BEAUTY IS DECEPTION THAT EXACERBATES PAIN

 

“BEAUTY IS DECEPTION THAT EXACERBATES PAIN”
BY IQRA RAUF

Little Sophia was spending a very happy life with her parents. She was the only child in her family so she was naughty and mischievous but still loved a lot by her parents. It was a Sunday afternoon, the family was sitting together taking tea and Sophia was insisting her father ‘Mr. Darcy’ to tell her the stories of the battlefield.  The father turns a face towards her daughter pass a loving smile and asks Sophia to sit beside him on the sofa.  Mrs. Darcy served them with tea and cookies and when she was about to sit among her family a bell rang on the door.

 Mr. Darcy went towards the main door to see who’s there and when he opened the door, he only found a letter that someone has dropped on the floor. Sophia was shouting “who’s there pa”? And Mr. Darcy replied no one, Sophie, just a letter. “Ok, then what is written in it,” said Sophia, wait I am coming.

Sophia was sad when she came to know that her father was ordered to Africa for his job and before going, the father gave her some useful suggestions and advised Sophia to take care of her mother.  Sophia was spending good days with her mother but several months later, her father was reported killed in a native uprising. Mrs. Darcy could not bear this sad news and she fell ill with the trauma and died. This was a big trauma for Sophia because now she was left alone and helpless.

Sophia was just seven when she started living with her maternal Aunt and Uncle. They loved her almost just like their own daughter Lizzy was a year older than Sophia.  Sometimes Sophia could perceive the bitter reality that Lizzy is always given the more important and prominent kind of love. The love her aunt and Uncle had for Sophia was less and often suppressed by the dominance of their feelings for Lizzy.

Sophia never complained anything to her aunt and Uncle; because she thought it was enough that she was being fed and clothed and educated under their roof. So, whenever this thought came to her mind she always convinced herself. Sophia was seemed more mature and act quite sensibly than Lizzy even at this small age. Although, her aunt and uncle loved her but not more than their own daughter Lizzy and Sophia feel this thing very often and sometimes she failed to control her emotions and burst into tears remembering those beautiful days that she spent with her parents.

One day, Sophia got a necklace from her uncle which he brought from abroad. Sophia was very pleased to see that beautiful necklace and she tried it around her neck, it seemed as if it was only made for Sophia. Later, Sophia came to know that this necklace belonged to Lizzy but her Uncle offered her just to show generosity also, Lizzy restricted Sophia to wear her necklace again.  At this, the poor Sophia felt miserable and helpless because the necklace became a charm for her and she was unable to forget that precious thing. 

When Sophia wears that necklace she forgets all her pains and miseries for a while and got lost in the world of imagination with that materialistic thing. Unfortunately, the happiness was not for so long, and Lizzy snatched that precious thing from her as if she was depriving her of her Dreams or charms of life.  If she was not wearing it, she kept feeling as though something really valuable thing is missing from her life.

The absence of the necklace would make her incomplete and sad, it seemed as nothing in the world could make her happy except that necklace. Lizzy being more fortunate and the original owner of the necklace could easily notice Sophia’s obsession with the necklace and due to jealousy she refrains from wearing it again and claimed that it is solely hers. Listening to these words, Sophia felt like the ground had been snatched beneath her feet and the cause of happiness was taken away from her.

Once again, Sophia has lost something really precious and it was a devastating feeling for her and she began to think that if the precious thing was not meant for her then why she gets that. Sophia tried to give her many logical arguments but failed to control her emotions. The only voice coming from her inside was “You lose”. “You are broken, you are shattered and you accept your defeat”. “But how on Earth do you learn to continue living your life without your Precious”? Without that necklace, Sophia’s life was miserable, dull, or meaningless.

When Sophia found a necklace for the very first time, she heard a voice “I am only yours” and its attraction or beauty drove her crazy. She had forgotten all her sorrows for a moment as if she had found a reason to be happy but this was an illusion that ends in making her sadder than ever.