•escape•

•reading•

Minha Mazin

Minha roamed her fingers across the bookshelf wondering which world to escape into, for tonight. She kept checking and re-checking the descriptions of all those books untill she could finally choose one to read.

***

Being the only daughter of working parents, Minha had to pretty much spend the whole of her life in different worlds. She would immerse herself into books all the time, just to fill the void within her heart.

After a whole lot of searching, she finally chose a book. She chose that book specifically because it was a love story. 

During the early stages of her life, reading was just something her parents would force her into doing, so that she could improve her vocabulary and knowledge. That's probably why she despised reading at those ages. You know how kids are right? They might choose not to do something just because their parents ask them to do it. Talk about rebels, now.

But as she grew up into a teenager, she began feeling a sense of emptiness within her. Of Course, she didn't understand anything back then, but now, she does. Lack of expressions of love and affection from her parents, is what caused it.

The result was that she constantly desired to feel loved. All of a sudden, the girl who barely considered wearing mismatched socks as 'uncool' started to care about how she looked, began dressing up, applying a whole lot of make up, wearing shorter and more exposive clothing and.. you name it! Basically anything and everything to seek attention. To just feel loved, accepted and 'special'.

But none of it worked, and that's when one of her friends exposed her to the art of 'reading to escape'. That's how it all began. The same little girl who despised the very words 'reading' and 'books' , now began demanding her parents to buy her every new novel that would be released.

Reading romance novels, gave her an escape. An escape from her reality where, according to her, nobody loved her. An escape into a world where a guy, although fictional would love her and make her feel special, if she saw herself as the protagonist of the story, that is.

She then spent years reading thousands of such books but was unhappy to discover, that she, in fact, could never completely fill her thirsty heart with the delusion of many fictional characters loving her. Of Course, she enjoyed reading them, but once she closes the book, the feeling of emptiness resurfaces all the time.

Yet, ignoring the fact that it never made her feel totally happy anyway, she still chose to enjoy atleast the temporary, delusional escape it provided. So she took the book she chose out of the shelf, snuck out of her house and began driving in search of a lonely place to read peacefully in.

As soon as her eyes fell on the corniche, something told her that it was perfect for her escape. So, she parked her car and made her way towards it.

She sat on the grassy ground, closed her eyes for a moment, erasing all worldy affairs from her heart, opened the book and immersed herself in it, as she always did.

Minutes passed by as she turned page after page continuously.

She was so immersed in the book that she definitely didn't notice the fact that two ladies had been staring at her ever since she stepped foot here.

They first contemplated whether or not to approach her, but chose to do it anyway. They came from both sides and interrupted Minha's lovely escape.

"Hello"

Quite contrarily to their expectations, Minha didn't shout at them or shoo them away, for, she willingly accepted some company for the night. Its not everyday, that someone chooses to actually talk to her or anything now, is it?

Anyways, after basically just introducing themselves to each other, Liya and Helen asked the one question, only to ask which, they had approached Minha in the very first place, "What is your story? What are you trying to escape ?"

Minha didn't feel taken aback or surprised or anything, but in fact, grateful. She was glad to find that atleast, someone, somewhere was willing to spend some time, trying to get to know her grief and joy.

After gently shutting close her book and keeping it aside, she began storytelling.

What surprised Minha the most was the fact that someone actually was interested in knowing her story, rather than just telling her stories like books always did. Although, it was nothing more than an act of kindness from Liya's part, she definitely made the two young girls feel special and worthy, atleast for a while, during a time of suffering through mere loneliness in their lives.

After pouring it all out though, Minha repeated Liya's question and ardently waited for both of them to speak their hearts out. Albeit a bit hesitantly, for they already did this ritual of 'pouring your heart out' , just to avoid Minha assuming them to be secretive, they spoke out all over again.

"They all talked to each other about their darkest secrets and deepest fears, not in hopes of earning help, but just a little support, inspiration and motivation to keep fighting this battle called 'life'. They were all accustomed to the art of escaping, but they had to face life too, for, through escaping, they neglected the truth and ignored the reality, by doing which, surviving this harsh battle for long wasn't even a possibility and that, they knew very well. They had to face life, that much they knew. But they also realized that constants breaks of escape were vital for their survival."

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