'Jay, I love you.' Anamika said while bending on her knees.We were in a dark room with just one window from which just a small amount of sunlight reflected on Anamika's face.
But the question was, WHY IN THIS WORLD IS ANAMIKA PROPOSING ME? She had rejected me a million times in the past.'Hey, are you here' Anamika asked. I gathered my consciousness and took off my continuous gaze from her face. I was more shocked than excited. I was blushing. Actually, I was dancing inside. 'A...A...Anamika, are you serious?' I said after a five-second pause and with a spoonful of confidence.
'Yes, why? What do you think, only you can love me? Huh?' she said with a weird but beautiful smile. I kept silent, looking continuously at her small, beautiful eyes. I gathered some confidence, 'Err, I don't know how to respond.' She grinned at me, 'See yourself; you are blushing.' I was trying to decode what was happening here. 'Would you accept my proposal, or do you have any other plans?'
'Umm...' I was going to speak when she stood up and gazed at my eyes. She was coming closer to me. I was frozen in my position, paralyzed by the things happening to me. 'A...Anamika, What are you doing?' Our distances were minimizing, making my breaths heavy and fast. Her lips were just a millimeter away from mine, and a feeling ran through me to remove this distance; as I motioned my mouth forward, Anamika faded away.
My eyes opened, and I jumped off the bed. My brain was getting duped. I felt tired inside. OH, SO IT WAS JUST A DREAM!! DAMN!!It was like a dream from the parallel universe. Anamika is never going to propose to me in this universe. I tried to move on from the dream and stepped towards the bathroom.
***************
Had your breakfast, beta?'
'Yes, Dad,' I said, touching his feet. He gently tapped on my back.
I went downstairs and took my school bag. 'It's your first day of the eleventh, Jayant. Have a great one,' Mom shouted as I was about to leave for school.
***************
I was lost in the chaos of the students as I was spectating a basketball match before the school timings. I clapped as a player scored a dunk. 'Hey,' A voice came to my ears. I looked in the direction of the voice. It was a skinny boy in a yellow basketball jersey with the name 'Jai Sharma' printed on it.
'Hi,' I said politely in a low confidence manner. I am not good at talking with strangers. He smiled at me and got one in return. He corrected his jersey and sat beside me. 'Jai,' he said, extending his hand to me.
'I can see it,' I smirked, pointing at his jersey and extended my hand. 'Jayant,' I said.
'Eleventh class?' he asked.
'Yea, and you?' I said.
'Section-B,' he said.
'Huh? Mine too,' I said. 'Great.'
I smiled at him. 'By the way, you too are a part of the basketball team,' I asked out of curiosity.
'Oh yeah, but just a part. They haven't given me a chance in any of the two games. And it seems like it's the last game of the day,' he said, smiling sadly.
'Oops, bad luck, dude,' I blurted out.
'It's ok; I'm in the habit of it,' he said.
'Habit of what? Bad luck?' I asked.
'Can say,'
WHAT TO REPLY TO THIS?
I decided to be silent, but it was making the environment awkward. The school bell spoke out, removing the awkwardness. I stood up. 'OK, let's meet at the class,' I said.
'yep,' he said, 'I am coming in a minute. Have to change.'
'Oh, OK then, see you there.'
*************
'Ok, so you are new in this school,' I said. I found Jai to be very polite with his words and I could feel a deep bond with him. His eyes reflected a pain hidden in it, and his words, his style of talking, everything was proving that. He's a kind of introvert because his answers were just one or two words long. His silence was loud.
'Yea, this school has become pretty famous now-a-days, like, just not me, hundreds have taken admission here,' he said. It was his longest sentence spoken till then. I nodded.
He seemed to be holding a mystery inside him. He stood up and asked the class teacher for using toilet. As I was just trying to solve the Maths problem, my eyes fell on a diary-like book in Jai's desk. I once thought not to see through it, thinking it might be his personal diary. But my hands involuntarily reached his diary and picked it up and brought it to me. As I opened the diary, I found a quote scribbled at the
first page.
"If world says God is our father,
then which father wants his child to be in pain.''
There it was, the pain. I was right at my prediction. Something is wrong with him. I turned the page- There was a poem-
In the stillness of the night,
A lonely figure walks in sight,
His heart is heavy, his soul's in pain,
No one to confront, he's alone again,
He walks the streets with no place to go,
His thoughts a tangled mess, a hopeless show,
Memories of love, now just a dream,
Leaving him lost, a soul that's not free.
He cries out in silence; no one to hear,
His voice echoing in the still of the air,
No one to wipe away his tears,
No one to chase away his fears......
While reading, I didn't realise Jai had come back and he was standing besides me.
'Oh, hi,' I blurted out of fear. He snatched away his diary. 'Bhai, please don't touch it from next time.'
'I'm sorry, I was just...,' I said, not able to complete my sentence.
'You were doing whatever, I don't care. Never touch it again, I request,' he said and sat down in anger.
'OK,' I said.
***********
I was lying on my bed, trying to sleep but my brain wasn't ready to give itself some peace. The whole Jai thing was revolving continuously in my mind after I came back home. It is always said that pain makes a man strong but it seemed like pain had made a home over Jai and it's making him weaker and weaker.
The unanswered questions were disturbing me a lot.
WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED WITH HIM? WHAT'S EATING HIM FROM INSIDE?
Here comes the end to the very first chapter of 'Almost Mine'. A very big thanks for reading it. Signing off for the moment, chapter 2 is on the way. Toodles!!
Jayant Vig,
Author,
Almost Mine
