Sia's Choice

It was nearly 12:30 am as Sia walked through the narrow alley leading to her home.

- Swagata Soumyanarayan

It reeked of urine and the bins flowed with rubbish. She passed by broken down bikes and cars that had been stripped to their bare shells. Warning yowls sounded close by as night time foraging went on. Siawas attuned to her surroundings, her senses alert. She quickened her steps crossing the lane and went into a wider one lined by square shaped houses with metal roofs and dish antennae. It only took a few seconds to be knifed. Sia heard the sound of footsteps getting close. She saw him in a rearview mirror. It was the guy from the local garage who stared. Her mouth went dry but she stood frozen, her heart thumping loudly.

A year ago her father had suffered a massive heart attack at work and died. At nearly eighteen, she had little idea how the world worked.

Fortunately someone helped out with the paper work, Death Certificate, and the medical claim etc., and her days blurred.

A month later Sia sat outside her house. It was barely 6 am but she couldn't sleep, her thoughts running like untethered horses. Sia was calculating money, her hands playing with her braided hair. She had passed her twelfth boards but the savings would go for another six months to a year. And after that? Her ideas for earning money seemed impractical.

Her father’s plastic chair stood outside- his spot to read the morning paper. Sia sat there hearing his voice call out for his tea on Sundays.

Outside the pale rays of the sun were inching up the sky. Someone passed by with a small bucket of water for their morning toilet. A bunch of pups had found a single slipper and one ran off with it. The gutter in front overflowed with rubbish and the smell of something dead wafted in the air every now and then.