Tilottama Chowdhury

India

Aurora: The Dawn of a New Life

She stopped and looked at the glass window of the clothes store. To anyone, she would seem to be just another girl looking at the holiday sale prices.

But they were wrong.

She stood there looking at her own reflection in the shop window. She couldn’t help but look in awe. She had yet to get used to her soft feminine features, but at least now she belonged.

She still had pictures from last Christmas – a scrawny boy with sharp elbows. She remembered looking through the same window, but she had been looking at the clothes then. The gossamer and silk had called out to her. But she hadn’t dared to step inside the store. After all, what would people say about a teenage boy asking to try on a dress? So, she stood there staring longingly through the window.

When she stepped inside the store now, no one threw her any curious glances. She tried on dress after dress.

She felt pretty, she felt beautiful.

She could not sleep that night, drunk on giddiness.

As she looked at the rising sun, she found her new name fitting – Aurora.

It meant dawn – the start of a new day.