Riya

The sweat from her forehead dripped into her eyes and Riya woke up with a jitter. She fumbled for the bottle of water by the bed and took few sips of it, and then she looked at the clock by her bed. 2:00 AM the clock's neon lettering screamed at her, a scorn appeared on her face, "when will this fucking day end" she muttered to herself as she went back to bed again and continued to stare at the white walled ceiling, as if hoping for a miracle or at least hand to lift her off from this misery.

Today is the last exam of her third semester, the last five were miserable. Handied in empty sheets. The life drained out of her, the walk lost its spring, the eyes lost thier gleen, the smile lost its crispness. "Nothing, I am fine" is the only sentence she spoke.

The old bed, which the British left behind, creaked as she tossed hoping to see a Miracle on her left, as if mocking her. The constant creak of springs sounded as if they were singing an ode to her defeat and constantly asking her to give up. She tossed again and they squeaked again. Failure hurts.

Riya Patwardhan, still remembers the day she walked into the college couple of years ago and it seems so long ago. She closed her eyes and the happy Riya flashed before eyes, the dry eyes eyes managed to scoop up few tears from the depths a few tear rolled down her cheeks. She didn't attempt to wipe them away, crying is a luxury for her and she enjoys the scarce tear as a desert enjoys its summer rain.

Her parents were so proud of her, only daughter of two teachers from Raipur. A over achiever since her childhood, she sang rhymes when other kids were fumbling at the alphabets, she did Algebra when other kids were reciting the numbers. She always stood first in her class, she got into the best engineering school.

The first year was a breeze, everyone and everything was under her spell, the profs, the students, the hallways and the flowers. She scored straight A's. Good grades, big dreams, bright smiles, sunny days and tearful farewells; she left home for her summer vacation.

Everything changed the day she got down at the excuse for a railway station at Raipur. The familiar face of her dad looking eagerly for her was absent, "Where are you papa?" she almost muttered impatiently as she got down. A hand touched her shoulder, and when she turned she saw her mum, there is something different about her, something sad, something very sad. "Ma, where is papa?" asked Riya, she never got an answer.

"He has a new home, Riya, he lives with an other woman now" her mum said while travelling in the rickety Auto. The Auto bounced from a huge pothole and that made Riya severely sick. She could feel the whole world around her being sucked into a big whirlpool. The world as she knew collapsed there in the main street of Raipur.

The auto stopped at the only traffic light in Raipur, a motorcycle came and stopped by her auto. Riya recognised the shoes, she lifted her head up, and saw her dad with an other woman with her arm wound around his waist. Riya fainted, and the auto turned towards the Government hospital.