Internal Freedom | Teen Ink

Internal Freedom

August 25, 2021
By Ananyaguha PLATINUM, Bhopal, Other
Ananyaguha PLATINUM, Bhopal, Other
24 articles 45 photos 32 comments

Favorite Quote:
“If they strain me up tight, why, let 'em look out! I can't bear it, and I won't.” ---- Black Beauty


Seraphina was sitting on the roof of her house, staring at the starry sky. She was really frustrated. Today again her mother had forbidden her to go on a night stroll with her friends."Why don't these elders understand that we children too need some space?", she muttered.
As soon as she had uttered those words, she saw a star starting to twinkle very brightly. It's light got brighter and brighter until it looked like a huge ball of fire. Then a beautiful lady climbed out of the ball. Seraphina stared at her with her mouth hanging open. 
"Who are you?", she asked.
"I am Badeea, the Lady of Dreams", she replied in a sweet sing-song voice. She had long golden hair and a long golden dress.
"Why are you here?", Seraphina asked.
"I am here to make you understand that freedom is not what you think it is."
"I know what freedom is! People get to go out and do what they want", Seraphina said indignantly.
Badeea smiled. "I will show you something. You have to see it properly", she said. 
She conjured a glass ball and hovered her fingers around it. It started showing a part of a forest. Deer were grazing in a beautiful grassland. Then suddenly a gunshot sounded somewhere near. Seraphina watched in horror as a group of hunters came barreling into the grassland, shooting at the deer. Some managed to same themselves, some got badly injured, and a lot of deer died. It was a mess.
Then the scene shifted. The ball now showed a village. Girls were playing and laughing around in the village ground. When it started getting dark their mothers called and they went home happily.
The glass ball became blank. Badeea looked at Seraphina. She was staring at the glass, astonished. 
"Which life would you prefer more Seraphina?", asked Badeea. Seraphina thought over the matter and said, " I like the way the deer move around freely, but I don't like how the hunters suddenly pop out and start shooting. So I would prefer the other one."
"So, what do you make of freedom? It is not about being able to go out freely and do what you want. It is about being internally free. Be happy, spend time with your family. You'll love it! You will be able to go out when you are of that age. Why do you think those girls were happy? They had free spirits, they enjoyed every little thing they got. Until and unless you are happy and pure, darkness will always rule you. Now that's not what you call freedom, do you?"
"No . . .", Seraphina said, then trailed off. She sat thinking for sometime and then said, "thank you. You made me see sense and got me out of my own little world."
Badeea smiled and started to back away, until she was no less than a small star.
Seraphina went inside, happy and content with her life and to apologise to her mother.


The author's comments:

Seraphina is a small girl who has the wrong notion about freedom. A magical woman comes to make her see sense. Will she understand the true meaning of freedom?? 


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