IWP Season 4

Submission - Participant Copy

Title:
The Matrix

First Name Middle Name Last Name

Sai Divya Bositty

Email divyabositty006@gmail.com

Mobile No. 9440186281

Registration ID IWPS4FN7742

Submission ID IWPS4FN7742_E1

Submitted On: Wednesday, June 7, 2023

Type Of Work Short-Story

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 THE MATRIX

Lucia’s eyes twinkled as she picked up the book with a bold title,
‘hunter becomes the hunted’.

“Story time, Mumma!” she screamed.

“It’s past your bedtime, I’ll tuck you into bed soon,” Mrs. Noah
retorted from the kitchen.

12 YO, Lucia who exudes vibrant energy, has her own way to get
things done and it works for her each time; with a puppy face and
flickering eyes, Lucia took the book and went to her father and as
usual he was left with no choice.

As Mr. Noah turned the pages, Lucia was all excited to throw
herself into the story…

“Congratulations Zilla, you’ve been selected to represent our

university for the national music concert.” With an ever-radiant
face, Mrs. Swathi, Zilla’s dean extended her hand. Zilla’s gleaming
smile spoke volumes as she extended her hand saying, “Thank you,
I’ll make sure I stand up to your expectations”.

Zilla is a 21yo prodigy with exceptional talent and intelligence,

pursuing her bachelors in computer science from a prestigious
university. Only she knows how relentlessly she slogged and all the
donkeywork she did to get into that uni. Her world mostly consists
of her family whom she loves unconditionally, her university
(place she goes for her best friends), her music room (place where
her best friends visit her), and her three best friends who are an
integral part of her life.

“Thick as thieves,” is what defines their friendship. Most of the

times they mock each other, but there were times when everyone
used to team up defying all the odds which stood against them.
Like youngsters, they used to talk about politics, love affairs, all
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the ‘what if’ scenarios, life mysteries and often delving into the
memories or paving a future roadmap.

Time seemed to be flying by and Zilla was in full swing with her
preparations, her best friends’ support made a lot of difference,
there used to be a surge of energy within her with their sheer
presence. As life has its own way of twisting things, just before her
big day, “the Quadruplets” got into a huge fight and Zilla
instinctively knew that something was off.

She barely slept the following night, and her emotions were not in
her control. Somehow, she managed to pull herself, determined to
give her best as she was representing her university at a national
level.

She stood on the stage, thousands of eyes glancing back at her,

hoping her friends made their way throwing away the dispute, she
fished around. Their presence was missing, her biggest
cheerleaders ditched her, anxiety swept into every cell of hers; she
could hear the thumping of her heart, she became numb and she
froze.

Next thing she knew she was lying on her bed weeping profusely
out of utter guilt that she let everyone down. Knowing the
situation, her friends hurried into the room. Unfortunately, the
situation elevated and things caught up, they criticized her for her
emotional turmoil until she could not stand anymore. In the heat of
the moment one of her friends overpowered her and slit Zilla’s
throat with a stationary knife that was lying on the study table.
Blood was oozing out, Zilla was trying to grasp her last breath as
her life was slipping out slowly.
Horrified by the way the situation had turned into, her friends tried
to escape from the room but they couldn’t find a magic door, so
they stayed there regardless. Hearing the sounds from Zilla’s room
her parents rushed into the room and were completely shattered to
see Zilla’s motionless body lying on the floor. Beside her was a
paper drenched in her blood which read:
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“Firstly, let me introduce you to my three best friends, Ms. Fear,
Ms. Courage, Ms. Pessimist, Ms. Optimist, Ms. Self-doubt and Ms.
confidence. They are not six separate happenings but just three,
precisely, as how light and darkness are not contradictory but
complimentary to each other, the mere absence of one is the
presence of the other. As I grew up, they ruled my complete life as
their own. My interest never lied in computers, just because of my
fear and the pessimistic voice which said I’ll be doomed if not, I
gave in to enroll myself. Music was my heart so the other presence
helped me to get through it. But I’m done fighting this battle, fear
has completely shrunk my being and nothing is left. A spider
trapped in its own web is a disaster as the ‘hunter becomes the
hunted.

Signing off, Zilla.”

Just as the letter came to an end, Lucia could hear her own scream
echoing at a piercing pitch, the pungent antiseptic invaded her
nostrils, machine beeps summoned her ears and she was unable to
open her eyes because of the strong drugs administered to her...

At an instance, Dr. William along with sister Nancy gushed into the
room to inject Paliperidone, a drug to cure severe psychotic
breakdown. As they administered it, slowly Lucia’s face calmed
down. Nancy glanced at Dr. William to ask “Why does she blurt
out the same random bed time story, what’s the significance?”

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Dr. William withdrew for a second, staring at the distant space, he
said, “Because it is her story, she stood by her name, Lucia Zilla,
means light
shadow. Shadow produced by the projection of light rather than the
absence
of it. Light creates the shadow but ironically, shadow takes over the
play. She
was all cheerful as a kid emitting exuberance, gradually as she was
growing,
the aliveness went down with the constant inner turmoil. Her
parents rushed her
to the hospital, where she was unconscious for a very long period
and later
regained consciousness, just to be the light in her story, she is no
more
Zilla, but only Lucia, meaning light. That's why she is playing both
the protagonist as a child and sidekick as a grown up in her own
way, now."

----------------------------------------- End Of Submission -----------------------------------------