“Hi. How are you? I hope you are happy. Ohh yeah I’m good … Not bad, everything’s going on as usual.
What about your parents? Mm hmm … ? Nice to hear that ! Any hookups lately ? Hehe !! Ohh you mean …. Seriously ?!! Hmm … Nice to know. I hope you marry her soon. … Just kidding !
… hey thanks man ! … Ohh ok, no problem, yeah sure… Ahhh … I have no problem with you calling me any time. I’ll always be waiting for your call. Ok. … Sure … bye. “
I hung up, and turned off the AC in my room. It had become too cold.
My friend had got a promotion in his company. I was happy for him. I helped myself eat the lunch. It was terrible.
*
“Hey, you ! We’ve got an emergency. Could you please help us” , an old woman in probably her seventies called me out.
From the high pitched sound ringing in my ears, I can say a bomb explosion has just taken place. People are running like hell. A small kid has one of his legs shattered because of the bomb. Some kind person is helping him. And his arm is gone, blood all over his body. It is a ghastly scene. Ambulance and police sirens become indistinct. I cannot get out of this place, somehow. Is it midday, or evening ?
*
I could see the sun becoming soft, and drowsy. I had just completed an English movie. I was missing her badly. After watching a real romantic film, you always almost remember your present girlfriend or ex. I messaged her.
“Hey”
“Hi. Whats up?”
“Missing you badly :’(((((((((“
“:)”
“Why don’t you come over to my place? We’ll chill out. What say?”
“When … ?”
Ohhh God ! I shouted in excitement.
“Tonight? 9:00 PM?”
“I’ll be there”.
I removed the cigarette stubs from the floor, asked the cleaner to clean the room and house. She was going to be here, finally. I made it. Yes !
*
I was cleaning the blood stains all over the woman. She was deeply injured in her left shoulder. As her blood touched my dusty hands, I could feel it. It was my mother’s blood. I could feel it’s warmth. The old woman was holding the injured woman on a broken chair who was screaming . The hospital smelled of urine and faeces. It was half collapsed.
Somebody called me from behind.
*
She called me, ”Hey, I’m outside”.
“I’m coming”.
I went to the wash basin, took some water and applied it onto my hair, and took a deep breath. My heart was beating real fast. I could feel it at the end of my fingertips. I opened the door and there she was.
Black, shiny curly hair, straight thin eyebrows, big eyes, fluffy lips and a grace you seldom see now-a-days in most woman of our age. Her feminineness drew me into the wildest of fantasies. I could hear myself screaming, wanting more, inside. She was so beautiful, wearing a salwar kameez up and a pair of jeans. Her aroma filled my surroundings.
*
They surrounded me. “Wa … Wait ! Where are you taking me ? I don’t want to go !!! Please help her. Please help the woman ! God ! She is dying !!! “
*
I was dying to touch her. She smiled at me and said “Hey! You look really handsome”.
“And you are beautiful”, I said. She blushed.
Her cheeks became red as I could see her talking to me with her big, expressive eyes.
*
I could feel the ringing in my ears still. My nose was bleeding, and I felt as if my right part of head had been hit with a stone. As my fingers reached it, I could feel the softness of my head. It was almost dark, and it smelled bad. It smelled dust and exhaust smoke. Was it a cell, a prison? My hands were tied at the back. I heard something. It was a woman. The same woman. She was right beside me. I wondered where the old woman had gone.
I saw her face. I could see my mother. Yes! She was my mother. Ohh God ! “Mother, you okay? Mother, tell me please.”
She did not speak. I saw her gaze into the loneliness inside, my loneliness. Her eyes lacked luster. Was she really my mother, or was it someone else?
*
I couldn’t let someone else get her. I had to be that lucky man. She was too beautiful for her age. Nineteen, and she was full of feminine tenderness and the elixir most men die to have a drop of.
*
I tried to cry. I couldn’t. But when I tried to do so, I could see tears in her eyes. She was still gazing into the empty and dusty cellar. ‘This is not real. This is not real’. I told to myself. But I could feel her blood on my fingers. It hadn’t dried. I suddenly saw the blood seep into my skin.
“Was it all you had in your mind, son?”
*
There was nothing else on my mind. I sat next to her.
“Hey, what are you doing?” She asked with naughtiness in her voice. I kissed her. She slowly fell into my arms and then filled herself into my world. We both made it till morning. When she was exhausted and I had fully spent on her, I sunk into my bed beside her and slept off.
*
I woke up in the same hospital. I could open only one of my eyes. Why was I suffering so much? The excruciating pain, the bad smell, the ringing voice in my ears, the hallucination of my mother near to me, the helplessness of my body, and this time and space … Where was I? This isn’t real. This isn’t real. Someone injected a drowsy chemical into me.
“Please save me my child.”
*
I got up to find her nowhere in the house. There was a half empty bottle of wine beside me on the table. I had a hangover. My brother helped me with a coffee. I got out of the bed.
“Do you know? There has been a bombing near the Lord hospital … “ he said, as I came out of the bathroom.
***
