And All This For...

It was a fine sunny morning when Mally heard it. The screams, loud screams, it felt as if someone was denying Thanos. She was lying on her bed, a very comfortable double spring bed started feeling like a stiff iron plank. Pushing the sheets away Mally got up, a look of sorrowness on her face. Mally is a white American who lives in good old wood house with her parents and Steve the hamster whom she adores a lot, he is her brown little friend. Every step she took felt heavy and unwanted. Slowly she went up to the door. As she reached for the doorknob she was surprised by the tight grip of her hand. The door opened with a creek. She peeped out and was awed to see her beloved parents quarreling, unaware of her presence [in the room]. She quietly stepped out. 

Headed to their newly furnished house's kitchen. Grabbed a glass of water. Drank it one breath which to her felt like a tonic syrup. Then she stepped out of the kitchen, dumbstruck there for a moment. As she was about to leave she caught her mother’s vision and could easily spot the guiltiness in her mother's eyes. Mally felt like a stranger in her own house, because her parents are oh! Sorry were the most happy go lucky couple in neighborhood. Her blue bold eyes began to fill with tears. She then immediately ran up to her room banged the door against the, a sudden range of bitter sadness ran through her veins. She slowly yet roughly slide down the door. The decors of door leaving cut marks on her back but that pain was way too small. The tears now rolled down her pretty, soft cheeks. She held her knees up pressing against her chest as tightly as the door knob. She sobbed for about an hour or so.

Then a voice cracked through the dull air, the voice she actually expected to console her, "Breakfast time Mally" called her mom. She gave up all the left energy to reply “Coming mom”. She got up, harshly rubbed her eyes, glanced at her untidy bed. Her reflexes made her reach for her sheets and she unsteadily began to fold them, they were slipping out of her hands but she managed to fold them somehow. She punched her pillow and went to the bathroom. She noticed her breath now smelled worst. Brushed her teeth, took a bath which instead of making her feel refreshed made her feel more likely to throw up. She wore her uniform tied the plates grabbed her backpack forcing a few unnecessary books into it. Then ran down the stairs. Sat at the dining table and took a closer look at her parents who acted normal but she knew better. The air in dining had shifted than other good days. She still was in a dilemma whether to go to school or not. She wanted some alone time which she won’t get at home neither at school. Her train of thoughts kept on circling the scene. However, she went to school but didn’t want anybody to come up to her and talk not even her best friend. But she isn’t lucky enough as she entered the corridors she found her best sitting behind her desk and the moment she saw Mally she asked her time come quickly. Mally quietly and slowly headed to her bench sat down crashing her sack against the floor. Then her friend whispered “I have thought about your birthday gift, and I give you complete 4 days to guess, that is till your birthday.” into her ear. Mally then recalled that her birthday was nearing. 

Thankfully nothing worse happened to her already bad day. She saw her mother making a list of some things. She suddenly felt happy. She thought her mum was making her birthday list but alas. She swiftly went up to her room. Then came the dreadful time when the clock ticked 7, the dinner. She practically had to drag herself to dinner table but then she was hungry. At table, her parents shared a glance of anger. She cut the faze with “I got 29 in math” thinking that it will lift their mood but to no avail. 

Next three days passed by filled with anger, sorrow, nervousness, unwilling and reluctant. Until the moment she opened the door to her tragic house and everything changed. 25th July is Mally’s birthday but that morning she wasn’t ecstatic to her fullest she didn’t even have a tad of happiness in her watery eyes. After repeating the same boring daily routine, Mally solely went down. Sat on the table. Her parents exchanged a look. Her mother kept a heap of toasted bread in front of her father and gave her a nicely buttered sandwich. Her father's rage started to boil and then he screamed at her mom. It led to a vigorous fight which also put forth the topic of divorce. The instant Mally heard that word, she picked up her bag against her back and ran for her bus stop. Co-incidentally her bus was early. She got up on her bus filled with range of cold sadness. Everyone on the bus including the driver wished her birthday with complete excitement. But she was on the flow, just shakes hands and murmured “thank you”. Same thing happened at school. After school, she was extremely unwilling to go home so she kept in lingering on street and eventually went to the park. The blood that was flowing through her capillaries was blue, the thoughts were blue. 

But later, that day when she stepped in her house, she was surprised at her most. There were balloons tied to the ceiling, windows of her favorite colors, she looked around, her house was decorated like a princess's castle. Her friends stood circling a rectangle table sprinkled with rose petals, balloons all around, and a beautifully iced barbie cake in the center of table along with a cake shaped candle and a bowl of Fererro chocolates. And at the back were her parents, her father’s hand was on her mother's waist. She immediately raced up to her parents and hugged them tight and Mississippi started flowing down her eyes. It was like a 4-day catharsis for her. Happiness rushed down her veins as though she could suffer high BP.

She was never happier. And all this for her surprise birthday party. Sometimes, people make it a point to ignore the plethora of happiness around them, even when days are filled with glee. Hence, they need some grief-stricken days and filled in doldrums and heavy heartedness, to make them happy.

And honestly, what is life if monotonous?