A flight of fantasy

A post written for Short Story Slam


She smiled. Her hand and the hot air balloon on the paper both were full of colours. Her roomies in the boarding hostel were absent-mindedly reading from their books. She pondered for a moment. She wanted to fly in the hot air balloon she drew.
She added her own picture in it and titled ‘The flight’. She wished to fly away somewhere and create a new land. The new land would be a place where she and her friends would rule.

All teenagers like her would be decision makers. All matrons would be woken up early and made to jog at least 10 rounds in the shivering cold. They would be forced to drink milk and eat veggies at every meal. No teacher would be allowed visit to tuck shop to buy colas, chips and ice creams. All teachers would be denied access to iPods, laptops and mobiles. The teens would check each teacher’s cupboard to ensure that it is clean. Timely inspections would be done so that teachers don’t paint their nails or style their hair. The teachers would have unlimited study hours.

She and her friends would have a different set of rules for themselves. Well, they were the rulers of the new land. They would sleep as long as they wished in their cozy beds. Their colourful world would have no books. They would only have the latest gizmos with them. They would listen to songs, download movies and eat chips, drink fizzy drinks and chat online for hours. There would be no vegetables cooked for them. Cheese pizzas, burgers, chocolates and French fries would be the food served. Their beds and rooms would be tidied by their teachers, who would be assessed. All these young girls would style their hair as they wished, do nail art and wear low cut jeans. All teens would visit shopping malls whenever they wished and have fun.
Her smile grew deeper as she imagined. She stuck that hot air balloon on her wall and shared her fantasies with her roomies. One of her roomies drew faces of few adults staring at the hot air balloon. She said the faces were of the teachers requesting these girls to give them a ride on their hot air balloon. These girls imagined flying in the balloon, leaving the pleading teachers behind and had the last laugh.