Short Story – Somewhat Familiar
“Ratul! I am going to bed. Good night sister.”, I said.
Ratul requested in a hurried tone,”Bhai, can you please help Tina in completing her homework?”
I said,”Yeah, why not?”
The clock struck 11.30 when Ranbir, Ratul’s husband returned from his office. “I am going to sleep. Goodnight Anant! Goodnight Tina!”, said Ranbir and bid us goodnight in a cheerful voice.
Ratul said with disgust,” Just look at that man! Now I will have to take his dinner to the bedroom. Crazy person!”
Tina giggled along with me for this was nothing unusual in their family. I had become used to their quarrels in the past couple of days but I was dearly missing my family and my hometown, Agartala. It took me thirty minutes to help Tina finish her homework. And then I was off to the room allotted to me.
“Mumbai looks so beautiful at night with thousands of cars with gleaming lights moving at top speed.”, I thought to myself. Although my body was aching due to all the running and sprinting under the wakeful watch of the blazing sun yet I could not look away from the glorious view of Mumbai. The roads looked bright under the yellowish orange flame of the streetlights.
I live in a small town, so skyscrapers along brightly lit roads with the sound of the waves splashing on the rocks that run along the roadsides were quite unusual a sight for me to watch. After gazing at the roads like a fool with a sheepish smile on my face I took out my cellphone from my pocket and sent an image of the view to my wife, Lina. Suddenly I remembered the condition of Nakul, my sister-in-law’s husband. I rubbed my eyes for my vision had become blurry by peeping into all those memories of the past. I looked at my watch and said to myself,” It’s 1.30 already. Go to bed or else you won’t be able to wake up early in the morning.”
I helped myself with the blanket as I was feeling cold with the AC lowering the temperature. I was off to sleep even before I could realize and I felt quite relaxed after a hard working day. Hard work always results to a good sleep. Suddenly I felt even more chilly when a cold breeze ran over my body. I felt for my blanket when I heard a familiar voice say,” Anant! Anant! Wake up!”
I recognized the voice at once even though I hadn’t heard it for one whole month. I was about to wake up to the call of that shrilling and penetrating cry when I felt myself being pushed and jerked on the bed. I used to love listening to that modulated tone but at that moment the disembodied voice with loud breathing noises generated nothing but fright. I was woken up from sleep by the tight grasp of a cold and blistered hand. I called for my trusted people although I knew that they were in their houses in Agartala.
“Shashi! Ravi!”, I screamed in a wobbly voice and closed my eyes. I was sweating like a hippo at a room temperature of 16° C. I felt the grip around my leg loosen and I opened my eyes to see the corpse like hand vanish into the dark of the room. But I knew that the unearthly body was still sitting by my side when I heard a cold whisper into my left ear, “Anant, goodbye my friend.”
I was shivering and dripping and my body had become pale. I couldn’t look at myself on the mirror infront of my bed. The last words were still ringing in my head. I couldn’t stop my tears from rolling down from my eyes to the screen of the cellphone. I looked at the black screen of my mobile turn bright and give out light in the pitch darkness. I answered to my mother’s call.
“I guess there’s some bad news. Isn’t it mother?”, I said in a choky voice that was fighting back the sobs.
“Nakul passed away at 3.15!”, said my mother and burst into a flood of tears. I looked at my watch. It was nearly 3.30 am. I hung up on my mother and started weeping with my head hung low. The last words of that familiar voice of Nakul was still blaring in my ears.
“Goodbye my friend, goodbye.”, I said and bid him goodbye forever.
__END__
