The cafeteria was empty, except for one lonely soul. One by one everyone left, but Deepti sat in silence, staring at her cup of coffee that was still full. The hot coffee was cold by then, just like her soul. A few strands of her dry hair waved along with the air that flowed through the empty cafeteria. Her brown pupils didn’t produce even the tiniest motion. To her, the coffee no longer looked like brown milk in a cup. It had turned black, with thousands of galaxies and millions of stars. She was peeping into the universe through her coffee.
We are just like a speck of dust in this vastness, She thought. Among the mammoth heavenly bodies, do we really matter?
“Ma’am, we’re about to close”, a person from the cleaning staff said.
Deepti nodded. Her lips couldn’t move to produce a sound. They were cold and dry, with no energy left. In three hours, over 54,000 new humans arrived on earth. About 20,000 humans left earth. And 7.9 billion humans continued to live as usual, each living in their own little world that they have created for themselves and their loved ones. Some dream of having a more beautiful world to live in. But in the same three hours, there were four innocent people whose dream worlds were shattered into pieces. And one among them remains, looking into her new world through her coffee.
She saw the spaceship flying away from the earth through her cup. It soared through planets, asteroids, and comets. It had become a part of outer space—another star in the sky.
How will I justify it? She thought. How will I leave billions on earth and escape to a safer place? How will I hide the truth from them? How can these people be so heartless? They are using that young boy by giving him false hopes for survival. She was thinking about Ansh.

The coffee produced concentric waves as if someone threw a pebble into a pond. Seeing the waves, Deepti imagined the supermassive black hole producing explosions of radiation that were headed to earth. Then there was another set of waves in her coffee. She felt like the black hole got stronger, then there was another. Deepti got back to her senses. Tiny concentric waves kept appearing in her coffee but she could feel no vibration. She instantly stood up, realizing something was wrong. Is it an earthquake? But nothing around her was moving. It was just her coffee. She turned to the man who was picking up the garbage from tabless. All of a sudden, he fainted and fell on the floor. Instantly there was a bright flash. She could see nothing. Her surroundings turned white as if she was inside a pool of milk. She immediately closed her eyes, but it was still white! Then a man emerged from the brightness. His face slowly un-faded as if he was coming closer to her through thick fog. A smile spread across his face as soon as it became clear. Deepti remained stunned.
“Papa?”, she yelled and opened her eyes. He disappeared, and so did the milky white background. The cafeteria was back in front of her eyes. Was this a dream? Am I going crazy? She thought. But no. The fainted man was still lying on the floor in front of her. In response to her flight-attendant instinct, she ran to assist him immediately. A few other people came in running to help too. They sprinkled water over his face and he was conscious again. “Thanks”, he said to Deepti, but she didn’t hear it. Her mind was thinking of something else. Of someone else. “Papa”, she whispered as a drop of tear rolled down from her left eye.

Immediately, she made a decision. She ran outside to find Susheela. As she ran across the campus, she saw many crowds having discussions. Her ears picked up brief sentences, but she kept running.
“Don’t think about it too much, just go home and take some rest”, she heard someone say. “Are you sure? She doesn’t seem like she would ever do such a thing”, another person said. “It was unbelievable! I could see it, it was humongous!”, “He crushed the glass with one hand!”, “Shh… don’t talk, you’ll be fine”, Deepti heard from various people on her way.
Her eyes were drawn to a man whose palm was dripping with blood. A man wiping the tears off another. A woman staring at the sky as if she was watching something go away from her. All this seemed weird, something that she didn’t expect to see in DRDO. Do such things happen here every day? She wondered. Finally, she spotted Susheela talking to a few colleagues near the exit gate. She rushed towards her ignoring the others around her and said, “I have made my decision”
Susheela stared at her without saying anything. After not receiving a response, Deepti announced her decision.
“I don’t want to be a part of all this”
“We respect your decision”, Susheela replied calmly.
“Thank you”, Deepti said and walked back, not looking at Susheela, but she could feel that she was still watching her.

* * *
In the same black SUV that she had come in, Deepti was returning home. In the back seat, Deepti's eyes were blemished with bright orange rays from the setting sun. But she’d be lying if she blamed the sunlight for her watery eyes. She knew her decision to not be a part of the Celestians was selfish. Accepting the project would serve the greater good, and she was mature enough to realize that. By telling herself she didn't want to leave earth because she didn't want to betray the people, she was lying. It was only to justify her not being willing to go out with the Celestians. After her mother died, there was nobody left in the world who truly loved her, who would sacrifice their life for her. Then why should she do the same for the people of this planet?
No more tears, she said to herself and closed her eyes.
Her memories rewinded to her high school days. At that time, it was rare for a girl to study in a co-ed school, where boys and girls sit in the same classroom. But Deepti was in one due to her aunt’s support. She was very beautiful since childhood. When other girls in the class stacked multiple layers of thick lipstick, Deepti hardly applied any on her naturally light pink lips. Boys crowded around her all the time. Some even got into fights for getting too close to her. She would get multiple proposals every week, but she was never interested in any. She admired the boys who were more mature and loved to talk about interesting things every day. There was especially one boy, Rahul, who loved to talk about space and astronomy. Listening to him would make her feel like one day she could fulfill the dream of meeting her dad in the sky. He spoke to her about black holes, neutron stars, and the possibility of life out there in space. It was especially memorable to her that he once said, “I think it's best if we never find out whether there is life out there. Not knowing whether they exist at least gives us hope that we aren’t alone. But if one day we find out that we are the only ones in the entire universe, how lonely would we feel?”
Rahul received multiple warnings from other boys to stay away from her, but he never bothered about them. When Deepti found out that one-day four boys injured him in a fight, she had to reduce her interactions with him. He was probably her closest friend, but she never saw him as anything more than that. Perhaps because she was an average student in the class while Rahul was among the toppers. She believed she was not smart enough to deserve him.
But soon, she started getting insecure. She slowly started to feel that everyone tried to be her friend just because she was beautiful. The boys were there for her all the time, no matter what. Once a boy from her class traveled 10 km late at night to give her his homework when she was unable to solve the problems on her own. Although she was grateful to such people, she never appreciated such behavior. And she eventually started feeling that people would leave her if for some reason her beauty was gone. She started getting depressed and started staying alone. Her aunt who was a tailor always encouraged her to wear skin-tight jeans and short tops. Such clothes not only made her uncomfortable but also aggravated her insecurities. Her aunt would always say, “A woman must wear clothing that embraces her curves”. The more someone spoke about her beauty, the more she would get anxious and depressed. But among all this, there was still hope. There was one person who never judged anyone based on their appearance. Multiple boys told her they didn’t judge people on external beauty, but Deepti trusted none but one. That person was Rahul. But how was she so sure he didn’t judge her by her appearance?

Deepti opened her eyes and immediately told the driver, “Please take me to Mysore lake and drop me there”

to be continued...

© arpan