The Moon and The Girl

The night was calm. The moon glowed bright. The leaves were still; winds were on a break. Swarms of fireflies, glowing in between dark branches of trees, seemed to outshine the stars, which could hardly be seen in the smoky city-sky.

A young singer lay still on her bed; limbs numb; messy hair; blank face; dry lips, and eyes constantly being washed by a fresh stream of tears. A melancholy lament played in her mind. To call herself a musician! Hardly a month back had she been rejected in the auditions for her dream music show. But that wasn't all. The one who filled her slot was the same girl that she had defeated for four years in a row now. "This must be some wicked game," she had told herself.

News like such spread like an epidemic. And soon it was a common word in the streets that the singing prodigy has lost focus; fame had gotten the better of her. To these she tried to turn a deaf ear. "This isn't fair! I'm better than her! I'm good enough!" she would scream to herself. But behind closed doors, when she lay alone on her bed every night, these same words would pierce through her soul and drive away her peace of mind. And she would begin to wonder, "I'm still good enough. I haven't lost focus... or have I?"

The flashbacks of her defeat had chased away her sleep. She gazed emptily into the night sky. The full moon was shining bright, hugged by the clouds; a new one came soon after the previous one left. And the Moon, she was enjoying her life, enjoying the pleasure of being pampered by vast extends of the sky. "I too was once the rising moon of the music industry," she sighed. All those happy phases of her life, all those years of success in the field of music, with her many admirers, projected in front of her inner eye. She recalled the times when she too glowed like the moon. But things had changed in her life. How could she let someone half as good steal her crown! As her life went downhill, she watched every one of her ‘well-wishers’ leave, many at a time. From the limelight where she has always belonged, she had fallen into an infinite pit of darkness. She was all alone.

But look! Things had changed for the moon too. The sky was clear by then. Not a single cloud was seen hovering around the Moon. Lady Moon was all alone as well, as it seemed. But look at her, she was still shining! The Moon held her crown in place, and the night was just as beautiful. The young girl sat up on her bed. Moonlight drenched her face, and twinkled on tears at the corner of her eyes. And a sudden burst of emotions came crashing at her soul. The young girl’s fingers moved, lips trembled, and the gentle streams of tears burst out with the howls of a child’s pain. "That's it!" she cried. "I'm the moon. I'm still the moon!" She had been foolish to break down in her dark times!

She looked outside the window. The lament had stopped. Moon had been enveloped by tufts of new clouds again. Moon had never stopped shining, even when it was in complete darkness, without a friend. It is the moon that lights up the night sky, no matter how dark the night is. She wiped off her tears, stood up beside her window, and smiled at the moon, which soon had to disappear into her Sun’s arms.

Moon left, leaving behind a new prelude of hope for the young girl. Soon the first rays of daylight could be seen, which brought an end to the night’s sorrows, and brought along with itself the beginning of a new day with a fresh start.