Chapter #01

Empty cans and Silent words

Tug of Emotion or You and Me

Stars were shining at their peak, giving an ethereal look with an unusual silence making the sky comfortable yet uncomfortable. But among the stars, she was the brightest one. She was unparalleled in her beauty. Shining eyes, deep eyelids and dimples on her cheeks as she smiles a little, make her beautiful under the dim moonlight. Looking up at the sky, she turned her head a little which exposed the butterfly tattoo on the left side of her neck in the dim light, which made her even look more beautiful. With the earphones on, lying on the only sofa placed on the balcony she was writing her diary glancing at the same time, whispering almost inaudible

“From thousands of words to struggling to form a word. Is this what growing up feels like? If Yes, then I hope I would have stayed a teenager. Star, can you hear me still?”

Stars; telling them all her stories made her alive and relieved. To her, it sounds like they can hear her and can feel her.

To her, Stars were angels always.

She found her best friends in the stars. Strange, right? She was always this strange the reason she thought she was never supposed to be part of the world. She remember once her class fellow complimented, which wasn’t a compliment but she took as this way.

“Your parents have given you the right name; it suits your unearthly personality.”

“Eros?”

And here we go. She looked back with an annoyed expression, her brows meeting and her lips turning into a pout. “You have always ruined my moment” She almost whined.

“And I have no choice. You know tomorrow you have your interview and it’s better if you take a proper nap.” Her sister almost screamed from the other side of the glass door with a raised brow giving her an intense look. She shares the same features as her but is more prominent, which makes her more beautiful than Eros. “You now better go to your room.”

Her sister's scolding is something that doesn’t offend her though she is always an easy-to-get irritated person but when it’s her sister, her heart bursts with thousands of soft emotions because she knows that all this stern face is her love and nothing more or less. It might be because she is her Mother and no child can take their mother’s scolding to heart. It’s always filled with warmth and love.

Though her sister is older still she calls her Mia, with her name. Mia is loving, and caring but cold all the time and her siblings don’t mind her being tough and cold since she has to go through a lot at a very early age. Mia is in her late twenties and deserves to enjoy her life as a normal girl having a boyfriend and going on dates every Sunday but all she has to do is to take care of her 3 younger siblings whom their parents left when she was just 16. She is a perfect mother to them who never lets them neither skip any meal nor allows them to stay awake late at night. Eros loves the way she takes care of her, she always makes her feel special and that’s what Eros falls for. She always falls for love; something she has always craved for. That might be that’s another reason why she has never complained about anything related to Mia. Well, there is nothing actually that she has to complain about except “ruining her precious moments with her friends, the stars.”

“As you say, Your Majesty.” She stood up bowing, to which Mia gave her signature annoyed look, looking damn cute with her doe eyes and, oh yes, her cute doe eyes are also one of those things you can fall for.

Grabbing her headphones, diary and laptop, Eros moved towards her room, giving Mia a satisfied smile, that reached her eyes and her eyes twinkle. ‘She’s super blessed to have her as a sister.’

It's been 2 months since Eros moved to Canada from LA with her family, her sister and two younger brothers and to run a family right now she needs a job. She wants Mia to enjoy the teenage life she never gets to, as now she has grown up enough to take charge of many things she couldn’t do back then.

‘I hate getting up early, well who doesn’t, but I hate it the most to the point that I want to cry sometimes. Can’t I live the life of a princess who wakes up with her own choice and lives a comfortable life without worrying about how to make ends meet to survive in the world?’

“C’mon Eros sit tight in your place. Even the Princess who doesn’t have to do anything has a lot of worries to deal with.”

She mentally slapped herself. Right now, she doesn’t have time to sit and imagine, for now, her focus is on getting a job so her younger brothers can receive their education in a better way and her sister can get some rest. Mia worked hard so Eros could get a good education. Eros studied ARTs as her Major and received a master’s degree a month back. She lived not luxurious but a comfortable life, and now is time for her to divide her sister’s burden and for that purpose, she has been looking for an art teacher vacancy. She can think about other choices but what other could suit a boring being like her who still lives in the 90s with Arts and classical style so she chose to be a teacher over any other fascinating offer. She loves to paint in colorless canvas giving them a complete and new life, playing with colors gives her a different kind of pleasure. It helps her discover her hidden desire to be among the famous artists of the world. She can feel how colors talk back to her and how every color makes her feel a certain way

She tried her best to sleep but all she did was crush her bed sheets and get entangled with a never-ending saga of her thoughts. Years and still she cannot deal with her messed up sleeping routine and late night overthinking. After a struggle of what seemed an hour she got up, grabbed her diary while folding her legs and sat in a very comfortable posture, she decided to write what she was supposed to write but Mia came in between.

Diary Entry: Dated: 11-4-2022 Random

Loving you from far away

Splitting the world almost every day,

Isn’t it a beautiful lie?

You and me together in the afterlife,

In the world of stars, if that exist

I want to see you in real,

In the parallel world of imagination

Only if I’m clear about my dimensions

I’m not sure if I’ll come to see you

And are you being there is true?

She groaned realizing what she was writing and where her pen was taking her to. Isn’t a year more than enough to come back to life and to get someone out of their thoughts? A sudden cold wave of memories hit her and she stopped herself from screaming with frustration. Will she ever be free from these memories? Are these just memories or are feelings still here? Does a wish for him to come to make nostalgic mornings gloomy and to turn nights to be the moments where they wear the veil of love, still here? Does a hope of him appearing from somewhere with his big rectangular smile and with his uneven eyelids shining with a spark of innocence, still here?

“She was sitting under the tree on the wooden bench on a cold evening, so many things going on in her head but then she heard a voice, taking her out of trance. “What a great co-incidence”. He adjusted himself on a bench at a fair distance. His caramel skin shone under the rays of the setting sun. Taking a sip from his coffee he looked at her. He had his usual bright smile. The smile that made her feel so many emotions; happiness and sadness, excitement and regrets at the same time.”

A tear escaped from her eye falling on the page, breaking the trance. She sighed closing her diary and lying back on the bed. “I’m not going to think about him. Not at all", patting her head she forced herself to sleep.

She woke up the next morning with a heavy head and nostalgic feels- another usual thing for her since it took longer than expected for her to sleep. After choosing a casual yet formal dress to wear, she went to the bathroom for her morning routine.

“Aren’t you going to have your breakfast?” Mia called her from the kitchen cabin to which Eros only shook her head and went outside the house. “What am I supposed to do with this girl?” Mia sighed as she saw her leaving the house.

“Best of luck with your interview” she screamed from the window as soon as Eros passed over it. The window to the kitchen was on the roadside, so if they left the house and moved to the right side direction they’d pass on to their kitchen window. Eros passed a smile, and with that, Mia got back to her work.

“You are going to do this, Eros! There is nothing in the world that you can’t do. You have proved yourself so many times, and this time again, you will rock. Yes, girl, go!”

Does she need someone to tell her that she is amazing? No, she is more than enough for herself. There were times she looked for someone but not anymore. This is one of the saddest parts of growing up. Once you start growing, you start having disappointments and disappointments, which leads you to a self control person. She closed her eyes, relaxing her muscles and inhaled a deep breath, mustering up as much courage as she could. She murmured “Best of luck” to herself for the last time as she took a seat among the candidates.

She was confident about getting a job here as she had such an excellent mark sheet. She did exactly a good job in her interview as well. As she moved out of the balcony of the college, a voice stopped her midway. At first, she thought it was her illusion but when she heard it again she froze. It was a very familiar voice. The voice that she once felt comfortable to hear. But right now, that was the voice she least expected or least wanted to hear at the moment

“Eros?”

Epilogue:

She was running in the dark tunnel, breathing heavily, sweat beads forming on her forehead. Her hair messed up, and tears fell on her cheek one after the other. She kept running until she reached the other end of the tunnel. She sighed as she saw the moonlight stopping in her tracks. She now took slow steps moving out of the tunnel completely, and what she saw in front of her left her in awe. She gasped, and her eyes sparkled. On the other side of the tunnel was the river. The water was shining as the moonlight fell on it, moon and stars shadowing over it. It was magical and peaceful, believable yet unbelievable at the same time.

She almost threw her body on the grass close to the water and closed her eyes. She waited for her breaths to become even and her tears to fall and then disappear for once and all. She let the peaceful night and magical views engulf her.