her receptionist salary would not have allowed her to live in the heart of downtown. Naina’s father had secured the lease when Naina enrolled at the College of Charleston, reasoning she needed her own space. After graduation, she stayed on. Neither had questioned why he continued to pay the rent when her salary couldn’t afford it. Or why she didn’t get a more affordable place. Or why she didn’t seek a higher-paying job.

Naina avoided questioning her father because when she had done so in the past, it led to life-altering results. He resorted to a change of environment as if that alone would provide a solution. In Naina’s experience, it never did.

When she asked how she would live without her mother, her father sent her to boarding school. Naina didn’t know if her father had decided to send her to Linden School in New York, or if he had done it under her stepmother’s insistence. What was clear was that she wasn’t wanted. They shipped her off without a thought.

When Naina asked her father how to get people to like her, her father sent her to Ivy Oak School. That was how she ended up in Charleston, South Carolina. When she asked how to make friends, he arranged for her to live with a boarder, whom she stayed with until she moved into her current apartment. Naina went to and from school and only attended school-related activities. She didn’t go out for any other reason. She kept to herself. Even in the boarder’s house, she only came out of her room to eat meals. She didn’t make any friends, but Naina learned there was no point telling her father. She knew he would never ask her to come back to live with them. Home was something she would need to create for herself.

Naina was afraid that if she asked her father about a new job, he would make her move again. Or worse yet, he would stop paying her rent. Naina craved her father. Her only solace was seeing his name appear on her monthly bank statement.

During their yearly phone call on her birthday, Naina asked after her father and his health, and with a quick tightening of her jaw, she asked after her stepmother. The last time she had spoken to her was the last time she visited them in Marin, California, and that had been over four years ago. Her stepmother had criticized her for something Naina could no longer remember. Instead of arguing back, she kept herself in the guest room until the time came for her to fly back to Charleston. Naina hadn’t had a room at her father’s house since she’d been shipped off to boarding school at the age of 11.

Watch or listen along below: