All he ever wanted was.....??! (#5)

He was a sweet child with a radiant smile that could make anyone's day. He wasn't out of the ordinary , he was just your average kid. But in their efforts to make him stand out , blinded by social conformity and the ever-famous cliché phrase in Hindi " log kya kehenge? " ( which translates to "what will people say?") , they ended up corrupting his ingenuous smile. The child grew into a teenager with a distorted personality and the worst part , he didn't even realize it. They taught him well, actually a bit too well. He was like water. He took the shape of whatever container he was poured into , but individually he stood shapeless. He had no enemies but at the same time he had no one with whom he could be unguarded either. He called almost every alleged friend of his as his "best friend" and confided in them silly secrets just to make them believe that they could trust him and to make sure that he would never be on the receiving end of their childish endeavors. He could never really form a solid opinion and stand his ground for it. He wavered every time a slight breeze went by. How could you expect water to not waver ! It was only natural that he did. He always stayed away from making choices because whenever he had to , he'd start hearing different voices voicing different opinions and supporting or opposing different choices. But he could never really single-out his voice from the plethora of voices. Eventually he did realize that he was different , but he chose to ignore it anyhow.They never knew about him or his internal struggles and assumed his facetious attitude to be nothing but the rebellious years of a teenager.

All of a sudden his career and his path for the next 5-6 years were pre-decided for him by them. He accepted this as he knew that he'd be away from them for atleast until after the next 3-4 years but little did he know that there was a new much harsher leash in the form of grades waiting in store for him. He was under the illusion that he was finally free and life was good for the first 2 years. He was now a "pro" at conforming and college taught him how to master the skill of camouflage , thus certainly adding new feathers to his hat. No one knew him and he never really made an effort to get to know anyone either. He liked to live in his own fantasy world where he was genuinely free , but his haunting demons eventually caught up to him in his asylum , his only paradise , thus his dreams exacerbated into nightmares. Since he could not live in his made-up reality anymore , he resorted to immerse himself in other's made-up reality i.e. the fiction genre. He read , saw and read until his eyes bled. He was stagnant, stable and cold, the "water" had now frozen into ice. His shut-in personality made him a pawn in the hands of five of the seven deadly sins. He was jealous of and felt frustrated with people who had his idea of "freedom" but did not realize how lucky they were .Sloth , lust and gluttony were the obvious byproducts of having too much free time. Greed and Pride did not hold much power over him as he had no idea what he really wanted and he did not really have anything to be proud of. He did not notice the leash getting tighter around his neck until it started choking him one day. He lashed out to free himself from the vice-like grip. It almost strangled him to his death. But he survived , that was the one thing he was good at. But he was not sure if his sole good attribute benefited him. He knew he could do well if he tried but he couldn't ever come up with a reason to strive for, even after scavenging what little part of a soul he had left in him a million times.

Everyone he knew was captivated with the scene of a chrysalis's metamorphosis into a butterfly. But he knew that his chrysalis was light years away from even a slightest
hint of evolution. He was afraid that he'd never be the vaporous being that he'd aspired to be , omnipresent and free. Freedom was not something he could achieve as long he was both the captor and the captive. He had to change something. He did not know what. He thought of changing something about himself daily, but nothing really worked. He eventually realized that he had to start loving himself in order to move on. But he was so far down the self-loathing road , that he could not start afresh . He hoped he could achieve that monstrous feat one day.

Amongst all this , two questions constantly kept bugging him:
Did he really love anyone? 
Did anyone really love him?
He knew he loved his parents because whenever he thought about standing up or going against
their expectations and hurt them , he'd be more hurt instead.He could not bear the idea of seeing them teary-eyed. He felt sorry he couldn't be a better son to them , one who could fulfill all their wishes without talking back. About the vice-versa whether they loved him or not, he wasn't so sure. He knew that they didn't hate him but he also knew that they did not love him for what he was right then. They loved him in the hope that they'd probably get to see a better version of "him" one day.

To be loved for who he was........... that was all he ever wanted!

Reviews

[Patricia Montclair]

Dear Bharath,
Thank you for allowing me to read your story.
I am not sure what you expect, in terms of a review, but I have had a lot of experience as an editor and critiquer, so I will try to do my best for you.
Anything I suggest is offered with total respect, and is only my professional opinion.
As always, please take what you need and ignore the rest.
1) You have a lot of wonderful emotion in this piece. Well done. I am not sure if this is to be published, but it is a wonderful look into he person's mind and soul, and thus into the writer's.
:)
2)Since this is a story and not an essay, you need to show the story and not tell it.
The best authors use body language in their narratives.
When you have a very emotional scene, slow it down. Let us hear your character’s thought. Highlight a few details. Show the actions.
3)Habitual use of TO- BE and TO- HAVE words can make writing dull and wordy. Substituting stronger, more expressive verbs can both brighten and trim a person’s writing style. Linking verbs convey a state of being rather than an action.
4) Strip out all of these filter words and focus on the action and description AS IT IS HAPPENING through the character’s point of view. Eliminating filtering words is an easy way to improve your writing right now.
May I suggest that you vary your sentence structure. This will help to better convey the emotion.
I hope I was of some small help.
Good luck in your writing.

[M. L. F.]

Agree entirely.... You have to drop your reader into the scene somehow. With all this fantastic emotion your character can absolutely become so interesting and in depth that the reader feels like he or she know him personally.. It was beautiful though, really. ;)

[hdean]

The imagery in your story was so vivid! Great job on portraying emotion and truly painting a picture. Loved it!

[Coyote Poetry]

A strong story shared.
"About the vice-versa whether they loved him or not, he wasn't so sure. He knew that they didn't hate him but he also knew that they did not love him for what he was right then. They loved him in the hope that they'd probably get to see a better version of "him" one day."
it is hard when live for other people hope and dreams. Hard to lose our true face and thoughts. Thank you for sharing the excellent story.
Coyote

[Mary Christabel George]

We have Had a good start Bharath at the Cafe. Ha Ha Ha!
Coming to "All he ever wanted was?" -
Vocabulary is good.
Many will see some reflection of theirs in this work of yours.
I absolutely agree that Society, its questions & its expectations change us.
You have tried writing many things in one stretch -
like what he actually was, what the society made him, what parents wanted & what he really wanted etc etc..
The questions about love can give a better insight.
I would still suggest question of Who loves you more over whom you love.
And one of the finest line that you also happen to write & that is
" LOVE YOURSELF"

[Alucard6336]

I suppose we have a lot in common, I can tell by this piece alone. Knowledge of the seven deadly sins is uncommon for many people here.

I struggle with envy the most, leviathan. I cant ever keep it under control fully, as people envy me I envy them.

[M. L. F.]

Ok, received your message.. And just thought maybe I should elaborate, maybe I can help you somehow by illustrating what I and the other poster where trying to say....

Your story was very touching and deep. You just need to refine how you describe... In example, instead of saying... "All he ever wanted was for people to love him for who he was. But that won't happen", you could put this character in a scenario, he comes home proud of an accomplishment, in example... and his parents scoff at it, like pft... not good enough... because he didn't conform to the mold THEY want him to conform to. So then you could get done with the dialog of their convo and say something like...

His parents threw his drawing upon the floor and turned to walk away, dismissing it like so much trash. It was the one thing he had been proud of accomplishing since he was a small boy, but to them it was garish, nothing more than garbage steaming in the hot summer sun... "

See the flow of emotion poured into the description? See how the reader now wants to cry for your main character, and in those two or three sentences has a full grasp on the dynamic of dickery between the parents and this boy????

That is what is meant by describing instead of explaining, showing instead of telling. Anyone can stand there and tell you what happened, but to put the person there is an entirely different animal. You have a lot of potential for this character, I hope you keep going with him... He is very interesting from a fiction perspective! Keep writing... :)

[M. L. F.]

Gorgeous character filled with gorgeous sentiment. You could expound upon this and make this character so rich and so touching emotionally. The possibilities for greatness are all here, buried within this tale. It is just a matter of description, pace, and structure. Keep writing! :)

[Solar]

/His shut-in personality made him a pawn in the hands of five of the seven deadly sins. He was jealous of and felt frustrated with people who had his idea of "freedom" but did not realize how lucky they were .Sloth , lust and gluttony were the obvious byproducts of having too much free time. Greed and Pride did not hold much power over him as he had no idea what he really wanted and he did not really have anything to be proud of./

Am confused by this - so how is he a pawn if 'greed and pride' did not hold power over him?

I liked this description 'He was stagnant, stable and cold, the "water" had now frozen into ice'

[Sanjukta Sen Banerjee]

The theme was really good but I feel a real time plot rather than a passive naaration would work wonders.It was a good read, well written and nicely thought.

[Reshma]

Hi Bharath,
The story was amazing. It portrayed the drowning personality of a generation.The boy here is me in many aspects. I have noticed that my parents have a better stand on issues than I have because their parents gave them the freedom of choice.Nobody expected my father to be an engineer but as soon as I passed 9th standard I was expected to be an engineer. I was not given the freedom of choice.
The older generation questions the morality and genuinity of their kids by not teaching them the virtue of making a choice. That is one of the promises I have made in my life, whoever be with me in my life I will always give them the privilege of making their own choices.This story can be an eyeopener for many out there.
Great work :) kudos...

[Juria Kurosaki]

Interesting concept. You had a good Idea. The biggest problem I had with it though is that you did more telling than you did showing. It sounded more like an essay to me. If you altered your descriptions to make a more vivid picture readers can feel like they're actually apart of the story following the characters as the story goes on. Overall though it's a great idea and I'd love to see this be the 'seed' that will grow into a book. Great story.