Anesthesia

[31]

Buzz: "Let me just say I'm sorry if my friends, you know, disturbed you a lot or something. They're always like that."

Agnes: "Your friends were great. I really liked Kari. She's really... brave and optimistic. And the other guy was also pretty cool."

Buzz: "Travis. They both met at my Cd store. I used to work there for a while."

Agnes: "I'm really sorry about, uh, your friend John."

Buzz: "..."

Agnes: "I'm sorry-"

Buzz: "No no. It's just- when John died in that bus accident at Boston Bridge, Kari was the one who faced heavy trauma. More than me. She had become depressed. She wouldn't write anything to me, barely eat or drink and just spend her time alone. And sometimes she visited my Cd store and absentmindedly listen to the songs present there. So in this way she had just, offed herself from everybody."

Buzz: "That was until she met Travis and somehow, they both seem to get along first as silent music listeners, then friends and then lovers. And that's when I found my old Kari back. The optimistic, cheerful, cheeky Kari."

Agnes: "That's great. I wish I had got friends like Travis and Kari."

Buzz: "...what?"

Agnes: "Um, I mean-"

Buzz: "So, I was right. You don't think of those stupid girls as your friends, do you?"

Agnes: "..."

Buzz: "...Agnes?"

Agnes: "I-It's complicated."

Buzz: "Agnes, look at me."

Agnes: "..."

Buzz: (Softly) "Look at me." And she looked at him.

pause

Agnes: "I never told you how I got this gunshot, did I?"

Buzz: "..."

Agnes: "My mom was always against dancing. She just- there is that one thing that every human being in this world hates. For mom, it was dancing. She never liked me doing ballet or wear dancing shoes or frock. But she never said anything because- maybe she was too motherly to say or maybe she feared dad who supported me a lot and had encouraged me to head for Swan Lake."

Buzz: : "...um. How did you..."

Agnes: "My neighbors and I decided to go to a club at night. While we were driving down the street the car just, broke down so we decided to walk down the street when we heard gun fires. They got scared and all of them just, went for shelter but I became curious. I became so eager to find out what was going on that I never realized the danger it led me to. I just, walked towards the street carelessly and witnessed a shootout between a driver and two men and accidentally, one of the bullet made its way to my ankle and I collapsed there, screaming. When the people saw that I was shot, they ran away."

Agnes: "My neighbors took me to the hospital and there, the doctor said that the bullet was shot on the bone and was almost like, a long lasting sprain. The doctors gave me medicines and stuff but it never helped."

Agnes: "My mom was shocked to see my ankle and soon, when she saw that I was having difficulty in dancing, she banned it. She told me to rest until the ankle got better and stop dancing. But soon, mom's protective advice turned into a demand. We shifted houses to get away from my neighbors who tried to help me in ballet in every way, and mom made me befriend Emilia who is my mom's best friend's daughter."

Agnes: "But of course that was not in mom's mind. I knew that she was just trying to put bodyguards in front of me to prevent me from dancing because of her stupid hate. Emilia had made this little dancing secret as a weapon to make me like them. They thought that they were how girls were supposed to be. Mom thought that they were how girls were supposed to be and she wanted me to be like them and quit dancing 

forever."

To be continued...