Parallel Lines: a story of memory, silence, and first love

False Starts

3.1 - "Somewhere between pretending and surviving, they forgot how to feel."

Tiara – Bangalore, NLSIU

Everyone said college would be a fresh start.
New friends. New chapters. New distractions.

But nothing felt new. Not really.

Tiara sat in the front row of her first lecture, dressed sharp, confident on the outside.
She asked questions. She smiled. Professors already liked her.
Some students looked at her like she had it all figured out.

She didn't.

At night, her room stayed dark longer than it should.
The Secret Flies notebook lay hidden under her mattress.

She didn't open it. Not yet.
But knowing it was there made her chest ache just a little less.

Her roommate, Ankita, was warm and talkative. Tiara liked her.
Or at least pretended to.

They went out on weekends, joined clubs, clicked photos.
She even started dating someone — a senior named Kabir.
Witty. Popular. Confident.
He made her laugh.

But not feel.

Arvind – Somewhere Else

College didn't feel like anything.

Same grey mornings. Same tired eyes.

His room was plain — metal bed, scratched desk, a window with half a curtain.
His new roommate, Sahil, was everything he wasn't: loud, friendly, overly optimistic.
The kind of guy who always played music too early and talked too much while brushing his teeth.

"Hey man, we're in college. You're allowed to be alive now," Sahil joked during the first week.

Arvind gave him a half-smile. That was all.

But Sahil didn't give up.

He invited Arvind for chai at the campus canteen.
Saved him a seat during lectures.
Dragged him to cultural fest auditions — just to watch, not participate.

Most days, Arvind declined.
Some days, he showed up. Quietly. Silently.
But he showed up.

At night, he often found himself on the hostel terrace.
The city lights flickered in the distance. The wind whispered memories.

Sometimes, Sahil joined him.
He never talked much during those moments — just sat beside him, sipping tea, letting the silence exist.

And that helped more than words ever could.

He started dating someone too — a girl from his college
She had kind eyes and an easy laugh. They texted. Went for coffee once. She held his hand.

But he didn't feel anything.
Just the cold outline of someone who wasn't there.

Later that night, he sat at his desk and opened a plain notebook.
He didn't title it.
But the first words he wrote were still for her:

"Saw a girl. Same jacket. Same eyes.
But the laugh was wrong.
Yours was softer. This one echoed."

And when she looked at me, I didn't look back."

Tiara – NLSIU, Bangalore

On the surface, Tiara was thriving.

New city. New friends. New routines.

The shy, nerdy Tiara — the one who once spent every free hour with her books — was gone.

In her place stood someone confident. Bright. Loud.
She hosted events for freshers, joined every major committee.
Her photos were all over campus pages.