Prologue: My day begins only when he arrives.
Act One, Scene One: He arrives and sits on the opposite side of the table in class. My clock begins to tick.
Act Two, Scene One: He smiles across the table at my best friend.
Epilogue: My soul shrivels. My clock stops.
Chitra Gopalakrishnan is a journalist by training, a social development consultant by profession and a creative writer by choice.
I somehow misread something as ‘dad’ and got very confused. I first thought the narrator’s father was interviewing a potential love interest and rejected them being together, then that the father and love interest liked each other (perhaps the narrator is a teacher and everyone is older). XD A silly confusion for such a nice short story. :)
In fifty words we get everything, with a metaphor of time starting/stopping carrying throughout. I enjoyed it!
It’s achingly beautiful – couldn’t be any clearer! Very well done!