Apocalypse is Certain

Sharing Feelings

Somu reached at 11:15.

“Have you called Jacky too?” was the first thing he asked after confirming that Jacky was not in the kitchen too.

“He should have reached by now”, he replied without even turning towards Somu. He was looking out of the window now. The road he could see outside his window was not at all attractive, as had been the case always. The dull road with just a few plants suffering from malnutrition never had seemed to him striking enough to stare at it. Today too, he was not staring at the road since he was feeling some sort of relief from his stress while looking at the road. It was just that TV had become unbearable while he was waiting for his friends. He could hardly keep sitting on the sofa any further and, ultimately, he got up, opened the window and began staring outside. He hardly had noticed anything in particular outside. It was as if the mental paralysis had again got over his mind that he had felt just after waking up earlier. He had kept on staring outside for long just because he could think of nothing better to do. He had again begun feeling afraid to think any more about it. Staying in the same position trying his best to not let his mind revisit the thoughts he had experienced since the early morning when he had woken up with a shock for the first time seemed to be the best thing he could manage. However, he was failing desperately to stop his mind to feel the panic due to whatever little he knew of the situation already.

He did not even wish to face Somu till Jacky too was here. It was a sort of a belief that Somu alone would not be able to understand what he had to tell them. He kept on looking out more because he did not want Somu to ask him anything, rather to interact with him n any manner, till the situation was suitable for him to share the bewilderment his mind had been in. He had desired to finish sharing whatever his mind had gone through at the earliest after he would begin. He did not have the stamina to carry the discussion on for long. It was despite that he was definitely sure that what he had to tell his friends would not be easy to be believed even if he tried his best clarification without worrying about the length of the discussion.

“Where have you reached?” Somu had called Jacky to confirm how long they would have to wait for him. While talking with Jacky Somu was looking at him from the edges of his eyes. He was still looking out, not showing any intention to welcome Somu. Somu had already felt that something was wrong. Never had he ignored Somu like that. Visits by Somu or Jacky used to be a very pleasant event for him, despite that such events were very usual. He used to welcome them wholeheartedly, even when he used to be under great stress due to bad day at office or exceptional shortage of money.

“He will be reaching in 10 minutes”, said Somu.

He had understood that something was too serious. So, he wanted to give him time to make up his mind to share whatever he had in his mind. It was certain that he had called both of them for some serious purpose and not just to spend some time with them. If he had specially called them, there was no doubt that he was going to tell them something. So, he did not want to rush into the interaction. He picked a bottle of water from the refrigerator came back with it to sit on the sofa. He was constantly looking at Sumit’s back, that had been facing him all through, but did not say anything for a while. He lifted the bottle up and tilted it to grab a couple of sips of water. 

But he could not wait for too long. “Do you have something to tell?”, he inquired.

He still did not say a word. He didn’t even look back.

“Sumit…” Somu was a bit louder.

They had known each other to be mentally strong people. Their relationship was very close but there was no place among them for pampering. Even at times one of them used to be facing stress, he would never expect the other two to display extra affection, care or attention. It was absolutely natural for them to share their concerns with the others without any sort of prelude. Somu had an idea that Sumit would have been waiting for Jacky to share his concern. But, he felt that there was something too serious. He had never seen Sumit so silent. Even at the times when there used to be too much excitement owing to some mental stress, he had the ability to share the entire issue in a very casual manner. Not that he was would be careless towards his problems, but he could discuss about the problem and the solution in a very calm manner and had never shown signs of frustration.

He did not say anything further. He turned the TV on. He was very fond of watching cartoons. He straightaway shifted to one of the cartoon channels Sumit had subscribed to especially for him. Hardly would he have watched the cartoon for 5 minutes when Jacky reached. It being a Sunday, Jacky was dressed as he loved to. He had a lower and a t-shirt on. Otherwise, he had to be dressed in formals all over the week due to the obligations of his job. And he hated formals. He said that he felt being tied while wearing them.

He crashed on the sofa as soon as he entered. “I had to walk all the way. My bike is in the garage. And, they are going to charge 1500 for servicing it.” He shared all the complaints for the day in a go. Not that he used to complain a lot. But he shared all the things that would excite him any bit with these two other persons present in the room. He used to make a list in his mind between two meetings with either or both of his friends. He would keep on adding all the concerns as well as interesting things he witnessed to this list. He so loved their company that he would never get satisfied with how much he had interacted with them. So, whenever he could meet them, he wished to share everything that he could remind himself of from the events he had experienced. Some of the things he shared might be absolutely insignificant but they too gave him a chance to discuss things with his friends and he simply loved to interact with them. He also hated it when he would forget to share something with them, only to get reminded of it again after they had parted for the day. Thus, he had derived this way to not miss upon any subject. He would announce the entire list of topics to be discussed just at his entry to the company of both or either of them so that he could discuss all of them in details with them later. After that, even if he missed detailed discussion on any of them, he won’t feel the frustration to have forgotten to tell something altogether.

Nobody responded to his statement. Somu was continuously looking at Sumit. He waited for a few moments for him to begin talking but he was still not budging. Jacky too realized that something was wrong. While picking up the bottle of water from the table, he first looked at Somu, then at Sumit. He too was waiting for Sumit to turn towards them when Somu, finally, had to say, “At least now we can speak!”

He has not expected Sumit to turn around instantly and begin his exposition. Sumit took a couple of moments more before moving around to sit on the bed. He was not worried about anything yet.

Actually, he could not be worried since he was far from deciphering the situation enough to understand what direction his worry should take. Sometimes, one experiences a kind of feeling that qualifies to be called fear even though the reason, source or way of possible harm is absolutely unknown. He was going through the same state of mind. He had been awake for so long that the fear caused by even the most extremely disturbing nightmare would have sunk in by now. He could not have discussed the nightmare with his friends now since it would have seemed too absurd to himself. Although it is generally interesting to remind oneself of what happened in the dream since dreams club together some extremely incredible things. However, one can enjoy remembering his own dreams only for having experienced the events first hand, in a way. It is hardly interesting to hear somebody else’s dreams.

The main thing was that he was sure that the experience he was going to share with them was not at all a nightmare despite being nothing sure of one. He certainly had forgotten most part of it but it was still not allowing his mind to relax. He knew it was something unique, and probably something very important too, but still could not gather courage to try to remember his experience. He had seen clear evidence in the form of the entries in his phone-book of the strangeness of what had possibly happened. He knew that some sort of fright was part of his present state of mind but the confusion was too strong to let even the feeling of fear find expression.

“What is the date today?” he knew he did not have to confirm it any further but he still could not think of a better way to begin opening up.

“23 July. Why?” Somu did not take a single moment to answer since he had sensed that Sumit had a lot to discuss. Jacky was still trying to decipher why the conversation among these 3 friends seemed to be strange today, if not awkward.

Sumit took some time to think how to begin. Jacky looked at Somu in the hope that at least Somu would help him in understanding what had happened. He also felt that Somu and Sumit had probably discussed some part of it before he reached here. Somu just blinked his eyes to ask him to be patient.

“See, what I am going to tell is very strange. I mean it is absolutely unbelievable. And, I myself can tell just a very small part of it because I do not remember the rest at all. I am not even sure whether remember is the right word to be used here. Do not expect me to explain any of it but you have to listen to what I say.”

Somu did not want to interrupt. He had wanted Sumit to carry on and finish telling what was disturbing him so much at the earliest. However, he did interrupt. “Listen! The first thing is that there is nothing that you would tell us and we could not believe it. And, secondly, do not worry about prologue or the links between things you tell. Just tell us what it is. Shoot straightaway. We are all ears!”

Sumit tried to smile for the assurance but could not.

“Let me first tell you all that has happened this morning. I woke up quite early; don’t know what time it was though. My first feeling was that a nightmare had woken me up. My mind was blank. I could not think of what had just happened except that what woke me up was the sensation of having fallen down from a height. You know the satisfaction we feel on waking up from a nightmare on realizing that it was just a dream? That satisfaction was not to be found today. A strange kind of fear, in fact was growing in mind. I tried to sleep again but could not, for a long time. Then, I somehow fell asleep and when I got up again, the influence of the supposed nightmare was still there. And I have not forgotten it yet.”

“But is it too unusual. I mean, it does happen sometimes that an emotional or a scary dream may have a long lasting effect.” Jacky was confused how could his friend, whom he appreciated so much for having great control over his mind and his emotions, could be worried about such a thing as nightmare.

“I know that. I have not called you just on the basis of some feelings! My mind was so blank that I had to think hard to remember what happened last night. I could remind myself that the PM’s address was the last thing I checked on the TV before I went to the bed. But the thing is that as clearly as I could remember that the PM’s address was yesterday, I could also remember having received another piece of news. I am absolutely sure that one of the latest things I hard is that our Foreign Minister is dead.”

“Has he died? I mean, I don’t think so!” Jacky was never much interested in the current affairs.

“If this day is 23 July 2023, he hasn’t. And there is no health issue or anything that has found mention in news in relation to him.

“Why has the date become so important?” Somu had realized that what Sumit wanted to disclose had something to do with the date.

“Did I call you yesterday?”

“At least twice”, said Somu.

“And you Jacky?”

Jacky too could recall clearly to have talked with him the last evening.

“Here, check the recent calls in my phone.” Sumit handed his phone over to Somu. He had no idea how to explain his confusion to them. So, he wanted them to reach the same level of confusion first as he was on.   

"Also check the dates of the calls made from this phone."

Somu's expressions began changing as he scanned the details of the calls.