Unfulfilled dreams

She was surrounded by the children of all age and there was laughter everywhere. She kept smiling to every one. But behind that smile lived a lonely soul. After her hours with the children, she always went back to her lonely den where she lived. She dreaded entering the house because it told the tale of unfulfilled dreams and she could feel the air of loneliness creep through the door along with her. She would be forty next week but she did not even look forward to her birthday. In fact her birthday always reminded her of another time when she was the happiest girl in the whole world.

She was eighteen then. Her parents had sent her a birthday cake in the school and her friends had planned a secret birthday party away from the watchful eyes of their matron. She was elated when her friends surprised her and they had a mid night party in the hostel. Her eighteenth birthday had some other surprises in store for her. She met the man of her dreams that day. They were made for each other and they became the talk in the campus.

Then on day, her parents came to know about them and took her away to another college. They were not allowed to meet and she was never allowed to go anywhere without a chaperon. When she finished her studies and started looking for her soul mate, she could not find a trace of him. He had just vanished.

Her parents tried to wed her to another man from their town, but she did not heed to their wish. She waited for her man. The wait took her another fifteen years to find out that he was already married and had 2 daughters. She came to know about that when he came to admit his daughters to her school. Her wait had been futile. Here she was waiting for him while he already belonged to some one else.

None of her new friends knew her story and she never shared to anyone. From that time, she dedicated her life to bringing smile to others while she died within everyday.