When The Sun Rises

C h a p t e r 1

I checked my bag for the last time. Yes, I had packed all of my essentials and I was ready but something kept bothering me, like I was forgetting something.

I looked around my room. I had cleaned it. Everything was where it was supposed to be. I realized that my room hadn't been like that in ages. The bed sheet was spotless and stretched, not one wrinkle, the pillows were arranged. There weren't any of my clothes lying on the floor which was usually how it was.

I was taking a few of my clothes with myself but nothing given to me by Julia and Mike.

The clothes they had given me were by famous designers. One touch on the fabric and you could tell that they cost a fortune. Most of them were dresses- garish and vibrant fancy dresses that showed the stretch marks on my skin.

There was no way I could wear them, they didn't match me and my personality. So I had decided I was leaving them behind and had only packed the clothes that were given to me by Sheryl.

They were all old and I loved the smell they radiated. Since I had stopped growing after I was 15 so I didn't bother asking Sheryl for more clothes because the ones I had, fitted me perfectly for the next two years. And how could I even? She never paid a visit to me after my fifteenth birthday.

Usually, there would be traces of powder over my dressing table accompanied with uncapped bottles of lotion, lipsticks, perfumes and other products lying on it that Julia had got me. The mirror would always be greasy and stained.

The dresser would be puking my clothes that were effortlessly crammed in it. Wrappers of chocolates and candies would be scattered everywhere on the cream carpet that laid on my bedroom's floor, along with the numerous books that I'd be reading while munching those candies.

Honestly, it didn't even look the creamy color anymore but rather a surface that had been used for hand -painting by a toddler. There were stains of dried nail polish and spilled juice because of which the carpet, that was once soft to the touch, had now become rough and firm.

But today, the room was the definition of spick and span. Everything was well-ordered and trimmed. The dust that had settled on things was gone and their true surface had reappeared. Though, it took me two days to get it this right.

Yesterday, while I was brushing the carpet, Rumi had barged in my room and when I looked up at him to know to what I owed this pleasure, he simply looked struck with horror like he had witnessed a murder or something.

He mumbled something under his breath which probably summarized that I was insane and left the room.

I slid open the window and an untamed gust of wind rushed in. It was quite windy. The Colony was illuminated by the bright Moon which was partly hiding behind a blanket of peevish clouds. It was silent like a church and also empty like a church.

I looked over my shoulder one last time and my eyes fell on the painting that hung over my bed, the painting Sheryl and I had painted together. My eyes became damp and I felt bad for having forgotten about it. How could I?

After taking the painting off the wall, I threw my bag outside the window and it landed with a thud in the yard. Julia and Mike had fallen asleep. I don't know what had taken them so long, they were probably making love to each other.

I don't understand how can you be with someone for 14 years and still be attracted to them. Apparently, the two of them were obsessed with each other, they cared for each other and even understood each other well.

I remember, I once asked Julia about how they manage to keep the heat after so many years. She just laughed and said:

"When you love someone there is no requirement of 'heat' or any kind of attraction. Love isn't something that ends or expires, it remains there for eternity. It knows not of the time limit, it's limitless.