{"id":1302,"date":"2021-06-19T17:22:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-19T17:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/?p=1302"},"modified":"2021-06-20T09:53:11","modified_gmt":"2021-06-20T09:53:11","slug":"short-story-controversial-teacups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/2021\/06\/19\/short-story-controversial-teacups\/","title":{"rendered":"The Controversial Teacups"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Nikolay Dimitrov Petkov (XI d)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A remarkable work! It caught our attention in the May’2021 short story competition titled ‘Awakening’<\/a>!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To Ze<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The eyes of the teacups abruptly turned towards me, wide-open. Until then, I had been pretty sure that they were too shy to look around. Apparently, I was wrong \u2013 they all had that unimaginable, fixed stare!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The teacups watched me in silence. The room was still dark. It was that particular moment of the day when the sun was almost completely hidden behind the clouds. It never failed to remind me of a dying person with stilled breaths\u2026 The whole world was painted in pink and orange.
For the teacups, perhaps, that would forever remain as their only moment of some naturally colourful embarrassment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt reminds me of the taste of peaches,\u201d one of them, sprinkled in yellow, said cheerfully. It was made of polka-dot blue porcelain and had more of the shape of a mug.
There was no answer. All the teacups were dangling slighltly on a medium-high cactus in the centre of the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen?\u201d another one asked, eventually, probably trying to get noticed.
\u201cI cannot say for sure,\u201d the blue one with yellow polka-dots explained. Then it added: \u201cWhenever.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A teacup, all in brown and black, set somewhat afar in the background, sighed heavily. It looked very emotional and proud.
\u201cThere is no sense in anything. In fact, I am as doomed as no one before me has ever been!\u201d It went on, rather pathetically: \u201cUnfortunately, I can\u2019t help it. There’s nothing I can do about it \u2013 every single try just kills me.\u201d
For a while, it seemed unsure of how to continue. Soon after, its voice came out, uttering the words a bit more slowly:
\u201cYou just\u2026 have to feel\u2026 the pain.\u201d
There was silence again.
\u201cHowever,\u201d it continued, \u201cI hope my strength will never demolish somebody from inside, like\u2026\u201d
It stopped for a second, and went on: \u201cBut then, it always comes so chaotically. The pain. Every single time!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The yellow polka-dot teacup swayed on its branch. The others stood still and silent.
Somehow, the cactus had as many branches as the cups needed, just to hang there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo you think,\u201d the black-brown cup swayed a little, to face the others, \u201cthat it loves me?\u201d
\u201cW-ho does?\u201d the one still waiting to be acknowledged hurried to stutter.
Initially, the over-sensitive brown cup seemed to be unable to answer. In a few seconds, though, it sighed:
\u201cMy pain.\u201d
It made a short pause, before adding, \u201cI hope.\u201d
\u201cI guess it’s worth letting your pains destroy you, isn\u2019t it?\u201d its sad voice went on. \u201cWith each and every new dying second that we breathe in, as it passes away\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sun outside had already hidden behind the horizon. The dense clouds of the approaching morning fog were hanging like curtains from the sky.
An orange teacup spoke up, making the others jump a little.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHa! But surely, you must do!\u201d
It was facing the black-brown cup, as it continued:
\u201cYou really do love them all, right?\u201d
That orange fellow was a rather strange type of cup, with eyes so wide-open that they made it look quite different from the rest. Its voice was hoarse. Actually, it sounded like an old woman\u2019s voice. That seemed almost puzzling.
\u201cThey\u2019re so-o-o enormous,\u201d it added, and there was a long pause. \u201cDon\u2019t you perceive them as such?\u201d
In fact, it was not waiting for any of the cups to agree, it was rather wishing one of them to deny the statement. Anyway, it soon continued:
\u201cSo painfully intertwined with one another, and still \u2013 so alone\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho are they?\u201d a tiny green cup asked somewhere from behind, all of a sudden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell-well\u2026 Isn\u2019t that the old incessant question? And so inspiring,\u201d said the orange cup. It had been biting its upper lip for some time, its face expressing both anger and some uncommon eagerness. Yet, there was another feeling as well. Something undefinable and quite distant appeared to be controlling its face.
\u201cThe joy of all that biting! It looks good on our faces, don\u2019t you think so?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cups kept silent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The orange one went on: \u201cEverything rotates around that apple coloured in green and red. It\u2019s the only thing that has ever existed \u2013 in both such colours.\u201d The orange teacup suddenly swung on its branch, and continued:
\u201cWell, actually, the same colours\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other cups listened in a trance. They slowly started breathing unanimously, like a silent choir, as if succouring the orange one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have to hate it. Maybe we do. Who says that we should? What do we really hate? Can we hate it, indeed?<\/em> …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The orange one tried to sneer, and\u2026 it succeeded.
\u201cWhy not?\u201d it asked. \u201cDive into your own perceptions, look around and figure out everything!\u201d While happily announcing that, a vivid smile appeared on its face. Strange how, just a second ago, it was about to grin\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The lips of all cups were firmly stuck, their eyes closed.
The cactus swivelled carefully around its centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

April 2021<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Nikolay Dimitrov Petkov (XI d) A remarkable work! It caught our attention in the May’2021 short story competition titled ‘Awakening’! To Ze The eyes of the teacups abruptly turned towards me, wide-open. Until then, I had been pretty sure that they were too shy to look around. Apparently, I was wrong \u2013 they all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[101,170,1],"tags":[118,171,14,62,83],"yoast_head":"\nThe Controversial Teacups - School newspaper<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"All those sleeping teacups, waiting to be woken! This piece of work, submitted for our competition titled 'Awakening', grabbed our attention. A short story full of colour, with a slight shade of embrassement. Enjoy!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/2021\/06\/19\/short-story-controversial-teacups\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Controversial Teacups - School newspaper\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"All those sleeping teacups, waiting to be woken! This piece of work, submitted for our competition titled 'Awakening', grabbed our attention. A short story full of colour, with a slight shade of embrassement. Enjoy!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/2021\/06\/19\/short-story-controversial-teacups\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"School newspaper\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-19T17:22:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-20T09:53:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/cups-1024x781.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"781\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\">\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"4 minutes\">\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/\",\"name\":\"School newspaper\",\"description\":\"News from students lives\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/?s={search_term_string}\",\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/2021\/06\/19\/short-story-controversial-teacups\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/cups.png\",\"width\":1960,\"height\":1494},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/2021\/06\/19\/short-story-controversial-teacups\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/2021\/06\/19\/short-story-controversial-teacups\/\",\"name\":\"The Controversial Teacups - School newspaper\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/2021\/06\/19\/short-story-controversial-teacups\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-19T17:22:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-20T09:53:11+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/#\/schema\/person\/9537f99956edfe595c6ecfcccc7accfe\"},\"description\":\"All those sleeping teacups, waiting to be woken! This piece of work, submitted for our competition titled 'Awakening', grabbed our attention. A short story full of colour, with a slight shade of embrassement. Enjoy!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/2021\/06\/19\/short-story-controversial-teacups\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/2021\/06\/19\/short-story-controversial-teacups\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/2021\/06\/19\/short-story-controversial-teacups\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"item\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"item\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/2021\/06\/19\/short-story-controversial-teacups\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/2021\/06\/19\/short-story-controversial-teacups\/\",\"name\":\"The Controversial Teacups\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/#\/schema\/person\/9537f99956edfe595c6ecfcccc7accfe\",\"name\":\"ELS\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d0cefcd8761af20b5b6b3bc1a2bdcffb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ELS\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1302"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1302"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1333,"href":"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1302\/revisions\/1333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpaeburgas.org\/Fullbright\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}