Butterflies and Daisies

Butterflies and Daisies.


Butterflies and daisies!
What an alluring picture it made! Amanda, Mandy for short, loved the pretty design on the cotton frock her dad and mom bought for her tenth birthday. Her friends and her teacher had admired its sweet simplicity. So many loving memories!
Mandy could see herself floating with the many colored butterflies hovering over the blooming daisies. This had always been her dream, to live in a land of beauty where the sun would be bright, and the touch of wind, feather-soft.

Now, a few years later, the impossibility of even dreaming of these lovely things, made Mandy cry bitterly. Her life, after her dad died in a road accident had turned into a nightmare. Mom worked at a super market slogging till late in the night. Mandy had to discontinue her schooling, and at a playful, fun-filled age of fifteen, had to wait and serve at the big house on the High Street. She knew it was the only way to add to their meager income.

She cried harder when she recalled the morning mishap at the house she had worked. The master was mean, and his two sons were perfect brats. They were eyeing her almost from the moment Matilda, the housekeeper, brought her in. Their hawk-like looks devoured her lissom body with its cream-and-roses complexion.

That morning Mandy entered the master’s room to dust and make up the beds. Engrossed in her job, she never heard his silent footsteps approaching her. She was startled and gasped when she felt rough hands clasping her by the waist and pushing to bed. She screamed when she’d seen his devilish face above her. She almost fainted, shocked by his crudity.

Matilda saved her in time, and tried her best to make her comfortable. A little later she dropped Mandy at home. Her mom was in. She took a cold look at her daughter’s disheveled state and said,

“Now, you better shut up. You should be ashamed of crying. Who do you think will come to your rescue every time you cry wolf?”

After a while, Mandy registered the front door slamming shut, and her mother leaving in a huff.

That was when Mandy left her childhood behind. She realized her utter helplessness and her mother’s too.
“I must do something, I must...”she told herself passionately.

After much thinking, she decided to go to her former Principal, Miss. Starr, for advice and guidance. Mandy knew she would definitely help her. She would find a way, kind as she was. A flicker of hope started glowing in Mandy’s desolate world.

She slept deeply that night. She’d dreamt of that beautiful place with butterflies and daisies and watched her sadness slipping away. Morning brought her sunshine and strong hope.

Mandy was ready to face the big bad world and conquer it by some means.


Word Count: 478.