Friends Short Story – Metro
Metro – Friends Short Story
Photo credit: jdurham from morguefile.com
Fifty four years have made him such a frail that a journey was impossible without someone’s escort.
He has called his closest friend from the village. The friend was of his equal-age but as healthy as a horse. He has asked his friend to take him to his old house in the village ; none in his own family was ready to do so.
While the taxi moved through the busy metro carrying him and his friend, he looked outside in contempt. Life in a lifeless place!
“Why such a hasty trip now?” His friend wanted an answer.
“We are of the same age, but look at me and you. You are as lively as a bee. And I look like your father! I don’t think many days are left for me here…”
“Is that your answer to my question? What has this trip got with my health and your ill health?”
He again looked outside the car, and after some moments spoke.
“I just….I just want to go there….my old home, and my village…I think, I won’t get a chance again!”
“You sound so positive about that!” His friend mocked.
An awkward silence hung between them, bleak and heavy.
“You are thinking too much…..unnecessarily!” His friend sounded like a therapist.
“No…I am fed up with this metro life….I think my days are numbered……”
“What has got into your head? I …I simply can’t understand….Is there something that you lack? ….you have everything…..money, power, family, status, facilities…..”
As he stared at his friend blankly, the friend continued.
“In a word, metro life is just HEAVENLY! That’s what I think!”
The word ‘heavenly’ led to a sardonic smile on his face.
“Or are you talking about your ill health? If so, will worrying help? You need to take care…that’s what you can do….and you should do!” (Advices are always free and easy!)
“For me, metro life is hell, it always was; I was compelled to move at that time….you know that, don’t you? And that was my mistake…hmmm……And yes, health is of course a concern, and don’t forget I had to seek your help to go to my village, my wife and children can’t, they just CAN’T…….”
The friend became silent.
“The day I left my home and my village I had died, since then I am a dead body, still unburied!! I was living someone else’s life….a pretended life. I could never find happiness in this metro….I think if I don’t make this trip today, I will never make it in this life……it was a call which I couldn’t ignore …..that’s why I bothered you, I know it’s an inconvenience, but there is none other than you, whom I can depend now, it was so always too……and you being in good health, I thought, you wouldn’t mind doing me this favour……”
“You are talking like someone with a complex. It is not about health or inconvenience. But I don’t want you to visit your old home now….it is not in good shape, time and neglect damaged it, why should you travel all the way to see that pathetic structure and get hurt again?”
The friend made his point clear.
“At many parts the walls and the roof have fallen down, the rest have cracked and will fall down any moment. To welcome you, there are cobwebs and lizards to utter curse words. The premises have dense and tall grasses. It looks almost like a haunted house. The last time I went there, I felt something inauspicious. That’s why I had discouraged you, over the phone….”
The description struck him.
His eyes were getting moist. He and his friend had many merry days in that big house and vast premises during their childhood, memories stay afresh!
He removed his specs. Though the reality was smeared by dark cobwebs, the mirror of his mind showed him vivid images – the verdant village, the aristocratic house, smiling agonies, and his mother’s face when he had left home….
“Even in those remnants, I will see a life, my lost life!” His mind voiced.
“Ahhh!!!”
He looked to his left and saw his friend heavily gasping for air, clutching his chest.
The taxi was directed to the nearest hospital.
The doctor came out of the ICU.
“Are you someone related to him?”
“Yes…I am his friend…. ”
“I see. Sorry….it was a cardiac arrest and we could do nothing as it was late! If you have his contacts, inform them immediately, or pass the details to the officials here…….”
The sun seemed to have set forever…
The world came to a standstill…
A feeling of drowning…
He collapsed near the doctor.
The next day a title in the newspaper read: –
“Thick friends remained together even in death!”
__END__
