Down the Dead-End Street

Sweet Sunshine

   Gen rubbed her sleepy eyes as she sat up on her bed and looked arround her messy room. Clothes were scattered on the floor near her open wardrobe, from yesterday when she was deciding on what to wear. She never got around on putting them back. The curtains were pulled back and the beautiful sunlight was flooding the room with the hope of a better day, like her renewed heart. She smiled to herself as she realized she hadn't dreamed about anything the last night and something in her heart told her it was going to be that way from now on.

   Her mind was filling up with all the hope and strength she didn't even knew she had in herself. And then her eyes fell on the mass sprawled on her couch under the sheets and a smile crept to her lips. He was peacefully sleeping on his stomach like he had no care in the world, his short hairs poking in every direction giving him a funny yet adorable look.

   As she studied the sleeping figure on her couch, she relived the last night. She remembered how he went up the stage and tickled everyone's hearts with that amazing song and how he gave her a bone-crushing hug when he'd come down but when she tried to talk about it, he shrugged it off like it was not important. She knew why it was so. He always tried to be the stone-hearted stud who had no emotions but sometimes the mask he always had on, simply gets too hard to keep in place, disclosing the sweet guys who acts like a jerk so he won't get hurt again. She just knew him so well.

    She remembered how after his performance last night, Zack took her hand and dragged her to the end of the carnival to a booth that was suspiciously dark and secluded but when she read the banner, she cracked up. He signed up at the counter and the volunteers gave them the safety gloves and glasses and within minutes they were standing on the roof of an old car with hammers in their hands. Yes you got it right, it was "Break the Car", booth. They were like monsters there, shattering the windows and denting the car so bad and for so long that in the end, the booth manager had to beg them to leave so others could take a chance, and they left, laughing like maniacs.

   She remembered how after destroying that pitiful car, they went to the booth named "Match me", and threw bean bags at the board matching colours, winning candy floss for each other. And she remembered how they danced like they were in a club, through pitched tents and students playing games as a DJ spun loud music that consumed an upbeat crowd. And how they'd gone to ride the electric bumping cars and bumped into each other and all their friends driving around them, till the cars started squeaking and the booth volunteers got on the verge of tears, requesting them to please leave.

   And she remembered how she'd begged all her friends for a "water-balloon-battle" and how after a while they were throwing balloons at each other, rather than the target planted. She almost laughed when she recalled how the people around them followed their mark and joined them in a newly discovered water-balloon-battle, hitting their friends and in the end the security came to throw them out. They had laughed off their asses when they looked at each other and the state they were in. They resembled a wet dog.

    It all looked like a dream to her now. She had long forgotten how much fun a small event like the carnival can be. She'd forgotten what it felt like to laugh with joy without feeling that throbbing pain in her chest, that was a constant reminder of what she'd been through. She'd forgotten what it felt like to just smile.....

**********

   Gen heard a very sexy yawn as she stepped out of her bathroom, all dressed up in loose worn-out clothes for a lazy sunday; the sleeping beast was finally up. It was almost noon now and she'd been up for three hours in which she'd cleared all the mess her house had been while biting her peanut butter sandwich. These three hours she'd thought about the change of heart she'd just experienced. She'd stood infront of her photograph-wall in the living room and smiled at her photos with Mathan and relived all those moments again. This was the first time when she'd viewed those photos and hadn't bursted in tears. Instead she'd kissed his handsome face through the only proofs of his existence, the photographs and smiled at him, knowing that no matter what happens, she'd always be in love with him.