A Sweet Sacrifice

I suppose my very first actual attempt at fiction. Re-reading it, it sounds awful to me. But I do consider it my very first.
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Rahel sat behind his desk, sneaking glances at her. Her vibrant smile and shrill laughter made his heart flutter. He did not speak to her often, for he didn't have the courage to. He did, however, like her very much. Whenever he did gather the courage to initiate conversation, she was always cordial and polite but the words exchanged would be few. If she ever spoke to him, his knees would shake and occasionally, he would stutter.

Misha had always been popular. She wasn't very pretty but she was only 13 and beauty would grow on her in time. Rahel wasn't the only one who knew that. Many boys felt a passion for her. So far, only one had acted on it.

Vivek belonged to a wealthy family. There could be no other explanation to his handsome allowance. He was frequently at the canteen, a privilege few could afford at that age, and was often seen treating Misha, consequently buying time with her.

Rahel could not afford such frivolities on his allowance. He came from a modest household and was prudent with his expenditures. In his heart, he disliked Vivek, but not too much for he was not one to hold grudges.

The next day was 'Chocolate Day'. Some of the girls had been talking eagerly about it. Rahel had not heard of it before. Seemingly, people exchanged chocolates on that day as a gesture. A gesture of what? He did not know. Possibly affection. Probably friendship.

The thought made his mind wander. Soon, he found himself torn between his mind and his heart. H heart won.

That evening, he crept out of his house and walked to the nearest store. He felt his heart beatng loudly but did not know why. His every step was burdened with apprehension.

In the store, he glanced inside his wallet. A twenty rupee note was all that it had. It was a lot at that time for a person his age. He figured that if he bought a chocolate for less than fifteen, he'd have at least five rupees to himself.

He peered into the glass box with the chocolates on display. "How much?" he asked the shopkeeper, pointing at one that seemed neither too large, nor too small. Just right. "Twenty" was the response.

His heart fell. He contemplated. Then Misha came to his mind. He bought it. As he walked back, though the apprehension had not left him, he was filled with anticipation for the day to come.

The next day saw the tittering girls exchanging chocolates between themselves, though mostly candy. Rahel felt happy with the bar of chocolate in his pocket. He waited till he felt the moment was right. Soon, he knew the moment wouldn't come. After much deliberation, he rose and walked towards Misha. As always, his legs were weak and unsteady.

She sat behind her desk, munching at her candy while she gossiped with her friend.
He drew up to her. "Misha...." he called, in almost a whisper. She paused and turned around to face him. He reached into his pocket. As his fingers closed around the bar, Vivek appeared from behind.
"Happy Chocolate Day, Misha," he exclaimed while placing a box of Ferrero Rochers, an imported brand of expensive chocolate, in her hands.
"Oh my god!" cried Misha. "Thank you so much Vivek! I love these!" Her face was filled with delight as she beheld the treasure. "Oh Vivek, you spoil me! This is so unexpected!"
Suddenly aware of Rahel's presence amidst them, she turned to him, still smiling, "You called me, Rahel?"
"Oh no, it was nothing really," whispered Rahel, mostly to himself.
Misha looked at him, her smile giving way to slight bewilderment, as he stepped back and walked away.

A Tale Of Two Blondies

I was rather honoured to be allowed into a delegation of the Literary And Debating Club of our college, representing it at the recently concluded Cultural Festival of IIM, Bangalore (Unmaad) in which I took part in a rather innovative competition called "Spin Doctor."
The contest involved Creative Writing and Extempore and required a vivid imagination.

While a member of our delegation won the first position (Great going, VJ), I tied with a member of the host college for the second position.

The prelims of the contest required us to string together four images provided by them and weave up a story. It had to be as insane as possible, with no room for common sense. In their words, "humour would be appreciated."

The story was to be limited to one A4 sized sheet, the hardest restriction.

The four images were..

1. A Britney Spears promo picture.
2. The Leaning Tower Of Pisa.
3. A Penguin
4. A Hot Air Balloon.

I thus present my entry, which I call "A Tale Of Two Blondies"
Please do not seek any logic. Nor reason.
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It was a rather cloudy day. As the rain lashed the windows, Britney sat in her living room consulting an outdated weather forecast. Having decided to make most of the "clear, sunny day", she committed to embarking upon a "Tour de la France."

Britney had made a New Year Resolution on the first day of that month to become self sufficient. That the month was August did not bother her.
Thus she chalked out her itinerary (with chalk), purchased her own air-tickets, flew more than half way across the world (US to Europe, trans-pacific) and completed her journey.

"The Eiffel Tower! How romantic," she gasped as she looked upon the Leaning Tower Of Pisa.
Unable to converse with the elevator operator in spite of aid from her "French To English" Dictionary, she climbed the steps to the top floor for a scenic view only to find another blonde leaning out the window.

"I wish you wouldn't lean so," spat an impatient Britney. "Your weight is making the tower tilt."

"Oh, I must find a way to escape this imprisonment," cried the blonde, Rapunzel. "My prince charming is waiting for me. And that Old-Hag-Of-A-Witch could return any moment. Her watch isn't working, you see. I'm afraid my hair isn't long enough to let me down any more. I suppose I should've avoided a hair-cut."

"Why did you get a hair-cut?"

"Well, I had a free coupon. And the bob is in fashion again."

"How foolish could you possibly get?" exclaimed Britney, disregarding her own existence.

"Hark! How dare you call me foolish!" thundered Rapunzel. "I shall turn you into a frog!"

"Ha!" Ha-ed Britney. "You couldn't if you wanted to. You aren't the Old-Hag-Of-A-Witch."

"Well," chirped an annoyed Rapunzel, "it would interest you to know that I am, in fact, training under the Old-Ugly-Hag-Of-A-Witch."

As Britney 'Uh Oh'-ed, Rapuzel brandished out her new wand (the broken end of a broomstick that the Old-Hag-Of-A-Witch had (ab)used upon Rapunzel on having learnt that she would have to take to climbing steps.) and promptly turned Britney into a penguin. Clearly, she hadn't been following her lessons well.

Britney didn't mind too much for the void in her head was now gone, possibly because her brain now fit well into her head.

Meanwhile, in an unfortunate turn of events, the Bush administration had issued recent orders for extermination of all penguins on the planet.
"I firmly believe that penguins are up to no good," Bush had lashed from atop a Banana tree. "They may look harmless.... Do not be fooled! Look at their faces! Is it not obvious that they are conspiring to do away with the human race? Our lives are under threat! They mustn't live!"
As an alleged innovation, he decided to have them mounted on hot-air balloons and buried into the ground.

And thus, the planet was freed of all penguins as well as Britney.

Rapunzel continued to lean out the window until one day, the tower gave way and collapsed, granting her an escape. As she looked up at heaven and thanked the holy lord, she was , unexpectedly, attacked and devoured by a lost hyena.

The End.
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The second round (finals) was all the more exciting. But that's another story.

60 Word Saga : Let It Be

Having been tagged by Nishant to create my own, I present my 60 word saga on the prescribed topic (Let It Be).


Let It Be
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CRASH!

Johnny stiffened as he feared he had broken one of Aunt Helen's antiques.

Aunt Helen came rushing through the door with a look of horror on her face, having feared the worst.

Noting the broken antiquity on the floor, she sedated and to Johnny's relief, said "Don't worry about it. It was my Mother-In-Law's. Let it Be."

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Note :- I can't figure out if M-I-L is to be considered one word or three. I've taken it as 3 but MS Word considers it one. Thus, if MS Word's judgement prevails over mine, then "Noting" may suitably be replaced by "Taking note of".

Thank you!

I tag anyone who must be reading this and hasn't written his/her own 60 word saga.