OM NAMAH SHIVAYA

Hi Lovelies,

This is a short story  titled Now Is The Time that I’ve written for a competition in facebook.

The she in the story is an individual while he can be any addictive habits that an individual will develop.

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“If you feel lost, disappointed, hesitant, or weak, return to yourself, to who you are, here and now and when you get there, you will discover yourself, like a lotus flower in full bloom, even in a muddy pond, beautiful and strong.” 
― Masaru Emoto, Secret Life of Water

THEME effects are set of lines, fills and special effects for shapes, –

She closed her book shut and groaned. She couldn’t concentrate. All she could think about was the guy she saw in the theatre.

She had gone with her friends to watch the recently released super hit action-romance. She was excited to watch the movie. While she was standing with her friends in the queue, she spotted him, along with his friends. He was around her age and was very attractive to look. Her favorite actor too didn’t stand a chance against him.

It wasn’t love at first-sight for her, but it surely was attraction at first sight. She sighed as she saw him laughing at something that his friends said. Her friend nudged her back and with great difficulty she had managed to tear her eyes away from him.

A small smile and blushed appeared on her pretty face as she realized that he too had come to watch the same movie. When she peeked a glance at him, she saw a friend of his handing him a ticket and their group left to the hall. She pouted when he disappeared from her view. She already missed him. She couldn’t wait to rush inside the hall and see him again.

The first thing she did as she walked inside the theatre hall was look around and when she finally spotted him, she went and took her seat.

She used to occasionally peek at him and he seemed too focused on the movie. She cherished the moments when he used to laugh at the comedy scenes and saw the way he pressed his lips to form a thin line during an emotional scene. She also saw him cheer at the end, when the hero of the movie shoots and kills the bad guy.

She was brought of her dream, right now, when a friend of her snapped a finger in front of her face. The friend enquired as to what was wrong with her since the weekend. She blushed again as his face popped on her head.

Is this what happens when you are falling in love? Just the mere thought of him would bring a dreamy smile on her face.

Her friend bumped a shoulder against her and repeated the question. Smiling shyly, she confessed to her friend that she had fallen in love with a guy she had seen at the theatre. She doesn’t know his name or anything about him, but she was sure she was in love. Her friend tried to reason with her that how could she fall in love with a guy she knows next to nothing about. However, she refused to listen to her friend. Why should she? Her friend wouldn’t understand the feeling, only she could.

When she sat for dinner along with her family, she kept dreaming about him. Her parents announced something but she doesn’t clearly remember what it was. After the dinner, she watched a new serial that was about to start that day. The serial was a high-school romance and she totally loved that genre.

That night, she sat on the window sill and looked at the full moon shining brightly in the sky. Wherever he was, she knew, he could see the moon too. She blew an air kiss at the moon and hoped that it would reach him.

The following weekend, she forced her friend to accompany her for another movie. They went to the same theatre and she stood in the same line. She looked here, there and everywhere but she couldn’t spot him. She sighed and went to watch the movie. It was a romance movie, where the hero falls in love with the heroine at first sight. He approaches her, flirts with her, and takes her on a long drive. They romance until the heroine too falls in love with the hero. They movie ended with the hero and heroine living happily together forever and ever.

She totally loved the movie. It was almost similar to her love story. She hoped that he too would one day realize that he too is in love with her. With a spring in her step, she went home that day.

Days turned to weeks and weeks, to months, but she still didn’t see him. But every day she fell deeply in love with him.

She sat in the same library, months later and closed her book with a frown in her face. Her friends had gone out to have lunch but she refused saying she wasn’t feeling well. It was a lie. She refused because she didn’t have any money to spend on the lunch. She had spent her pocket money in the theatre every week.

With a groan, she stood up and walked towards the ladies room. Grimly, she stared at her reflection in the mirror and squeaked when she saw dark circles around her eyes due to lack of sleep. The lack of sleep was because she had sat until three in the morning. She couldn’t focus in her class and hence couldn’t comprehend anything that was taught in the class. Which is why, she had to sit until three and study for her exams. She would at least have been happy if for the effort she had put, she would have gotten the desirable results, but no, she had got very low grades in her exams and her parents as well as her teachers were disappointed with her.

She didn’t want to go home because her mother keeps yelling at her that she doesn’t extend her help in any household chores. It was all the more irritating because her mom kept shouting while her serial was going on in the television.

Shaking her head, she washed her face and walked out.

Don’t they say love makes people do strange things? Once she meets him again and confesses her love for him, just like in that movie she had seen months ago, she was sure he too would fall in love with her and then they too would live happily ever after.

She knew she may not have super model looks, but she wasn’t downright ugly either. She cleaned herself well and people did call her cute. She knew, he would notice her and he would definitely be attracted to her.

It was the first week of the next month, and she had gone to the theatre with her friend. The movie was of horror genre but she felt it deserved to be in comedy genre. After the movie, she and her friend decided to eat at the nearby café.

She sat in a booth and was looking at the menu, when she heard a familiar laugh. She looked up and gasped in surprise as she saw him. Her heart fluttered in her chest and she grinned widely. Her friend, surprised to see her reaction, asked her what happened and she pointed at him.

Just as her friend turned to watch him, she saw a beautiful girl approach their table. As soon as the girl sat next to him, he wrapped an arm around her, pulled her closer and smashed his mouth against the girl’s.

Color drained from her face as she saw him kissing another girl. She couldn’t watch it and so she quickly got up and ran all the way to her house.

That night she sat in the window sill and cried as she stared at the full moon.

How could he do this to her? How could he break her heart like that? She was in love with him and he was kissing another…. God! She felt her heart crush every single time she thought about it.

She cried herself to sleep and when she woke up the next morning, her eyes were puffy. Her friend gave her a sympathetic look and she gulped. Tears started clouding her vision, but she composed herself. The teacher appeared and handed them the answer papers of their recent exam.

When it was her turn, the teacher turned to face her with a frown. After telling her that she was disappointed, the teacher handed her the paper. When she saw the lowest grade she had ever received etched in the answer paper, she flinched. Like a ghost, she walked towards her seat.

During the dinner with her family, her father announced cheerfully that his transfer has been cancelled. She frowned and turned to face her father, because she didn’t know anything about this transfer.

After dinner, she didn’t want to watch the serial anymore because she had lost faith in love. Instead, she went to wash the dishes in the kitchen. As she was walking, she was surprised to see her mother swallowing a tablet with water.

When she questioned her mother what was that tablet, her mother told her that the doctor had prescribed that painkiller which would reduce the pain in her calf-muscles. Her mother than sadly told her that she was aging and it was not possible for her to stand in the kitchen for lengthy hours and do the work.

After washing all the dishes, she rushed to her room and closed the door shut. She walked towards the mirror and stared at her reflection. She didn’t just look horrible, she felt horrible.

She realized all wrongs she had been doing for months. The months she had missed, thinking she was in love. She had wasted those months in her dream world, while the world around her had moved on.

All this for nothing!

While she was falling deeply in love with that boy, she was losing bits and parts of herself. She was living in a completely different world. She was being someone else she clearly wasn’t in those months. She was pretending to be like the fictional characters of the serial or the movie she watched.

What happened to the girl who would study daily and complete her homework in time? What happened to the girl who used to help her mother in her household chores? What happened to the girl who would always talk about her day in school at dinner? What happened to the girl who was saving money every month so she could spend it on something she really needs instead of depending on her parents? What happened to that girl whom the teachers too were proud of? What happened to the girl who people thought was cute?

The girl was almost about to die and she herself was the one who was about to kill the girl.

Thinking that boy was the love of her life, she had lost interest in the important things in her life and focused on futile things. After all wasn’t she the one who was eager for sunset rather than sunrise?

Enough! She had wasted enough time of her life.

She washed her face and then stood in front of the mirror again. She smiled as she looked at her reflection in the mirror.

Yes, one day she would definitely meet her soul mate and she would definitely fall hopelessly in love, but that day isn’t now. Now is not the time for her to focus on finding the love of her life.

Now is the time, she has to spend studying, to get good marks and most importantly gain knowledge. Now is the time, she must cherish by spending it with her family because she will not have them with her forever. Now is the time for her to do some chores because she has the strength and energy for it. Now is the time for her to spend with her friends and enjoy each and every moment. Now is the time, she must spend money thriftily and also save it for some future needs.

Most significantly, now is the time she must learn to love her life.

She climbed on her bed, closed her eyes and decided to get up early and welcome the sun.

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THANK-YOU for reading!

Also, Please do tell me what you thought about this short story! I am really eager to read your views on this one.

Also, don’t forget to vote and follow!

Once again, Thank-you and

OM NAMAH SHIVAYA