Thursday, May 15, 2014

The girl in the red dress


                                                               
                                                (Image courtesy: Google)

I saw her first on my way to work. My car was stuck in the heavy traffic block that was not uncommon in the area where I lived. I was mindlessly drumming my fingers against the dashboard when I saw her standing near the window of the local guest house. Something about her caught my eye. Yes. It was the bright red dress that she was wearing that made me look at her twice. That and the cigarette in her hand. As much as my city claims to be a metropolitan, a girl smoking and that too during the bright morning hours was something that was still looked down upon. 

She stood, leaning over the balcony, smoking. Wearing a bold halter neck dress, she was someone you would look at twice. Perhaps she felt me staring and turned her head in my direction. For a moment, I felt like a kid caught doing mischief. She looked pissed off at my intrusion but smiled at me a while later, all the time continuing to blow smoke rings at me. 

A part of me wished to freeze time, then and there. It was like life around us had paused as we stare at each other. A logical side of me sent warning bells in my head. This girl was not one to be messed around with. This girl in the red dress and with an almost finished cigarette in her left hand. This girl whose eyes spoke a thousand stories. Of waking up terrified at midnight. Of screams that went unheard. Scared. Alone. 

I could picture her in my arms, I could visualize taking her out to dinner. Holding her hand while we sipped wine together. On a full moon night. Walking with her along the beach as the waves formed lacy curls around our ankles. Of taking her back home and making love to her all night. Of waking up next to her and drinking scalding hot coffee and warm buttery toast with her in bed. I want to tell her how much she means to me. And that I want her to be mine. Forever.

My dream was broken as a middle aged balding man came from inside the room came and stood next to her in the balcony. He put his hands around her casually. He had a pot belly and the mere sight of him near her disgusted me. My betrayal must have shown on my face as she snubbed out her cigarette butt with her heels. Gave me an apologetic smile, took the man's hand and took him inside. The traffic started clearing and it was time for me to move on. 


25 comments:

  1. We all have such moments in life. Where you have everything for a split second and the next second you just have to move on.

    I love the way you give life to your narration. Its something every few people are gifted with.

    Awesome work Aathira!

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    1. Thank you thank you thank YOU!!!

      Your comments sure do give me a boost Soumya, not to mention the wide smile on my face now :)

      Thanks a ton once more :)

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  2. nice one....liked it.Keep going.My next one will come soon in two weeks...3 themes are there,two short stories and one general esaay..confused which one to write...

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    1. Thanks a lot :) Looking forward to your new posts!

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  3. Love the way you narrated..simply Fab !!!

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    1. Thanks a lot!!! Comments like these make my day :) :) :)

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  4. OMG!!! Thank you thank you thank you!!!! I can't believe it :) Neither can I stop grinning from ear to ear :) :) :) Thanks a lot Team BolgAdda!!!

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  5. really nice u know what actually this has happened with me quite a lot like some guy i see on road and omg in that split of a second i create a whole realm comprising him and me and btw ur post really is very relatable and ur narration is bang on!!
    heya and i need a help as well can u please tell me how did u put that blogadda banner on ur post, my post also got selected but i am unable 2 figure out how to do that'
    thanks in advance:)

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    1. Hey Juhi :) Thanks a lot for reading :) Yes, this happens to all of us at some point of time... And congrats to you too for being selected :) I have just saved the banner as an image and inserted it in my post. Just save it from here and paste it in your post :) That's how I've done it. Hope it helps.

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    2. Heya yeah thanks that helped i pasted d banner from ur page:-)
      I thought that blogadda gives some html code for d banner but i guess i was wrong but thank you fornthe help
      Cheers

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  6. Wow! This was such an engrossing story. Congratulations on getting picked for the Spicy Saturday picks :)

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  7. Mol, kalakki...there is no english word that matches this expression or I am poor at communicating..Great fun to read..and know there are so many crazy guys and girls( I should have said aged guys) wow. here I come.

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    1. Thanks a lot Uncle for your kind words :) And good luck on blogging :)

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  8. Loved the flow of the story! I could actually imagine the whole scene!

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    1. Thanks so much for reading Nibha :) So glad that you could relate to it :)

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  9. Aaaah!! Intriguing! You got me at the smile! Well, daydreaming has its consequences... I am sure people before me have already told you your writing style is great, so I am gonna skip that bit... :)

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    1. Oh WOW! Thank you thank you thank you for your kind comments :) P.S. I love hearing about what people have to say about my writing ;) All the more so, when it's wonderful things :) Welcome to my blog Samik!

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  10. its amazing and relatable. While reading this i got some flashbacks where i was in similar situation. :)

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    1. Thanks Crimson Curls :) Do tell me your story. I would love to hear it!

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  11. Adipoli !!!
    I'd read this post some days back, having been redirected here from Soumya's page. But I guess I didn't leave a comment. I wonder how I missed doing that !
    Superb.... Congrats on the SSP... :)

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    1. Thanks sooo much Sreeja :) Reading each comment gives me a high :) Thanks once more!

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