This short story is participating in Write Story from Picture India 2012 – Short Story Writing Competition.
Code: WSPI-2012-01
Photo credit: cepolina.com
Some losses can never be recovered. They only dig a deeper grave with time. Time flies but not the pain. Such was the story of a pretty girl Anahita. She was one little girl when her parents left her alone to face this world she had no idea about. She missed her mom so much and called out for her but all in vain. Never were her cries heard. She dug a grave for herself, the grave of loneliness that caused her to fall in love with herself. She fell into the sin of self-obsession that brought her disastrous fate.
Anahita was walking in the rain fully drenched and lost in her thoughts. She was caressing her face tracing each line on it. She was smiling. Her face lighted up with the feel of her skin. She drank the water droplets on her skin and looked up at the sky,
“Mom, why are you crying looking at me? Touch me mom and see how beautiful your daughter is. You don’t need to cry for me mom. I’m not alone. My beauty always remains with me to make me smile.”
The rain increased in its tempo opening the floodgates of heaven as if crying out at her grief. She smiled and looked up again,
“Mom, wait and see. You won’t cry after this.”
She pulled out her camera from her purse and clicked her picture. She held the photograph in her hand raising it towards the sky,
“Look at this picture mom. Your daughter is the perfect lady of today. You taught me to love myself and look, I love myself. I love only myself and I love myself immensely more than I love u mom.”
She started walking towards the cliff. Slowly and steadily, her feet reached the cliff and she closed her eyes. Again, she made the photograph face the sky,
“Mom, your daughter is beautiful and she’ll die as beautiful.”
She had a wide grin on her face as if she was going to achieve her dream. She bent down ready to fall down the cliff when a pair of hands grabbed her and pulled her away. The man looked shocked and aghast towards this beautiful girl who was about to commit suicide had he not seen her,
“What were you going to do? Why were you going to commit suicide?”
Anahita looked at him with her eyes spitting fire. She wanted to strangle this man who just broke her most prized dream. The man looked at her scared. He could see the anger in her eyes. He realised that something was wrong with her. He quickly left her hand and ran away for his life. Anahita crushed her picture and looked up in anger,
“Mom, that man stopped me from dying beautiful.”
She screamed her lungs out and kept crushing her picture even more. Suddenly her scream stopped and she looked at the crushed photograph in her hand and quickly straightened it. A lone tear escaped her eyes but she instantly wiped it,
“I’m sorry mom. How could I crush myself? No, you never taught me to punish myself for others.”
She was looking at the sky with utter determination in her eyes,
“I will crush people who try to stop me from fulfilling my dream.”
It rained insistently, its heart bleeding at her condition. Anahita smiled looking up and walked back away from the cliff,
“Probably, this is not the right time mom.”
She went away promising herself to fulfill her dream.
***
Anahita was sitting in her office canteen with a bottle in her hand. She looked intently at the bottle with a slight smile adorning her face. Her eyes were full of some strange sparkle. She was waiting for the right moment to fulfill her dream. She raised her eyes to look up. She looked up there for quite some time and then whispered,
“I know you’re watching me mom and I promise to fulfill my dream today. I won’t let anyone ruin this perfect moment.”
She clicked her photograph and placed it on the table. She traced her fingers on the photograph and kissed her photograph,
“Mom, see the beauty of your daughter. I know you’re proud of my beauty and I will forever keep you that proud.”
She sat looking at her picture and kept smiling. The waiter placed her order on the table and went away. Anahita looked at the food with her eyes shining bright. She poured the bottle of cyanide in her food and stirred the spoon. She looked up,
“I’m coming mom. I’m coming with my beauty all alive. I’m dying beautiful.”
She brought the spoon near her mouth when a child collided with her table and the entire food fell down. Anahita looked at the kid with extreme agitation and threw away the spoon angrily. She walked towards the kid but the kid ran away scared of her anger. She looked here and there angrily. This was the second time today that someone stopped her from fulfilling her dream. She was extremely upset. She banged her hand on the table and finally unable to control herself, she turned the table upside down. Everyone around turned to look at her. She scared everyone with the fire that her eyes were spitting. She screamed aloud and everyone got up from their seats and moved out unable to tolerate her outrage. Anahita looked above and screamed,
“Mom, why are people stopping me from fulfilling my dream? Why can’t they let me die beautifully? Why?”
The waiter looked at her shocked and scared. He quickly went inside the kitchen and closed the door. Anahita’s anger was getting out of control. She pushed and pulled down every table and messed up the whole canteen. The entire office was getting scared now. Soon, Anahita’s boss arrived there,
“Anahita, what do you think you’re doing? Just get out of here right now.”
Anahita looked at him and held his collar,
“You can’t throw me out.”
Anahita’s eyes scared the boss. She had some strange look in her eyes and he couldn’t fathom the reason. He somehow managed to untangle himself,
“Anahita, you’re fired. Just get out.”
Anahita left his collar and laughed out loud. Her laughter rang the entire room. She picked her bag still laughing and left leaving everyone confused with her behaviour.
***
Anahita dropped her bag on the sofa and went upstairs to her terrace. She looked up at the sky and smiled,
“It’s the perfect time mom.”
She went downstairs and wore her pink gown. She applied light pink blush on her cheeks and applied light pink lipstick. She wore her dark pink heels and stood in front of the mirror,
“Anahita, you’re the most beautiful girl in the universe. Mom is proud of u.”
She kissed herself in the mirror. She took her camera and an object with her to the terrace. She placed the stand camera at a side and another camera towards her left side. She looked up at the sky,
“It’s time mom. I know you’re smiling.”
She leaned by the railing and clicked her pictures from both the camera. She held both the photographs in her hand and showed it to the sky. She showed her front photograph,
“See mom, I look the prettiest girl in the world. I don’t want to grow old mom. I don’t want to die with my wrinkled face and hands. I don’t want to die with my teeth gone. I don’t want to die without giving the world a memoir of my miraculous looks. I’m coming mom. I’m coming to you being as beautiful without any trace of old age.”
She held the second photograph,
“See my beautiful and silky hair mom. See the texture of my hair mom. They are just like your hair. They are slightly curly and black. I want to die with my perfect hair, mom. I don’t want to die with my hair white. I don’t want to die with my hair thin, mom. I’m coming to you mom with my as pretty hair.”
She smiled wide with tears stinging her eyes. She lied down with both photographs below each hand of hers. She picked up the knife she had got and looked at her reflection in it smilingly. She closed her eyes,
“Mom, you’re beautiful daughter is coming to you.”
She smiled and placed the knife at her left wrist. Her smile made her look even more beautiful. With one swift movement she cut her wrist and blood oozed out. She laid down her right hand sideways and closed her eyes. Her heart heaved up and down as life seeped away from her body but that smile of hers never faded away, making her lifeless face still glow with life.
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