Outstanding Stories » Being Happy

“Being Happy” is one of the outstanding stories (sub-junior) of the second biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Delisha Gupta, Lotus Valley International School, Noida, India.

Being Happy

Tiny was a small girl who thought that after reaching class V she will be a grown-up kid and will move to the senior wing. She was fascinated with the different gang of girls in senior wings. She was amazed at the way they talked, laughed and move in groups. She was looking forward to moving out of her lonely cave. Her father was busy with his business and mother was busy with her café. They were rich but Tiny felt so lonely at home and in school. She was not happy. She used to cry in the school bathroom. She was scolded by her teacher for not being attentive in the class. She was left out by her classmates on their birthday parties as she was not fun. Every day she made a cross in the calendar for her report card day.

And finally, the day came and to her grief, she failed. She has to repeat the class IV again. She felt sick in her stomach and mouth. She was afraid of what her parents will say. She was afraid again she will be a topic of teasing for everyone. She slowly walked towards her home. No one was there at home. She felt helpless. At night when parents came back, she went to her mother. Mother said to her, “Please Tiny, I am very tired and frustrated from the day. If you have anything to say, please come tomorrow morning”. Tiny passed on the report card and without looking into the marks her mother signed. There was no scolding. She felt sicker.

This time she studied and was able to make it to Class V. She kept dreaming day and night. She thought of the school trips where she will sing, dance and chat in the girls’ gangs. She even thought a name for her gang. She entered the new class. And there was sudden clapping. She was known to all of them as the loser. All other students started calling her with different names. They all made fun of her. Days passed she was having no friends. All laughed at her. She was again alone. She was looking at everyone who can befriend her but no one came to her.

One day, while going back home, she saw an artisan having mud around him. His daughter came and when her foot was inside the mud, she started shouting. But after some time when from the same mud the artisan made a doll, she started playing with the doll and was very happy. She realized that she is like that mud. People make fun and don’t need her. She came back home and decided to be happy on her own rather than depending on other people to be happy.

From next day whenever she reached class, she focused on her studies and when free, she wrote stories. She wrote her stories which were full of imaginations. One day, she submitted her stories for the school annual magazine and her stories got selected. When kids read that stories, they laughed, smiled and felt happy. Slowly, other kids started talking to her and wanted to be her friends. But she denied and continued with her hobby. She has learnt that happiness is something inside you not something to look outside.