Chapter 11

It was 10 pm — an hour gone by with no sign of Sharini. Sheetal’s worry churned, tangled with helplessness. Sharini’s parents hadn’t called or checked, and that stung more than she expected. The harsh words she’d thrown at her best friend that morning echoed painfully in her mind.

Sheetal climbed the stairs to the terrace of the block of apartments in which Sharini’s family stayed. The two families lived in adjacent buildings, both on the second floor, such that their balconies faced each other.

The complex consisted of fourteen nearly identical blocks, named A through M, with a medium-sized parking lot and a small play area. Each block rose up to three floors, topped by a terrace.

The first two floors of a block composed of three 1BHK flats each. The third floor had one 2BHK and a 3BHK. Above that, the terrace had multiple clotheslines, divided by white painted lines on the floor, such that there were at least 2 clotheslines for each apartment house in that block.

The stairwell led up to a concrete water tank, which divided the terrace into two sections — one side lined with clotheslines, the other dotted with benches and potted plants.

Sheetal walked over to the water tank and stopped in her tracks when she saw the person she had been longing for the whole day.

Sharini was there, sitting at the top of the overhead tank, her back turned to Sheetal. She sat at an edge, her feet dangling into the nothingness of the air.

Sheetal eyed the iron ladder that was stuck to the tank wall and the terrace floor. The barely blue hollow ladder was rusty in many places and missing a couple of steps.

Wasting no time, Sheetal climbed the ladder and went atop the water tank, but hesitated when she was close to the taller girl. To her surprise, Sharini patted the little space on the edge beside her, urging the other to sit beside her. Sheetal obliged.

“Where were you? Do you know how many times I called you? Do you know how worried-“, Sheetal started but was cut off when she saw Sharini extend a hand with her phone.

“It’s dead. Charge illa.” Sharini said flatly, her voice carrying a quiet resignation.

“When did you come back? How? I never heard your scooter sound”, Sheetal continued to inquire, trying to get her heart to calm down. She tried to recall but clearly remembered that she never heard that very familiar sound of the scooter.

Sharini sighed. “I was going… somewhere. But it stopped in between. Had to send it for service. Some kind of engine problem it seems. I walked back. Been here for like.. some 5 hours or something.”

“What were you doing here all alone all this time?”

“I don’t know”, was Sharini’s reply. She kept staring ahead into the darkness of the night sky. She didn’t know how she was able to talk to the other so calmly. She felt nothing. Or, maybe, tired? She didn’t know.

A minute passed before Sheetal spoke again. “Sharini, sorry d.”

“It’s fine, you don’t have to tell me anything.”

“No, please don’t be like this. All formal with me. I’m really sorry.”, Sheetal pleaded. I didn’t mean it, she wanted to add.

A tired chuckle escaped her lips as the teacher tried to fake a smile. “Why should you be sorry? You didn’t say anything wrong. I am the one who should be apologizing. I talked about something stupid. Something that is not possible. And I’m sorry. What you said was right.”

“No… no, that’s not right. Nothing I said was right, I didn’t mean to hurt you—I just wanted…” She trailed off, words catching in her throat. Sheetal swallowed, unable to form proper sentences as some form of a panic kicked in her senses. She didn’t know what to say.

Her inner conflict remained unresolved, lingering quietly inside her. Still, she needed to assure her friend that she hadn’t meant to speak so harshly. She also wanted to make it clear that she did share the feelings. She just did not know how to live with those feelings, without thinking about the future.

Sharini somehow saw right through the latter, and had a bitter feeling at the pit of her stomach. Unconsciously, she reached out to pat the palm of the other that rested between the two.

“Sheetal,” , she called, waiting for the girl to look at her. “it is okay. It really is. Maybe… maybe we can move past this. Whatever ‘this’ is.” , she reassured, but her own heart was breaking with her words. She didn’t know how to move past this. Move past them. A them that never existed.

The other couldn’t speak anymore. Sharini heard her companion try to suppress her little sobs and squeezed her palm into the Sheetal’s. But then, she withdrew her hand as quickly, when she felt Sheetal grab onto it.

“I-I, am leaving tomorrow morning. To Chennai. Got school. ” Sharini quickly changed the topic. “You will be coming on…?”

Sheetal quickly but frantically wiped away any traces of tear on her face before uttering a reply. “..Wednesday.”

Sharini nodded, the silence of the night slowing into her. Oh, night, she realized the time. “It must be late. Go“, she urged Sheetal to go home. She knew that her own parents might not be looking out for her but Sheetal’s parents did worry when the girl was not at home. They always did.

Seeing the other not moving from the spot, Sharini decided that she should be the one to walk away. And that she did. She climbed down the ladder, holding a hand out for Sheetal to get down as well.

Sheetal had climbed up without hesitation, but when it was time to climb down, she suddenly remembered how much she hated ladders. She held onto Sharini’s hand, holding it tight as she jumped the last two steps, landing on the terrace floor with little to no balance. Sharini caught her by her shoulders, bringing her back to her feet.

The small eye contact they made, ended awkwardly when two moved away from each other. Sheetal didn’t know what came over her, but she felt a sudden surge that went through her whole being, she reached forward and wrapped her hands around the taller. She hugged the other with all her might, holding her in a hug.

Sharini gasped softly, her hands rising instinctively to return the hug but pausing awkwardly in mid-air. She wasn’t sure what to do or how to feel. She let her body take over, and gently patted the shorter on the back.

The two stayed like that for a small moment, and then Sheetal took off, running away to her home. Sharini laid right there against the water tank, falling asleep on the terrace that day, little stars decorating the night sky and little tears decorating the girl’s face.

********************************

A/N:

I’m very happy to see that people are reading this book and I want to say, thank you so much.

I would really love to see your interactions, comments and suggestions on the book.

Just so you know, I started this book as a way to challenge myself and share my thoughts on a platform, trying my hand at writing. I don’t have a complete plot or the next chapters planned out yet — I post whenever inspiration strikes, which isn’t often. Thank you so much for reading and bearing with me!

Thanks again. Have a wonderful day!