Friday, March 02, 2007

Locked In the Attic

There's a little girl up there. She's very little, and she's very scared.

The Attic isn't too big. Its dark and dusty, and she doesn't like it in there, though she's never been beyond it. There are many trunks of different sizes and she's stored many memories there, locked them up. But now, she can't remember where she put the keys. They're probably in other trunks, but she's lost their keys too.

She had a friend who lived on the other side of the cobwebs. She was bigger, stronger and she was very angry. Atleast, most of the time, she was. She had no trunks, no keys, no boxes and no memories to store, either.

Once, a five year long discussion took place in the Attic. The older girl and littler girl sat down on either sides of the cobwebs and decided to bartar their belongings.

"I have many memories." The little girl said.
"I've none." The older one said.

"I can share one with you, but you'll have to look after the keys then", the little one added.

The older girl smiled for the first time in eons. She was thrown a bunch of glittering keys in iron and malted gold. The little girl pointed towards an old large trunk and the older girl watched as it dragged itself to her side of the Attic.

She ran her fingers around the trunk, and pushed the keys in. She heard a click when the keys turned and wide eyed, she opened the trunk. She peeked in and excitement poured a drop of bravery in her chest, and when she brimmed with the courage only curiosity brings, she climbed in.


For a long time, the little girl looked for her friend, but never found her. She called out in pain, she cried and she wept. She couldn't find her friend and she didn't have the keys to her memories either.

She's too little to crawl across the other side of the cobwebs, the curtain between her growing older and her infancy. She knows her memories are in there, and her future's drowned in them. She wishes she could save her friend, but she is, only, the litle one. There's not much her mind allows her to do.


So there's a lonely little girl in the Attic upstairs, sitting amidst many locked memories. She knows the keys are right behind her, and she can remember whatever she wants to. But its too dark in the other side of the Attic, where her friend disappeared some lifetimes ago.

I hope one day she'll have the courage to remember. And I hope when she does, she's still a little girl.