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.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ664ZgmPVBZ
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.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡisyDZPhbSG
Then I came home, I remembered. And we somehow got into a fight (not the argumentive ones, of course).107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ351gzYhOLi
Suddenly I looked at my wrist.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjBmGt3ydyZ
My wrist watch.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP9xsJWDWMe
Fuck!107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXvfcLvLmVf
I never noticed it. I never fucking noticed it.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZDeCjboJuf
How stupid of me!
"The blood," I recalled. "Was yours."107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwn6eJIaKMU
Advik didn't respond. Didn’t even shake his head.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpl02SAxahu
He just stared at the ceiling.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHgpKYNz4qf
"Advik-"107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHXBXLBIdmg
"I also hit you hard on the ground," said Advik. "That's why you fainted."107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkdBTlTXykO
"No," I said. "It's definitely not the case."107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtd0pbnN3QP
I paced the living room.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtbGjEbt3EI
"I never fainted. I wasn’t supposed to faint-"107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1dzBGKjcxK
He didn't look at me when he said,107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIoIbTcbFcb
"Come on, let's have lunch,"107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW5vzDTtlW0
Lunch was quiet as always, like the warm before a cyclone would hit.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsa71si0xMx
"Where are my parents?" I asked.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3JXvQxtEWh
"Left at 1 PM." he said. "Told me not told wake you up."107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB6iepIPodi
"My mother left me sleep till noon?" I asked. "That's impossible."107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ16pM5qqaYr
"Well you wouldn’t wake up-"107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaBkkCeGHwD
He stopped and then pored himself a glass of water.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfn7LwdtDn2
"Ma cooked it, didn't she?" I asked.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqCJJyjLCbq
He nodded.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡykqJex0Sy1
"Just eat. You need to...uh...eat."107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwkeUNP72O5
But a storm was already brewing inside me.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9sPwE3W31k
I needed answers. Real answers. And it looked like Advik was lying.107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvBEVlR2tBT
A simple push wouldn’t...wouldn’t make me faint, right?107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡikfDAtWxVd
107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbRtPq0Nlsn
107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡntQkzX2BYo
107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx3FSsmAxUz
107Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2git26aP7F
and then Add to home screen.