Between the two of us

As he locked the door, he could feel the wind billowing his shirt out. He loved that feeling of almost being lifted. As he strode out towards his bike, he slid the keys into his pocket. They felt cold. Smooth. Polished. Just like his dad. He smiled. Strange how thoughts like these come at the most inopportune moments. Well, thinking of his dad wasn’t going to help him much, he decided as he paused for a second on his bike, before he started it. He smiled again. It was going to be a beautiful day.

She stared at the mirror. She was looking pretty, today, she thought to herself. She wondered why she hadn’t noticed the weird shape of her face before. Her eyes seemed extra sparkly, especially when she thought of the day ahead. She wondered why she wasn’t smiling when she was so happy, her heart should probably have burst a while back. Then she realized she was also afraid. No. She hadn’t just realized it – she had known for a while. Her face fell towards the washbasin. She looked at the bottle in her hand. Should she do it? She couldn’t stand to look at it, anymore. Why was this necessary? If only, things were different. She wished she didn’t have to face anyone she didn’t want to face. She wished she were on an abandoned island. Away from society. Away from people. Away from moral obligations.
But she wasn’t. She clenched the bottle.

The air flew into his face. Oh, how he loved feeling the engine beneath him while cutting through the fog. He thought about what he had planned. Planned! Were things like this supposed to be planned? Well, this was the way he would have it. The only way. When he thought about it, again, he wondered what the future would bring. He didn’t know. And he didn’t care either. He only wished time would stand still with today. It was not like it was the first time he was going to do this. But in spite of himself, he knew this time was different. He didn’t care about consequences or reciprocations. He didn’t care about guilt or society's so-called code of morals. He would face all that later. Right now, he only cared about one thing, and one thing only and that was today.

Her mother and sister were arguing again. She didn’t want to listen. She didn’t need to. She knew what was coming. They would yell at each other till their throats went sore and then they would sulk – each waiting for her to come and comfort them and patch up things for them. She got up. She had had enough of it. “I am leaving, ma. My plane leaves in an hour. I have to get to the airport. Remember, there’s hardly any network there, so no point in calling my cell phone. I’ll be back in a week.” She didn’t even wait for her surprised mother to ask if she really was going in the middle of this family crisis. She knew if she waited for this family crisis to get over, she’d have to stay for the next three ‘family crises’ as well. As she turned to leave, she looked back into the house. Nothing would ever be the same, she realized. After tonight, she didn’t know what exactly would change – but she knew something would. Maybe they’d stop arguing. Maybe they would stop watching TV so much. She suppressed a laugh. Now that would bring about a family crisis! She closed the door and leaned back into it after it clicked into place. How would she change after tonight, she wondered.

As they spotted each other, they realized they couldn’t bear to be apart one more moment. The mall was the best place. It was innocuous and filled with so many other people meeting, that the significance of this particular meeting was drowned. And god knows, they needed as little ‘significance’ as possible. As they left for the airport, the same thoughts were running through both their heads. They knew it wasn’t supposed to be planned, like this. They knew it wasn’t supposed to be this momentous. But in the end, it was theirs to treasure or throw away. And who really cared if they decided to make a big deal out of it?

What is it? Can you guess?

Into the distance she looked, seeing nothing but a shadow. She turned then, feeling awkwardly happy. Why was she happy? Enigma, she laughed at herself.
She looked back again. Was it her imagination? Had the shadow become darker? She laughed aloud, this time. She shivered as the bitter breeze touched her. She kicked some sand out of her shoes. She was walking away from the water. Behind her, a dark form started to near. Away from the sunset. Away from the end. Towards the beginning, she thought. She rubbed her gooseflesh.
She felt a shadow behind her.
NO! NO! she screamed inside her head...
She didnt turn. She didnt want to turn.
It couldnt be him!
She was roughly turned around.
NOT AGAIN... was her last thought as his mouth swooped down on hers.
And then she exploded. Into a million tiny nerve endings.

*I couldnt not post when faced by popular demand... But this isnt great. Just something that popped into my head.*

“Hey…” His voice sounded coarse and harsh. “Hi”, she whispered. “So how are you, today?” he asked her, trying to sound cheerful. She giggled. “You sound like a shrink or something. My day was good, though not as good as it could have been.” “Physics is very similar to psychology.” “Really? How is that?”

“Both deal with forces not completely understood by man.” She was not surprised at his answer. It was a line she had heard before. “Hmmm… But why was your day not as good as it could have been?” “I didn’t meet all the people I wish I had met.” Her answer made his heart skip a beat. “Who did you want to meet, who you couldn’t meet?” “A friend.” She didn’t want to say it was him. She had thought about him the whole day. She was a bit surprised at herself. She fiddled with the wire in her hand, not knowing how he would react. “A friend? Hmmm… which friend?” She could not tell him! “Just someone I know from college.” He knew she was warding him off with a silly untruth. Should he be happy at her hesitation or angry at her doubt? “Oh ok. So other than not meeting this friend, your day was good?”

“Yes. It was a wonderful day, otherwise.” Hmph. Never mind the exaggeration. It had been a normal day. But didn’t he want to know which friend it was? Wasn’t he in the least bit curious? He didn’t seem very interested. Or he would have asked her. Suddenly she noticed the sudden sharp silence. “So how was your day?” Her mother would be shocked at her manners. She smiled at the thought of her mother. “My day was normal until just now. Now it’s become a great deal better.” “Oh. Why?” “Because you just smiled.” He was definitely not doubtful or hesitant, she thought as she blushed bright pink. “You look beautiful when you blush.” “I… Uhm… Oh… the sky is so beautiful. There are so many stars.” “Some of them are planets.” He was teasing her. “Oh. Yes. You know better, Mr. Scientist. Hey. There are two stars up there. They are so close to each other, you can’t make out the one from the other. They are like part of the same whole.” “Well, actually, they are quite far away. You see, the angle is the reason we see them almost touching. They lie in the same straight line from here. In fact, if you look closely, you can almost see the difference in their colours. One is bluish and the other reddish. It means one is moving away from the earth and the other towards it.” “Ah. That is even sweeter. They are so close yet so far away.” “Yes. It is a common pheno-” “Wait. Don’t think in terms of light years and galaxies. Just fill yourself with the wonders of the universe. Isn’t it wonderful that there are bright spots of light somewhere so far away that we couldn’t even begin to reach them, and yet they are there everyday without fail in almost the same place? ” “It is because th- Yes. It is wonderful. And it is wonderful that the same stars and the same sky are looking down on us and that is more wonderful to me than the most puzzling maths theorem.” “Yes. I can’t believe I am actually talking to you. It seems like its been so long.” “Yes. Like years and years. Almost a whole lifetime.”

The moon came out of the clouds, just then. It wasn’t a full moon, or even a half moon, it was a thin curved crescent. The light was just enough for her to make out his expression. “Come, lets go inside…” She guided him inside, and he let her guide him, in spite of his usual fierce independence and his cane. Sometimes it was ok to look through someone else’s eyes. Especially when he knew that both the sight and the someone-else, were singularly beautiful.