Saturday 20 February 2016

Prose 500 2016 Longlist Anusha Reddy

Admire from Afar

Dressed in a vibrant shade of ruby red, she waited for him in the garden. Her perfume created an intoxicating aura around her. Everyday at quarter past two he would arrive. Not a day had he missed. Neither the scorching heat nor the ferocious downpour of rain would deter him from visiting her at the garden. 

In the midst of cursing the sun for being too harsh on her whilst she waited in the garden or protecting her from every rain drop, he would whisper, “ I will take you home. But not today, love. You aren’t ready yet.” She longed for him to take this place he called ‘home’. No one cared for her the way he did. His tender care had made her blossom into an exquisitely beautiful entity. 

He witnessed this everyday. He knew the care that vile man showered upon her was a selfish act. She was nothing more than a decorative trophy to him.
“Why won’t she see through his facade?” he wondered. 

Tormented by this question, he decided he would put an end to their rendezvous in the garden. He knew he would never be able to care for her the way that man did as nature had crippled him. But he was a crafty being. People would say that it was an act of jealousy which had stemmed from his unrequited love for her. But they would be wrong. This was merely an instinct to protect her from that shallow man. 

As precise as clockwork the man arrived.
“You look divine!” He said and reached out to her.
Before he could lay his hands on her, his palm had been gashed. Tiny droplets of blood sprung from his palm. 

“Perhaps, you are better off in the garden.” he said with a bitter sweet smile and walked away.
She was devastated.
The thorn had finally emerged victorious over the gardener. The rose withered away.

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