Something like fate

she woke up sweating, curled tight around herself. she thought she heard him call her name. she felt the burning behind her eyelids. hallucinations. sweet hallucinations. five am. she slowly made her way across the room in the dark. she felt cold. alone. so alone. suddenly she smiled, radiant. The Magic Eight Ball said Yes.

For He Who Sulks

His hair was long. Longer than hers. She loved running her fingers through it. Long and silky. Enough to inspire inadequacy. She played with strands as he slept, twirling them around her finger almost reverently. He couldn't bear for her to feel insufficient, subordinate. He shaved his head. Her hands felt empty. She left.

taara

seventeen freckles on her neck. shaped like a star. slightly skewed. but still, a star. his star, he used to say, fanciful. his. all his. naive. but fanciful, still. but stars burn out. and nobody likes to be left with ashes. only ashes. of burnt out stars. of freckles. freckles that promised so much. once.

crush

my head is throbbing. my mouth is dry, my lips chapped. i run my tongue over my bottom lip, desperately seeking relief. cotton mouth. i can tell you exactly what that means. so much more than a fancy moniker. i can feel the cold tremors running under my skin. but you are oblivious. always oblivious.

Her nails blush endearing shades of coral and soft spirals frame her heart-shaped face. She is perfectly coiffed, impeccably dressed, not one hair out of place. A million women would die to be her. The men, to be with her. The most beautiful woman in the world. Inside, she is empty.

exhale

scared of being alone with the unspoken words

that hung between them

she fills her day with unending chores

the faintly bitter hairball of emotions

rising in her throat reminds her of

the emptiness he leaves behind every night

when he walks away in her sleep

will she ever be ready to let him go?

When time stood still...

Time has stood still. The sky is a brigher blue, the sun isn’t scorching any longer, it doesn’t matter that the driver is grumpy or that I have been nudged out of the queue twice over.
The red bougainvillea, outside my window, nod in unison with the sea breeze.
Time has stood still…..for all four watches of mine are not working.

Vidya decided that the building was at least 350 feet high. She balanced herself carefully on the railing, and looked down. Funny, she thought. She had always been scared of heights as a child. And now…

Somewhere, a woman screamed.

Vidya The Vanquisher of Villainous Elements grinned as she flew down to save the world.

It was the night of the first snow. She slipped her hands into the sides of her yellow fleece shorts, smiling fleetingly at the warmth seeping into her fingers. She had never understood why he did it before.
He couldn't get the cold out of his burning fingertips. His flannel pyjamas were a terrible replacement.

Trying

Spirals.
Flowers. Some with sepals.
Blissful stars, fiendish crescent moons. Spiked suns. And all that galactic nonsense.
Meticulously doodled on white paper.
One whole page devoted exclusively to these little masterpieces.

The upturned lines on the smileys started drooping.
The images became frenzied, riotous.
The dark blue ink, mutinous.

She wished they had been words