Invisible String

the string is straining

Chapter 9

11 years ago...

"Good luck, little one. I'll pick you up from school later, okay? Make sure to make friends and be nice to everyone. Have fun!" Aabha's dad kissed her forehead and disappeared behind the elevator doors.

"Aabha Chaudhari! Please come in." The principle called her.
Aabha walked in and stood inside the cabin in front of the scary looking principle.
"Your class is 1st F, on the third floor, okay dear? Do you someone to take you there or will you be okay on your own?"
"I'll be okay." The little girl smiled.
"Okay, good luck." The principle smiled back and Aabha took off to go to the third floor.
CAHS was really big. Its corridors had two huge staircases and six elevators. It had around six floors. It seemed almost scary from a six year old kid's perspective.
Nonetheless, Aabha, too scared to use the elevators on her own, kept climbing up the stairs, but soon she realised she had lost the count of floors. She looked around for help, but in vain.
The bell rang loudly and she flinched.
"Lecture have started." She thought to herself.
She sat on the stairs hopelessly and with tears in her eyes.
"What are you doing here? Don't you have lectures?" A worker walked up to her.
Aabha couldn't hold back any longer and burst into tears.
"What's up kid? Are you okay?" The lady stretched out her hand to help Aabha to her feet.
"I can't find my class." She said in a broken voice, "Can you please take me to 1st F?"
"Sure." The worker held her tiny hand and dropped her in front of her class.
"Thank you." Aabha wiped her tears as she saw the lady walk away.
Upon reaching the doorway of the classroom, she observed it first.
The kids inside were ROWDY. There was no teacher in there. Boys were chattering, comparing their beyblades and the girls were busy eating their lunches. A few were even standing on the benches for fun. All of them seemed like full-fledged extroverts.
That scene was enough to scare her, but she walked in anyways. It was not really like she had another choice.
"Who are you?" A boy, sitting on the teacher's chair asked her.
"Aabha." She whimpered.
The whole class fell silent and all eyes were on her.
Aabha quickly scanned the room for empty seats. All of them were full with two kids sitting on each bench except one by the window. It had a single bag, but no one sitting there. Aabha assumed only one kid had taken that seat, so she quietly made her way to it.
Soon enough, everything went back to normal. She was not the centre of attention and everything was gonna be fine.
Right?
A boy entered the classroom and walked up to Aabha's seat.
"This is my seat. I like to sit alone. Please move." He told her firmly.
Aabha could feel her tears pooling up again.
"Can I seat here just for today? I'll move to some other place tomorrow. Please." She said pleadingly. Her tears glistened under the sunlight and they were visible to the boy.
He stared out of a window like a sixty year old, contemplating for around five-six seconds before saying, "Fine." He got seated beside her.
"What's your name?" He questioned.
"Aabha. What's yours?"
"Maanav."

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Present Time...

12th March, 2023

(Aabha)

FINALLY! The exams were over. Not that they made THAT big of a difference. I was used to giving test every week at tuition. But the point was, they were over.
I still had class a couple hours later. I decided to write a song and make some music till then. I got out my guitar, my diary and my pen and started working on the theme.
What topic should I write on? What topic should I write on? MEDUSA! So random, but, well.

It was a carnival and I,
narrowly escaped.
Intoxicating dust in the air,
spread like fiery flames.
Hands stained with dripping red,
of clowns roaming around.
And where the fireworks are enough,
to burn the whole town.