Failure

2

Her family and friends offered kind words to make her feel better.

"God knows best," They said, giving her looks of sympathy.

"Look on the bright side, atleast now you'll have more time to relax and work on yourself," Her best friend (Tolu) offered, rubbing her back.

She nodded her head, gave a brief smile to her and muttered an excuse before she left. 

Aanu didn't have the energy to look on the bright side of things. As far as she was concerned, failure had no bright side.

Tolu was a free-spirited, artistic girl who saw the positive in everything. How couldn't she? She had a nice family, she was wealthy and everyone loved her. She could afford to do that, because nothing bad had happened to her yet. Aanu was certain that if Tolu failed, or lost something special, her outlook on life would change.

She thought about all her other friends who would be in the next year, and how their friendship would change because of their different schedules. Would they ignore her? Would it be so awkward that they would avoid her? Would they still want to be friends with a repeat student?

(Friendship with man is not as reliable and unconditional as friendship with Jesus.)

The shame engulfed her. People would want to know if she had made it through her first year. How would she tell them?

She was a failure.

Aanu cried as she walked home, furiously wiping her tears.

It hurt her more because she felt she had worked hard on the practical. She deserved to pass.

(Hardwork outside of Christ's work does not pay off. Hardwork without prayer is futile.)

She realised that she would be the first of her family to not finish a degree in record time. Aanu would forever be in the shadow of her elder sister. The black sheep,  the shame of the family- that's what she felt she was.

When she got home, something inside her had changed. It was like she had finally snapped. All her built up frustrations and emotions from her childhood and teenage years suddenly resurfaced. The sadness was overwhelming.

For weeks on, her smiles never got to her eyes. The things she previously sought pleasure in failed to bring her joy. She never left her room unless it was to go eat.

She avoided eye contact with her family. Aanu stopped speaking unless she was directly spoken to.

She forgot the sound of her own laughter.

Her tears never seemed to stop and her headaches never ended.

She forgot how to pray, stopped reading her bible and didn't want to go to church at all.

Aanu was deeper in depression than she had ever been and she was ignoring the only friend that could help her.

This chapter is dedicated to
PreciousEsere
for guessing the theme of the previous chapter correctly!

What is the theme in this chapter?