Lexicon

The Scotts were known to be punctual animals. Dinner was served at sharp 8:03 p.m. daily, for years. Except for today. It isn’t until the clock strikes eleven that the main door’s hinges creek with the tired Scotts coming in. “Oh boy! How my feet hurt after standing for hours” winces Mrs Scott. “Didn’t mean for you to have to work three jobs. I know it’s gonna be tough for you…and it’ll get worse eventually. But the times are such tha-” “I get it, honey” says Mrs Scott reassuringly, to which Mr Scott gives her one of his sad yet appreciative smiles. Mr Scott runs four businesses on his own, three of which are doing miserably poor. Not that he could help it. Recession issues, you see. Lisa, the only daughter of the Scotts, starts crying before dropping the phone from her ear onto the floor. Startled by the sound, Mrs Scott springs into motion all of a sudden. “Sweetie! What’s wrong? You okay? Are you hurt? Oh my God are you crying?” “Drama teacher called to say I can’t play Fairy’s role...

"What is it like to alternate between masks between every personality ever known each, but your very own?" The actor smirked, pity evident in his eyes said he to me "At least I am well aware  Of how what I wear are only mere masks that can be removed after all my tasks Or how I can play several roles How I get to choose What could be those At least I'm not Stuck with the thought Of "What have I become?" Or "Who am I?"  For if I so desire the mask's gone, in the wink of an eye..."

      You half-heartedly scroll through your feed when your neighbour's loud rock songs break your chain of thought. "Keep it low!" you shout through your window, while shifting neither your gaze nor your position.  And...you keep scrolling.    You continue laughing at  memes until they fail to even slightly turn the corners of your lips. When boredom starts hitting unusually hard, you begin working overtime to keep yourself busy. As you unlock your laptop to Microsoft Teams, the group chat makes you feel sick. Why are all the chosen idiots dumped in your teams ALL-THE-TIME?   You cannot stress enough on how dumb they are. Their lack of knowledge and common sense gets you second guessing your decision of having agreed to work with them. Without any hesitation, you lash out at them on the group chat. Not that it was necessary but you had the authority so why not?  Just as you were looking at your sharp replies proudly, a flood of notifications...

    "Hi, I am Raksha Trivedi from the editorial team of the most popular magazine in India- Section 302. I am recruited for proofreading. Today is my first day at work, and I feel honoured to share the table with you all." My brief introduction was followed by whispered greetings from my colleagues. I returned them, smiled, and walked towards the meeting hall exit. Before I could enter my cabin, a seemingly-uptight woman made me pause. She asked for all of my crucial documents, including my passport. I had them ready in a folder. As I extended my hand for her to have a look at the contents of the folder, she grabbed it instead! "Procedures demand these documents to be in the lockers with us. Can't help it," she said. It wasn't particularly comforting to have my passport locked up at someplace I don't have access to while my visa was on the verge of expiring. But I didn't have much say here. I was well aware of the fact that Section 302 had strict and...

1. Maybe  I stared at the dead rabbit on my lawn for a bit too long. It had fresh deep cuts shaped by sharp, savage teeth. Blood poured over to the cement floor and reached below my shell-shocked body.  In my reflection in the blood, I could see it again. Unshakable, undeniable, tangible regret looking at me in the eye.  Maybe if I had reached a few minutes early, I would have been able to save a life. Maybe if I hadn’t just spent an hour on the bed, crying, I’d have reached downstairs in time.  Maybe. My life has been a lot about ‘maybe’s lately. Maybe if I visited my mother on her birthday for once, she might think of me as a  lesser awful daughter. Maybe if I left early for work, I wouldn’t break traffic rules. Maybe if I wasn’t in the wrong place at the wrong time… It just went on and on.  I cycled through my lawn, making sure I didn’t crush the rabbit. I then went past the neighbourhood, towards the city side.  The sun was like a dab of blush on t...

  2.Did you know? “How did it go?” Cam asked.  “Not an ideal first day of college” “Oh” I gave him a sad smile. He returned it too. In that moment, we said everything without words. Everything about how he was sorry my classmates found out, about how I knew I would never really be accepted in society, about how it felt to be illegitimate. Everything. It’s fascinating just how much a sad smile can hide.  As we were crossing the footpath beside one of those beautiful ponds in the city, he asked me pointing at the water lilies “Lara? Did you know water lilies lasted for only three to five days?”  Cam was sad. I knew it since he would throw random facts my way whenever he was. His way of coping up, I assumed.  “No, I didn’t know that.” ~~~ “Hello?!” yelled the young man in the floral shop in the North-west valley.  He seemed to have been calling my name for a while now but I didn’t realise.  “Yeah, sorry. Can I have a bouquet of blue water lilies please?”...

3.Water lilies It’s 3 a.m. and I’ve given up on trying to sleep. Because everytime I do, I hear my screams. Helpless and hopeless. Desperate cries of help that will always ring in my ears.  The whole night is basically about me shifting sides and my bed creaking beneath me every time I do.  “Cam?” I asked, to the darkness in my room.  “I miss you. I miss how you made me feel like I wasn’t a bad person. Like I had the potential to improve. And that I deserved to be treated better than being tagged as ‘illegitimate’. I miss your smile, your jokes, your presence. Everything you said, everything you didn’t. I miss you everyday, every moment. And above all…I miss us. I miss what we were together. Our talks, our time spent together. Our life after we met each other”  I didn’t hear a response. But I’m not quite sure what else I was expecting.  At around 7 a.m. I got up to leave. As I cycled towards my destination, I recalled every little detail of that day crystal clea...

  Untold A raindrop once said,  while sharing his pain  "I have been through much more  than just going down the drain  I have been wasted, I have been saved I have been soaked, I will be again Though I've seen so much  The thing that left a scar was watching a cloud suffer by each drop forced in, so far but it didn't complain, it didn't cry patiently waited to silently die-" he stopped midsentence as his voice just died  After which teardrop cried, "I get where you come from these struggles are no joke though we seem to be mere drops, we're proof of lost hope"  Raindrop nodded in pain then stood completely still as he noticed blood drop's 'sigh's and the tragedy hidden beneath his  eyes just the extent of what they had to hold  convinced him people have stories far worse  and untold...

It was a deserted road and Mr. Arora was more than sure not to meet a company by the break of dawn, which was still about some nine hours away.  He walked breathlessly towards the only open tea shop, with a heavy bagpack and two huge suitcases. He walked for what seemed like forever but as crazy as it sounds, the closer he went toward the shop the further it appeared to be.  He finally stopped still to breathe. As he did, he looked at the view ahead of him and thought of the striking contrast between what he saw and where he came from.  The sky was lined with shimmering stars, not street lights. The air was fresh not polluted. The only sounds audible were those of crickets, not vehicle horns. But all the above observations were least significant to Mr. Arora.  His way of looking at the contrast was analyzing the industrial development. It was negligible where he was right now and considerably good from where he had come. It would be safe to say, majority of credit fo...

He stood behind the threshold  between his new life and old Old, was bit dull but just fine and new, was all bright sunshine  He paused midway, conflicted and sad for leaving behind every experience he had  every thought which in his mind once crossed would now just become a lesson lost God read his mind, understood his concern and blessed the man with a bag for every lesson he had to learn The man was elated, he finished packing his experience  but as he moved towards the door he started missing convenience So he stuffed in his bag  his entire comfort zone  then left for the door but saw his habits sitting alone Unable to resist he packed them too and took his step towards everything new With h is bag on his back, the weight was weighing him down as before his new life had a chance to unfold he collapsed by the weight without ever reaching the threshold...

      "Parul!"   "PARUL FAST!!"   "FOR GOD'S SAKE PARUL, RUN FASTER!!!"   It takes everything in Aditi and Armita to not jump out of the moving bus, lift me to my knees and cart me back to the bus. They have to understand it's also taking everything in me to not faint right on the spot.  I'm panting so hard my lungs hurt. My whole body is aching with pain I never knew I had it in me to bear. Regardless, I find myself running at my best speed towards a bus.  And surprise! I make it to the bus.      The moment I get in, Armita and Aditi pull me into a tight hug like they almost thought they'd lost me forever. I would be lying if I said I didn't think the same too.  I inhale a deep breath and close my eyes chanting 'it's over, it's fine now, I'm fine and so are my friends. God, thank you' on loop.  No amount of I'm fines could ever make me believe that though. ' Cause I'm SO not fine.   About an hour ago m...

 

  When other kids my age feared being forced to drink milk...I feared death.  I was different, and that fact never failed to make its existence obvious. While I was convinced my life was a curse, one day it so happened... On an especially crowded street with more soldiers than civilians, I tried to carry my twelve year old self without having people shove me to the ground. They successfully did though, they always did. At that point, it did not even feel like anything beyond an added dirt stain on my dress.  I got up, to see a hand circle my mouth before I could even think of reacting. Then another hand swiftly lifted me to my feet. I had already been panting but with my nose covered, I craved air.  After about a blurry minute I found myself in a dimly lit kitchen. The boy who lifted me a while ago insisted I do the dishes. I protested at first, cried even but one glare of his was enough to shut me up. As I did what I was told out of fright, I heard voices of many me...

[This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses  schools, events and incidents are the products of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.]   “ Ignorance killed the cat;          curiosity was framed!"                                                                       - Quote by C. J. Cherryh Four years ago Electromagnetism is the physical interaction among electric charges, magnetic moments, and the electromagnetic field. The electromagnetic field can be static, slowly changing, or form waves. Electromagneti...

   

  On one of the parapet walls on the rooftop of a deserted skyscraper stood a middle aged man. He seemed to have one of those faces with a permanent frown, huge dark circles and highly wrinkled cheeks.  He held a clear green bottle of beer in one hand and an empty one in another.    I had an urge to immediately rush his way but I had known better.  I knew for a reason that, that parapet wall gave me an electrifying sort of thrill, as though challenging me to jump. What was disturbing though, was how although I hate to admit, I liked the feeling. I feared liking the feeling, craving it and giving in to it too.   But people like this man kept coming here on this infamous rooftop occasionally, luring me towards those awaiting walls.   Within the wink of an eye, his right leg was suspended beyond the parapet over nothingness...unless of course, you count the ground fifty floors below.    This time I couldn't help but sprint towards him. I regrett...

                                               Nobody would ever believe me on this. Not my friends, not my own family, not even you.   Every single night at around 10:00 p.m. I would hear the sounds of the piano. It was feeble at first, then subtle and soft, next it was audible and gradually it reached a stage where it became unbearably deafening. I had been reporting the same in the society office for months but no actions had been taken. I even tried to ask other neighbours for help, but in vain. One day I decided that I had had enough. My board exams were approaching and the tension in the air was already enough. The disturbing music only made things worse. Determined, I got up to leave and marched up the stairs, stomping angrily at the poor floor. It didn’...

That Night One of my first and oldest memories dates back to when I was a preteen. It gives me full-body shivers to think about even today, as an adult.  It was a no moon night. As fate would have it, the entire town had a power outage. This particular night also happened to be the first time my parents let me live home alone while they were out for work. I remember shivering intensely. Tears rolled down my cheeks when I couldn’t even get myself to muster enough courage to grab a jacket. I had my head buried in my hands when my eyes caught the sight of something unfamiliar. At first, it was hard to know if it was just my sleep deprived self making up visions or something really was up.  As I inched closer to the broken wall, I figured it wasn’t broken after all.  It didn’t exist anymore! Kid you not, by this time I had lost control over my limbs. They simply felt like a few lifeless grams of flesh.  And I had a fair reason to feel that way! It’s not everyday you see...