The Uncalled Liberation

- Aashna R Bhatt

The light of dawn hit her face as she lay awake in the bed. She
looked over to see the time, it was close to 5:30 am. It was her fifth
sleepless night in a row, and the situation outside had unfolded
from bad to worse.
She was living by herself in the strange city for the past six months.
Her colleagues, neighbours, acquaintances, whoever she spoke to,
had gone back to their homes in the nick of time, all but one, her
roommate. She had somehow managed to return a week ago.
With a long, endless stretch, she stepped down from her bed,
walked towards the kitchen and made herself a nice cup of warm
tea, she called out, “I’m making tea. Do you want some?” She
drained it in two cups and placed it on the table. As she drank hers,
she opened her phone to catch up on the news and eventually just
ended up scrolling through her Instagram seeing stories and posts
of her social media following.
“Wow! Looks like the pandemic still exists for only a few people,
how are they getting to travel? Is there some news I’ve missed out
on? Do I get to go back home? These people can’t stay put in their
homes and here I am, still longing to sleep on my bed, eat food
that is not burned for a change , eat food made by ma; it’s been a
week since I spoke to her, I have to put a reminder to give her a call
today, dad must be sitting on the porch reading his morning
newspaper, Mila must be running around the house chasing her
imaginary friends, I can’t wait to see the look on her face when I
finally see my sweet girl; Will she remember me? Another pointless
reel and another group enjoying their ‘Ay-ay-ay vacation'’”
Frustrated, she threw the phone on the bed and opened her
laptop.
These days, ideas had taken the form of rains, never appeared
when she needed it the most and always hit her when she was
least prepared for it. She stared at the blank screen while the
cursor flashed.
She called her roommate out, “I hope you haven’t used up all the
water! You know about the water shortage in society. That water is
supposed to last us till the next day.” She stepped into the
bathroom and saw a bucket of water that was filled to the brim.
From the bathroom she called out, “Oh good, you didn’t waste it
all! Thank god.” She entered the living room and saw her friend’s
cup empty. She finally proceeded towards her blank cursor
blinking screen, “Oh, you have a meeting to attend? Finish up
quickly. I have to get to my writing, and we’ll figure out lunch later,”
she said. She had just typed her first sentence when she heard a
group of neighbouring children playing downstairs, “Keep it low!
My roommate and I are working!” she yelled from her window. The
kids shared perplexed glances and went to the other end, and
continued playing.
Her creative juices had finally begun to flow. She got so engrossed
in writing and lost track of time. She looked up and said, “I didn’t
realise it was already 6 in the evening! I’m so sorry, I know you were
feeling a little lonely and I’d promised you we’d talk. How about
this? Let’s order in from our favourite pizza place and talk?” Saying
this, she kept her laptop aside and called for a large pizza along
with soft drinks.
Why is it that when you’re most hungry, the food takes forever to
reach you? She thought to herself as she laid the plates on the
table. After an endless wait, she heard a knock at the door, and the
pizza had arrived! “The dinner’s here and it’s served! Jaldi aaja,
before it becomes cold”, she said. As she ate, she told her
roommate, “I know the past few days haven’t been kind to you. The
situation is only such that people are compelled to take actions
they don’t mean to. But trying to end it all, isn’t a solution, no? Let’s
talk about the other day. What exactly were you planning on doing
with that blade, huh? Did you think about your dog?
About your family? I’m glad I walked in on time and talked you out
of this. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, please consider talking
to a licensed therapist.” She took the plates and put them with the
pile of dishes in the sink. “Fine, we’re going to talk about it
tomorrow. Think about what I said, will you?”
That night, she kept the room's door open so that she could check
up on her roommate.
She lay in her bed and stared at the ceiling hoping to get knocked
out by the sleep. Her alarm had come to life! It was 6:30 am when
she heard some noises coming from her roommate’s. She quickly
got out of the bed and hurried across the living room. There her
roommate was, staring right at her, standing on a stool with a
noose around her neck. She saw familiarity in her face and froze as
she stared at her reflection in the mirror and said, “I can’t be
friends with you anymore” and kicked the table beneath her.
Her laptop lay on the bed. The death note filled up the entire
screen that was once filled with nothingness, just like her heart.