The Butterfly

Author's Note: This is my entry for the 'Walking In The Rain' contest for Bloggeratti.
Be advised that this post contains content that is suitable for only mature readers. So if you are under 18, or are otherwise immature, or otherwise dislike what is commonly referred to as 'adult content', you aren't advised to proceed any further (on this post anyway).

The cellphone in her hands started vibrating. She was momentarily startled, but then flipped it open and put it to her ear.

“Seven missed calls?!” Akash exclaimed from the other end. “I’m sorry, I was in my lectures — why didn’t you come today? And what’s up, dear? What happened?”
What happened. What a question, Sania thought. And although Akash knew very well most of what had happened, Sania involuntarily dropped into the reservoir of her memories...


It was 14 July, 2009. In all the excitement of her eighteenth birthday, she had unwittingly forgotten her ‘trusty little umbrella’, as she called it, at home. And she had chosen the worst possible day to do so, as the heavens had decided to make up for the late rains that very day.
The lectures were over a couple of hours early — Sania was spared the boring double Physics class as the prof couldn’t make it to college on account of the rains. However, she was extremely apprehensive to step out in the rains minus her umbrella. She felt the rains were a monster, lashing out at everything within sight. The 26 July massacre had only strengthened this opinion of hers. And then, the savior appeared.

Akash.


The guy’s calm, easygoing demeanor had blown Sania away ever sine she set her eyes on him, back in FYJC. As the days passed, her attraction towards him only continued to intensify, until, one day, she was forced to conclude in her diary: ‘This damn guy has totally taken over my life!’

“Hey Sania! Where’s your ‘trusty little umbrella’? Gone off to enjoy the rains?”
Akash had an amazing sense of humor. What Sania really liked about it was that it was tailored for the listener — showing how he singularly cared for each and everyone in his life.

“Well, yeah... it’s breached my trust...”
“Mine hasn’t... may I drop you, mistress?” Akash asked, doing the old-world English movie gesture that usually accompanies such a statement.
Chivalry, that endangered species of behavior... a clear indicator of a sense of individuality — while the world is ditching chivalry, he carves his own niche...

“Um... Sure, why not?” Sania, almost greedily, accepted.
Although they were in the same class since FYJC, it was only in FYBSc that Sania and Akash got on talking terms (adjacent Roll Numbers helped). And, a couple of days ago, Sania had written in her diary: ‘I may be kidding myself, but I think I see a hint of reciprocation...’


“Nice weather, don’t you think?” Akash commented. Due to the presence of Akash, even the weather on the planet Venus would qualify as ‘nice’ for Sania. She agreed. Never before had she enjoyed walking in the rain to this extent. She had heard descriptions of the rain as ‘romantic’; she now realized what they meant. The closeness she had so craved was granted to her. If only it changed to intimacy...

She felt something on her left shoulder. It took her a while to realize it was Akash’s hand. She looked up to him, and their eyes spoke a million words. Although around them vehicles were jostling for road space, honking violently, Akash and Sania were unperturbed, lost in their own world, the pitter-patter of the raindrops adding to their mood...
“There’s nobody at my place today...” Akash said. “Will you come over?”

What happened after ‘coming over’ was something that changed Sania forever. In the rare times that Sania thought of the moment when her hymen finally broke apart, she was filled with apprehensions. However, with Akash’s presence, it was all smooth. Although both of them were indulging for the first time, the apprehensions seemed to slither out of the (closed) window. It was, of course, the emotional connect that Sania cherished more than the physical one. All the same, the experience, to her, was like ‘a caterpillar finally shedding her cocoon to come out as a full-grown butterfly...’ And the best birthday gift she ever had.


But the first-timers had made a crucial mistake...


“Hello, you still there?”
Sania’s mind jumped back to the phone call with a jolt. She had to speak a dreadful truth.
“It’s been almost a month... and I — I’ve...”
“Sania,” Akash said, very calmly, “Tell me.”
And then, the words fell out of her mouth. “I’m pregnant.”
The next thing Sania knew was a powerful slap on her face by her father.


—Two Hours Later —

“Doctor, is she okay?” Sania’s mother was asking.
“The patient is out of danger,” the doctor replied, “but I’m sorry, we couldn’t save the child.”

Read more...

Alice In Dreamland: Part 1 of 3

She opened her eyes. Large hazel eyes that appeared perpetually unfocused, as if the girl who used them was in a perpetual dream. She would, in time, realize that it wasn't too far from the truth. Her face was very fair, and from her overall appearance, her age could be placed at about thirteen, although at the moment she looked very much like half of it.

And then, she looked around herself. She was sleeping in a very peaceful green meadow, with grass all around her as far as the eye could see. The sunlight was pleasant — present but not too harsh, and there were a few trees scattered around, as if as an afterthought. The vista was so beautiful that the senses of the girl dimmed just by taking it in, and only after a few minutes — or was it moments? Or even hours? She had lost all sense of time, too, evidently — she tried to remember. Remember what this place was. Blank. Remember what she had been doing just before she fell asleep. Blank again. She finally tried to remember who she was. And horrifyingly, drew upon a blank once again.

Caught in an insane frenzy, she tried to remember anything she could and spent some time — or, probably, a lot of time — in the futile process. But then, she thought, When you don't remember something, let your mind relax and it will come back automatically to you. In accordance, she began relaxing her mind. But before she could even get started properly, her mind jumped. How did she know that quote? And, in fact, how could she even know that it was a quote? And then, the quote repeated itself in her mind, but this time in a woman's voice. Something in that voice gave her a lot of joy, but it lasted for only what seemed like a split-second before it was overpowered by a sense of intense sorrow. Both emotions were largely unaccounted for — the girl hardly even knew at that point that such things existed, or maybe, like everything else, she had forgotten.

Before she could deliberate more on her new findings, she had a glimpse of a black silhouette a bit away from her. How far away she could not exactly tell, the single-dimension green and blue had ruined her sense of perspective. It seemed to be a man with a cloak that billowed about as if caught in a strong wind. However, the girl noted, the wind around herself was just a small breeze. She returned to examining the silhouette that had its back turned towards her. Gingerly, she got up and started walking towards the silhouette. She noticed she was barefoot and that walking on the grass gave her a pleasant, tingly feeling.

She continued walking for a considerable amount of time — she could tell it was considerable; meaning that the person wasn't as close as she thought him to be. Of course, the 'him' bit of it was an assumption, it may not turn out to be a 'him' at all. As she approached, the movements of the cloak became lesser and lesser pronounced. It was as if she was carrying the breeze along with her, dispelling the strong gust to take its place.

Finally, she reached the silhouette, and noticed an unearthly odour coming from its direction. Disregarding it, she made as if to tap him, but before she did it, the 'man' turned around to face her. It seemed like a man, but with major differences. The person was entirely black — it was as if she were looking into a shadow, but the lips were stark red. They opened up — presumably to say something, but before a word could be uttered, the girl screamed. She had seen canine teeth — two pointed canine teeth. What was in front of her wasn't a person at all — it was a vampire!

"Hey, hey, don't, stop... STOP!" It was a perfect human voice coming out of the vampire's mouth, but the ones that starred in Mommy's stories were mostly able to speak humanly anyway. And that thought cut her scream short. I had a Mom, and she used to tell me stories! This triggered remembrance of a vast chunk of information, mostly regarding stories the girl's mom used to tell her. However, she still didn't know who her Mom was... What she did know, was that Vampires Are Evil.
"No, I'm not, Trust Me!"

The girl made as if to run away, but then she turned and spoke, her voice shaking, "How do you know what I was thinking? Vampires can't read minds!"
"I know who you are, too — you're Alice"
The vampire was saying something more, but the girl's — Alice's mind, couldn't grasp the words. The sound of the name had triggered something.

All of a sudden, the green-blue world around her disappeared. She was now sitting in a bus, laughing with a girl sitting next to her. She bid the other girl goodbye and got up, and when the bus came to a stop, she got down, in her school uniform, with a bag on her shoulders. She saw across the road to the other side — and then, nothing.

When that nothing changed back to something, she was, this time, lying on a cot, inside what seemed to be a hut. For one heart-stopping moment, she could not remember anything. Then it all came back to her. The meadow, the recollections, the... 'vision', for want of a better word, everything. But before the frightened child could open her mouth to scream — a pretty natural reaction considering the overload on her senses, she caught a glimpse of a man — this time a real man alright. He was old, and looked just like... Albus Dumbledore from the Harry Potter movies. His presence calmed her down a bit.

"I'm Aldrin," he said. "And you're Alice."
"Yes, I — how do you know? And how did I come here?"

As if in answer to both her questions, the vampire slowly showed himself from behind a wall.

"No child," Aldrin said, "There's no need to be afraid of this creature here. He is the one who saved your life — you can call him 'Batoid'."
"He... saved me?" Alice's features appeared visibly exaggerated in her surprise.
"Yes," Aldrin said, holding up a glass of clear liquid. "This is medicine for your recovery." He paused. Then continued, "I need to tell you something. About where you are. You are in a dream."
"A dream? Is that what you just said?" Curious.
"Yes, but you'll have to get out of it if you intend to survive — you have only five hours."

Meanwhile, somewhere else:

"How is she now?" A deep male voice, concerned, asked.
"No luck, she is still in coma. However, we found something... interesting..."
"Interesting?" The man seemed to marvel at the choice of the word. "Continue, I'm listening."
"The patient's mental activity has intensified in the last ten minutes, all of a sudden. Moreover, she is also showing Rapid Eye Movement — REM. All characteristic of... a dream."

To Be Continued...

Read more...