Child of Paradise (Listen to your Dreams) by Pratibha R DH

SKU: B06Y4HYC3M Categories: Mystery & Suspense, Romance Tags: amateursleuth, autopsy, cosydetective, crime, detective, homicide, investigations, murder, paranormal, police, Pratibha R DH, romanticsuspense, supernatural, suspense, thriller

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About the author:

These days her mantra for living an empowered life comprises a one-hour daily pack of yoga, meditation and morning pages. She loves to spend time with her family and generally be outdoors, taking a walk or simply spending time with nature. Music, swimming, dance and reading are her other passions. She lives in India with her husband and two young sons.

What inspired you to write your book?

My desire to know about after-life born out of the early loss of my loved ones, has been the real life inspiration behind my new paranormal crime thriller. Here the protagonist, like me, is haunted by dreams and these dreams have sometimes been prophetic or have brought a meaning in her life. My experience with psychics and mediums has also been touched upon through the heroine’s life. Her curiosity as well as her refusal to accept the conventional in turn is a catalyst in solving the mystery surrounding her sister’s death. This book touches upon subjects such as after-life, spirit guides, dream visitations, police investigations, family ties and are for readers who’d love a thriller or a mystery with a supernatural edge. It also borders round corporate dreams and ambitions – the politics of it that can make or break a person. This too has been hugely inspired by my experience of a career in the corporate world. Hence the book is a journey I can closely relate to which is about loss, defeat, deceit, betrayal, depression and yet finding the light at end of the tunnel.

Here is a short sample from the book:

Listen to your dreams
Chapter 1
May 21, 2015
Bengaluru
“How did she get out of the car?”
“Must have got thrown out…I saw a car rush by – it didn’t stop. Gosh! Look at all the blood…”
“Do you think she is dead?” asked an anxious voice.
There were a lot of vague noises and scuffling around as Tia sensed an unbearable pain in her stomach and her back. Everything was hazy. The world seemed to be moving round in circles as she felt herself being lifted and rushed somewhere. She was enveloped by the sounds of sirens, vehicles and people’s voices. Somebody was calling out her name and crying in anguish. Then suddenly she was drifting into darkness as she lost all consciousness.
“Someone call a code!”
“I will start the CPR!”
“Ok, do compression…”
“Give me epinephrine, please!”
“Epinephrine – given at ten…continue CPR for two minutes and then we’ll check for pulse…”
“Let’s listen for breath sound…”
“Let’s stop and check for pulse and check the rhythm.”
“I have no pulse…”
“Give me another epinephrine please…”
“Let’s give another epinephrine.”
“Ok, that’s number two.”
“Continue CPR for two more minutes and then we will check the pulse again.”
“IV fluids are up!”
“IV fluids are open…any other causes of this unresponsiveness in this rhythm? Anything happening, nurse? Check for pulse…do we have a pulse?”
“I have a pulse…now check for blood pressure.”
“Oh, you have a pulse…”
“I have a pulse…”
“Check the blood pressure.”
“Blood pressure 86/60…we can give more fluids…”
“I am losing the pulse now!”
“We are losing the pulse!?”
“Yes…”
“What is the rhythm!?”
Tia felt herself sucked out of her body and was overwhelmed by a strange sensation. She looked down to see doctors and nurses working frantically all over her body while she lay plastered with tubes and tapes on a hospital bed.
Was this a dream? Or was she already dead?
“No, you aren’t dead.” Somebody seemed to have read her thoughts. She turned and saw a beautiful, luminous lady with dark hair standing by her side, a soft smile hovering around her lips.
“Who are you?” Tia said, quite blatant and sounding a little rude. She was feeling quite out of sorts actually.
“I am Meena.”
“And who is that?” Tia pointed at the lifeless form on the operating table.
“That’s you, of course, my dear.”
When Tia looked confused, Meena gently said, “They are trying to revive you.”
“Am I dead or something?”
To that, Meena smiled again and held her hand. “Come with me. Your mother’s waiting.”
Tia felt herself being sucked away again in a white tunnel with Meena holding her. There seemed to be orbs of light rushing past her and sometimes even people. Everything happened much too fast as she felt herself sucked into a golden white light.
Then their flight seemed to slow down as they approached a beautiful, green, hilly meadow with flowers blooming everywhere the eye could see.
There were people gathered in small groups here and there as if they were having a picnic while some wandered around in solitude casually. They all looked relaxed and happy with children playing or running around the trees. Everyone seemed to know her and they smiled at her as she walked past them.
“Look, there is your mother.” Meena nudged her softly towards the opposite direction.
Tia felt her heart would burst as her mom descended slowly down the stone steps of a hill.
Her beautiful mom looked even younger now. Her dark hair was tied in a bun as she had always seen her. Tia rushed towards her and held her mother tight as tears streamed down her cheeks like floodgates breaking forth.
She felt that unexplainable sense of love and bliss as her mom embraced her back. Was this really happening? Oh God! If this is a dream, let me never wake up, she thought.
“My darling daughter, my Podgy, how I have missed you!!” Her mom’s voice was overflowing with emotion.
As Tia walked by a beautiful brook with her mother, she felt like a child again. She kept looking at her mother over and over again, a sense of déjà vu completely overwhelming her.
Now that she was with her mother, she never wanted to leave her again.
Again, as if her mother read her thoughts, she looked at her gently and said, “It’s not your time yet, Podgy, my love. You must go back.” Her mom looked a little sad too.
“Am I not dead then? Must I go back?” Tia could feel a tightness in her chest at the thought of leaving her mother again.
“No, Podgy. You were brought here just for a short while. You must go back now. There is a lot of life ahead of you, darling.”
“But why!?” Tia sounded outrageous. “I don’t want to go back. I want to be with you here. There is nothing for me back there anyway. Let me be with you…”
“No, honey. One day you will be here. But not now. Now is not the time. You have a long life to live. Show your gifts to the world. Be an angel, spreading love and happiness to others like you did to me. The world needs more people like you in this world.”
“Mom, I’d rather be here. It’s lonely out there.”
“No darling, your sister – Nysa, your brother – Dev, they all are waiting for you down there. And they love you a lot.”
“No, they do not! My absence will be hardly felt,” Tia sighed.
Her mother smiled again as she pointed at two little chubby boys who looked utterly cute and angelic.
“See, your children are waiting too. They can get a chance only if you give them.”
As the two toddlers flashed their mischievous smiles at her, she looked quite taken aback.
“My children!?”
Her mother nodded, amused.
Her mom must have developed a wacky sense of humour, Tia thought.
“Mom, I miss you. I don’t want to go back!” Tia knew in her heart it was a losing battle.
Her mom kissed her forehead and held her shoulders as she said, “I have never left you, darling. I have always been by your side in your every waking hour and even when you sleep. You just weren’t aware of it.”
At that moment a shadow fell across her face and she gasped at the smiling face of her dad.
Her happiness knew no bounds as her father hugged her emotionally.
“Mom, where is sis?”
Her mom’s face immediately took on a haunted look. Tia was surprised to see her fleeting emotions from happiness to loss and then sadness. Her father and mother exchanged worried glances.
“Where is Rianna, Mom?” Tia’s voice sounded agitated.
She noticed a sadness mar her dad’s face too as she darted glances from one to the other.
At that precise moment, Tia felt herself being pulled back into a vacuum while there was a white noise humming in the background. She returned to her body in the hospital as the nurses and doctors hustled around her. Most of them looked anxious and tense as they hurriedly worked round the monitors and machines of the ICU room.
She could feel pain all over her body as she heard a female voice exclaiming frantically,
“I can feel some pulse, doc!”
“You do!? Check her blood pressure…”
And then she was overtaken by numbness as she lost consciousness again.