Once upon a time…
Come on! When was the last time you heard a story like that? If not for nostalgia, mere curiosity or idle scrolling should take you forward.
… there lived a Ghost Princess…
Now as to who’s the Princess or whatever is up with the ghost factor, metaphors can be written by the author but the job of interpreting them should really be left to the reader. Wouldn’t you agree?
…and she loved nothing more than to gaze upon the starry night from the tallest tower of her castle…
Imagine the breeze and chill here please.
… she believed that if she truly, truly tried, one day she might be able to count all the stars in the sky…
Princesses…(eye roll) I tell you!
… night after night, the princess stood under the starry sky in the night breeze and counted each star she could find in the sky…
Optimism!
… but no matter how hard she tried, the Princess could never count all of them before the first light of dawn came through…
If only the sun could be tied down.
…but the Princess persisted. Each night she returned to the tower; her spirit resolved and her will resolute…
Maybe we all ought to take a note?
… after days and weeks and months. the night that the Princess longed for finally arrived…
This is a “Ghost Princess” dear readers, easy with the imagination.
… the Winter Solstice; the longest night of the year…
See, I told you “ghost”!
… the Princess could count stars, all of them this time. With her eagerness barely restrained, she tried to count minutes till sundown…
The girl has a serious obsession with counting, yes.
… as the last of the sun’s rays dipped behind the mountains that surrounded the castle, the Princess raced up the stairs to the top of the tower…
You must have seen the movies; imagine the stony walls, steep stairs and strangely empty hallways that are never up to any good.
… determined to finish the count that night, the Princess settled against the walls and started the count…
Do not try this at strange empty castles, dear readers.
… one by one, she greeted stars that were familiar to her and exchanged pleasantries to the new faces…
Maybe it was the chitchat?
… the Princess strained her neck to see even the furthest corners of the sky, her crown askew…
Step one: count the stars. Step two: measure the sky. Here’s a nice Bucket List.
… as hours passed, she willed the sun to rise and finally let her finish the count…
Step three: stop time?
… but to her surprise, it was not the much dreaded sun that halted her mission…?
… “What is it that you’re doing up here this late, my dear?”, the Queen Mother asked…
A new character?!
… “Umm…the night sky… I was… looking at…”, the Princess stammered, unsure what to tell the Queen Mother…
Communication is key.
… “Looking at? Whatever do you mean?” the Queen Mother’s voice held more surprise than anything else. The Princess was once again at an impasse. She did not know what to say or to understand…
I guess there was no curfew issue at least.
… “Don’t you remember, dear? We wrapped and tied your eyes all shut so long ago. Now, why are you joking around? It's unbecoming of a princess,” the tone – the Princess realised had changed at that…
… “Now, now. Let us go inside. Come along dear,” the Queen Mother said pacifyingly as she led the Princess back inside the castle…
… the Princess craned her neck one last time, her crown slipping further on her head, as she strived to catch one last glimpse…
Like I said…
… of whatever it was that kept the flame going.
… metaphors are whatever the reader prefers them to be.
Fin.
-Bisni Lidiya N. A.
B.A Psychology (Hons)
(Edited by Debaruna and Pallavi
Art curated by Pallavi)
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