"This story is not about me, this is a story about a sunflower soul, with rock and roll eyes, curious thoughts, a skinny dipping smile, vintage hearts, pretty lies, messy hair and forgotten goodbyes.
We met when we were four and I left when we turned five, but that one year, I went through so much that I felt as if that was the happiest time and the saddest memory of my life. She gave color to my winds of love and all I gave her were knives. My blue eyes held darkness, her brown eyes held light. And before I know it, ten years have gone by.
I remember her face, I remember her eyes.
Eyes so rich and brown, you could grow roots in them. Like whiskey and grace, like getting drunk on Sundays, like coffee in cold winter mornings, like serene pools of honey, like the colour of embers or ambers people desperately try to pull out of the ground. Brown eyes under sunlight scream serene, and shine brighter than any cities I've seen. But, in the end, brown eyes are just brown eyes...
Until you love someone with brown eyes.
So take away my days and nights,
but please leave me forever,
with those chocolate brown eyes,"
Suddenly, he heard a knock on his door and turned away from his window. He looked at her with a guitar prick in his hand. He was sitting on the window with his guitar on his lap. This is fifteen year old, Ember Helberg. He is well...kind of important for the story. Kind of.
"I'm sorry I left when you needed me the most. You're the most beautiful thing that ever happened to me. You got roses to my barren land and I left them there with you to die. Now, all I can do is look down on myself. And I hate what I see. You still have me and I hate it. I don't hate you but I hate how you still make me feel. I hate how I still cannot unlove you. And I hate how you hold my heart while I...
I can't even touch it,
I can't touch your heart."
. . .
It was a summer morning. Like always, people were shouting and running for their school. As the sunlight penetrated through the room's window, it lit up all the books kept inside the room on the shelves and the table.
"AHAHAHAHA!" A girl with brown curls sat in her bed while reading a comic book laughing as if she had inhaled something wrong. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a punch landed on her head and she groaned.
"ARORHEA! STOP READING COMICS FIRST THING IN THE MORNING! AND WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU READY YET?!" Meet Arorhea's mother, Mrs Laghari, a feminist housekeeper and the most important person in the house.
"Sorry ma (Tn// mom). I'll just go get ready" Arorhea said in Hindi.
"You better! I'm going to wake up Noor, meanwhile you quickly take a bath" She said and left the room.
"Okay ma..." Arorhea said. Then a smile covered her face and she said to herself "Huh! Looks like she's gone,"
She opened the comic book again and started laughing hysterically. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a stronger punch landed on her head and she turned back.
"MA! I thought you want to wake up Noor!?" Arorhea asked.
"I came back because I know you don't listen at once," Mrs. Laghari said as she pressed her knuckles, "NOW GIVE THAT COMIC TO ME!" She grabbed the book but Arorhea pulled back.
"NO! YOU CAN TAKE MY LIFE BUT NOT THIS! IT'S NASON'S LIMITED EDITION ONCE IN AN YEAR SALE ANIME COLLABORATION COMIC-"
"GIVE IT HERE!" Mrs. Laghari snatched the comic and threw it outside the window.
The pages of the comic opened, and all the cards and posters flew away into the sky.
Arorhea threw a tantrum. She rolled on her bed and started kicking her feet in the air. After all, he had lost a very precious book which belonged to the one and only-Nason limited- the most successful animation company in the west. Ever since the American animations company- 'Nason' launched into the market, it has turned the anime world to a complete 180.
With new ideas in every anime of theirs, it has managed to earn millions of fans within ten years and made an exponential sum of money becoming one of the main boosters of America's economy. Arorhea is one of those fans who are just crazy about Nason. She would spend an entire day in the library just to read 'Nason' comics. It's her dream to join Nason as a graphic designer and work with the world's bestselling manga writers and anime designers. But her parents have other plans in mind for her.
"GO GET READY NOW!"
It was March, the final exam for tenth grade and after that she'd be in eleventh grade. Her parents always wanted her to take science, but she took humanities because she neither had the will nor the energy to study biology, physics or chemistry. Her father had been cross with her due to this decision of hers, and she was aware, but she didn't let it show.
With trees around in full bloom, this is only one season of India, when the conditions are not extreme. The little white flowers from the Neem trees spread across the morning street. Otherwise, it's super hot during summers, super humid during monsoon and super cold during winters.
In the afternoon, she came back. Finally, she could relax, no more exam for a while. She prepared some instant noodles when her brother barged inside the house,
"I'm back sis and now I'm going to play, see you" He shouted as he threw his bag aside.
"Wait!" Arorhea said "Where is your uniform?"
"Ah! yes, I changed in the school"
"Why?"
"Today, I have an important cricket match with my friends. I couldn't waste my precious time on stupid stuff like changing clothes"
"These are not your clothes, right?"
"Well, I borrowed them from a friend"
"Really? Are you sure borrowed them?"
"Yes " He averted his eyes and wiped the blood from his lips.
Meet Noor, Arorhea's little brother. He is currently thirteen, a violent teen rebel at his school. He is the leader of a cycle gang at his school. A group of those guys who are ready to fight with just anyone! His parents don't mind him being violent, that is how boys are supposed to be.
"I hope it is true that you have borrowed it and not snatched it from someone" Arorhea narrowed her brown eyes at Noor. He had the same eyes as hers.
"Mind your own business," Noor threw his bag aside.
"Get lost," She sat in front of the TV.
After that, Arorhea spent her time watching television and thinking about her life in her new school. She just hoped her dad won't be cross with her for too long. She did let them down. She couldn't become a doctor. She began questioning her decision, was she not a good daughter?
In the evening, Noor entered the house with a bat in his hand "HAPPY BIRTHDAY NOOR!" Mrs Laghari shouted and hugged him.
"Oof, thanks mom," He said.
"Oh yeah, happy birthday idiot, go and get dressed quickly" Arorhea said while tying her hair.
"Huh? Oh! We're going out?" Noor asked "Yeah, the sweet shop beside the mall. We're gonna buy some sweets from there" Arorhea replied. Mr. Laghari drove them to the sweet shop near the bridge and Noor excitedly got down from the car.
"Yay! I'm fourteen now and I want some gulabjamuns, dad" Noor squealed.
"Yeah sure, hey Arorhea! We're gonna go ahead to buy the sweets, your mom has gone to buy the cake so stay here, okay?" Mr Laghari said. He seemed to be in a better mood. She felt relieved.
"Yeah dad" Rhea said. She stood still near the table waiting for her brother and parents to return, when her gaze went to a customer on another table. It was a boy of about her age. He had blonde hair, shining through the crowd of black and brown hair. Everyone was staring at him, but he was staring at her with his blue eyes. He wore a white T-shirt and blue jeans.
'Oh wow, he looks gorgeous' Arorhea looked into his eyes. They stared at each other. Finally, he smiled at Arorhea. Her cheeks went red and she looked down. He giggled and looked down. He tore a page from a pocket diary, scribbled something and while leaving the shop he left it on Arorhea's table. She hesitated while opening the note, but as she opened it, she found a number written inside it. She quickly looked at the boy and he winked at her and left the store.
'Wait a second-DID HE JUST HIT ON ME?! SERIOUSLY!'
She decided to take care of him, silently. She dashed outside the sweet shop and found the boy sitting on a bench, in front of the shop. Then, she walked to him, he looked up at her, smiled and got up.
"Hey. How are you?" He asked with a smile. Arorhea tore the note and blew it on his face, then she said "Don't try to win me by such stupid tricks, I don't come that cheap, pretty boy!"
Then, she turned and went back inside the sweet shop and took a deep breath "What the hell just happened? OMG! I can't believe I said that! I'm so proud of you Arorhea Laghari" She said to herself.
Meanwhile, the boy still standing in front of the shop, picked up the pieces of paper and whispered to himself, "You've not changed at all, have you, Rhea?"
And it begins again.
-To be continued
Ember Helberg
Can't I Touch Your Heart?