Great Expectations - The Yield

He was running as hard as he could. His legs were starting to ache. Just a few more steps, just a few more and I will win this, he thought. He was a hairsbreadth from the ribbon and he tumbled..

Have you lost your child?
Photo credits: W_Minshull

“Andrew!” Damn, what a time to call out for me. “Where are you at, Andrew?” I am in my own little world, or I was until you mercilessly snatched me, but instead I managed a feeble “here”. “Honey, Come down quick, we have so many presents to open!” mom was unknowingly screaming. Not again! Christmas is on us already? Thanksgiving seemed to have been just the other day, time flies faster than a Concorde. The turkey and casseroles are still afresh in my memory and the feasting time had come yet again.

I don't like holidays. They are just excuses for people to become slackers. Why do people like being idle? That’s an insult to our existence! We are magnificent creatures blessed with only a single life, and people throw it away sitting just like that? Ridiculous! I won’t throw mine, I’m always working. I wake up, go to school, study till the bell rings and then walk home. After all the food and stuff, I study my course books and practice. When there’s nothing left to learn from my course books (I reach this phase like a month or so after school), I do research on my own. When that too bores me out, I read novels and try penning something down. I was deeply immersed in the same task when mom gave me the much detested wake-up call. It’s always been like this. I’m in my own fantasy world, dreaming of something, mom comes barging in and totally disrupts my chain of thoughts. I’m ruthlessly lifted back to this world, I grudgingly do whatever I’m asked of and am always eager to return.

Excessive demands are not the solution

Photo credits: Sofi Photo

I put on my best face and clapped every time a new present was unwrapped, but my mind was elsewhere. Away from this swarm of people called family. She had killed my runner for these lame presents, I have to revive him. Presents... That remind me that mom and dad will soon owe me one. I had kept my streak of scoring the highest GPA for three years now, but my folks, they’re never happy. Physics won me a position at the science fair? Why did I let the others get the other subjects. I am the best from my school at soccer? There are many above me in the State rankings. I bag the highest GPA? I still lost some marks anyway, and the list goes on and on. There is always a “do more” in my life and that is why I’m always working - doing more. Can’t let myself lax, can’t make friends, heck, I can’t even dream for long. Time’s a precious sand to hand over to dreaming. I must get that acceptance letter, become an Ivy graduate, earn enough bucks to spill around mercilessly and then wait for my parents’ revised list of great expectations. There was a "do more", remember?

Everyone’s clutching their new-found assets and mine are some Stephen King novels. “I’ll just place these in my cupboard” is my excuse for skipping the feast. I’m back at my desk, waiting for the flow to settle in again. Before long I lift my favorite pen and begin spilling words.

I mustn’t stop. The finish line’s just there, and with this thought he was up and running again. He was oblivious of the fact that the finish lines never finish.

Hope you liked what you read. Don't forget to leave a comment and do share, like, tweet, pin etc. All the tools are underneath and at your left. Thanks :)

Read more of my short stories here