The Wandering Kid - By Mahi Meetali

Written By: Mahi Meetali

Category: short story

Competition: Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026

We are pleased to feature "The Wandering Kid" by Mahi Meetali, submitted under the pen name "The Wandering Kid," in the Short Story category of the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026. This evocative narrative takes readers on a journey through themes of societal rejection, identity, and the yearning for acceptance. Mahi's storytelling invites us to reflect on the profound impact of societal norms on individuals who dare to be different.

About the Work

"The Wandering Kid" is a poignant exploration of what it means to be an outsider. The narrative weaves a tapestry of emotions as it delves into themes of societal rejection, identity, and the deep longing for connection. Through vivid imagery and introspective prose, Mahi Meetali crafts a world where the protagonist's journey becomes a mirror reflecting the struggles of many who feel out of place in a conformist society. The story invites readers to question norms and embrace the beauty of being different.

The Wandering Kid

Original Submission by Mahi Meetali

The Wandering Kid

“Mom, look he looks so weird”, a little girl said looking at me through the window of her house, when her mother heard her and came to the window as well and looked at what she was pointing, she yelled at her daughter after she saw that her daughter was referring to me “gosh, close the window darling, he is not someone you should see, I need to wash you now and make sure you’re clean again, come with me, idiot pointing at a unlucky thing close the windows now”, the mother said as she closed the window shut on my face, I heard that little girl cries that were coming from inside the house and thought her mother was right, if I wasn’t unlucky, that girl wouldn’t be crying right now. I turned around and faced the village road and saw it was too empty for a random Tuesday working afternoon, but I was used to this emptiness so I simply walked forward as I heard the windows and doors getting shut, it was not like I looked like a beggar, my clothes were in a good condition, not torn or worn out, just a little dusty, but still everyone ran away from me in fear that I was unlucky, a mistake the universe made, a useless creature who was of no use for this world where everyone was born to contribute to the society, it's not like I didn’t wanted to contribute, it’s just that pleasing the society feels like feeding a hyena, no matter how much efforts you put, they’re never full, they always want more, and they will crush you completely to get the best out of you but still won’t be full, will call you worthless for not being tough and would move forward to crush another full of life creature, leaving behind a dull worn out person who is just a body, a body whose soul died long ago in the process of pleasing. I moved forward looking at the closed windows and doors, it’s not new for me, I’ve been seeing this from a long time, as I reached the end of the village road, up ahead I saw two ways, one leaded to a slight uphill and the other to a dark forest, I don’t know why I skipped the dark pathway and walked uphill like there was something in me who wanted to go there, I moved ahead feeling the cold winds on my face, I kept walking until I witnessed a house, a small red house, which was weird, the houses I’ve seen till now in all villages I went to were white, yellow, or simple colors that don’t grab much attention, but this house, it felt like it was yelling that you should stay from it, it’s dangerous to even look at it, forget about going near it, but I already knew no one would care about me anyway even if I vanish, rather they’ll be happy so being curious, I went towards it. Curiously with every cautious step I took towards the red house, it seemed more beautiful and captivating like it was inviting me, the bright red colored painted house, the green grass and small beautiful flowers around it all covered around in a wooden fence, a small metal door before the final entrance of the house, the two small stairs at the entrance of the house, to get in, and the unusual calm feeling it had around itself like it was saying everything is going to be fine, you won’t be judged here, you can be yourself again, everything around it was way too captivating to ignore. I slowly reached the metal gate which was simply closed, just a little push and it will open but I was hesitating to push the door, it felt like if I do, it won’t be the same ever again, I was fighting this battle within me, when I heard a distant yelling from one of the house I left behind “Is that curse gone”, hearing these painful words, without a single doubt, I pushed open the gate and entered inside, the grass felt too soft beneath my feet, maybe cause it was a long time I stepped on it, but for a moment it felt like it was inviting me to lay down and have a peaceful sleep, but I knew my insomnia would never let me sleep, the shadows in my dream will eat me alive the moment I close my eyes to relax, so I just walked forward examining the flowers in the small garden, the soft breeze that made them flow softly, I looked towards the wooden door, I slowly walked towards it making sure I was feelings every strand of the soft grass beneath my feet, I slowly climbed the two wooden stairs and noticed a huge lock on the wooden door, I knew it was useless to push it but I still did, even I didn’t knew why, but something inside me said that I should open the door, but no matter how hard I pushed, the door didn’t open, forget opening, it didn’t even budge, giving up hope I sat down on the ground in front of the door slowly pulling my knees to my chest and resting my head against them, it was dawn already, so instead of going any forward, I decide to spend the night here, I simply sat there as darkness took over the orange colored sky slowly, the birds chirping as the flock flew away, I heard their chirping and thought how lucky they are to fly away from their problems whenever they want, they are not judged for chirping too loudly, or flying away when things get hard, but just said that it’s their nature, funny how society treats every nature of every plant and animal as a new study of behaviour , but a human is supposed to look, and behave only one certain way, anything rather than that is abnormal, weird or simply a curse to the society. I wish humans were a little more kinder like the nature and animals, who know to stay close without any judgements when things are hard, instead of being rude, they understand and give a shoulder to cry when all humans do is make fun of you if you cry, like crying or being sad was never a emotion we were supposed to have in our lives, why don’t they understand, that sometimes crying is as important as laughing. The darkness took over completely, the moonlight being the only source of light. I looked towards the moon and stars and thought how easy their life is, why humans are so cruel while the nature is comforting in everything it does, with or without knowing, even getting drenched in the rain sometimes heals something in the person who was delaying crying for a long time, it gives them hope that they are not the only one crying, the sunlight that brings rays of hope and brightness in someone’s room who hasn’t been out in a long time, or the wind that softly brushes against someone’s face that gives the freshness to someone who hasn’t been feeling themselves for a while. I kept looking at the stars until my eyes got tired, I eventually put my head down in my knees and thought to keep my eyes shut for a while, I don’t know why but for some time now I don’t feel like sleeping anymore, no matter how much tired I’m at the end of the day I just can’t sleep no matter what, it feels like my body is too exhausted but my mind doesn’t feel anything, not even the feeling of rest my body is craving for so long, my mind feels like it lost sense of everything, time, emotions, rest, I have seen days where I just kept staring at anything in the world and lost sense of time, sitting at the same place staring at the same thing for hours without any reason, my mind completely blank, there have also been days where I didn’t feel any pain, like one day my hand was bleeding, I put up an natural herb on it but I didn’t feel any burn feelings, I sat completely numb while treating my own hand. Gosh I hate this empty feeling but at the same time I’m confused as well that why the hell do I even feel like this, I don’t know why but I just sat there my head buried in my knees, eyes opened, no thoughts in mind but still no sleep in my eyes as well, I just simply sat there waiting for the golden hue of the sun to cover the darkness spread across the sky. Soon enough with all the running thoughts in my mind I heard a faint voice of a little boy from a house down the hill where the red house was situated, I slowly went down towards the house and slowly looked inside the house through a small gap in the closed window where I saw a little boy along with his baby sister playing with the toys while his mother was feeding him and his baby sister was on their father’s lap, they looked like a beautiful happy family, where the love could be seen in the parents eyes and the way their kids glowed as well, I kept watching them with longing gaze for a long time but then suddenly a strong wind came due to which the window opened fully and the father saw me, he got up abruptly and closed the window, behind the window I could his hear his faint voice, he was whispering to the gods for me to go away, I backed off realizing I ruined their happiness like always, I don’t know why the hell do I forget the fact that I’m a curse to this world, I shouldn’t exist, why the hell did I came here, I’m ruining their happiness, the giggles of those two little kids were no longer heard and the lights also closed, I was backing away until I felt a stone near my leg, that was the point I knew I should go away, far away from this place and never return but as I started running, my feel automatically took me back to the red house like there was a comforting force that pulled me towards it, I don’t know it was the fact that I was different like me or it was the silence around it which I liked but I loved being here, this place felt so welcoming for lost souls like me, I came in front of the red house and my mind just blurred and I just started walking back towards the door again, even thought I knew I still again tried to open it by pushing it a little but when it still didn’t open, I simply turned back towards it and slid down against it, sitting down on the floor keeping my eyes down, simply waiting for the sun to shine again now but this time I didn’t wanted to leave this red house, I wanted to stay here till my last breath.

After some time that felt like a eternity I felt the golden hues of sunlight on the grass, as it glowed green under the golden hue like the sunlight gave it life back, I wish it could give me a reason to live as well, the golden hue was slowly covering the grass, the tiny flowers, slowly travelling towards me, but before it could reach me I heard the window of the red house open up, the glass panel wide open towards outside, while I just kept staring at the glass panel while the sunlight was going inside the house through the window, I slowly got up when I heard a tiny giggle of a girl, I went towards the window and as I looked inside I didn’t see anyone, I thought I was dreaming until a girl popped right in front of my eyes, she had beautiful long curly red hair along with green eyes that looked like the entire earth’s greenery was in those eyes, it felt like the nature loved her so much that it decided to stay in her eyes forever, and that red hair that looked like the heartbeat of flame, the way her beautiful curly hair was open, all messy like she just woke up or was just too lazy to make a braid, they looked so fierce and bold, like they were yelling we are something you cannot have control over, we are wild and unpredictable. She was looking straight in my eyes, she isn’t supposed to do this, but still she looked right in my eyes without any fear, gosh she shouldn’t do this, her eyes are too pretty to not be lost in them, I fear if I keep looking I’ll drown in them but I still kept looking, if someone saw us like this, she would get in big trouble, she should have had her hair in a braid, not messy and resilient like this and she shouldn’t look directly in my eyes like this, it’s morally wrong, and I should have warned her, but I don’t know I liked this look of hers, the raw and fearless look she was giving me, her resilient hair and the her eyes that were too different to be real, honestly her being so different, looking so different should have scared the living shit out of me but for some reason it didn’t, she felt like a comforting hug that I didn’t wanted to break, “wow, you look handsome”, she said in a cheerful voice, wait who is she referring to, I looked around when she said “stupid, I’m talking about you”, I looked at her with shocked eyes, and she lightly giggled looking at me, “gosh I don’t know who you are but you’re really cute”, she said extending her hand towards me, I backed off immediately and fell down on the ground, she looked surprised and said “why are you getting scared, has no one ever told you this or what, you are really adorable, don’t be scared, c’mon get up”, her voice felt like did a magic on me, without even realizing I got up and went near the window again, “are you okay” she said as she kept her hand on my left shoulder looking at me from top to bottom like scanning for some injuries, while I was losing my senses by her hand on my shoulder like girl is this not forbidden, it felt like an eternity later someone touched me and is worried about me, this feeling is too unfamiliar for me right now but it feels so comforting, that I don’t want to wake up if I’m still dreaming, please god I don’t want to wake up, I want to stay in this feeling forever. Suddenly I felt my left eye watering, I quickly pretended something went in my eye, which I think she also noticed “what happened is your eye okay, show me”, she said held my face with both her hands, and slowly blowed in my left eye, up so close to her face, I could notice her beautiful green eyes, the tiny mole just below her left eye, and her sharp eyes, she looked simply breath taking, like someone who could easily distract and lure you to your death, “are you okay”, her voice again hit my ears, gosh up so close her voice sounds even more melodious, “hey, I asking you, are you okay”, she said as I looked into her green eyes and slowly nodded, I wanted to say something but looking at her eyes, I forgot everything and just kept staring, I knew it was morally wrong, I shouldn’t do this, she can get in trouble cause of me but I couldn’t control, her eyes were too pretty to look away, just wanted to drown them, “gosh will you say something, or can you not speak”, I can’t speak wait!! What no “I can speak”, I suddenly yelled as she flinched a little and retreated her hands back from my face just a little “hey don’t be scared, its just that eyes just felt like the earth loved you so much that it decided to stay in your eyes forever so I got distracted”, I blurted it out abruptly, for a second we both stayed silent, then I was about to say something but she started laughing loudly, “you’re such a cutie, gosh its been ages since I laughed like this, you’re interesting”, she found me interesting, gosh me I think she is not in her right senses, how can someone find me interesting, I’m someone people despise, not like, someone who is always thrown out of people’s lives, someone who is a curse and should have never been born in the first place, and this girl finds me interesting, she is not normal, she is not even a human I doubt cause which human looks so heavenly beautiful like so pretty she is, gosh is she even real or am I hallucinating now, suddenly I felt a finger flick on my forehead “gosh you think way too much, stupid creature what should I do with you”, “what the hell, 2 second ago I was interesting and now I’m suddenly stupid, what is wrong with you girl”, I said as she went quiet for some time before saying “with me, almost everything is wrong I’m not someone you should have witnessed”, I stared at her confusingly silently telling her to continue, she sighed and stared at the sun shining brightly “do you like the sunlight”, do I like it girl I stay in the sun 24/7 “cause I love it, specially the warmth it provides during this crisp winter season or autumn should I say to be more specific, I love this weather a lot, what about you, don’t you love it”, now that she mentioned it I started thinking something deep which she noticed “you know you can share with me what you’re thinking, I would love to know what you thinking about, so do you want to share it with me, I looked at her for a second then towards the sun garden where small flowers were slowly dying, as autumn is slipping in slowly, “I have a very different point of view about seasons you see, I think if you watch closely, all the seasons are lined up so beautifully, like autumn teaches us letting go, during winters, after autumn took away all the leaves and greenery with itself, the trees look so empty like they are broken from inside, but as spring comes, they start to heal, they start to grow, and by the time summer comes, the tree stars blooming again, by the time dark clouds cover up the sky and rainfall starts dimming up the heat, the trees sine brightly like they got their spark back” “only for the spark to shatter again in autumn” “I think shattering is important for them to grow, and even a star burns brightest before it explodes and vanishes from this world completely.”, she looked at me as I looked at her, it was a small brief eye contact before we both looked away, and she said “you’re right, a person looks the most beautiful before they collapse completely, maybe that’s why we both are so attractive”, attractive “wait what do you mean to say, like I understand you’re attractive, but what do you mean to say, are you not well or something, you can tell me I know someone who can treat your any illness” “since morning you have been calling me pretty, didn’t the thought that how she looks so inhuman crossed your mind even for once” “inhuman, I think being different is beautiful, being common is too boring, and not interesting at all” “but don’t you feel like that sometimes being different is not a blessing but a curse instead, being different doesn’t get you valued or loved, it gets you questioned” “so what do you do to avoid being questioned, you wear a mask, a mask of happiness, that makes you look like you fit in the society perfectly so no one questions you, no one bothers you and no one makes you doubt your value” I said and looked at her like I was trying to see her mask but felt like she saw mine when she said staring right into my eyes “behind every mask is someone flawed, someone fragile, someone worthy of love anyway”, gosh I felt exposed, felt like her eyes were seeing right through the walls I built to safe guard myself, never in my life before I felt so exposed as I exposed I am feeling today, “what is so wrong with you”, she looked confused on my statement “what do you mean”, she asked even so innocently like she just didn’t make me feel completely exposed right now “you looked in my eyes and I felt like you saw through me”, she looked at my eyes again and said “you know there is a saying that goes like there is a story in every eye you see, you just need to study close enough”, this girl feels like she will kill with her words only at this rate, I went speechless on her comment cause that's the most honest thing I've heard in a while, like she is right, if we study people deeply through their eyes, we understand them very easily. “What are you thinking mister”, “you're a deep thinker” “ wh…what, do you mean” “you think really very deeply, is that a reason you understand people easily or is this a method to hide something deep. Honestly speaking, it is that I think that deep thinking is a beautiful quality”, I looked at her trying to make a eye contact but she looked away and said “ You know you said deep thinking is very amazing quality but I think it's the biggest curse of the world one can have, because it kills you form inside it shatters you, cause you feel too much and the world calls it dramatic and no one quite will understand you the way you will understand others , so in my point of view deep thinking is a curse, and you telling I'm great at it sounds really sarcastic” “I'm sorry, I know the nerve I’ve hit accidently doesn't even deserve a sorry but I know words hurt and they hurt more when the person doesn't feel guilty” “you know sometimes people's words are so venomous that even a cobra will die cause of them”, she said as I looked at her with astonishment “You're weird as hell”, I said while looking at her and she looked really shocked from my statement, “hey you're the one who looks weird, not me” ,she said making me go silent for 2 minutes before I turned my eyes down to the floor and whispered “I already know I look weird, don't remind me of that, if I had looked normal, I would have been a normal happy kid like my younger brother at home”, she looked confused with my confession, she suddenly grabbed my shoulder from behind and turned me towards herself making me face her eye to eye “are you okay, buddy”, she said suddenly making my eyes water, it's been ages since someone has referred to me so politely and sweetly, I nodded in no and suddenly I felt water running down my cheeks, I touched my cheek and felt tears, how can this be possible, I didn’t even cry when I left home, she saw me crying and pulled me in her embrace as much as she could patting my head softly while the iron bars were still between us and she said “ you can cry here, I won't judge you, promise”, that's it this was my breaking point, I hugged her back tightly burying my head in her shoulder crying loudly, making sure the while village knows that I'm still here, crying right now felt like I was finally letting go of everything I was holding onto for ages, while she softly patted my hair, it felt really comforting as well. I wailed loudly for a good amount of time letting go of every trauma, every pain I held inside me for so long, the pain that was eating me alive from so many days was finally ending, I slowly felt my eyes heavy like they wanted to rest but I refrained myself from sleeping, and stayed awake not letting go of the comforting embrace, when suddenly I heard her melodious soft voice right beside my ear “do you want to share what happened with you in the past”, I slowly nodded as she slowly pulled away, I looked at her with my tear stained face which she noticed, she unwrapped the silk scarf which was around her wrist and slowly wiped my face with it, signalling me with her eyes to share my story, I don't know how a hollow person like me felt so many emotions at once and also understood her eye movements but I decided to finally share it with her, “ I'm around 17 right now, since I'm born, my parents hid me from the world cause of my appearance. My father was the army general of our kingdom and my mother was a handmaiden of the queen. I was born with white hair and blue eyes, and skin so bright it looked like snow, my parents got scared after seeing me thinking I was the result of some sorcery, my father also talked with many medical practitioners for me but all in vain, they used to treat me like a servant cause they used to think I’m useless, the least they did was hide me away from the world to maintain their reputation across the kingdom, but that plan also failed when one old man who was a medical practitioner informed the king about me, the king himself came to view my appearance, and after looking at me he got furious with my parents, and ordered them to leave the town forever and never return, my parents who were always respected were thrown away like trash from the kingdom with insults. My parents lived then lived in a small hut deep in the forest, my father used to make me chop wood, while he went to sell it in the market and my mother made me do all the housework like cooking, cleaning and filling water pots from the river that was way too far away from our house at the age of 10 only. I was tired of this life, but I didn't knew it was still better than the one I was going to have a year later, a year later my younger brother was born, completely normal, brown eyes, black hair, completely fit, my parents decided to use him to get back in the kingdom, they went back to the King and showed him their second son, the king agreed to have them back in the kingdom but on the condition that I should die, my parents agreed at once and returned to their old home in the kingdom while I waited for them in the small hut, when suddenly after 2 days, an assassin came to take me down, I begged him a lot and I think that he was the only person with a heart in the kingdom cause he caressed my hair and told me to run away and never come back, and still today I'm following that assassin's order and running away from everywhere and everyone cause I'm too weird for the society” as I finished I saw her looking in my eyes with nothing but sorrow, “you’re not weird buddy, you’re a unique gift to this world of common people and you deserve all the happiness in the world”, she said holding my cheeks, “so can I stay here with you forever”, I don’t know where that came from but I wanted her to say yes, but her answer broke my heart in pieces all over again, “no buddy, you can’t stay with me but promise me that you will take care of yourself, make a house, earn a living, and will live respectfully in the society, but for now, only for 2 days follow that assassin’s order and run away from here, GO RIGHT NOW”, she yelled the last words making me back off and run away from there, I kept running for hours away deep in the forest beside that red house, the more I went away, the more my heart pained, after some time I stopped and laid down on the ground letting sleep take over me. After a complete whole day, I opened my eyes, simply got up and started walking back towards the red house, my peace was there and I can’t run away from there, for the first time I think I have found a friend who cares for me how can I run awa, I’ll stay with her forever so I started walking, for some time, when I finally reached there I was shocked to see that the villagers were burning the house completely, while that red haired girl was inside the house. “STOP, what are you guys doing”, I yelled and ran towards the house to stop the fire but the villagers caught me, “oh lord another witch like her, what should we do with this one” “burn him along with her, let’s finish this chapter today itself only”, the villagers who caught me said and threw me inside along with her, the fire covering the house, I walked towards her, she was kneeling on the floor in the middle of her half burning house her hair covering her face but I could see some little tears falling on the floor from her eyes, her house looked so comfy but not more than what her presence, her words, her heart did to me, I slowly went towards her, got on my knees in front of her figure and hugged her and whispered, “my peace lies here, I won’t leave, don’t cry you are my only one who gets me please don’t push me away. I know we can never be together but I still wanted to give it a try, too bad it’s too late. You are nothing what I planned for but you are everything my heart needed. I guess I was too late to come back, I’m sorry if there is another life I promise I will find you on time and won’t let you go. I’m sorry that I’m so late”, I cried on her shoulder saying this when I felt her hands holding me, this was her answer she needed this answer only if I was not so late to understand, this time the hug felt so peaceful cause there was no barrier between us, maybe this was our last hug but if death feels this comforting, then please let death find me in her arms always. I saw the flames covering the house and slowly it reached us as well as it approached we toughened the embrace even more I could feel she was no longer scared and that was the only reassurance I needed, before I closed my eyes forever I looked at her face once more as the flames covered both of us slowly burning away two different souls the society could not accept.

I never imagined our story to end like this but sometimes being different is definitely a curse.

About the Competition

The Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026, hosted by Hashtag Kalakar, is a celebration of literary creativity and expression. This prestigious event gathers writers from across the globe to share their unique voices and stories. Participants submit their works in various categories, showcasing the richness of diverse perspectives and the power of written word to bridge cultural and emotional divides.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Mahi Meetali for sharing "The Wandering Kid" with us in the Global Poetry and Creative Writing Competition 2026. Your narrative resonates deeply, shedding light on the complexities of identity and belonging. We appreciate your contribution and look forward to seeing more of your evocative storytelling.

About Hashtag Kalakar

Hashtag Kalakar is a creative platform dedicated to providing artists, writers, singers and other creative talents with opportunities to showcase their work and reach wider audiences through competitions, features and creative initiatives.