Paradise

She walked silently by the street

Hands tucked in her pheran

Arms crossed around her torso

In the valley ruled by perrenial winters 

This evening was unusually cold

The sun had just gone down behind the hills

Giving the dusk sky a mystic shade of blue

The shade that got darker every five minutes

The silhouette of the lush green mountains now loomed large around her, 

changing colors in line with those of the sky

Greens to greys

Her hair neatly tied behind her head

Covered in a pink dupatta

The big almond eyes on a snowy complexion

Only 17 yet, she was often complimented for her looks

Abu had been planning to get her married after 18

She always blushed at the thought of her marriage

As she crossed the the little wooden bridge over the stream

Soaking in the sound of the water gushing by

Rustling and roaring in the little stream 

The sound of the azaan filled the air

Rendering the entire scene divine, exotic, mesmerizing

If not this what else must paradise be

Abu would have set off for the mosque she thought

Ammi would be helping little shahid with his english primer

And she lost herself to her thoughts

Turning to the road that led to her home

A one room house in a tiny cozy village in the valley

School had been fun today

Rafia had told her a juicy bit about shehnaz

They had giggled over it in the math class

Like any 17 year old girl, she kept pictures of Ranbir Kapoor in her bag

As she walked

The streets today were unusually deserted

Zaroon chacha's shop of daily essentials was closed too

Highly unusual, she thought to herself

There had been talks of an alert back at the school

And then she heard an explosion

Louder than she had ever heard

It took her a moment to figure out what it was

What followed were rapid gunshots coming  from two different directions

Before she could think or act She felt a bullet go through her stomach

Her insides burned as the gunpowder mixed immediately into her blood

As she collapsed dizzy

Blurry scenes of abu ammi and shahid flashed by her eyes

Just then, another tiny bullet of burning gunpowder went through her forehead

17 years of existence in the paradise

And a befitting silent nameless unceremonious death

The soldier who died with her got a honorary funeral

She became a headline in the newspaper

"Tensions up at Jammu and Kashmir border as teenage girl, soldier killed"

This was it, the end to her story

The cost of living in a paradise..