Burdens..

This was it. Limits had been crossed. It was too much for her to bear. The day had been heavier than usual. As she sat on her bed grasping the blade tightly, flashbacks returned to her mind...

"You might as well stop dreaming. You aren't ever getting anywhere with an attitude like that. You think the world's that easy???"

"You really are a big mistake!"

"Don't look at me with those big doe eyes. I'm not your father, they don't melt me."

"Since you're not going to do anything worthwhile in life, why don't you try helping with the chores?? Might as well learn something you'll be doing for the rest of your life."

"What makes you think I'll let you out of the house wearing those shorts?? No! I don't care everyone does. No girl  in this house can!"

Her mother screamed and screeched and squalled and yelled all day. She would just hang her head low, blink back the tears and retire to her room. Daddy was never there. He was too busy earning truckloads to be worrying about the drama back home. Bhaiya never bothered. "Chill dude. You'll be alright." All the cold shouldering had given her a frostbite.

All the *friends-cum-bitches* back at school, gave her a hard time... "You really need to make an effort sweetie. Perhaps a new haircut. And a little toning here and there. And maybe the stupid bangs should go. Oh yeah. Should totally go," in a tone sooo sickeningly sweet, it made her feel diabetic, at just 16.

"I never had to remind your brother to hand in your homework. Why can't you be more like him?"

"I can't believe you're his sister. You are so lazy!" Teachers stamped and trampled upon her self-respect like enraged wild horses. They wore her out worse than the tyres on her dad's BMW.

She would just hang her head low, blink back the tears and shut the fuck up.

But today? Today, it had been heaped onto her like a weekload of laundry. Mother, brother, teachers, friends, hurting every inch of her soul. She returned home, stormed off to her room and pulled out her old blade.

And here sat she. Blade in one hand, a cheesy suicide note to the haters in the other. Occasionaly, she would wipe off a traitor tear or two with the back of her hand. The much-criticised bangs had been pulled away from her face into a loose ponytail.

With a trembling hand, she brought the tip of the gleaming metal close to her left wrist. Not wiping away the tears this time, she had just started to dig in deeper, ready to embrace the pain and the darkness, when her phone beeped.

"Hey baby ! Where r u ? Sry im late . Cudnt text . Was wid dad . Reply ASAP . Missed u d whole day .

P. S. I love you"

She stared at the screen for a second as she felt her heart beat in her throat. Quietly keeping the blade down, she picked up the phone to reply. Her head hung low, her eyes blinked back the tears and a smile played on her lips…