LIFE, as it is called – Love Short Story

Love Short Story – LIFE, as it is called

It’s been an hour he’s waiting there in the bus stop for the girl. Parking his bike in front of the bus stop, he sat there on the ditch waiting. He checked his wrist for the time and its 6 already. Vinod promised him that he will send the girl by 5pm without fail. But he failed before an hour itself. Once again decided to make a call to vinod, he reached his pocket and stopped when he saw the girl walking to him. He knew that she is the girl for whom he’s been waiting for. [Vinod had already sent a picture of her to him. Of course it’s a process which happens when selecting a girl]. Within a moment, she reached him and stood in front of him, waiting for his eye contact. A sting of shy stopped him from looking at her. Throwing a few more looks around, he saw her. So many beautiful girls were there with whom he enjoyed before, but she’s a bit different. She’s not beautiful, but related to that, some bit ravishing mixed with innocence. She’s having an innocent face which is beautiful but cannot discover at all which part, which element made her beauty. He’s not able to stop his gaze which is going down from her face to body, but somewhere deep inside, a voice stopped him ,

“Arun, not at this much closer, she will come to know”, and it’s nothing but his conscience.

Again he pulled his looks to her face and saw her, smiling at him. Quickly he threw his sight elsewhere again feeling shy, this time he’s not able to understand what to do next and how to handle the situation.

Suddenly his phone began to ring when he’s looking around. It’s vinod calling him. “Thank god” he felt for making him out of this ambiguity.

‘Ya vinod, tell man’

‘Ya, she came just now…Its ok yaar, it happens sometimes’.

‘Okay sure. Thanks man,bye’ , he ended the call laughing at the phone.

‘It’s vinod. He’s telling sorry for the delay….he’s really a funny guy, isn’t he?’ he asked her.

She just nodded.

“Vinod was true, she’s really silent and not at all talkative” he thought.

Keeping the phone in the pocket, he said to her ‘let’s move’ and pointed his bike. She silently turned back and walking to the bike.

Hip sized clipped hair, cheap scented perfume and pinkish glossy lips. She’s in her peacock green colored, mirror embroidered kurta. She’s looking like a fancy doll without a trace of natural beauty. But deep inside her, he saw her innocence, shy and her fright.

‘What’s your name?’ he asked her.

They started from the bus stop and within few minutes they’re going through a dark road enrouted to his home. Not home, but like a guest house which his father gave to him as a gift. As the only son of a well known lawyer, he has no less of money. And the one who has money is never lonely.

So, so many friends are there for him, all of them for his money actually. And no bad habit is there for which he’s not addicted. Drinking, smoking, drugs all of them became habits to him which were habituated by his money’s friends made him like this, rude and spoiled. He never treated a girl in a smooth way. All the girls he enjoyed before were the victims of his ruthlessness. Burning their bodies with cigarettes makes him fulfill every time he had sex. Nailing their bodies, cheeks and slapping them insanely, all of these show an animal in him. But none of the girls opposed him from doing so because of the big money he paid them. Five grand for a single night is a lot for the girls like them.

Vinod is the guy who supplies these girls to Arun. He takes another five grand for that. He sends the girls of Arun’s taste and never failed to satisfy his desire. All that Arun wants is a white skinned girl with a perfect body calculations and shouldn’t say no to anything and even ready to bare his animus behavior. And this time, Arun asked him for a fresh and a brand new girl.

***

The road was snaked through the dark night where the head light is the only source of showing the path. Fifteen minutes to the guest house, he’s now raging his bike as angry began to rage in him. He had asked the girl’s name but, he didn’t get the answer. But the idea of being rude with this girl made him feels guilty. Slowing down his rage, but not his bike’s, he again asked her the question looking at her.

‘I think I asked your n….’ he tried to manage the handle but it’s already late. A giant turning in that dark night cursed both of them and made them skidded with a loud screech of the vehicle which threw both of them. He managed himself by falling on the road side grass. All the destruction happened within a few seconds. His conscience worked after a few seconds and he steered his looks around for her. He saw her laid still on the road a few meters away from him. Rushing there, he found her fighting for breath and almost losing her consciousness. He saw her blood covered shoulders through a tear of her kurta.

Seeing the blood spurting out from nostrils, he was stunned. Immediately, his brain worked. He picked up his phone and called to ambulance. Within a few moments, an ambulance came and rushed back with the girl, as he stood there in that lonely road seeing through the glass back of the ambulance, where two nurses were already busy in their job in that claustrophobic cabin.

Standing there for a few minutes, he decided to leave the place. Being still in shock, he slowly walked to the bike and lifting it hardly, he saw a hand bag of dark green color. It’s hers, he thought.

“Poor girl, don’t know from where, but she paused her life here”.

He doesn’t know how many times he thought of her when driving to the house. Thoughts of her innocent and dolly face and deep dark eyes were stirring in his mind. Unlocking the guest house main door, he entered into the house.

“Supposed to be here with that girl now” he again thought of her and wondered what might have happened to her.

Throwing the bag in the sofa, he walked to the corner of the room, took a bottle of rum and settled down in the cushion chair. About to have a well-settled peg, he lifted the glass up to his mouth and all of sudden, he stopped. The situation happened half an hour before made him stop and afraid of having that glass of rum that it may change to linctus of poison which will burn his throat. Little regret from nowhere clouded him. Holding the glass, he stood from there and walked to the sofa where he had thrown that girl’s bag. Parked himself in the sofa, he took the bag into hands keeping the glass down. Unzipped the bag, he found a mirror, lipstick, a pair of condoms, few notes of money and some medical reports of a woman, might be her mother, he thought. Replacing all of them in bag and zipped, he dispersed from there to sleep.

Next morning, he was on his way to the hospital on his bike. As he drove to the hospital, in that chilly December morning, all the way he came, he’d been thinking of that girl. He wondered and felt like guilty thinking of that a girl from nowhere stole his sleep, made his eyes red, mind stir and finally up to here for the hospital. Meeting the nurse to whom he called before in the morning, he followed her to the girl’s room. As they walking through the corridor, nurse was saying that the girl had a big fracture up to the shoulder and few more wounds on the stomach. Don’t know why, but somewhere in the deep, he felt like his heart was pinched with nail by listening to the nurse words. But a moment later, he wondered why he was that much sad, why he was that much concerned?

‘Of course, you are a human being.’ a voice came from his inside, it’s his conscience again. Showing him the room, the nurse went forward to the leading corridor.

As he opened the door, he saw her watching through the window as if she’s waiting for someone.

‘…hi’ he released that word slowly with a hospital decorum. She turned to him suddenly and surprised for an unexpected visitor.

‘…how are you now…feeling better??’ sitting in the chair, he asked and she was still with her surprised face.

Adjusting her throat, she said, ‘it’s okay, feeling better than before.’

Those were the first words he listened from her.

“She’s more beautiful than yesterday” he thought.

She wore a green colored pajama which they use in the hospitals. She’s with fresh, washed face but with a bandage on fore head and her hair hanging loose over her shoulders. Her left shoulder was dressed with a lot of white cloth and she covered her stomach with the white blanket.

‘…here’s your bag, found there’  he handed that bag to her.

She thanked him with her deep voice.

So many girls are there which impressed him with their beauties and bodies. But this girl is only of her type. Beautiful when she smiles, heartfelt when she talks and more of it, she’s cute.

Taking the bag, she started browsing it with urge for a while. Seeing her, he smiled and asked

‘I think there’s not that much important thing in that bag, is there?’

After a while she took out some folded papers and showed to him.

‘These are important’ she said.

‘What are those papers??’

‘Medical reports….my mother’s’ she said.

He took some gap like he need that and like he don’t know how to prolong the conversation and finally he asked,

‘…What happened to her?’

“What the hell are you doing arun, why you all need that information, get out from here…” he said to himself inside.

She answered with a deep voice,  ‘she’s in her last stage of lung cancer and she may die in few days’.
Silence…

He doesn’t know how to react to that answer. Like all of them, all he can do is say a sorry for that. But he didn’t, he’s not able to. And in a moment, deep down in his heart, a question raised,

“…what the heck is she doing while her mother is going to die in a few days…is she’s a sex maniac or something?” but again in a moment, he felt guilty of thinking like that and now he’s in the state of ambiguity in order to know the truth.

‘…..see, I’m not a bitch like you think….’ she spurted out her words where he was shocked for that unexpected answer.

‘I lost my dad when I was 9’  she continued, ‘…and from there, my mom was everything for me. I love her…I love her more than I love my self…and I need 2 lakhs for her surgery.…as a student, I can’t get that lot and didn’t find any alternative than this…..’ she saying that words with her head down a bit and with tears filled eyes.

He doesn’t know what to do now, how to react at her words. “What is this??…” he thought in himself. He saw a girl there, on the bed with full of tears in her innocent eyes like a crying angel.

Tuning his voice inside, he asked her slowly with a dip of concern,

‘….didn’t you think of your life even once??’

A straight question after a long gap in that room filled nothing but silence. After a while, again he repeated the same question and then she spoke,

‘Life is living for someone…..not on them.’ He waited when she’s still speaking,

‘I want my mom back, as before, happily. For that, I will do anything, I love my mom…’

Again silence diffused all over the room and he is still staring at her.

Nothing can be seen in her face, nothing but innocence, nothing but love, nothing but purity. Don’t know what it is, but a cold shiver suddenly ran through her his spine making him stand from the chair. He didn’t even tell a word, but walked out from there.

As he was walking through that corridor, so many thoughts were circling in his mind.

“How crazy she is?”

“After all for money, she readied to spoil the life?”

“For her mother…she readied to be a bitch and even ready to sell her body…how insane, how innocent?”

So many thoughts were circling in his mind like a giant whirl, thoughts of her face, her innocent and deep voice, her dark eyes, her words…and…and her love for her mother.

***

Standing there at the extremity of the corridor, peering through the chilling weather with moist eyes, he thought of her again.

“What’s her name?”

From there, he started back, back to her. He’s walking with thirst, thirst of love, with proud, proud of discovering his life.
As he’s walking…..again a thought came to his mind.

“Why I am this much curious about her, why should I know her name?”

Deep down from his red abyss of heart, a voice answered him,

“Idiot, because you love her”

It’s again his conscience for the third time.

***

It’s quick, unexpected, it’s pure and devotional. It’s love.

__END__