Bhaiya

Our village was earlier known as the city of misery, everyone was the most miserable person. 
No one knows when this misery had dawned upon us but all know when it was removed and thrown far-far-away.
It was a bright, summers morning when he came in his white caravan, the children were walking back home from school, the women were drying their clothes mumbling about all the work they have to do in a day, the men were reading their daily newspapers complaining about the problems in the world.
Nobody knew his name and nobody still knows it, we just called him 'Bhaiya'.
He stayed in our village for 3 months, he used to roam around the village clicking pictures of everyone and people actually smiled in his pictures.
At first, children ran away from him, women closed the doors of their houses and men questioned him about why he was here.
I will first have to tell you the situation of our village then, there were two groups of children who hated each other and always fought.
When Bhaiya came to know of this situation he made a paper aeroplane and wrote a message asking the brave group of children why they fought with the other group and sent it flying in their 'Adda'.
When the kids read this they went unseen into Bhaiyas caravan. And explained him how they wanted to play with the other group but their parents had banned them from doing so because they used to fight a lot.Bhiaya told this group of kids to get photos of when the village was cheerful and happy, he approached the other group of kids and told them the same.
The kids gave him the photos unseen. Bhaiya then scanned all the photos on to his laptop and made a beautiful movie.
This movie was to be shown in the Shiva temple to all the people of the village but no one except the kids knew what the movie was about so they forced their parents to come along and that is why the temple was filled with people that night.
When the adults saw the movie they were furious but somewhere deep inside they all felt like crying.
Before they could get angrier, Bhaiya got up and told them something very short that they never forgot. These were his words- "Didn't you all fight when you were kids?"
All the adults thought why is it that they were acting so unchildish. Each parent got down on their knees and said to their children "Go play with your friend."
Soon the village was filled with laughter and Bhaya clicked pictures of everyone, One day a brave kid asked him "Bhaiya, why are you clicking our pictures?" Bhaiya just smiled and replied "If you think that is why I have come, you are wrong." As he said these words he packed his camera, walked into his caravan and drove away, after that no one saw him ever again.
A few days after his departure the newspaper man came with the local paper the headline was; New Name For The Village: Khushi.

Away from Home

Zoë Hope sat on her new bed, it was not that new. It had been a month. A month since her parents had died in a car accident.

 After this horrifying incident she had to stay with her aunt. Her aunt was very nice but after the accident she was acting strange, she didn’t pay much attention to Zoë. The two of them stayed alone.

“Zoë, come down for dinner.” Her aunt called out.

“Coming!” Zoë replied

As Zoë walked down the steps she remembered how she used to run down the steps right into the kitchen and give her mom a hug in her old home.

She sat at the dining table. No one spoke a word. Zoë wanted to say a lot of things but her aunt had changed so much she was afraid. It looked like her aunt too wanted to say something. But no, no one spoke.

Zoë lay down on her uncomfortable bed and thought. ‘Why has aunt changed so much? She played and talked to me so much earlier. Maybe she is upset about something but how do I understand how she is feeling? I don’t know how I, myself am feeling.’

The next day Zoë went to ‘The Magic Store’ with a bunch of friends (the summer vacations were going on)

“Zoë! It’s good to see you after so long.” Her friend Siena said giving Zoë a hug.

All her friends hugged her. Even Catherine, who was new to the group and did not get along with Zoë,

None of them mentioned her parents. They did not want to upset her.

“What is that?” Violet asked the old shopkeeper pointing to an antique mirror.

The mirror was small so you could hold it in your hand. It was gold and was embedded with jewels.

“This, my dear.” Said the shopkeeper “is a mirror that will reflect not your face but what you feel.”

Zoë caught her breath and asked “How much?”

“A lot.” Answered the shopkeeper “but I’ll give it to you for free.”

“Why?” Zoë asked surprised.

“I knew your parents, when they were kids they came here every week.” As the shopkeeper said this, a tear rolled down his cheek.

Zoë understood in a second that he knew them very well and took the mirror and said “Thank you very much. They will appreciate your love.”

Again Zoë lay down on her bed. The mirror in her hand. She had not dared to look at it yet. But then she thought of her aunt and looked right into the mirror.

She saw herself standing in a dark room all by herself.

Zoë put down the mirror on her desk and started crying. She felt lonely, empty, and no one could help her. She cried a lot but she soon fell asleep.

In her dream she recapped a scene she had seen when she had gone out with her friends.

She saw two crows fighting. The one on the left was beat easily. The one on the right flew up victoriously. The other crows cawed and flew behind the winner.

The beat up crow struggled to get up. But he managed to do it. With a lot of difficulty he also managed to fly.

A little while later Zoë woke up.

She knew she had a solution, she picked up the mirror again and saw the same dark room but, this time there was a little bit of light coming from a little gap in the door, she was still alone, there was no one, but her own shadow created by the light.

She knew it; no one could help her but herself.

She walked down the stairs to find her aunt sitting on the couch, reading a book.

“Aunt Lilly” Zoë called out.

Her aunt looked towards her saying nothing at all.

“Can..can..we talk?” Zoë asked scared.

“Sure, take a seat.” Her aunt sounded relieved.

Zoë sat next to her aunt, opened her mouth to talk but no words came out.

“I’m sorry.” Her aunt spoke instead.

Zoë just looked up at her and tilted her head.

“I’m sorry be…because.” Her aunt’s words stopped.

“Because you too were depressed over your sisters’ death and were not able to take care of me?” Zoe spoke calmly.

Her aunt just nod her head.

“It’s okay,” Zoë said “I understand.”

They both burst out crying and hugged each other.

They were very happy, every Sunday they went to the graveyard to meet Zoë’s’ parents and after that they always went somewhere fun like the movies, a café, the park, the mall. Anywhere they felt like going.

Zoë told her aunt about the mirror, they hid it in the attic for they never needed it again.