The Short Life Of "Ne"

Note: This is a work of fiction that has been written for The Garner Pure Active Neem Face Wash Contest on Indiblogger.inbit.ly/GPABlogLinkIndiBloggerActivity  bit.ly/GarnierPureActiveNeemWebsite
Perhaps she felt a slight discomfort. But while you're letting your hair down at your best friend's bachelorette party, screaming and laughing, while every wide smile is tinged slightly with a green shade of envy and every tear of joy is really screaming, "Why her and not me?", slight discomfort is easily masked, forgotten and/or ignored. 
After all the dancing in high heels and the semi-fake laughter, Nisha reached home, with little or no idea that I was growing. She was exhausted, too much to walk to the wash-basin and wash off all the heavy make-up. I should be grateful. I was being fed after all, with all that leftover make-up. She crashed on the pillow. Her eyes were open for some time. Then she pressed them shut and began to sob. There, girl, there; let your jealousy quench my thirst.
The next morning, I was sure Nisha would acknowledge my presence. I was red and plump now. Nisha opened her eyes and slowly brought a finger to the apple of her cheek. Yup, she had felt me. She threw her legs off the bed and ran to her mirror. There was a blood-curdling scream.
“Hi,” I smiled wolfishly, “The name’s Ne. Ac Ne. Pleased to meet you.”
Okay, so the scream wasn’t exactly blood-curdling, cos let’s face it, this isn’t a Hitchcock movie and Nisha is not so melodramatic. Come on, I am a pimple, not small pox. But you see, I am dangerously narcissistic. I love being photographed! So I make sure I appear right before someone is gonna appear in, say, a lot of photographs. I also loooove to imagine that someday, some girl might actually scream loud enough to make me wanna shrivel up in sheer fear. So far that has happened in a) my daydreams b) in ads for anti-acne products.
And here we have Nisha taking a selfie already. Wow. The glory. I flash a wide red grin at the camera. She sent my pic to some girls on a WhatsApp group.
Hah! I smiled in a Jim Moriarty kinda way, knowing no matter what they advised, I was gonna appear in those wedding photos. I could’ve grown on the bride, but you see, I am not mean. I just want my fair bit of exposure, that’s it! It’s just that every time I smiled, Nisha would feel a painful sting.
One of the girls in the group pinged back, advising Nisha to use Garnier Pure Active Neem Face Wash.
“Will it work?” Nisha pinged back, crying. “Yes” came the reply. “Yeah, right”, so thought I.
Nisha dressed up (washed off last night’s make up. Damn!) and went out to the store. She was wondering where she would get this face wash. She asked the guy at a nearby store. He promptly gave her a tube. I had nothing to worry about. What harm could a face wash do?
Nisha washed her face, and fear slowly began to creep up on me. I felt parched. Dry, oh so dry… Could someone help me? Nisha? What was happening?
Anyway, the wedding was tomorrow and there were some functions this evening. Surely, even if I felt dry, I could still make an appearance in photographs.
By afternoon, I was so dry, I felt myself shriveling up. It was so suffocating . I needed nourishment. Someone! Help! What is happening?!
By the time Nisha got ready for the function, I knew I had shrunk a lot as compared to my former glory. But I was a survivor. I would keep fighting whatever it was that was killing me. Yes!
At the function, Nisha seemed confident. Not hampered by my presence. Had I already become so insignificant? How is this even possible? Wait! The photographer is here! With the last shred of energy, I tried to appear bright and red for the cameras.
It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Nisha, the bride and the girls gathered for a group photo. The photographer lifted his camera. “Smile, ladies,” he said. I tried. I heard a pop.
I knew I was gone.Copyright Petrichor and Clouds 2013 at petrichorandclouds.blogspot.com Please do not reproduce the material published here.