Forget Me Not! – One Shot
I brought my lips to the rim of the glass and slowly sipped the spirit in the glass. The rain drops splattered against the shuddering windows. I stood up and walked towards the window. The storm outside was something similar to what had been going in my insides. The regular arguments and shouting needed to be brought to an end. Today, I’d bring her back home despite of what she says or Maa says. If it makes Maa suffer from the similar raging storm like me, then be it. It has to be concluded one day and today is the day when I’m going to do it. Bring an end to it. Conclude it.
I sipped the spirit in the glass again when I heard the knock on the door. It had to be her. She couldn’t spoil my life after settling all of it. She has to suffer. “Come in,” I said and brought my lips the rim of the glass yet again knowing how much she hates it. I squinted at the ray of light. “Dev . . ,” she muttered switching on the lights. I crossed my legs, one over the other, on the table and looked at her after squinting and adjusting to the lights. “Are you drinking?” I sipped the spirit again and replied, “I suppose.”
“Dev, is this the way you talk to your mother? And why are drinking? Don’t you know how much I hate it?” I threw the glass on the floor and she shuddered at the sound. “This is what I do, right? Always do what you like. I can’t lead my life according to what I like and dislike,” I said. I walked towards the door when she placed her hand on my shoulder. “It’s raining outside.” “Oh, really; you care about me? If you did, you would’ve never asked me to choose between her and you. You knew how important both of you were to me, but despite knowing everything, you made me take the worst decision I could’ve ever taken,” I shouted.
“Don’t go to her Dev. All you’ll get is a life full of sorrows. I didn’t do it purpose. I wanted to guide you. Guide you on the correct path,” she whimpered. I shoved her hand from my shoulder and stormed out of the house. It was going to end today. Concluding it for the first and last time.
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I stepped on the wet grass of the cliff. The air had a different aura because of the pelter. I inhaled the intoxicating smell of the wet mud. The storm inside me needed to be calmed down. Immediately. I walked near the waterfall and like the unusual storm, she wasn’t there. She wasn’t strumming her favourite tune on the guitar. She stood at the end of the cliff, staring at the waterfall. I walked towards her. Her guitar had been her only support since we both were forced to part our ways, but now, I’ll be the support she has been dearly yearning for.
Standing beside her, I stared at her. Her face was plain, expressionless just like her white saree. Her long hair flew with the cold breeze. She looked at me and smiled. “You shouldn’t have,” she said. I knew she meant about the argument I’d with Maa. “There’s no other way. I’m concluding this today,” I said. She breathed out a sigh and suddenly, she looked vulnerable. She stared back at the water fall and I couldn’t help, but stare at her. The glow on her face had suddenly disappeared. It didn’t have any happiness or excitement. “What’s wrong Sonakshi?”
She still looked straight ahead at the waterfall, lost in her trail of thoughts staring at the waterfall. “Life is so complicated nah Dev?” Her face was tear – stained and there was a tint of gloominess all over face. “Yeah,” I replied. “Life is so different too. Look at this waterfall carefully. It’ll show you how every life on this earth is different. Every day the water that flows down has a different texture; it’d eventually take up a different course. It represents life so precisely,” she said. I looked at her a little surprised this time. Sonakshi wasn’t philosophical. Not at all. And here she was talking about philosophy, about how life and the waterfall are related and the waterfall represented one’s life.
I placed my hand on her shoulder and asked, “Are you alright? Tell me what’s wrong.” She shook her head assuring she was fine. She stood on her tip-toes and gently kissed my forehead. The raging storm inside me was finally calming down, but the conclusion had been finalised. No matter what, but I’d take Sonakshi home today. She patted my cheek and I smiled at her. She smiled back before turning back towards the waterfall.
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It’d been an hour since we were standing and staring at the waterfall. The dark, clouded sky had finally cleared into a peaceful one. “Shall we head back to mark the beginning of another new togetherness of ‘Us’?” “I’d always wished for a normal life Dev with you being right beside me. Life would’ve been so different for us if everything didn’t happen so unexpectedly, right?” She rested her head on my shoulder. I gently stroked her hair and said, “Everything would be fine now. Don’t worry Sonakshi.”
“Why did life have to complicate itself so much? I never wished for miracles to happen in my life, but neither did I wish for anything disastrous,” she sobbed softly and I continued stroking her hair. “Sona, everything is going to be alright. You believe me, don’t you?” She nodded her head and wiped the tears from her face with the back of her hand. “There are things in life which aren’t in our hands. We can’t do anything out of them,” she whimpered. I stared at her expressionless trying to figure out her words, her grief, her sorrows, but everything seemed so complicated. “Dev, Maa still loves me the way she used to. She never hated me. She couldn’t hate me in spite of everything I did to you, even after I left you, even after her son was alone and sad. She never hated me.”
“Sona” Maa never hated Sonakshi, but she didn’t want the two of us to be together. She asked me to choose between the two of them. “I left you Dev. I left you when I was suffering from Leukemia and I’d only six months to survive,” she whimpered. I stepped away from her, but she held my forearm and said, “Don’t move Dev. Let me live the last few minutes of my life peacefully.” The tears streamed down her cheeks and I couldn’t help, but comply. “You’re already used to staying without me now and that is what I’d always been wishing for in these last six months,” she muttered. “Sonakshi, tell me you’re lying because you don’t want to create differences between Maa and me. It’s okay Sonakshi if you don’t want to come back with me. We’ll stay alone and meet like this whenever we want to, but don’t go away from me Sonakshi. I know you’re perfectly alright and are just doing it so that I and Maa are on good terms,” the tears roll down my cheeks. She lifted her head and engulfed me in a tight hug. She poured in all her emotions, all her love, all of her care in the hug and I knew she wasn’t lying. She was suffering from Leukemia in real.
She pulled apart and smiled at me. She looked weak and her skin had grown pale. “I’d take you to the best doctors Sonakshi. Don’t worry, we’ll fight it together,” I said and entwined our hands together. I pulled her towards the car, but she stood rooted to the ground. I looked back at her and she shook her head. The tears rolled down her cheeks when she said, “Let me die peacefully in your arms Dev. Please.” I shook my head, but I couldn’t do anything. The pleading in her eyes forced me to comply. I sat down on the wet grass laying her head on my lap. Together, we hummed the song ‘Saagar Kinare’.
We stared at each other. Her hazel brown eyes which showed nothing, but the love she had for me. She whimpered as the song ended. She kissed my forehead before her breathing became heavy and her expressionless hazel brown eyes stared at me. I closed her eyes gently and cried. I had lost her. I had lost Sonakshi, the love of my life.
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The car pulled up in front of the porch. The raging storm inside me had calmed down and all that was left was grief and sorrows. I walked inside the house slowly and found Maa waiting for me in the hall. She smiled through her tears. “Maa,” I whimpered when she engulfed me in a tight, motherly hug. The tears streamed down my cheeks as I remembered Sonakshi. I’d lost everything in my life. Maa ruffled my hair while muttering some soothing words in my ears. “I lost everything in life Maa,” I said. “Nah Beta,” she said, but couldn’t continue. She’d loved Sonakshi like her own daughter. I hugged her tighter and cried louder. Suddenly a cold breeze blew across my face and I slowly opened my eyes.
Sonakshi stood in front of the staircase asking me to smile. I extended my hand towards her, but she shook her head and pointed toward Maa. Maa – Dev, was what she meant. I smiled through my tears as her lightened form ascended up the stairs. She stood at the top of the stairs and plucked the last petal from the flower she held in her hand. The last petal of the flower. Through her hands, she signaled ‘Forget Me Not’ and then, disappeared in thin air.
• • • • •
Phew! This was an emotional mess, wasn’t it? Okay, don’t be mad at me, but I love TRAGIC ENDS. Many of you might be thinking I’m mad, but believe me the feel that tragic ends provide you, a happy end would never provide that. Anyway, this One Shot was on request. I remember Niki, Anshita and Maria requesting me to write one so, here it is. Chalo, ab comment phataphat se.
Bye!