CREATIVE FICTION : Somewhere on a beautiful coast by Samanvitha B.

She looked peaceful on the outside but was seething with rage from within. Is it even worth going through this once again? A second chance loses its meaning after the second time, doesn’t it? She was tired of being taken for granted. She didn’t know the solution to this problem and that enraged her even more. She wasn’t the one supposed to be spending time thinking of a solution, she was exhausted. Hasn’t she lost enough already? What did she have to do to get the attention she deserved? She had forgotten what it felt like to be valued, to be cherished, to be taken care of.

Did she not do enough? Was she not enough? How much is enough? Okay enough, indeed! I’m not going down this rabbit hole again she thought. She had to make a decision. It was high time she stood up for herself.

She had the exact same thought yesterday and the day before that and the month before that but she couldn’t bring herself to do it and here she was, back at square one. What was it that she had heard some kids say the other day? Ah yes,  LOL .

LOL indeed! She laughed at her own plight.

Things were simpler and different in the initial days. It was fun. She liked the attention she received, the love that was showered on her. She could change a frown into a smile in a matter of seconds. She enjoyed the numerous conversations during various times of the day. As night came, things would get quiet and a sense of calm prevailed. She even had poems dedicated to her. She was a mystery was waiting to be deciphered. There were apprehensions in the beginning but slowly, she let herself be discovered .

That was probably the mistake. She never should have let her guard down. She wasn’t completely perfect and she knew it too. She did lose her temper a few times in the past and she probably shouldn’t have lashed out. But… but… She had it all bottled up and she needed to let go once in a while. Each time this happened, she was worshipped and there was talk of not taking her for granted , being mindful of her feelings but that did not last long either. Her forgiveness was taken for granted too.

It was close to dusk now and a few people were setting up what looked like a tent. Beach parties were the most popular these days. She knew that. The tiny bulbs used to light up the tent twinkled like stars. Seems about right. Clearly, the actual stars were not visible due to light pollution. There were all kinds of pollution these days. She had come to learn and recognize these things. She had picked up  tidbits of information from here, there and everywhere. Humans are not going to rest until everything is destroyed, she thought.

Once the tent was set up, the food arrived. The sweet salty breeze was overpowered by the strong flavored smells of food that no human could resist. She could hear faint music, before the speakers started blasting a song she didn’t recognize.

‘…Cause I’m a champion, and you’re gonna hear me roar’ went the lyrics.

A hailstorm of activity was going on. People arrived and started conversations in small groups. There were shrieks of laughter. A woman started collecting sea shells along the shore . A child wandered playfully closer to her, only to be pulled back a little by their parents. ‘You need to be more careful when you’re playing alone,’ they admonished.

There was a lot of commotion as a couple dressed in white with flowers in their hand walked towards the group. Ah! A wedding party, she thought. She used to love weddings and witnessing the sanctity of love. Now she wasn’t sure she liked them anymore. After what looked like a lot of congratulations thrown around the photographer insisted they get some shots as the sun gave them the last call. She saw the couple walking towards her, andstop a few feet away to look lovingly into each other’s eyes. The photographer told them to stand such that they had the ‘water as the backdrop instead of the tent’. The couple started posing for some ‘fake candids’. She knew what it meant. She was part of quite a few of them. The huge pile of trash laying near the tent was conveniently nudged out of the frame or edited out.

#Loveforever #beautiful #joy #happiness #pictureperfect, the captions would read, but that wasn’t the complete picture, is it now. Did these people notice her at all?

At the exact same moment the kid who was admonished earlier, came running towards her with what looked like a plastic water bottle and judging by his pace and arm motion, it seemed like he was going to hurl it towards her.

How rude! She thought and she could feel her anger rising again. Perhaps, the kid could see that coming and he stopped in his tracks. He turned to his mom who managed to close the gap and he said ‘Did you hear that? Did you hear her roar?’

‘Yes, yes, I did and you should be careful when you’re near the ocean. You could get swept away by the waves and didn’t you just learn the other day that we needed to take care of our oceans and the environment in general?’

‘Yes,’ said the child crest fallen. ‘I just wanted to play‘

The mother looked at him warmly and said, ‘you can.’ ‘Lets put that bottle away along with the recyclables and if you behave I’ll even let you get into the water.’

Hearing this conversation filled her with joy. There was hope after all. She wasn’t forgotten. Yet. Maybe this wasn’t enough but this will do for now. She wasn’t just a backdrop.
She smiled and the child squealed with delight as a wave touched his tiny toes and receded, silently humming to herself.

‘….And I’m a champion and you’re gonna hear me roar!’

About the Writer

Samanvitha is an Engineer/closet writer. A Daughter, wife, sister, friend, amateur baker, book hoarder, nature lover and Netflix addict , in no particular order. Constantly trying to find magic in the mundane.
You can read her Creative non-fiction piece that was published in the last issue of Inkspire here.