“You are going to do that once more! Aren’t
you?” I shouted at Maira. She ditched again, making her counts elevate its
slope. It was because her stingy, conservative, ruthless, cynical, grumpy,
bossy and so-called boyfriend wanted to spend the night together. I so hate him
and every time he gives me an additional reason to move a step further in that
page. “I’m sorry Aashna. He wants me to be by his side. Please try to
understand.” She pleaded like always. “Do whatever you want to!” I slammed the
door at her.
I do not know why I trust her all the time
with those plans. I have always been a short-tempered person and last minute
cut outs, bring it out even sooner. Why do girls need boy friends and lovers?
It simply acts as an extra effort, to deprive them of the little freedom that
they enjoy. Restrictions, emotional blackmails, unwanted issues, etc, etc, etc…
The synonym of such a relationship should have been termed as ‘suicide’.
My friends always choose the guys who suck in
some or the other way. There are good guys out there and they always fall for
the useless ones. And these guys treat them no less than slaves. Girls aren’t
even back in this matter; treating them as toys. On a whole, I’ve had a problem
from the very beginning and it’s still constant.
“I’m not dozing off this time. I’m gonna go
out there and enjoy. Yes! I surely can do that on my own.” I started consoling
myself. I wandered through the alley; noticed every other figure that crossed
across. I definitely didn’t want the would-be wonderful evening to turn into a
horror one. A cheap bar caught my sight. My mind forced me to pick up some beer
but my heart restricted buying cigarettes only. I took the pack and made my way
to the beach.
I loved the calmness of the shores; the
silence which creeps and the rush of the tides to the bank. The moonlight
illuminated the entire ocean. It glowed like stars fallen from the sky straight
into the heart of the salted water. The view was truly delightful. I could
spend the entire life just admiring the boundless beauty. For a moment I was
thankful that I was alone. I could hear my heart beating steadily, making me
feel like the only existent. I sat over the non-uniformly distributed dry sand
and took off my sneakers.
I opened the pack of cigarettes and took one
out. And geez! I didn’t have a lighter. How dumb of me to take the entire pack
without having anything to light it up. I took my face into my palms and cursed
myself for ruining the night. “Need some light?” approached a voice from behind
with a fired matchstick. I instantly turned back to find an unknown figure. I
couldn’t see his face clearly but knew that he was handsome. The moonlight
reflected perfectly over the highlighted features of his face. “Thank you.” I
said with less grace. He sat beside me and asked, “Can I?” pointing at the
pack.”Yeah” I said and passed a stick.
“Breakup?” he asked trying to figure out the
reason for my loneliness. “My friend got a new boy friend.” “Oh, that’s sad.”
He said and made a face. I giggled over that. “You?” I asked. “Shores; they
call me out every night.”He sounded genuine. “Cool…” I said and the silence
filled the place again.
I took out my phone and opened up my whatsapp
account. Nobody was online and I wasn’t even feeling like texting, so thought
of changing the profile picture. I set a picture written ‘Hakuna Matata’. And
again set it aside. “Hakuna Matata – no worries.” He commented. I turned
towards him and smiled, “Yeah.” “Timon and Pumba right? Oh I miss that show.” “Me
too… their carefree nature, the awesomeness…” “You remember Pokémon, Popeye and
uhhh Recess?” “Oh yeah… Recess was good. Never watched Pokémon.” I said with a
stick-out tongue. He chuckled, “The best among all was Dexter’s laboratory;
inspired me a lot.” “I liked Oswald.” “The octopus?” “Yeah.” “He was good. Ahh…
those days… I miss them. I miss being that quiet guy who used to close him up
in the corner and look strangely at everyone.” He said nostalgically looking at
the sky. ”Even I miss that shy girl who was always scared of the spotlight; had
so much to tell but never opened up. That innocence…” I said feeling evocative
and content at the same time.
We gossiped like lost old friends. He told me
about his stupid girl friends, who acted smart, his puppy who cheered him up
whenever the same species cheated. I told him about my crushes and confessions,
the silly thoughts that popped up when I imagine about them. Bits of cigarettes
were all over the place. I glanced over my watch. “I should leave now. It is
already 2.”I told him half-heartedly wearing back my sneakers. He didn’t say
anything and just looked straight through me. “Good night.” I said. “mmmmm
Yeah, see you. Good night.” “I got up and commenced walking. “Hey!” he called
out. “I just thought it wouldn’t be safe for you to walk back alone.” My heart
started pumping faster. “Not an issue. My place isn’t that far.” “Okay then.
Take care.” He waved at me and turned to the other direction .I took baby steps
as the desire to talk to him again aroused. I turned as I reached the curve. He
was still standing there and waved at me. I waved back and walked towards my
apartment.
My face was lit up even though I was feeling
sleepy. I had never had such a comfortable chat in years. The beach, the
cigarettes and the night added up to the situation making it cozier and
unfiltered. He was witty, elite and charismatic. I cannot define his
exceptionality. Maira opened the door for me. Her boyfriend was sitting on the
couch watching something on the television. “Where have you been? You know I
was so worried.” She said tensed. “I was at the beach.”I said, still smiling.
“Alone? At the beach, all this time?” “I wasn’t alone.” “Who were you with?” “I
was with…“ I trailed off. God! I didn’t know his name. We shared so much and I
didn’t know whom I talked to. We had such a long conversation and didn’t share
any sort of basic information. The thought that I was never going to meet him
again, made me really sad. And then a clip struck my mind. “Shores; they call
me out every night.”He said that. So there are chances that he is going to come
there the next night and probably wait for me this time. I hugged Maira and
smiled like a fool. I could see her puzzled expression but I didn’t care to
explain to her the situation I was in. I looked at the wall clock. Twenty hours
more; and I will once again meet the stranger and share the unshared.
*A stranger can clear out the doubt; you were
clueless to live without.*
P.S: 'Bonjour étrange' means 'Hello
stranger' in french.
#StyZie
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