The Sense Of Touch ...Part 1

Chapter 1

It was her first day at college. A new beginning. Away from her past. She came out of the college and her mind was filled with lots of thoughts, possibilities and excitement. As she walked through the crowded hallway, she heard something which broke this thought process. She heard a cat mewing. A sweet sound. She turned around in astonishment just to see there was no cat. “Maybe it is just playing on my mind, I guess!!” she told herself n moved ahead. But suddenly, a cat jumped on her, almost howling.

“Sorry .. very sorry …”, the boy said, rushing to pull the cat away from her.

He wore a beautiful smile. For a moment she forgot that the cat had pulled her bag off her shoulder. The bag which held few books, various colors of pens, a case for her spectacle and the most important thing for her- her medication.

When her consciousness brought her attention away from his affectionate smile, she realized that her belongings were sprawled across the floor. She bent down, scampering to find her things and collect them in her bag again. She only cared about her medicine bottle and that’s exactly what she wasn’t finding. That’s when she noticed, he was holding on to it and was trying to read the name. It looked like it was in Russian.

Before he could ask her, what’s it for, she hurriedly pulled the bottle out of his hand and like magician hid it in her bag.

She decided to leave but he wasn’t done. He held her by the elbow and ….

“Hey boy… helloooo … Arjun… listen”, he turned around to look at Nina who came running from a distance towards him. He turned back to see, the girl was nowhere. She just slipped away in a jiffy. “Who was she? What was her name?”, he wondered.

She swiftly moved away as he was distracted and dissolved in the crowd. Her heart was thumping. It’s been a while since she felt a human touch.

“this was certainly a bad idea, why can't they leave me alone” she was thinking while she was rubbing her elbow by palm of the other hand as if to erase his touch of her skin.

“I didn’t want this” she was trying to take deep breaths to calm herself down as her therapist recommended. She started to feel dizzy. She knew she had to take a pill NOW. She swiftly moved about and reached her car. Her plan was to sit in and take a pill and wait till the effects kick in. but her heart was beating fast, her head was bursting with pain. and before she could even open the door of her car, she lost control of her body and fell, as if paralyzed.

Her bag spilled again and the Russian named bottle rolled right under the car, cracked.

*

Though face down and out of control, Ayesha’s eyes were fixed on the cracked bottle under the car and arms trying to reach it but no avail

In the scorching heat of a Mumbai’s summer, laid Ayesha Khanna, a 24-year-old skinny girl, paralyzed near at the driver side door of her Maruti 800.

Aayesha grew up in a farm, a long way from the bustle of the city. There was a very specific reason why she was isolated.

***

 Lasya, had just finished her dance routine and was exhausted. She filled her bottle with chilled water as she was wiping the sweat off her forehead with a towel she carried. She took few sips, hurriedly, quenching her thrust. 

“that’s it for me guys today,” she said while capping her bottle. “I am so exhausted, we will take it up from top tomorrow”

With that, she picked up her bag, said her customary goodbyes to her dancing mates and started to move out. Even though she was out of the dance class, the music never left her, the beats never left her. The visualization of the steps constantly running in her mind. Even though she was walking through busy corridors of S. P. Raja College of Arts and Sciences, she was absorbed in her own world. She took few more sips of that chilled water, that’s when Arjun called out for her.

“Hey Lasya”

His voice brought those memories back to her. She remembered the pain she had gone through and the music stopped in her head. She knew better than to respond. She kept on going.

“listen, about that other night, I . ”

Before he could complete, she raised her hand to stop him.

“listen, forget it. I don’t want to be reminded of it.”

“yes, I know, let’s forget it. but at least let me apologize..” he almost begged her.

Just to stop his nagging, she stopped and turned on her heal.

“I was way out of my line, that day. I was super drunk.. didn’t know when I touched you…”

She flinched with the memory of his touch. The second time, she stopped him with her raised hand.

“listen, as I said before, I don’t need you to remind me anything. Just be done with your apologies. I have other things to attend to ”

“sorry my dance diva.. can you please forgive me”

“let’s be very clear Arjun. We are done. I won't forgive you but I want to forget the whole episode” she said sternly, looking directly in his eyes. He didn’t look perturbed by her words. He absorbed them calmly and with his hands up; backed up slowly.

It was almost 3 months ago, that night of college party but the wounds were still fresh in her mind. And seeing him again, made it only worst for her. Though Arjun was out of her sight, she couldn’t get him out of her mind. Those memories flooded her. Who she believed in the most for almost a year, broke it. It took her almost 2 months to get back to normal life. The only connection that brought her back out depression was her connection with dance.

She realized she was in parking lot. She searched her bag for the key and found it. She was walking the aisle of the parking lot toward her car when she saw something out of ordinary. A girl lying flat on the floor, with foam coming out her lips. She seemed to be shaking. Lasya panicked and ran towards her.

        “Somebody, help!! There is a girl who’s having a stoke or something.  Call for ambulance” she yelled, with the top of her voice.

*

It’s been only short while since Dr. Raj moved to Mumbai. It was hard for him to adjust to this constant noise and motion of the city. He never felt rested enough since he moved from a small town near Pune. The chirping of birds was replaced by horns of vehicles. The freshness of the air was replaced by the trapped smell of sea with a whirl of garbage smell. The peace disappeared. The quietness vanished. Many times he deliberated why did he moved here, was it something that was required or was it something to satisfy his ego? Anyways, it’s done now, he thought to himself.

He looked at the clock. “Damn, she is late”

He was getting impatient now. He took out his mobile and dialed her no.

*

Lasya bent down and tried to hold this girl. She saw Hariram coming towards them; she hurriedly asked him to bring an umbrella to shield them from beating sun. Hariram agreed and turned midway to fetch it. Meanwhile, Lasya with considerable efforts, pulled this convulsing girl towards her, like a mother would hold a child. She pulled her shaking body on her knees and held her head towards her stomach to steady her, but no avail. The girl wasn’t slowing down.

“Where is this Hariram?” she thought and yelled for him again. Then out of nowhere Lasya felt something vibrating in the girl’s jean’s back pocket. She reached for it. As she hoped it, it was her phone. Oddly it was just a number. Hoping that it could be from her family, she collected the courage to tell her family member what has happened here and decided to take the call.

“Hello” with a timid voice, Lasya spoke.

“Where the hell are you?” a man with stern voice bellowed.

Lasya assumed, from the maturity of the voice that the man must be this girl’s father. She said with a calm voice, “Sir, something terrible has happened to your daughter. She has got a stroke of fit. She is convulsing and we are trying to get her to a hospital…”

Before she could even complete the next word, the man with heavy baritone, said “No need! There is a medicine bottle in her bag. Give her one pill. Make sure she swallows and send her home”

BEEP.

Lasya was astonished by the composure this man had to cut the call but her focus went back to the girl who was shaking violently now.  Hariram had finally appeared with a big umbrella, which he held on. Lasya reached for the bag of the girl. Nothing much was found there. She turned the bag upside down. Asked Hariram also to look for a medicine bottle, but there was none. Lasya was feeling defeated and in that moment for the first time, she saw this pale looking girl. Though she was convulsing, there was life in her eyes.  As if she is watching something happening in front of her. She felt sad for her.

 Lasya moved the girl aside from her knees and tried to assume the same position on the floor, the way she found her. When she went down on the floor, near to the car…… BINGO.

“Hariram, what’s that bottle under the car?” she yelled with triumphant voice.

***

Everything was a haze when she tried to open her eyes. She struggled to adjust her eyes in the dim light. As if she has stepped in a dark theater where a film is about to begin. Finally, she got focused. She could see a boy and a girl in front of her. Everything else, the background was blurred, but these 2, she was able to see clearly. There seemed to be a disagreement between them. Her ears were still adjusting as if she has just stepped out of a flight so she wasn’t able to hear them very clearly. She was an onlooker and she knew she could do nothing but just be a witness. This wasn’t her first time witnessing a terrible thing unfold right in front of her eyes. She took a deep breath and asked her heart to be strong.  She told herself that what you’d see now, has already happened, the only way she could wake up from this was to finish it. So …

 “I loved your moves baby” she heard the boy say. The boy was constantly charging to come near the girl. She could see that this girl, in turn, was stepping back, avoiding his advances.

It wasn’t enough deterrent for this boy.

“I want you now. I won't be controlling any longer” said the boy, again trying to touch her.

“I said, we won't be doing anything more. I am not liking it” refused the girl.

“its been almost a year now DD, how long you don’t want to get intimate? We are doing this today” he moved on and pulled her, forcefully in his arms and started kissing her face.

“NOooo, you are too drunk.. get out of my room” screamed the girl but the boy didn’t hear any of it. He continued and ripped her top off her, pulled her bra off. Angered by this the girl tried to punch him in the face. This didn’t go so well with him and he slapped her real hard, pushed this half naked girl on the nearby bed.

She could see the girl was crying inconsolably, trying to hide her bare breasts by covering them with her hands. But this animal was completely in rage. He pulled her pajama off her.  Just a panty saving her modesty, the girl was howling for help but no one entered the scene. Now looking at the helpless naked girl, the boy made his move. Took off his pants in a second but while trying to take off his T-shirt he got caught up and entangled. He lost his footing and fell on the edge of the study table. That fall must have given him a hell of concussion as he didn’t move for a long time.

The howling girl saw this as an answer to her prayers and quickly got up from the bed and dressed in whatever she found.

All this was being unfolded in front of her, the witness, like a scene. She understood the pain the girl must have gone through when he was trying to force on her. In her own heart, she felt the pinch. But she could only see, feel the pain. In all this chaos, she noticed something else. The butterfly tattoo this girl had behind her neck. What a beautiful design of a butterfly. She was still admiring the beauty of the artist when to her disbelief, like a movie theater, the lights were getting on and the scene in front of her eyes was getting dissolved. The lights were getting even brighter by the moment and she felt herself gasping for breath. She was not able to breathe. She screamed….

***

Finally, the convulsions stopped and Aayesha woke up with a loud scream. Lasya had still held on to her gently. Aayesha got back to her senses now and saw an elderly fellow overlooking at her and a familiar face of a girl holding on to her. She jumped out of her hug and crawled away towards her car.

“Hey hey!! Take it easy” Lasya said. “.. you need some more water?”

About 10 mins ago- 

After they found the bottle of medication with Russian labels, Lasya held Aayesha and fed a pill in her mouth. To ensure she swallows the pill, Lasya poured some water on her lips from her bottle. The natural instinct to swallow the water kicked in and this convulsing girl took in the pill. After 5 mins, this girl woke up with a loud screen and squinting eyes.

“No, no water,” said Aayesha, still trying to grasp her breath and quite fixed her gaze on this girl. “This girl, why do I feel I have seen her before,” Aayesha thought to herself. She wanted to search through her memories for this girl but the paranoia gripped Aayesha.  She began her usual inquiries.

“How long was I out? Who all touched me? Did you touch me? Did he…”

“Wooo,” said Lasya, trying to calm her down while taking a couple of sips of water from her bottle. “We don’t know how long you were knocked out. And it was I who held you and no one else” Lasya let out a small smile. “More importantly, are you ok now?”

Aayesha answered with a nod. She was still trying to figure out why she finds this girl very familiar. “Wait a min, she said she held me. that’s it” she thought to herself.

Aayesh cleared her throat and asked, “Do you have a butterfly at the back of your neck?”

Lasya was shocked when she heard about the tattoo. Her muscles flinched and the bottle she held in her hand, slipped.

She had fair right to be in complete disbelief.

After all, a girl she just met, mentioned about the tattoo, which not only very few people knew about but also that she mentions it after it had been erased, 3 weeks back with a surgery.

How in the hell did she know about it, Lasya thought to herself.

END OF Part 1

(To Be Continued...)