I Enter The World With A Thousand Smiling Faces.
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Aleesha Poidevin, Grade 12
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Short Story
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2012
I feel entrapped. I am in orbit in this cramped yet malleable encasement. I have no idea what is going on or why I exist here, but I can only continue believing that one day soon I will find an answer. Safe and warm, in this weary world. Arms and legs clenched in a foetal position. I am not kicking much now because there isn’t much room left. I can wriggle and squirm but the walls restrict me. Every now and then the inside of this yielding vessel closes up and gives me a hug. This has happened for as long as I can remember, but today the hugs are more often, tighter and lasting longer than usual.
It does not seem to break when I kick it. However, I can hear voices. Now and again, so soothing, they’re beckoning me. Every now and again I feel a sudden stab in the side of my back. “Ouch” I jab back into the gelatinous capsule of my surroundings.
I feel so diminutive and fragile, I do not know a lot yet. I am secure and safe here, nothing can hurt me. But I know one thing for certain. These voices. They make me happy. Maybe that is what I’m here for? I hear voices again, this time there starts to become a rumble, it shakes, it shakes my whole body. I feel the floor plummet from beneath me; I don’t know what’s happe ning. But life wants me to move on; I feel a sudden rush under my delicate body. Without any effort my body is lunged forward.
The hugs become even tighter, I wriggle myself into a different position to make myself more comfortable. I hear voices, again, they sound muffled, but during these “hugs” I can hear a different sound. One I haven’t heard before. The noises become a humming sound, like a swarm of bees shielding their hive. I wriggle my self down further; the hole on my head is stretching further open. The humming is getting louder. For once, I start to feel vulnerable and scared. I start to panic, the what used to be increasing small hole opens up, it enlarges to the size of my head. The humming begins to fade into a deeper noise, unfamiliar sounds beckon me.
Suddenly everything around me becomes compact, my head slides through the perforation and my head inclines backwards. My face begins to feel very dense, I close my eyes, my nose begins to press against the walls of the vessel.
I begin to hear a series of deafening sounds, it goes quiet, everything compresses against me again and the space above my head becomes even wider. This pain isn’t pleasant; I must escape from this torment. The encasement becomes tight again and this time the perforation opens up, my head slides through.
I can hear voices now, this time, there not muffled, there right beside me. The perforation is around my neck. I can feel air around my head. I haven’t felt that before.
I open my eyes to see what it is. I’m somewhere else. I can see a yellow glimmer of bright light. Everything seems blurry. An indistinct hand touches my head.
Then everything squeezes against my body and I slide out of the perforation. I suddenly start to scream and yell in agony and dismay.
The same warm and delicate hands scoop me up.
A warm feeling bottles up inside of me. The same warm feeling that I received in my past, but I am on the outside now. I enter the world, with a thousand smiling faces. Someone is holding me, she is magnificent, her face, practically perfect in everyway. Her enticing cerulean eyes glimpse at me, I can see that she is tired, but her gorgeous over beaming smile overshadows it. She kisses my face, which brings a tingle down my spine. She encloses me within her arms, I can smell her too, everything is quiet. She cuddles me, I feel safe. I am loved and I am in love.
“Congratulations on you new baby girl, Mrs Aurora.”