Caramel Cocoa {A Short Story}

She felt a gust of the cold winter wind blow across her face, rustling her strawberry hair and coercing a few strands, to bounce out of her slightly damp ponytail and dance across her youthful face. She looked up, at the numerous pearl like orbs that dotted the midnight blue blanket above her, illuminating it like candescent flashlights. The sight brought a wry smile to her distraught face.

How could the world be cruel yet so beautiful?

The world had given her everything she’d ever wanted, but it had also taken away everything she’d ever needed.

“All that glitters is not gold, dearie!” she heard her grandmother’s voice, echoing in her thoughts, and as she pondered over them, she realized that they rung true.

Just one choice. Just one choice could change a person’s life forever. She sighed halfheartedly as she gripped her mug of steaming cocoa as if it were life itself.  The misty fog that arose from the delectable drink, tickled her nostrils as it attacked the atmosphere with its aromatic richness. It brought a calming sensation into that moment of her convoluted life.

The hot misty air that rose from the hot beverage fogged her glasses as she took a tentative sip, burning her tongue in the process. She blew the foggy mist away and watched it spread and mix with the cold air, before she took another sip. She savoured the taste of the cocoa, basking in its aromatic glory. She had mixed a bit of caramel sauce with her cocoa, as her mother had always done. When she was a child, it was the first thing that she always looked forward to, when the frosty December winds started banging on everyone’s doors.

However, everything was different now. Her caramel cocoa was one of the few things that reminded her of her buoyant childhood.

She looked up and proceeded to walk across her spacious balcony, away from prying eyes, to the comfortable sofa that lay waiting for her. She sat down and made herself comfortable as she reminisced about her life.

The decisions that had brought her to where she was had seemed small, at the time. She might have thought they were the best ones she’d ever made, but the result of those choices were engulfing her in regret, slowly pushing her deep under and drowning her. She remembered how rash and wild she’d been when she’d made some of those decisions. Those that she knew would benefit her in the short run. She had never thought that the path she’d been carving out would lead her to such a dismal place.

She’d always been one to live in the moment.

“Don’t wait for the perfect moment, take the moment and make it perfect.” Was a motto she had followed, whether her actions were rational or not.

Whether her choices were the right one or not she’d have to live with them. There was no going back. The stressful and monotonous life she’d brought upon herself was her own fault. She felt the anger boil inside of her as she gripped the mug even tighter shaking it slightly as the liquid fell onto her hand, scalding it in the process. She quickly placed the hot drink on the table, as she nursed her injured and slightly reddened hand.

She sauntered back into her beautiful prison like castle. She entered the spacious kitchen and turned on the tap as she placed her hand under the cool water. She sighed as the cold water cooled her red hand and the small not in her stomach disappeared.

She had been a very unique person and had led a happy life. A life of joy and happiness. But now she was reduced to a workaholic with lots of green but no one but herself to spend it on.

She went into her lounge and switched on the T.V.  Nothing interested her anymore. She’d been moulded into a meatbot that only served the purpose of the job it had been assigned to do.  No family, no life.

She watched the colourful figures prance across the large screen that lay before her. Fake people living fake lives. She’d seen many of those during the past few hectic years of her youth. Women, dolled up to look like models, yet not a hint of personality inside them. Men handsome, yet heartless.

Where would she go? To the left where nothing was right, or the right where nothing was left?

She felt helpless. Hopeless. Then a small sparkle twitched in her tired and dull sapphire eyes that had once shone brightly.

Maybe she could make a difference. Maybe she could morph back into the person she used to be. The charming person, brimming with personality. She could turn into the woman she aspired to be. Smart, colourful and professional. Maybe she could turn into her cup of cocoa, rich and aromatic. A radiant flower out of all the pensive ones.

She wouldn’t stop and turn right or left. She’d go straight ahead and turn all the rocks that blocked her path into stepping stones to her dream that awaited at the end of her journey.

She smiled. Not any of those forgeries that made her cheeks hurt from, yearning to droop down and reveal her true self. No, this was a real smile. One that was breath-taking and lit her face up. Something she hadn’t dressed her face with for years. She turned off the T.V and went to her room. She ducked inside the silk sheets of her comfortable bed as she mentally readied herself for the upcoming day. She was going to take a stroll on the ‘road not taken’.

And as she smiled and drifted off into a calm slumber, thinking about the aspirations and dreams she was yet to fulfill, the last few wisps of her flavourful drink’s mist dissipated into the open arms of the cold night’s air. Its task had been accomplished as its warmth and happiness had successfully been transferred to the person who required it.

***

I hope you enjoy this short story I wrote!!

Lots Of Love,

HR