Short Story: The Survivor by Tapan Sinha

In this short story, Tapan Sinha weaves a poignant tale of a teenager caught in the whirlwind of love and heartbreak.

Trigger Warning: Suicide and self-harm

She had been in love all summer with Karan.

It began one day in the high school lab when he had given her a sudden, surprising, and appreciative quiet smile. She never knew what caught his attention: She did not look anywhere like the smooth-talking, smart girls always angling for attention, dressed in crisp and bright high school uniforms. Her dresses were faded and her teeth were in braces.

A few weeks after that he took her out for the first time. They kissed under the dark shades of the white mulberry tree, under the dreamy-silvery moonlight; a kiss on the mouth, she had never known before. It was her first kiss. She wondered if it was something sinful, shameless. Would her name be sullied forever amongst the boys as the cheap one?

Love seemed to make her bloom. She walked with the carefree, natural ease of the conquering young woman on her first love. A calm serenity softened her kajal-lined almond-shaped eyes. Her friends envied her from the front but behind her back wondered aloud as to what they saw in her. The two of them moved around with the carefree spirits of a pair of birds gliding gracefully in tandem up and down in the air. It was a rollercoaster of emotions, with butterflies fluttering in the stomach.