The Dopamine Effect

Rohit sat with his legs dangling over the ledge of a small hill. He pulled out his funky dual color earphones from his parka’s pocket and put it in his ears. The sun was nearing the horizon and judging by its position he assumed he still had about an hour before the fiery star bids goodnight to his part of the world. He opened Netflix on his mobile and clicked on continue watching. The movie started playing.

A few minutes had passed when a gust of icy wind sent chills through his upper body. Rohit shivered and goosebumps popped on his skin. For a second he thought he heard a whisper. Pausing the movie, he glanced around only to find a girl standing behind him. “Jeez!” His head jerked on her sudden appearance. This was no place to wander alone for a pretty girl like her. Placing a hand on his chest he jumped to his feet.

The girl laughed. “I scared you, didn't I?”

Rohit gulped and pulled the earphones out of his ears. He didn’t answer. Of course, he was frightened, in fact he was terrified. Why wouldn’t he? This was his go-to place and ever since the first day he was coming here, he hadn’t witnessed a soul around, ever. Not even his friends knew about this location. He was happy to find this site where he could sit and watch movies for as long as he wanted without being disturbed or scolded.

“Hi, I am Sriya.” She smiled. “Don’t worry, I won't harm you.”

Embarrassed, he returned the smile. “Hi, I am Rohit, and yeah, you did give me a heart attack.” It was unbelievable he said that. How could a girl in her early twenties, in a simple salwar kurta scare him out of his wits?

“That’s what happens when you watch a lot of horror movies. You become sensitive to even the faintest of noise or the subtlest of touch and you jerk at the slightest movement.”

“Really? I never paid much attention…” He stopped before completing his sentence. “How did you know what I was watching?”

“Well, I peeked.”

“Oh.”

Her eyes gleamed as she smiled.

There was a calmness on her face whenever she smiled. Somehow Rohit felt he could open up in front of her. He felt the urge to tell her what he was going through, things he hasn't said to anybody in months.

“Is there something you are struggling to say?”

His eyes widened. “Do you read minds?”

She laughed. “Sort of.”

“Come, let’s sit.” Rohit said.

They sat with their legs dangling over the edge.

“I don’t know why I am saying this to you, but then I guess sometimes you can open up to a person you don’t know instead of the people you know from birth.”

“Because we doubt if our own people would understand us or not.”

He smiled. “You are quite young to say such things.”

“Well, I am going to stay like this forever, never aging.”

Rohit laughed. “You know you speak like my sister; she also hates to talk about her age.”

“She is fortunate, she will age.” She looked at him. 

“Huh?”

She looked away. “Never mind, so tell me what did you want to say?”

Rohit glanced at the horizon, a few minutes more and the sun would set. “I am addicted to watching movies. It gives me pleasure.”

“Like drugs?” She laughed.

He nodded. “Can say that.” He paused and then continued. “After my breakup, I was devastated. I had gone into depression. I could have indulged myself into drinking alcohol or having drugs, but I didn’t.”

“I wonder why?”

“I had tried once, gulped down, neat, a whole bottle of whiskey. But I couldn't keep the contents in my stomach for long. I remembered how badly I puked later that day.”

“Hmm.”

“But I needed distraction. I wanted to forget her.”

“So, movies are distractions for you?”

“More than that.”

“Really?”

“I had read an article somewhere that taking drugs activates our brain’s reward center which then releases a hormone called dopamine. And the pleasure you feel then is such that you get hooked. It prompts you to do it again and again so that you can feel that pleasure one more time.”

“How are movies related?”

“In the same article I read, watching movies does the same.”

“So, do you feel pleasure?”

“Yeah, you know there are some days I watch up to ten movies.”

“Did it help you forget her?”

“Rather I would say I don’t think about her anymore, in fact I haven’t thought about her for a month.”

“But why do you come here?” she asked.

“Because nobody lets me watch movies at home and my friends want me to hang out with them and their girlfriends. I don’t feel good unless I watch at least five movies in a day. So, I don’t want to be disturbed.”

“You shouldn’t watch so many horror movies, eventually it’s going to impact badly on your mental health.”

“No, it wouldn’t. These aren’t real stories.”

“What if it is?”

“Nah, these are fictions, imaginations, made just for entertainment.

“What if I tell you the movie you were just watching is exactly my story?”

Rohit looked at her with raised eyebrows. “It’s a movie about a girl in her early twenties who had been raped by her boyfriend and his friends and then pushed down a hill. The girl succumbs to her injuries and later her ghost wanders for revenge.”

The girl stayed quiet.

His eyes widened in shock as realization hit him like a hard punch in his stomach. Fear engulfed him and his heartbeat amplified.

“I hope you will help me.” She said as she turned translucent in the dying light of the setting sun before vanishing into thin air.

With a horrified look on his face, Rohit clasped his chest and looked down. He thought he caught a glimpse of a pink dupatta, like the one the girl had put on.