silent prayer.

Two pairs of nervous soles pounded the hard street taking urgent steps.

The slight mist which had descended down clouded their vision but the 
determined couple did not lose sight of their endeavour.

"Hope we are not late", Katie said with words barely escaping her lips,
the chill in the air aggravating her arthritis. 

"I have the candles and the wreath ", and Malcolm tightened his grip of their

intertwined fingers.

The tears rolled down her cheeks and the illumination of the bulb added to her misery.

The news of over a hundred  little innocent souls snatched away by insane act of terrorism re-winded the reels of memory and brought forth the picture of their only son Ryan, who a decade ago completed their family.

                                       The smallest coffins are the heaviest to bear.

                                             They had buried Ryan in their hearts.

This 140-words Micro Fiction is shared with Succinctly Yours Week 195.
.

The attack

                                                         

The 3 words are breezy , hairy , monstrous.

The UFO had taken refuge on the baseball ground. The earthlings fearing for 

their safety huddled, trying to find solace in numbers. The hairy monstrous 

creature came romping towards me while my nervous legs found a way to 

escape. The grizzly bear pinned me down on the promenade and my gasping 

breath woke me up to feel the pillow moist with my sweat. It was only a 

nightmare , I concluded and as I got up to sip water, I pulled up the Venetian 

blinds to allow the breezy draught to calm my frayed nerves. I reached for the 

remote button and the television screen sprang to life.

                “Attack of the aliens on Earth “, the breaking news resonated.

                  

                                 Linking to 3 Word Wednesday

Word count : 118

  

Freedom II

Read the first part here.

Kisna was sitting under the banyan tree. This was the tree under which Satyavan breathed his last. The dutiful Savitri chased Lord Yama , the God of Death, to bring him back to life.

                                           

His thoughts drifted to Radha. Her eyes full of hope must be dreaming of a conjugal life as any bride would. Her silent lips never brought out her feelings. But he was not stone-hearted not to sense it. He did not bear a grudge towards Radha. He was betrayed by his own father who had milked him because of his favourable gender. How much he hated his father for burying his dreams and aspirations. 

His father had given him a good start in life by virtue of a good education even though it had been beyond their means. By borrowing from Radha's father , he could afford to complete his education. But his father's inability to pay off the loans along with the accumulated interest strangulated his desire of settling down with Rekha , who studied with him. 

Bowing to his father's wishes and the fulfilling the obligation of a dutiful son, he reluctantly agreed to wed Radha. Thus Radha , unaware of all these manipulations was caught in the vortex of strange emotions , was a sacrificial lamb , a lamb who did not have the luxury to bleat.

 Rekha's parents chose a groom for her and she decided to settle down to matrimony bliss. 

Kisna had no-where to seek refuge. He had knowingly  made two lives suffer for no fault of theirs and in return he tormented himself. Since Rekha had wisely extricated herself from the third corner of the odd triangle , the two points had to be together by destiny on the same plane and complete the straight line of the journey of life.

                                    


                      
He paid his respects to the holy banyan tree and decided to make a new beginning with his wife. He would ask her for forgiveness and accept her wholeheartedly and beg her to overlook his initial aloofness and embrace conjugal bliss.

to be continued....................... 

raised bar

                                      

Write Over the Weekend theme for this week

This time your entry must contain, ‘This time, she raised the bar…’

                                               

She looked at Ayesha and tried to search for any  trace of emotion of surprise. And there was none on the calm focussed face. She stood straight , her legs joined together , arms by her side , with the fingers pointing downwards. Her athletic body , of years of training had learned to take the rigorous regime of the sport. Never did Ayesha complain nor was she the cause of any complaint to her coach.

She moulded easily and perfectly as wet clay under the tutelage of her coach Anita.

Coach Anita , without her gaze shifting from her loyal pupil ,'This time, she raised the bar a notch higher than had been anticipated . But as usual , Ayesha's facial expressions remained unflinched and with a spring Ayesha broke into a sprint and  cleared the raised bar with a slight effort but landed smoothly.

Coach Anita puffed her chest with pride and inhaled a powerful draught of air.

She showed the thumbs -up sign to her pupil and Ayesha smiled. They packed up for the day. It was almost night. But Ayesha knew that the next day she would have to practise her high jumps more effortlessly. The Athletics Meet was exactly a month away.


The energy of the packed stadium was infectious but the competitive spirit was not lost among the participants. Äyesha Khanna" as the name was called, Coach Anita signalled her pupil to take her place.

Ayesha , this time, she raised the bar of expectations in her mental frame of mind....................

The stadium roared as the cheers reached a crescendo.

The chief guest picked the gold medal from the tray and Ayesha bent down from her pedestal to lower her head to accept what she richly deserved.

The thunderous applause of the crowd added to the rich haul of the medal. But Ayesha had'nt heard a single sound , for  her eyes only rested on her mother and coach ,  Anita Khanna whose moist checks glistened with pride and passion.

Anita communicated to her daughter ,  through sign language ,  her fingers dancing in the air. Anita looked up at the Heaven and said , 'Jai Mata Di'.


P.S. :- Anita Khanna , an ex-athlete , had given birth to a dumb and deaf girl. Anita was asked to abandon the girl child due to the unfavourable sex and disability of the new-born. But Anita refused and walked out of her marriage to bring her daughter up , single-handedly.

Anita , this time , had met her expectations and had no regrets. Ayesha could not talk nor hear but her sport and talent spoke volumes and made people hear and take notice of her.

This is the work of fiction and any resemblances to persons or instances , is purely co-incidental.

This post is a part of Write Over the Weekend, an initiative for Indian Bloggers by BlogAdda.


LIST OF WOW BADGES.

left

                                      



choose a word and use it three times in your 33 words. However, it must be either a verb, noun or adjective and the form of the word cannot change, it must appear exactly the same three times. Please highlight your chosen word in your piece before linking up below.

“Left”, and the cab turned.

I referred the letter for directions.

“Left”. I peeped out.

“Left”.

Today is my first day at the People’s Bank.

One day, I will be the Vice-President. Amen.

---------------------------------------------------------------



FOR : TRIFECTA WRITING CHALLENGE.

Smell of old books....

Wednesday prompt from: WRITE TRIBE.

the smell of old books

Work it into a story, a poem, an essay……

                                           

The sound of tock tock tock gave me  company on the otherwise lonely and sultry afternoon. The soles of my footwear had an impact on the freshly laid pavers and I was careful not to let myself fall due to the occasional loose paver block which naughtily thrust its way out of the geometric pattern. It seemed that the sun had pushed the hoi polloi into the safe realms of their shady indoors. I considered myself fortunate to have the whole street for myself. A sudden hot current blew on my face stirring the smell of old books  that snugly  cradled in my arms. A cool lemonade and a piece of ginger cake completed my day. 

As I turned around the bend, caught off-guard was I , by the presence of a stranger. His clothes once upon a time mush have seen better days but now hadn't been scrubbed by water or detergent and his hair dishevelled  and his body arched forward , he must be weak and famished , I concluded. But to my surprise , he tried to grab my precious possession which may be of no use to an unread man but could fetch him a decent sum in the second-sale market . But I was not prepared to lose what he wanted to snatch away from me.

Sherlocks Holmes came to my rescue. And in an instant with a thud , he lay on the pavement with stars in his eyes. Another wild swing  of the book and he lay motionless.
I gingerly caressed the book, inhaled the musty smell of the old heavy book and crossed over his limp body. Scanning my eyes all over the deserted place , I carried myself in quick long strides.

As I sat on my teak wood table , I fanned myself , Dr. Watson peeped out of the book and looked questioningly at me . I smiled and said , 'elementary ,  my dear Watson'
                                 Thank you Arthur Conan Doyle for saving me.

                                                             


                                                               FOR  : WRITE TRIBE

P.S. : When confronted with a danger , defend yourself with whatever you have at your disposal, say an umbrella or a ladies bag. Our protagonist had the presence of mind to hit the stranger with a heavy book that she was carrying and thus defended herself.