The Sleepless Night

Aditya placed the satin bag in his hands back into the trunk. He stood up without glancing at either of them and walked out of the hut. Aira looked at the old woman. She thought of pacifying her but was too hesitant to act. She only looked on, as the old woman slowly closed the trunk and continued to sit there, looking at the floor.

    Aditya sat on a slab outside the hut, visible to Aira through the open door, as the moonlight shone upon him. Aira moved to a corner of the room and sat on her mat, overwhelmed with questions in her mind. The old woman sat right there, engulfed in fear and anticipation as to what both her guests were up to. She was convinced that they were after her son and that they tricked her to be her guests. As the lamp in the hut dimmed and went out, the darkness and the heaviness brought some dozing off to the sleepless night. 

The old woman woke up at early dawn as usual and got to her chores of cleaning. Aira, who was half asleep, woke up too, to the sounds. She looked around to spot Aditya. She stood up and looked out through the windows, not finding him, she went out and looked around. She sat on the slab that she saw him last and looked at the distance, staring blankly. She saw the dark woods turning teal and slowly to green as the dawn arrived. She blinked when she saw through the fog, someone approaching. She knew it was him, although he appeared just like a dot from the distance. She ran up and sure enough, she could recognize it was him. Aditya saw her coming and continued to walk, looking at her, without any change in his expression.

 “Where have you been,” she exclaimed before she could come to an audible distance. “Just here,” he replied just loud enough to get his voice to her. “Have you been out all night,” she said, now slowing down. “No..no I just took a walk around, I woke up suddenly...restless,” he said continuing to walk, passing her, as she stopped. 

Aira turned around towards him, took a leap to catch up with him, and walked along saying, “I just couldn't sleep. What was going on?” “Nothing,” he said, taking no notice of her enthusiasm. “Nothing! Why did she surrender to your questions like that? How did you dare to ask her all that? How did you know...when did you speak to her before?” He continued to walk without looking at her and spoke reluctantly “I did not speak to her before. It...just happened.” Aira’s curious enthusiasm faded into a disappointing surprise. She looked at him and examined his face. She stopped walking and held him by his arm, forcing him to stop. She looked into his eyes, while he dodged her’s. “Are you okay?” she said. Before he could reply, she said, “you are not,” noticing his red eyes. Tears half welled up in his eyes and he looked away, gulping them.

 This added more questions to her mind, which was already full of questions for him. She could ask no further though and stood just staring at him, feeling concerned, waiting for him to say something. He moved his fists and feet uncomfortably. He looked at her, not really meeting her eyes, and said “I am sorry.”