Hridhi Chatterjee:
A pool of sunlight reached my eyelids like uninvited guests at a party I never hosted. I had never felt the sun burn so hot. So hot. As hot as the glorious afternoons I'd wasted writing a fantasy.
Clink
Clink
Was I home? Back home?
Just like that?
Maybe my mother was back, pulling the curtain in her old ways and whispering to me, just soft enough to not irritate me,
"Wake up. Today's school."
Clink
Clink
Maybe she was worshiping Lakshmi today. Maybe today was Thursday, one of my favorite days of the week.
Clink
Clink
The bell was closer to my ears, closer, too close.
Maybe she was coming. Yes, she might be coming. I told her in my mind,
"Can you come later? I want to sleep a little more. I'm so tired, Ma."
She would have listened. She could read minds.
The footsteps drew closer. Closer and closer. Couldn't ma hear me?
"Hridhi, wake up. It's noon."
No, it was not Ma. It was the devil. Fuck me for mistaking him for...my mother.
I snapped my eyes open and almost jumped out of bed. I wasn't even in my room. I was in his room.
"What time is it?" I asked to myself, my hands rummaging for my phone.
"It is 2 PM." said Advik, his hands wrapped in a prayer.
I tried to get up from the bed, his bed to be exact but almost crashed back.
Shackles? Around my hands?
What the hell happened to me?
The shackles were tied with the bedside lamp that was kind of fixed with the wall, making me look like one of the prisoners in those pathetic movies.
"Advik." I shouted.
He didn't respond.
His eyes were still closed, his hands still wrapped in a prayer and drops of water shining in his hair as the sunlight hit him parallel.
"Advik, what is this?"
He finally opened his eyes. I watched as he took a key out of his trouser pocket and unlocked the shackles.
I took a deep breath, feeling my hands for the first time. Oh, how wonderful it would feel to...slap his pretty face?
But I resisted the temptation. It would be a crime to kill a devotee.
But I would kill him later for imprisoning him in his room like this.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqO7iJkwym1
Returning back to my room, I took a shower, the water cool against my skin getting rid of his smell from his bedsheets.
I had an exceptionally sharp nostrils. I could smell minor things. Advik always used expensive perfumes thinking it made him look intimidating. But the antiseptics from hospital always got mixed with it. Always.
The smell of sick people, the smell of people surviving it, the smell of new life.
I could smell everything.
It was not pleasant. It wasn't even that bad.
It just had the ability to fuck with my mind.
When I got out of the shower, fully dressed into a comfortable Kamiz, my irritating hair now dripping with cold water, I was greeted with the smell of curry in the air.
Something happened last night. But what happened? Why did my head somehow sting with pain?
That's when I remembered.
Ma.
She was here last night.
And last night suddenly blurred into a flashes of images.
Blood. Glass. Door. Scream. Smile.
Oh, those were just key words.
"Advik," I shouted. I walked towards him. Thank God, he didn't put on his pathetic perfume!
I grabbed his collar.
"You bastard!" I shouted. "Where's my ma? What the hell happened last night?"
He looked at me. in his "I-just-prayed-so-I'm-holy" face.
"I won't be slapping you today, Hridhi," said Advik, his voice exceptionally calm. "I just made a vow. So I kindly request you to get your...fucking hands off me."
I gripped his collar harder.
"Tell me, Advik, I beg you!" I shouted.
"Did I ever say that I won't tell you?" he said.
I backed away.
"So, you fainted last night," said Advik. "You should have told me that you were drunk,"
I tried to remember last night. Jake paid for my drink at the bar. I was thinking that I should buy him another drink someday.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZkcNCmqN0j
Then I came home, I remembered. And we somehow got into a fight (not the argumentive ones, of course).92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqoKCwRZAIh
Suddenly I looked at my wrist.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8L4GPW30Nl
My wrist watch.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1sYw1wu1fn
Fuck!92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ20oYIGtYdU
I never noticed it. I never fucking noticed it.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡklldzjmY7P
How stupid of me!
"The blood," I recalled. "Was yours."92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9z1PN450zD
Advik didn't respond. Didn’t even shake his head.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtxTLWmzAZv
He just stared at the ceiling.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYnCGc6aOhr
"Advik-"92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdEGnGxUZgM
"I also hit you hard on the ground," said Advik. "That's why you fainted."92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlPN42bHxSt
"No," I said. "It's definitely not the case."92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbMfwB5Eqzq
I paced the living room.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwbbYf8a8a6
"I never fainted. I wasn’t supposed to faint-"92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdq3h9khlXs
He didn't look at me when he said,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1wOxZC7PAu
"Come on, let's have lunch,"92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9I1cRp5zvE
Lunch was quiet as always, like the warm before a cyclone would hit.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjefCfczPw8
"Where are my parents?" I asked.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRYX9GO1utG
"Left at 1 PM." he said. "Told me not told wake you up."92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPYGYSPxSya
"My mother left me sleep till noon?" I asked. "That's impossible."92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxEQAY57kBW
"Well you wouldn’t wake up-"92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQuYTv1bj9Q
He stopped and then pored himself a glass of water.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTWCEvl0y2H
"Ma cooked it, didn't she?" I asked.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4FhLrENoxj
He nodded.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnft2JWumab
"Just eat. You need to...uh...eat."92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡymKmgS1KI3
But a storm was already brewing inside me.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQiUXs7Zsn1
I needed answers. Real answers. And it looked like Advik was lying.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡysoWtuddlz
A simple push wouldn’t...wouldn’t make me faint, right?92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6Ta2y3SWYY
92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0RkFCHoazj
92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiJGa7OlSNg
92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8SiLD1S2AG
92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiWa1uTlqLy
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