There was a girl who collected stars...

Momma held my chubby cheeks and parted my oiled hair right down the middle of my head. My blue and white uniform hung from my shoulders in neat, ironed pleats. My white shoes were shining like fresh lilies, courtesy of the polished that I had scrubbed on them for over an hour the previous night.

My bag was packed with textbooks and notebooks – in height order, of course, my homework completed and checked. I was finally ready to run to the bus stop with my Dora the Explorer school bag that was almost as big as me, maybe more.

The school bell rang and we all filed into lines for our prayers. The P.T teacher checked us one by one, hair, nails, uniform and shoes- it was always the same order. He smiled at me and pat my head lightly. "There you go", he said as he stuck a golden star on the back of my hand. The expert in me reminded me to hurry up and stick the star in the back of my rough note before it lost all its glue.

Classes went by and the number of stars grew with each period. The math teacher had forgotten to bring her sticker packets today so she drew a red star in the back of our hands. The tall didis with heavy books were smiling at it on the ride back home today. It made me very proud.

There was a girl who collected stars,

Not the ones that were close to Mars

She gave her best – day and night

And received them as an award for her plight

She felt proud, motivated even

Her madness for perfection was highly driven;

Uncle P picked me up from the bus stop today which was very unusual. Momma always does it. When we reached home, grandma and grandpa were sitting on the sofa. I jumped with joy and ran towards them. "Dada, dadi when did you get here?", I asked with a bright smile which faded when I saw them both silently crying.

Grandma hugged me to her chest and cried some more. I quietly sat there on her lap and went to change in my room when she offered to make me some snacks. I had completely forgotten to ask her about momma.

My day felt incomplete without momma asking me about how it was and sitting with me to help me with my homework. Grandma and grandpa left after feeding me. They said that they were going to get an injection and that's why I couldn't go along.

I completed my homework and checked it as thoroughly as I could. Papa came back at dinner time and made a bowl of Maggie for the both of us. "Papa, where is momma?" I asked finally.

"She is in the hospital, beta. She had a terrible stomach ache. I want you to go to sleep on your own tonight. Lock the door from inside, I have a key with me for when I come back. Dadaji will stay here with you tonight. Tomorrow he will drop you at the bus stop, just tell him when you want to wake up. Okay?"

This was not the first time that my parents had to leave me alone for a night due to my mom's stomach ache. It had happened before. But this time something felt different.

I went to sleep at 10 pm after watching a few episodes of Hannah Montana and forgot to inform grandpa of the morning's schedule. The next morning I woke up at 8.25, five minutes before my bus was supposed to arrive and went into panic mode. I wore unpolished shoes and carried a half-packed bag pack. I wore a crumpled uniform and a messy oily ponytail hung from the side of my head.

I got no stars that day apart from one. My math teacher smiled at me sympathetically and stuck a star sticker on the back of my hand when no one was looking. I stuck it on momma's hand at the hospital. It would make her happy when she woke up. Maybe it will even make her want to come back home faster. After all, you don't have much time before the glue dries off.

Lonely and alone, the little girl grew up,

Momma's help stopped in a manner so abrupt

The girl who collected stars gave them up

for recovery and love,

Momma didn't know

that her little daughter was no more a pup.

This story was submitted by Ishita Agarwal (justazilch) All copyrights are reserved. any kind of plagiarism on this platform or any other will result in legal actions against the offender. 

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