Writing

Amogha Reddappa
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A step forward
Those eyes always mesmerized her. That smile always exhilarated her senses.
While the rest of the day passed in a fast blur, those few moments in the evenings seemed to
last a lifetime. She couldn’t remember when the wide, sparkling hazel eyes first caught her
attention. The combination of the mop of curly black hair, the thin eyebrows, the deep set
eyes, the round face, and the chubby cheeks along with the dimples that formed had her
hooked .She looked forward every single day to be lost in awe. Those moments added
meaning to her life.
Her desire was simple. To yield to the fascination, be able to clasp his hands, to feel his
fingers around hers. Just once. But, simple desires were out of bounds for her. She did not
understand why but she knew she had to comply with the rules and be satisfied with just
watching him, which itself was a great joy.
Evenings were cold and his smiles rare. Yet, she waited patiently, without missing a single
flutter, just for the warmth that she could garner when those pink lips curved slightly
upwards and the otherwise flawless surface of his cheeks was adorned with the dimples.
**
Amogha Reddappa
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As an orange maple leaf dancing along the wind, came spiralling down at her, she held her
hand to catch it. At the same moment out the corner of her eyes she saw his stretched out
hands across the narrow path. The leaf settled down between them. She could see his
longing eyes as she picked it up.
She felt herself giving away to the alluring image of the hand stretched out towards her.
Gathering her guts, she took a step forward only to be reminded by the warnings. Torn
between the two, she wistfully looked at him; his smile did the trick. Looking around to
make sure nobody noticed, she took slow and steady steps forward. As she reached closer,
she felt her breathing get heavy. What if he screamed at her ugliness like others! What if he
stopped smiling! No, she couldn’t let that happen. She contemplated throwing the leaf at
him and running back when he bent precariously, with outstretched hand.
The last few strides she that took were mostly the fastest and the bravest she had ever taken.
Her timely intervention prevented him from toppling down to a fatal fall. He smiled
encouragingly. She took a step back from him, and offered the leaf to him on her
outstretched palm. She waited for him to pick it up. What happened next astonished her;
she wanted to scream with joy as his fingers enveloped her index finger. She stared at his
sweet smile in awe. She was delighted to know that he wanted to hold her hand, just like
she had always wished. Maybe he was the god’s angel that her mum spoke of.
Amogha Reddappa
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As she stared into his eyes, and he back into hers, she felt her knees buckle and a warm
wave wash over her. The moment seemed to last forever, as though each grain of sand
trickled by extra slowly, in the sand clock of time just to let her have the beauty of the
moment extended.
A tear trickled down on her cheek. She knew the moment had to end. As she stepped back,
he clung to her forward leaning over precariously again.
**
"How dare you?!" a voice screamed out and she found herself on the ground. A loud
commotion had issued but all she could remember was the feeling of exhilarated elation a
few moments ago.
**
She gave a look of longing out of the window every evening. Her outings to the park had
stopped.
She didn’t know that the change was because of a letter that had arrived at her doorstep
days ago which read


Amogha Reddappa
Page | 4

Respected Sir,
In eve of the events that occurred last evening, with two year old Kevin
almost being pushed by your daughter to a gruesome fall of the bench which
luckily was avoided thanks to the timely intervention of Mrs. Smith, we
have come to a definite conclusion. We wish to revoke the permissions we
had earlier issued. Your fifteen year old austic daughter, Arianna will not
be allowed to enter the children’s park area hereon owing to the danger
she poses. Any violation of the same will result in your evacuation from
the society. Considering the fact that you are behind your down payment
already, we sincerely request you to keep your daughter away from the other
children.

Thanking you,
The president,
The society welfare committee
**
Arianna had taken her step forward while the others are yet to step forward from their
hapless circles. As for Arianna, she lives her life contentedly reminiscing her magical
moment when she held Kevin’s hand.
****