Short Fiction
Mariam Henna
Two Stories
Caged Dreams
Theresa: Tears streamed down her face as she knelt down at the church, earnestly praying to God to give him a second chance to live. As she said a silent prayer, images of the distant past flashed before her eyes, and she wondered if she would be able to walk out of the church with a new life, leaving out the haunting past. It was the fateful jouney to the hip city of Bangalore that changed their lives forever. Being the best of friends, Jonathan, Theresa and Rehaan had decided to build up their dreams in this happening place. The busy city life, teenagers in hip clothing, girls smoking in street corners, guys dancing and drinking in pubs enthralled them. Little caring for the consequences, they ended up jumping into this menacing world of drugs and alcohol. Building a journalistic and photography career went down in their list of priorities. Slowly they began to lose themselves. Jonathan: Standing outside the ICU room, willing Rehaan to survive through this, I fell into a reverie of thoughts wishing there was a time machine to alter the turn of events.I remembered everything about that night way too clearly - the late night party; Theresa, high on weed, laughing and dancing with other guys; Rehaan jealousy smitten walking out of the house, drunk and doped while I tried hard to keep my senses clear. Everything happened within the span of seconds as I rushed behind to stop him. Rehaan, speeding away in his bike, failed to see a car coming from the opposite side and hit straight onto it. The image of him lying on a pool of blood is a memory that still haunts me. Theresa: My ears rang with the chant of prayers. My eyes took in an air of despair. The scent of agarbattis hit me with such force that I found it hard to breathe. My lips tasted the saltiness of tears that had started streaming down. Although the house was filled with people, I couldnt feel anyone around me. While the
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