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.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgS2IGEWx2q
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.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡveQs42zcqv
Then I came home, I remembered. And we somehow got into a fight (not the argumentive ones, of course).105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡboLKBC9Fxg
Suddenly I looked at my wrist.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBRiDM3jtPe
My wrist watch.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4qJ73k9q5V
Fuck!105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqjIZVOo4qy
I never noticed it. I never fucking noticed it.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk8hov0eIbq
How stupid of me!
"The blood," I recalled. "Was yours."105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEb7N6lU8I
Advik didn't respond. Didn’t even shake his head.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUMmdWzexcp
He just stared at the ceiling.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXZbQNh4TXg
"Advik-"105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbgP2a9PBe
"I also hit you hard on the ground," said Advik. "That's why you fainted."105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhZIOfNysrw
"No," I said. "It's definitely not the case."105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiPvuojL35D
I paced the living room.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj8NLNxyIh0
"I never fainted. I wasn’t supposed to faint-"105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8i5BxDt5zI
He didn't look at me when he said,105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMu063zMI5Y
"Come on, let's have lunch,"105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM1PgEg0L0Y
Lunch was quiet as always, like the warm before a cyclone would hit.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtnDVfKtUpE
"Where are my parents?" I asked.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVigEcCdljk
"Left at 1 PM." he said. "Told me not told wake you up."105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9JXOwPzgmp
"My mother left me sleep till noon?" I asked. "That's impossible."105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ2ExMksIhD
"Well you wouldn’t wake up-"105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7fJ51kYNps
He stopped and then pored himself a glass of water.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfyzPPTC0Z7
"Ma cooked it, didn't she?" I asked.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5PW5rhHglu
He nodded.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ31JrTrWGuS
"Just eat. You need to...uh...eat."105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR8rgrZy1CT
But a storm was already brewing inside me.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡomuubKdSRR
I needed answers. Real answers. And it looked like Advik was lying.105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDAjpBh3zk3
A simple push wouldn’t...wouldn’t make me faint, right?105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrGKucAigpj
105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZSsp5yo7h6
105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJnIViFWcwZ
105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuTxMVlw2H9
105Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwZTG9wkQZt
and then Add to home screen.