The Girl with a Secret
A little girl there was who knew a big secret. A secret made of gold and glint that she kept in the depths of her heart. It made her smile with a flush when no one was looking and her eyes sparkled with the pleasure it gave her.
Her waist was thin. Her feet small. She wasn't particularly breath-taking but no one could miss her too easily if she was in the same room. Her hair wasn't messy but just about careless. They described the whole person of her with a fair accuracy. Except for the secret, and the radiance that it brought to her face.
She could barely keep from laughing aloud when someone told her he's probably seen her before. Though she could barely keep the giggle inside when someone asked what her name was, she still told them in as ordinary a manner as she could manage. She never let them know that she knew. She wanted the game to last.
There used to be a puppy in her house. It was just a little white ball of fur with huge glass eyes that she decided were only a shiny veil. She wasn't going to be fooled. At times she looked straight into his eyes and burst out laughing, controlling it fast and turning away to smile in secret. Lest he knows that she knew.
Nobody could really understand what it was that gave her this limitless stream of liquid happiness. What gave her that spring in every step and that jump she seemed to express with all her body, without actually making it. Whatever it was, it was plenty and it was joyful. Whereas actually, it was just a secret.
She had lived with it for too long to remember what gave her the idea. But she had somehow decided it was true. That for once she knew it right. She had decided that the world around her was a setup. That it was there to watch her grow. To see how she reacts. That it wasn't so many people in the world, it was just one outside it. That One person looking at her from all the eyes around her. And judging her. Whereas she had caught the trick. She knew it now and He didn't. He kept acting like different people from inside different faces trying to trick her into life, when all the while she knew. And smiled all inside her, never letting out, never leaving a hint. Or the game might end. Though she did sometimes just for the sheer fun of it, risk a sharp swift wink to the sky.
Anup Bishnoi is a struggling writer and a recent graduate from IIT Kharagpur. He has his interests scattered around in dramatics, literature and visual arts. He is currently a part of Roobaroo, a theatre group based in Delhi. He blogs at http://grassonfire.blogspot.com
A little girl there was who knew a big secret. A secret made of gold and glint that she kept in the depths of her heart. It made her smile with a flush when no one was looking and her eyes sparkled with the pleasure it gave her.
Her waist was thin. Her feet small. She wasn't particularly breath-taking but no one could miss her too easily if she was in the same room. Her hair wasn't messy but just about careless. They described the whole person of her with a fair accuracy. Except for the secret, and the radiance that it brought to her face.
She could barely keep from laughing aloud when someone told her he's probably seen her before. Though she could barely keep the giggle inside when someone asked what her name was, she still told them in as ordinary a manner as she could manage. She never let them know that she knew. She wanted the game to last.
There used to be a puppy in her house. It was just a little white ball of fur with huge glass eyes that she decided were only a shiny veil. She wasn't going to be fooled. At times she looked straight into his eyes and burst out laughing, controlling it fast and turning away to smile in secret. Lest he knows that she knew.
Nobody could really understand what it was that gave her this limitless stream of liquid happiness. What gave her that spring in every step and that jump she seemed to express with all her body, without actually making it. Whatever it was, it was plenty and it was joyful. Whereas actually, it was just a secret.
She had lived with it for too long to remember what gave her the idea. But she had somehow decided it was true. That for once she knew it right. She had decided that the world around her was a setup. That it was there to watch her grow. To see how she reacts. That it wasn't so many people in the world, it was just one outside it. That One person looking at her from all the eyes around her. And judging her. Whereas she had caught the trick. She knew it now and He didn't. He kept acting like different people from inside different faces trying to trick her into life, when all the while she knew. And smiled all inside her, never letting out, never leaving a hint. Or the game might end. Though she did sometimes just for the sheer fun of it, risk a sharp swift wink to the sky.
Anup Bishnoi is a struggling writer and a recent graduate from IIT Kharagpur. He has his interests scattered around in dramatics, literature and visual arts. He is currently a part of Roobaroo, a theatre group based in Delhi. He blogs at http://grassonfire.blogspot.com
