The moon parted the silvery clouds, as she brushed her long ebony hair with a broken comb. As the knots and tangles disappeared, she thought of the night ahead. Her eyes wandered to the bright lights on the road, the drunken men stumbling around the pavement, the men who were trying to sell her for the night, shouting enticing propositions to her future customers, and a little girl who sat at the corner of the dingy alley. She sighed, as she looked at the tiny soul. She would become a woman without her consent, she thought, her emotions rising from the abyss for a fleeting moment. She suppressed them, she couldn’t feel anything. It would ruin her night and her pay.
She lowered her saree to an obscene level, exposing as much as she could, without revealing much. She smirked to herself, thinking of the so called man who was to be with her tonight. She cancelled out the hoots, the whistling and the calls of the men to her, as she took a deep breath. She entered her chamber cluttered with various pillows, sheets, drapes and mirrors which were broken at places. All of them were soiled, and dirty with the leftovers of the mindless interaction that she had had with the many so called men through the nights that she had spent here.
The light flattered her as she looked into an unbroken mirror, and in the reflection she saw a broken soul, a soul that could never be fixed. She smiled a fake sugary grin, and looked at her lifeless body. A strong hand knocked the door as she walked nimbly to her bed and sat down, and got into character. Her whole life was a drama, and she played a part which gave satisfaction to the men she was with, but to her, it gave nothing. The so called man walked in, brimming with hunger. She greeted him with a superficial smile, and the drama went on.
Ananya.N.S©
Ananya Nidamangala Srinivasa 