The sun began to set amidst the mountains, creating a stunning orange hue across the sky. Her heart raced as she waited. In the distance, she could see the metallic silver bus making its way down the sharp turns in the mountain.
Rapidly, the darkness drove away the little light left by the sun. She suddenly realised it was a strange place. She had come to live on the hill station recently and she was not familiar with this place.
"Why did I come here alone? What a big mistake have I made!" She could feel the adrenaline rush through as the fear kicked in.
Yet, the thrill and joy of meeting her friends surpassed that. It was a get-together planned by her college friends after almost twenty-five years. Yet, she could not shake her anxiety because he was going to be there as well.
They had not spoken to each other even once in college. Most of their friends knew that she wanted to meet him again. But why did they choose to pick her at this time? It was already dark. So many thoughts crossed her mind.
She tried to look good, making sure to correct her posture and stand up tall. She carefully pulled a strand of her hair and let it fall on her face.
The thick forest made the darkness feel intimidating. She anxiously looked around. The bus stop was an old one. No one was around. Why did they choose to come to stay in this remote place?
The bus coming to pick her up was a private bus arranged by her college group. She thought to herself as she looked around anxiously, I could have been picked up from my house. Why didn't I tell them? What a careless person I am! I am not shrewd enough to get things done for myself.
The others would have probably been picked up from their homes. But wait, weren’t the others from different states?
A dog ran past the bus stop through the middle of the road. Confused, she realized that it was Elisa, a dog she fed almost every day. She wanted Elisa to stay with her so that she didn’t need to be alone in the forest. She called out 'Elisa…’ But to her surprise, Elisa just walked away, ignoring her.
Why is everything so strange?
She became very upset and felt tears welling up in her eyes. She looked down and realised that she was not wearing the saree she had planned to.
She was trying to wear her shawl properly but it kept falling.
Why am I in such plain clothes? Why am I so confused…? Why am I standing at this old bus stop?
She could now hear the roar of the bus’s engine. She turned and suddenly felt a shooting pain on the right side of her neck. She rubbed it, wondering how she hurt herself.
The bus honked loudly as it came to a stop in front of her. She smiled, preparing herself to get on and meet all her friends.
Out of nowhere, people started running towards the bus and clambered to get in, pushing her aside.
“No, this is not a public bus. It's come to pick me,” shouted at them. But they didn’t seem to hear her.
She got in finally and saw her friends shouting and singing inside.
Someone said, “That's your seat. You can sit down." She sat down quietly, looking around at some familiar faces. She felt as shy as she was decades ago.
She recognized an old friend, Sudha, who had a naughty smile on her face. She looked at others. They were laughing too. She felt like all eyes were on her. She sat there as the bus moved.
Suddenly, someone came and sat next to her. She almost jumped out of shock. Her hands trembled but she was overjoyed. ‘What a surprise,’ she thought. He had not changed at all since college. ‘No this is not possible. He hasn’t aged a bit.’ She smiled at him.
This was the moment she waited for. She just wanted to talk to him, something she never did during her college days. She could feel the others watching them and whispering.
She looked down and saw her hands. They looked old, her fingers fat and wrinkled. Her diamond ring looked ugly on them. She slowly removed the ring and slipped it into her bag, covering her hands with her shawl so that he would not see them.
She smiled and he smiled back. He looked like he wanted to say something but he couldn’t.
A bell rang out, startling her. The bus stopped suddenly and, to her surprise, he got up and left the bus along with a few others. She wanted to yell out and tell him to wait, that it wasn’t their stop but her voice would not work. The bell chimed louder and louder.
Frustrated, she tried to scream and opened her eyes. The phone’s alarm was ringing. She realized she was lying in her bed, shaken and fully awake.
She cursed herself for having kept the alarm in her phone which stopped her beautiful dream. Her husband was lying next to her, turning in his sleep and pulling his blanket over his head.
She slowly crawled out of the bed and looked around the room, remembering her neck on the right side was still aching - that was not a dream. She held her neck and her eyes fell upon the broken pieces of a mobile phone on the floor. She walked slowly around it, numb.
She remembered how she fell from the chair when he suddenly attacked. Her neck.. 'Ouch!' she remembered how he had strangled her.
Her stomach was burning. She had not eaten her dinner last night. Her dinner plate had been smashed against the wall.
Standing in the washroom, she looked at herself in the mirror with black circles under her eyes, realizing why she had aged so fast.
Closing her eyes to wash her face, she remembered the nice dream she had! There is no one like him in her real life. But the dream was beautiful. She wished she could have stayed for a bit longer and talked to him.
She looked at her fingers. The diamond ring was missing. She slowly walked back into the room and found the ring under the bed.
She carefully picked the pieces of the broken phone from the floor, put the sim card in a drawer, and threw the rest of it away.
She noticed the knife on the floor. She remembered with a lurch in her stomach that he had threatened to kill himself.
She had cried, begging him to drop the knife. He had thrown it down and sank into their bed saying he had a problem controlling himself. She had sat next to him and consoled him, telling him that everything would be okay. She didn’t want him to feel guilty, worried that he would hurt himself.
She sat there watching her husband snoring as he slept, realizing how painful her whole body was. She had planned different things like running away from him or going to an ashram whenever he had hurt her. But who would take care of him? And she was not sure if she would ever be happy without him.
There was no escape. She had to stay. He loved her and the kids. The family was financially doing well living a decent life as he worked hard and earned a handsome salary. She would destroy everything if she took any drastic steps to leave him.
He eventually got up with a headache as she cooked them breakfast. Within a couple of hours, everything was back to normal, like nothing had happened.
As they finished breakfast, after a moment of silence, he said, “Did you have to bring all that up while we were having dinner?" She didn’t make eye contact with him, afraid that the whole thing would be repeated. He kept going, “I haven’t slept well and I have a lot of work to do today.” "No... I’m sorry. I hope you are okay," she said softly. “The sim card is on the table."
He had broken a lot of phones. Once he had broken a few expensive ones, he began carrying around cheap ones that made him feel less guilty about breaking them.
He left for work. She was neither consoled nor had he said any kind words to her. After all the humiliation and pain after he hit her, she was the one consoling him. She wondered why she was his only target.
Her neighbour knocked on their door, asking for some sugar.
"Oh yes, come in!"
As she handed over a bowl of sugar, her neighbour said, “you look very sick. Are you not feeling well?”
"Yes, dear. I fell in the bathroom yesterday. Nothing serious. I have some pain in my neck and lower back. I applied oil generously all over, including my feet, and slipped into the bathroom. Would anyone else do that? As my kids say, I am very careless." She laughed, trying to make herself look happy.
His friend laughed and said, “oh yes, I know, you should be more careful. Do you want any med.... "
The phone rang.
"Okay, you answer the phone, I’ll see you later. Take care!” Her friend left, shutting the door behind her.
It was her mother.
“Hi Amma…Yes he left for work"
“Yes, Mia called yesterday. She is doing well in her college.”
“No… what? I have a small cold, that's why I sound like this."
“Yeah, she looks good, the side effects are much less now…Next doctor's appointment is on the 2nd. …. Don't worry the doctor is positive that a new treatment which completely eradicates the illness would be available in a few years…. Yes, I will come to see you after next week. .”
“Yes, all good. You take care. Bye."
She locked the door with her right hand and a sudden pain shot up to her neck. She felt dizzy and laid down slowly on the sofa, closing her eyes. Her dream flashed again - the bus, her friends, he... who is he?