Lifeline

Rewind and repeat: 10 years ago...

The clock must have felt really awkward or really flattered that day, for two sets of eyes, really beautiful ones might I mention, were staring at it since 10 in the morning, one apprehensive and the other anticipative. It was the most stressful Wednesday of Lavanya's life. It was the day on which her board results were to be out. She had done her best but that didn't stop her from making deals with God, in her defense, she didn't exactly have a fab, upbeat year. To her, it was no less than a miracle that she made it out alive through all the bullying and the usual dysfunctional family drama and depression. She was uber-exhausted, and she hoped that all this pain and suffering was not for nothing.

"Vani!" Her mother's voice cut through her train of thoughts. "Yes mum?"
"It's 3:00 (pm), see if it's out yet"
"..Uh.. Yes.. I'll.." her response was cut by a sharp knock on the door.
"Oh I'll get it, must be papa" she said making her way to the door. Her dad and Lavanya's equation was not exactly balanced but her dad always knew how to tackle the elephant in the room.
"Bring me a glass of water Vani" was the first thing he said as he entered. Our Vani today was way to nervous to be annoyed with the lack of attention from her parents. She quitely nodded and went to the kitchen to get what he asked for, her parents were discussing something about dad's recent investment when she got back to the living room.

"Come here Vani" her dad said, patting the space between him and her mother on the sofa. Vani went and sat next to him. "Why are you so quiet today sweetie?" Vani raised an amused eyebrow in response. Her dad laughed and said "I mean quieter than usual. See I know you're mom is wayyyy to stressed about your result and so are you but to me, your result doesn't matter as much as your behavior does okay? Here, take my laptop to your room, see the result for yourself and then show us, okay?"
"Okay" she said.

This sudden kind treatments were the only things that gave her the hope that her dad did love her, even if a teensy bit. Or maybe he just didn't want a fight to take place. It worked for her anyway, she was too detached from everything to actually feel anything positive these days.
She turned on the laptop and closing her eyes, sent a silent prayer to the gods above. She logged in the schools website, entered her unique identification number and waited for her result to load.

What she saw next literally shattered her heart. All the hardwork, the efforts, the tears, the pain, all for nothing! All in vain! 79.9% only! She was doomed! Her vision went blurry because tears were building up in her eyes. She tilted her head up so that they wouldn't fall. She decided she won't cry. She wouldn't let this break her anymore. She took one deep breath. It cleared her head. Second deep breath, her heart rate started coming back to normal and after a third calming breath she shouted for her parents. Yep, there was no such thing as an inside voice in her house.

It took her mother just one glance of her face to know that it wasn't so great.
"How bad?" Her mother asked tears already running down her face.
"79.9" Lavanya replied.
"Woah woah! Congratulations and celebrations! Domino's or Just Mexican?" Her dad said coming in and taking the laptop to see the digital mark sheet.
Lavanya couldn't help but grin at her dad's reaction.
"I knew it. You didn't work hard enough. All you can do is let me down. Idiot. Useless girl." Her mother's words were like knives against her soul.

"Stop it! She did her best! One can not surpass one's capabilities. Her's is only 80%. Just accept it!" Her dad said.

There. He did it again. He always underestimated her. She understood why her mom kept pushing her, because she knew that her daughter can do better, her ways of course could've been more gentle but her dad was a totally different story. He didn't care about her career too much. He just wanted her to be a proper lady, excel at all culinary skills and never utter a word against him. No one understood the other. No one understood her.

She didn't realize when her parents left the room. She could hear them arguing downstairs.
"Congratulations. You managed to cause another argument. Just what I needed." She said to herself.

She layed face down on her pillow and cried.

Drop by drop her pillow absorbed all her shattered hopes and dreams.

Perfect dysfunctional family. Just freaking perfect.