Flowers On The Dead

Moving out through the door she realized that there was a darkness in the room that masked the darkness in her heart. In a way, it helped her sail through by not causing any contrast to her inside. Rudi placed the murky cloth on the typewriter keyboard and picked up her purse before she left. But the last letter that she had typed was stuck onto the writer.

As Rudi stepped through the soiled floors of her old government office at ten past eight there was very little commotion. She moved hastily without taking the elevator and sort of regretted it when she realized that the lights on the third floor were not working. Holding her breath, she hurried through and made it to the second floor where the lights were on. Now she speeded herself right up to the ground floor and, moved out of the office building.

Sharath came back to his desk and wondered if he should continue working for some more time or whether he should leave. As he loitered around a weird sound caught his attention. Rudi’s typed letter fluttered itself to the tune of the large fan in the room. Out of curiosity he went over and started reading the letter.

 

“Dear Sharath,

It is a difficult situation that I am going through in my life. I wanted to express all this in person when I had shared my liking for you the first time but just could not gather the courage to say anything because of your cold and aggressive demeanor. Lately, your inconsistencies and unpredictabilities have utterly confused me and left me questioning about us.

I have always felt that you are in no way responsible for my life and hence I did not share my liabilities and personal difficulties with you because I find it inappropriate to burden anyone else with my concerns. I had thought that in the case we decide being together I should first be financially independent. You are aware that I cannot be expecting a quick turnaround and unfortunately, I had no response from your end about your feelings when I understood from Kiran that you are very happy in your life with Payal. I had an inkling about this from the beginning much before Kiran said anything to me and thus preferred to keep a distance from you. I had called at your place the other day for clarifying the same thing, we spoke, but you did not say anything about all of this despite me asking. Also, ever since then you have literally ghosted me and I cannot make any sense out of all this. We have been friends and friends speak up no matter what! I have waited for long, but now, it is time that I make certain choices, the really difficult ones, for my sense of closure as it is not nice to have any unfinished business.

I am moving out of your life. A life which I was never a part of really. I hope we always stay friends because I have always considered you one against all odds in my life.

Take care.

Much Love, Rudi.”

Rudi had reached home when she realized that she had forgotten the letter on the typewriter. She did not understand what to do. She wanted to give the letter to Sharath at an appropriate time. But now, it was all messed up.

Sharath did not touch the letter at all. He picked up his bag-pack that he brought to work every day and moved out of the office after switching off the lights and locking the room.

The next day Rudi came early to the office and was happy to find the letter as it is on the typewriter. She was the first one to enter and felt relieved that most likely no one has seen the letter except for Sharath. She had decided to talk to him that evening anyways.

The day went on as usual and when evening came Rudi finally gathered some courage to speak her mind to Sharath. Most of the times Rudi and Sharath would work until late as they were at a stage where their work required them to work long hours. But before Rudi could speak about the letter with Sharath, Jamie came over at her desk and leaned onto her from behind.

Rudi got startled at first, but then laughed it off and asked her what happened. Jamie had an unexplainable calm on her face and it sort of confused Rudi. Jamie then opened her high-resolution mobile phone and showed her the WhatsApp group of the office where she had posted the image of Rudi’s letter and was about to forward it to everyone. Rudi was not a part of the group as she preferred to stay away from a lot of unwanted discussions and distractions.

When Rudi saw the image, she felt forlorn. Somehow, she stood up and asked Jamie, “What do you want?” Jamie replied, “Just wanted you to know Rudi that Sharath has taken a picture of this letter and forwarded it to me and Shafiq. Just in case…” And then she winked.

Rudi felt astonished. What was Sharath and his group up to? Without a moment’s hesitation, she replied, “You people are sick.” And then she decided to move out of the office premises. All this while she had really liked Sharath as her friend… loved him even. She said to herself, “How could he do this? What for? Why this vengefulness? What wrong have I done?”

Rudi started her journey back home and at a few blocks from the office came across Shafiq, Sharath’s best friend who glared at her rubbing her wrong. Rudi continued her journey back home without reacting to him.

The next day was declared a half day at the office. According to their convenience and work priorities, each one made their way to Rudi’s house. She looked beautiful lying on the white cloth as everyone offered flowers on her dead body. Sharath and Shafiq also attended the funeral but Payal and Jamie could not make it.

Later, as everyone started heading towards their respective homes, Sharath deleted Rudi’s letter from his phone.

After a few years…

Sharath had never shared with Shafiq about his relation with Payal, but five years later when they decided to get married, he invited him for his wedding and Shafiq turned up. He brought with him a bouquet of beautiful white rose flowers, the same as the one he had offered on Rudi’s dead body.

Sharath gracefully accepted it with a smile and kept it aside and then they posed for a photograph. Payal was busy speaking with their common friend Jamie reminiscing old college memories. She could not stop blushing at the very thought of the memories when she and Sharath had started their relation as Jamie teased them both. After all, she was a very good friend of theirs who had helped them through everything!

The photographer got really impatient and tried to plead their attention for a group photo. They all realized that the queue of all the visitors that had come to wish them the best for a good future was increasing. Quickly they held each other close and smiled. Click, and it was done.

A curious soul that Jamie was, she went up to the photographer to see how the picture had come out. She was very happy at her own smile and pose as usual. And then as she glanced through the entire frame, she was happy with that too.

What she did not realize was that there was a white rose petal on Sharath’s shoulder in the picture…