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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8jdbVoR0i9
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYzgCpKLL98
Then I came home, I remembered. And we somehow got into a fight (not the argumentive ones, of course).92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7C0MNdbpFS
Suddenly I looked at my wrist.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmQhcks6Ft6
My wrist watch.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzfu1dLSzSJ
Fuck!92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8v9ZzvtkVL
I never noticed it. I never fucking noticed it.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKc6Qx2TEWr
How stupid of me!
"The blood," I recalled. "Was yours."92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡn5JmtA1A8W
Advik didn't respond. Didn’t even shake his head.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5mKPJzHM82
He just stared at the ceiling.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ8aJLjA0hi
"Advik-"92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMIwsQRPzw1
"I also hit you hard on the ground," said Advik. "That's why you fainted."92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0q2pV7qWaJ
"No," I said. "It's definitely not the case."92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡddjKtASGKs
I paced the living room.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj15t0azp5o
"I never fainted. I wasn’t supposed to faint-"92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6TIjQ8mo1Q
He didn't look at me when he said,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTiyd2vLAx6
"Come on, let's have lunch,"92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqA2pUniGl9
Lunch was quiet as always, like the warm before a cyclone would hit.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡba3RuBeawn
"Where are my parents?" I asked.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoPFQOr27HB
"Left at 1 PM." he said. "Told me not told wake you up."92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ZduIciJuF
"My mother left me sleep till noon?" I asked. "That's impossible."92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9k1Ae8lI5h
"Well you wouldn’t wake up-"92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLNXDey6PG
He stopped and then pored himself a glass of water.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡypbK2MtTz3
"Ma cooked it, didn't she?" I asked.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlanNE7mkkS
He nodded.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCHZ2DFNgJN
"Just eat. You need to...uh...eat."92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxEdtOydl7A
But a storm was already brewing inside me.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVonDk3nEwE
I needed answers. Real answers. And it looked like Advik was lying.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmUSUVHNfyr
A simple push wouldn’t...wouldn’t make me faint, right?92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKgSmyG2iw6
92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡem0TkJrGAU
92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoK87wr1iAi
92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6yXHHlPvug
92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhslghEtbDL
and then Add to home screen.