Story Contest 2017 #1 - Outstanding Stories » The Quotation

“The Quotation” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2017 written by Vigneshwari Natarajan, Bahrain.

The Quotation

Out near the window pane Melinda felt the coldest breeze, she was in deep thought- she really couldn’t understand about the things going on. Her mother coughed through the pain, she wouldn’t be alive for much longer. Melinda wasn’t to old enough bear this situation.

One particular day she sat on her desk writing a letter in beautiful calligraphic hand, suddenly she noticed her dear mother trying to call her. Melinda went near her mother, “Darling I prefer to die soon , you know I am poor so you are my life and belief; choose a job, take care of your siblings and never forget to achieve what you dream about”, saying this Melinda’s mother took her last breath.

Melinda was just sixteen; she couldn’t bear her mother’s death and started crying bitterly. She cremated her mother. She had sleepless nights and stressful days.

One fine day her maternal uncle visited her and then suggested for her to work as a care taker in the Mac daisy’s inn. She replied,

“No John, I want to fulfill and achieve my goal. I should keep my mother‘s words. Life contains success, failures and very beautiful and sometimes painful experiences. life is tasteless without them. Help to succeed, not to fail”.

John told Melinda that he had a friend who wanted to publish a book but wasn’t a good writer. He referred her to his friend.

Next day Melinda met Mark, he told her that he would like Melinda to be sincere at her work. Melinda started writing a book; she sat on her rosewood desk and started writing her story. She wrote this story thinking of her affectionate mother. ‘Fear no more’, that was what she named her book. But she had a nasty adventure while writing this.

Melinda noticed that the ink was over, so she picked up her small purse to buy a pen. Nancy who was her beloved friend accompanied her to buy a pen, but Nancy wasn’t a good friend. She wanted to kill Melinda, so Nancy moved away from Melinda while then she secretly dialed her helper, Thomas.

Thomas drove his car over Melinda, she was hurt and fell on the road bleeding severely. Melinda was found by Mark and John the next morning and she was treated by a doctor, but her enthusiasm in finishing that book was too much that she started to continue writing even through her treatment.

Three years later Melinda was placed as a great and remarkable writer, she was invited by the President to address official gatherings. She always said: “That day I thought life is worthless. Today, I rethink about life. I was not born successful but constant striving and help got me here. I hope you all find success in the things you dream about too. Thank you.”