RAINBOW

The sorrow was overwhelming. She cried till there were no tears left. Still the heart ached for a long time. Finally she took the wooden block she had bought the day before, brought her tools and started carving. She carved till the block became a shape only she could recognize as herself. Then she took her paint brush. She closed her eyes and all the grief in her heart flowed to the paint brush. It flowed endlessly, till she felt light, light like a cranium bolt. The paint brush was dripping with black color. She painted her carved shape till the brush was clean again. The shape- the Shape- became black as night, and she felt very, very happy.

Next day when she went out her friends complimented- hey, you look so fair and pretty. She laughed and laughed until her face ached. Then she didn’t want to laugh anymore. She didn’t want to be so happy. So she went home, took her brush and the Shape again. Her happiness flowed out, the paint brush dripped with white color. She painted the Shape so the brush was clean and the Shape was black and white. She went out again, went to the market. She saw a group of hooligans teasing a girl passing by, and she felt angry. Her face flushed, and the boys looked at her started whistling. She felt the anger boil within her, blinding her, she took a brick and threw at the boys. She ran back, still furious, sweating and simmering and panting. She went into the room, closed the door, snatched the brush and instantly it became blood red. She felt peaceful. She painted the Shape and it got its red beauty. Then someone started knocking the door, someone shouting, saying that she injured a boy very badly with the brick. She started shivering. Fear crept through her. Someone was trying to break open the door. She took the brush again with shaking hands, but felt her hands steady soon, as the brush became blue. She painted the Shape again with blue strokes and felt at peace. She opened the door coolly, and looked at the crowd with hatred. They were shouting, but she didn’t care. Her indifference and absolute chilling calm got to their nerves. They left one by one.

She returned to her sanctuary and painted, painted until she got rid of her yellow hatred, green jealousy, violet love, brown playfulness, and every other color of every single emotion. She felt utterly weightless, emotionless and non-existent. She looked at the mirror and was surprised to see only a bright orange. Then she painted the surprise on the Shape, and she became totally colorless, totally transparent and almost invisible. She glided through the door, past the streets, into the landscape, over the mountains, like a colorless cloud, and became one with nature.

And the Shape? The Shape choked and choked with the emotions it could no more contain, until it exploded. It exploded violently, scattered into tiny pieces and the pieces all burnt in their own fire. Until nothing was left, not even the soot.