A lone tear slid down Chavi's face. Then another and another until the flood gates were thrown open. Her knees gave way and she slid down on the ground beside the railway track weeping bitterly for what could have been but now could never be. She pitied their interrupted lives. The friendship that had started to sink. Finally, reality sunk in.
Hot tears were shed for what had been ruined, for what had been broken. The nation that was torn apart, the compromises that had to be made, the promises that will eventually be broken and the friendship that was at stake.
She cried for the things that would never ever be the same. For the days she knew she would be spending all alone with nothing but the memories of her friend to keep her company. With nothing but the images of her painted in her head to last for eternity.
She cried for the bleak years that were to come.
It was long past the stage of no return.
The train had long left for their new neighbouring nation, her friend had been snatched away from her in all the adult play. And along with her friend, her merry, blithe childhood had been cruelly snatched away from her too. Oh how she wished it had not come down to this. How she wished her friend did not have had to leave and how she wished things had lasted the way they were. Muslims and Hindus had always co-existed happily. They had been brothers more and friends less. There had been complete harmony. Then what had changed now? What had happened? She couldn't understand. She couldn't understand a thing from the time she opened her eyes today morning and heard that her friend was gone.
A fresh set of tears cascaded down her face. It was indeed long past the stage of no return.
With Safia gone, there would be no one defending her from the neighbour's kid here on. There would be no one to talk to, no one to pour out her dreams, her aspirations to. She would miss their silly banter, their senseless fights, their made up stories. There would be no one to joke around and play with. It would never be fun to dance in the rain without Safia beside her. There would be no one to understand her without the use of words here on, no one to complete her sentences for her. Where will she go when she would need a shoulder to cry on? With who will she skip classes and sit in the fields? What about the stolen mangoes they used to share? And what about the river side fun? Who would be her friend?
No one could be the what Safia had been to her. Was to her. No one could ever take her place. It was her and no one else.
And if she really was to Safia what Safia was to her, then why had Safia not stayed back? Why had she been left all alone? Why did people have to do this? Why did they have to forget everything in this mad pursuit of power? Why?
Questions and tears blurred the little girl's vision and she sat by the railway track for a long time. For a long time she sat silently praying, hoping, desperately wishing to see friend walking on the track, returning to her again. And this time to stay. Never to leave again.
*****
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Short Story[ Winner of Inked Thoughts contest held by New Dawn ] Living in twentieth century India, Chavi and Safia thought they had all their future planned, every single detail laid out but they had forgotten about one thing though. What do you think it coul...
