Somebody lied to her
She sank into the stone chair beneath her in the corner of the garden. The dim light from the mobile screen shone up to her face. Her big beautiful eyes stared into oblivion for a moment before they were filled with saline water. Tears started rolling down those cheeks that have been kissed so many times, by strangers, by lovers, by well-wishers. Before long, she found herself cupping her head in her hands and sobbing fervently.
“I will not trust anyone at all from now. No one. Everyone is a liar. The whole world.”, she managed to the ghost sitting beside her.
It was Monday, a lovely morning, but Vandana woke up to a dreadful feeling. Full of guilt and fear, her head was pounding and her eyes were weak.
“I don’t want to get up today.”, she said to herself, still sleepy.
By that time, daddy entered the room. He landed a wet slight kiss on Vandana’s forehead and gave her a bear hug. It was all she needed to lighten up the morning.
“Wake up sweetie. It’s just two days for your birthday. We will go out this time, the whole family, to a 5-star restaurant and have a great night. I promise.”
“But dad. It’s a Wednesday and you are always busy on Wednesdays”, she said scrubbing her eyes with her wrists.
“Oh, sweetie. I promise. This time it won’t be like that. I will take off early from the office and we will have the best birthday ever. I pinky promise”, her dad said trying to sound cute.
“Okay dad”, she said her eyes looking into his.
She jumped to her phone as soon as dad was out of the room.
“Has Ajay woken up yet”, she wondered to herself while opening the chatting app.
“Good morning < 3”, she wrote in the chatbox and clicked send.
“Good Morning honey”, came the instant reply.
“Wednesday’s my birthday. What have you got planned for me?”, she typed so fast that her fingers moved at the speed of light.
“Hmm. I can’t tell you. It's a surprise.”, he joked. “It will be a blast. We will go out for a movie, then we will invite all your friends and we will cut a cake and then I will take you out shopping and buy all your favorite dresses?”
“Really????”, she asked, her heart pounding out of her chest out of excitement.
“yes, babe. I promise. It will be a great day.”
Well, now that her day is all lightened up, she is ready for school.
“Maths homework is so much yrr. I don’t even wanna start. It’s like doing all year’s homework in just one day. I cannot do it”, Aastha complained to all the other girls in the class and her best friend Vandana.
“Ya, you are right. It’s almost 150 questions and completed them before Wednesday, that’s just too much.”, said another girl.
“Wednesday????”, said Vandana in a shocked voice. “But I… I…, I. haven’t even started yet.”, she said in a hushed voice. “How can I complete it in just 1 day. It’s not possible”.
“Don’t worry”, said Aastha, “You will complete it on time, and if you can’t call me up, I will help you out”, Aastha blinked. “By the way, have you seen Mrs. Verma’s new haircut and that low-cut blouse she wears, she is such a …….”
Vandana looked up at the clock,
Tuesday, 10:00 pm
the clock showed.
She started off on the homework. “No No No. It’s too much. I can’t complete it one day. I can’t, its just too much.”
She picked up her phone and called Aastha, just to find out that she didn’t pick up. Three missed calls and Aastha picked up on the fourth.
“You have got to help me. I can’t do all this homework myself. It’s too much.”, she said without waiting for a reply.
Aastha sighed on the other side.
“I am sorry yrr. I can’t help you today. It’s my neighbor’s wedding, we are all just out yr, sorry.”
Vandana got yelled at pretty bad the next morning, of course. How is that for a birthday gift from the maths teacher? She was almost near tears given the fact that she was trying to feel special on this day.
“well, it's only school time. Ajay will pick me up in the afternoon”, she thought to herself.
She called Ajay 2 times and then got a callback.
“I can’t make it today baby. I am so sorry.”, said Ajay in a hasty voice.
“What?? Are you mad? It’s my birthday. You have to.”
“I can’t babe.”
“Stop calling me that. I will never talk to you again. I will not. I promise that”, she fumed as the words came out of those restless lips.
“I am sorry yrr, I gotta go. I have to go now, my father’s calling. Happy Birthday babe and again, I am sorry”.
The phone hung up before a word came out of her mouth. The word just stuck in there, with her mouth wide open and eyes stunned.
She went to a walk in the garden in the evening to cool herself down.
“Birthday? huh. So much for such a stupid day. Not a single good thing has happened to me yet. And that Ajay, I am gonna show him, how cold I can be.”
She marveled at all the beauty of the park and the cool breeze on her face and prepped herself for a family night at the restaurant.
She decided to sit down on a seat nearby when her phone pinged. She unlocked the phone and opened the app.
“I am sorry sweetie. Some important work. Can’t make it today. We will go to the hotel some other time. Love you, Dad.”, said the message.
She sank into the stone chair beneath her in the corner of the garden. The dim light from the mobile screen shone up to her face. Her big beautiful eyes stared into oblivion for a moment before they were filled with saline water. Tears started rolling down those cheeks that have been kissed so many times, by strangers, by lovers, by well-wishers. Before long, she found herself cupping her head in her hands and sobbing fervently.
“I will not trust anyone at all from now. No one. Everyone is a liar. The whole world.”, she said to herself but she did. She did trust again.
I have one ask for the readers today. Don’t be like Ajay, Aastha, or Vandana’s father. Vandana now lives in the fear of promises that are never fulfilled. She has trust issues and needs confirmation on everything before she believes it. You can find Vandana, you can help her, she is sitting beside you on a metro, she is walking behind you in a park, she is standing at the front of the queue on a ticket counter, she is living in a nearby house, you talk to her every day, you walk past her every day, she lives in you too.
False Truths. Things that we say, but we don’t actually mean them.
“Oh, ya sure, you can rent that book”, while you never rent out your books, “ya ya sure, I will go out on that dinner next weekend”, when you have the plan of sleeping all day and all night, “yes, of course, I will help you complete that work”, when you don’t expect to actually hear from them.
These false truths actually mean something to some people. And trust breaks every time these promises break. It is easier and simple to lie, but much hurting to be on the receiving end of these false truths, try it sometime, focus on them, you will hate :p.
Beware. Humanity around, keep your TRUST packaged and safe, travelers are responsible for the loss of their own TRUST.
Rajat Upadhyay
i can’t even remember what it was i came here to get away from….