She woke up to the persistent screech of the alarm. It was 5.30 a.m. She could see slivers of light seeping in through the curtain weave. If only she could sleep a wee bit more. But Princesses can’t. They have to jump up out of bed and deal with the business of living.
She reached the office at 9 and hurried to her cubicle. A long day lay ahead. Three meetings and six files later she looked out of the window. The dark cityscape was dotted with neon lights. She sighed. She was exhausted to the core.
On her way back home , she stopped to pick up some medicines. Ma was unwell and Dad was fretting . He always did when Ma fell ill. He was scared to lose her. So was she. She was afraid of losing them both. If she had siblings, she wouldn’t have felt half as scared.
Ma was asleep when she reached home. Dad was in his armchair, watching the news. The maid had left for the day. She quickly had her dinner, attended to the night’s chores, checked on her mother and then crawled into bed. She sighed. Life wasn’t a fairy tale. It was scary and demanding and often took the hell out of one. But she had by now, realised that the secret was to keep going, to take each day as it came and to never lose hope. She set the alarm for the next day and let herself drift into a dreamless sleep.
Image : pavel szvmanski ( Unsplash )
