Melodic Suppression

By Susmita

I break open the crystalline box; the sound starts low, gradually becomes louder. It’s like honey in my ears. Each year on my birthday, I get a minute of music because Granny works in the Capitol.

I don’t know what instruments I’m hearing. Music is a luxury usually reserved for the rich, so it’s forbidden to own or play instruments. Singing is punishable by demerits – which at first amounts to missing meals, but if repeated, the punishments become serious.

One woman who refused not to sing was sent to another planet’s colony. She sang-shouted as they dragged her away.

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“I write to try to pin down the elusive and kaleidoscopic alternative universe butterflies that flit just out of my range of vision.” – the writer