The lovely evening breeze swept across her face as Mita craned her head outside the car window. She always enjoyed this ride from home to her dance classes every day.
The road snaked through the mountains on both sides, the lush green vegetation on the slopes, the stream flowing from a nook, and cutting across the street; to meet into the eternal depths of the gorge.
“Mita, don’t stretch your neck outside the window, be a good girl and listen to me”, Raju, the driver commented, staring from the rear-view mirror.
Mita cackled and mimicked, “Go complain to mom or dad, who cares”.
Everyday it takes one hour to reach the destination, through this scenic yet hazardous road, and one hour to return home, but the dance class is her place of solace. Mita bends and bows to Goddess Saraswati, the tranquility reflecting in her pose and form.
With the onset of Spring Mita’s excitement finds a new vigor, her mind races and heart skips along with her physical rhythm. She is a perennial student but a great performer too! At such a young age she has performed at different functions.
Holi celebrations are just round the corner. Didi, the dance teacher was busy instructing the undercurrents of the show,”It’s a grand occasion, the local government head will be the guest of honor, so the dynamics has to be perfect”.
“Mita as you’re leading the troupe, you need to be very particular on stage, envisage the central location, and post yourself exactly on that point so the rest can follow”, the words of Didi echoed in her mind.
In school, during her breaks Mita rehearsed in front of awe struck Ruchi, Vasu, Piya and Sona, her gang of close friends. “You all should come on the performance day and visualize the enigma under the colorful lights and musical rendition”, Mita flaunted with a flair.
Mita’s joy was boundless, the stage was her place of command. “Puchki, check out this time. I’ll mesmerize the audience with my performance of Tandava”, she gushed to her younger sister.
At home, Mom was perturbed by Mita’s obsession. “Will you stop it now? Enough of your practice, finish off your dinner and go to bed, you’ve school tomorrow”, she firmly retorted when Mita acted stubborn.
Sulking, Mita threw herself on to the bed, Puchki was fast asleep next to her. Soon the day will arrive. She swept into a wonderful dream –
The garden was full of roses of all colors. The colorful butterflies fluttered from petal to petal as if the nectar was not sufficient to quench their thirst. The black rose attracted her attention in between the red, pink, orange and yellow. Mita caressed it with her hand but she screamed when her foot got pricked by the thorn on the ground.
It was bleeding, there was a throbbing sensation, the entire foot was covered in blood. Oh! Why the nightmare?
The noises of shouting and screaming penetrated through the glass door,vibrating like the moos of a thousand cows, everywhere it was either white or red, the pungent smell of the place and the flashing big lights overhead, and then a hypotonic blackout in a deep, dark hole.
***
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The above story is an entry into the writing event(Feb. 02nd – 20th) hosted by ArtoonsInn: #PullTheRug #UniK-3
Event rules and guidelines: https://writers.artoonsinn.com/pull-the-rug-unik-3-writing-event/
Check out Alipi’s space here: https://writers.artoonsinn.com/author/alipi-das/
