CHAPTER 3
776 Words
During the lunch period, I was with Sanvi and Suchita. We were having lunch when I realized that the lunch was about to get over and I haven't even seen Anikesh. " Where is Anikesh .... have you seen him?" I asked Suchita. "I think I saw him near the stage," she said.
" I started walking towards the stage only hoping later that I hadn’t. He was with Aira .... Having lunch with her... I never thought while looking at them that they were meeting for the first time." Sanvi said. By the look, Sanvi gave me I understood that something terrible was happening. He was ignoring us, his best friends because of a girl who had just entered the school. I was not knowing which section he got as I was in section 'A' so my class was the first to leave everyone else on the ground. I wanted to know his section and class teacher and more than that I wanted to see for myself whether Anikesh was busy with Aira or not.
I started walking towards the stage. I found Anikesh and Aira both having lunch together. I went closer to Anikesh and asked him " Hey what's up? Why did you not come to have lunch with us? " He first seemed to have not listened but I knew I was loud enough. I tried again "Hey .......Anikesh?" and this time he turned towards me and replied but later I wished that I should have paid more attention to Sanvi's warning. His reply was something I never imagined. "Please go away Radhika ...can't you see I am busy..... just leave me alone, would you?"
I started moving away his tone was buzzing in my head. His voice didn't sound familiar this time. It seemed like he had turned into a robot, a puppet under the control of Aira. Now my jealousy for Aira turned into hatred. I couldn't believe I just met Anikesh. The boy who has been my friend since childhood. The person who talked to me and understood me when no one else did. He would never speak to me like that, not only me but to anyone else. He is the kind of guy u can rely on. One who will notice your sadness in a second. Will make sure people around him are comfortable and I haven't seen a single guy like him. I mean others try to be kind and when they do it's clearly visible all over their faces. Maybe Anikesh has already signed a form for donating his organs if he faces untimely death.
But he is acting strangely weird today. The lunch period got over and I decided I would never again talk to Anikesh. Though I sincerely hoped that he will show up later and explain to me why he was so rude. Not like there can be much justification for what he did but still, I wanted him to try. While I was returning to class with Suchita and Sanvi, I experienced something really unexplainable. Suchita and Sanvi were right beside me. We were debating on a topic when I saw all the motion near me had ceased. Like completely frozen but with just no ice. I kept walking and found that I left Suchita and Sanvi behind. I was not able to understand what was happening. I turned back and tried to shake Suchita first," Suchita .... Sanvi why have you both stopped ...can you hear me?" my voice breaking in the end. I tried to shake them harder, but their body felt like steel, fixed in one place. For a moment I thought - have they got a heart attack or a paralysis attack or maybe both together if that is even possible? But not only my friends, everyone near me was standing like steel statues.
Then I saw Aira looking at me from the corner of the corridor, her eye wide open. She was moving for sure and not frozen like others.
And then the very next second everything got normal. All were back to senses and motion. It felt like maybe I lost my mind for a minute there. "What happened to you both ......why did you both stop...walking? ". My words were like an alien to Suchita and Sanvi. They thought I was daydreaming. I can't blame them. I was not sure whether I was dreaming or not but a strange alarm of danger was ringing in my head for sure. I knew I wasn't experiencing anything normal. Every cell in my body was warning me to stay the f**k away from that weird newcomer Aira.
- Writer
