Teardrop.

She walked down the road. A tear formed. It didn't fall, but it was there. She could feel it. And she wanted to cry it, to rid herself of it. Of the great burden that is a tear that hasn't fallen. It welled and burned in her eye, but it didn't show. She kept walking. She passed a bit of footpath where a man in dirty rags was sleeping, surrounded by chalk marks in orange chalk on the footpath. She didn't stop. She passed people, who looked at her suspiciously as she hummed a sad song to herself. Accusing her with their eyes. But they didn't feel the tear. And they walked past her and disappeared into the world at which she would never turn and look. She passed a dirty roadside stall, where groups of people stood about, talking and sipping tea from little mud cups. A man, done with his tea, hurled the cup at the footpath, where it shattered into big and small pieces. They didn't notice her, she didn't notice them. She looked at the pieces, a little startled for a moment, and then went on. Past a big banyan tree, past a bilboard with a picture of a shiny- haired woman, past the cars stuck in the traffic jam, and the loud, irritating bollywood music that blared out of an open window. Past a shadow of a tree marked by fallen yellow flowers, and a white house with an open door. And an empty lot, and a sleepy security guard. The tear was insistent now, hot and wet somewhere behind her eye. She turned a corner. She looked at her shoes, and at the empty parking lot. The shoes were scorching, something she hadn't noticed before. She didn't hear anything, or feel anything, or think anything, because the tear was getting its way. It slid out from beneath her almost- shut eyelids and travelled down her cheek, leaving a cool, wet trail on the skin. It fell off her cheek and dropped away. She thought for a moment it was over, she felt relief. Then another drop followed that one, and then another.She stood for a moment and thought about it. She was crying. Why ? She didn't know. She didn't feel anything. She wondered why she needed a reason. Why she needed to justify that tear. And she found she didn't know. The last tear lingered on her chin for a moment. She felt it, and was comforted. And then it, too, fell away.