13 views
One-Day Friends
So we spent the day doing a lot of things that friends are supposed to do: talking nonsense, laughing nonsense, watching nonsense, doing nonsense and listening nonsense to complete the list. We shared some jokes that I was sure, my one-day friend had never wanted to share in the first place. As for me, I was rather lame at humor, so I used jokes that were often rolled about and read in my class, and my one-day friend loved them.
Then started the midnight hour, and with it, our Secret Of The Day moment. We had to share a secret that we'd been hiding from the whole world and show trust and concern to our temporary friends. My one-day friend was the first to open up.
I don't know if what he said was true, but I can't forget what he said.
'Listen, this is very important. ' my one-day friend said, sitting up straight on the bench in a stern manner, 'This is the last hour of our legendary friendship, and I have to share a secret with you that otherwise, I'd have never dreamed to tell you, and even would've, in fact, laughed silly at the very idea. But we have to get this done with, so here I go. '
His sarcasm had revealed itself late that afternoon, and I had still not gotten used to it, but had to welcome it nonetheless. Isn't it what friends do?
'I had a brother. ' the one-day friend said in a sober tone, 'He was younger than me. Two years. Then one day, our mother went insane, mental illness, you know. Doctors said she'd die in about a month. Father began to drink, I began to smoke and my brother remained with our mother in her room with no-one to take his shift.
We were very young at the time. Fifteen, me and thirteen, my brother. We were never that close, me and my brother, never. Never that close, girl, never. But I realized that it was a lie when he was no longer alive in the next room, sitting with our mother. When I entered the room, he was not sitting, but lying on the floor. He did not look at me pleadingly when I saw him; his eyes were still and strange, his mouth was open, his body rigid, and for a moment when I was able to remove my gaze from him, I saw that our mother was not in the bed. '
He was talking so fast that the story lacked all emotions. There was a kind of hoarseness in his voice and his eyes were funny, but other than that, there was no trace of any kind of emotion. No remorse, nothing.
In that moment, I imagined a black hole, dark and empty; full but empty; has light but shows none of that, only blackness.
My one-day friend remained silent for two minutes, but not exactly still. His lips were quivering, his arms were shaking, his legs were continuously doing a kind of tap dance. The last time he was so restive, was when we had been doing homework.
I waited for him to continue because I remembered David, another one-day friend. David suffered a rare trauma, and for that one day, I had acquired his trauma too. I remembered that I did not feel like talking at all, and at the end of our day, I had cried and David had consoled me and had patted my back.
Maybe this friend was also experiencing the same, and I did not know how to console him, so I remained silent as wind. I thought it would give him an impression that he was alone and he would be able to talk his heart out.
It worked. My one-day friend sat still again.
'Both died. ' he said, almost close to a whisper, 'Doctors said that my brother had been tortured by our mother to death. They scolded dad for being so careless, and ordered him to take me, his fifteen years old child, to a good psychatrist. Your turn. '
"My turn" came very abruptly, almost knocking me into oblivion. I kept staring at my one-day friend. Anger started to poke me in the ribs. Couldn't he show a little emotion? Couldn't he just trust a little more and cry? I was ready to accompany him.
But I knew, then, that people have a demarcation chalked across their hearts, and no one can cross that, especially a one-day friend like me.
When I think back to the incident, I feel funny, and then I don't want to think anymore.
Next week, we were again assigned somebody's one-day friend. I saw that my previous one-day friend was with a boy with a grizzly figure and round eyes. I wondered if he would share the same secret with him. I also tried asking the grizzly boy about it, but he was not ready to expose his friend's secret.
At the end of term, we were asked who we wanted to become our permanent friend from all those one-day friends.
I chose Varun, whose blackhole had attracted me long back on a certain midnight hour. He said yes, he'd become my chap, and then I asked him about that secret he had told me.
He said that he had never told anyone about the death of his mother and brother, only me, mainly because he had other interesting, less gloomy secrets to share.
And he was right indeed.
Then started the midnight hour, and with it, our Secret Of The Day moment. We had to share a secret that we'd been hiding from the whole world and show trust and concern to our temporary friends. My one-day friend was the first to open up.
I don't know if what he said was true, but I can't forget what he said.
'Listen, this is very important. ' my one-day friend said, sitting up straight on the bench in a stern manner, 'This is the last hour of our legendary friendship, and I have to share a secret with you that otherwise, I'd have never dreamed to tell you, and even would've, in fact, laughed silly at the very idea. But we have to get this done with, so here I go. '
His sarcasm had revealed itself late that afternoon, and I had still not gotten used to it, but had to welcome it nonetheless. Isn't it what friends do?
'I had a brother. ' the one-day friend said in a sober tone, 'He was younger than me. Two years. Then one day, our mother went insane, mental illness, you know. Doctors said she'd die in about a month. Father began to drink, I began to smoke and my brother remained with our mother in her room with no-one to take his shift.
We were very young at the time. Fifteen, me and thirteen, my brother. We were never that close, me and my brother, never. Never that close, girl, never. But I realized that it was a lie when he was no longer alive in the next room, sitting with our mother. When I entered the room, he was not sitting, but lying on the floor. He did not look at me pleadingly when I saw him; his eyes were still and strange, his mouth was open, his body rigid, and for a moment when I was able to remove my gaze from him, I saw that our mother was not in the bed. '
He was talking so fast that the story lacked all emotions. There was a kind of hoarseness in his voice and his eyes were funny, but other than that, there was no trace of any kind of emotion. No remorse, nothing.
In that moment, I imagined a black hole, dark and empty; full but empty; has light but shows none of that, only blackness.
My one-day friend remained silent for two minutes, but not exactly still. His lips were quivering, his arms were shaking, his legs were continuously doing a kind of tap dance. The last time he was so restive, was when we had been doing homework.
I waited for him to continue because I remembered David, another one-day friend. David suffered a rare trauma, and for that one day, I had acquired his trauma too. I remembered that I did not feel like talking at all, and at the end of our day, I had cried and David had consoled me and had patted my back.
Maybe this friend was also experiencing the same, and I did not know how to console him, so I remained silent as wind. I thought it would give him an impression that he was alone and he would be able to talk his heart out.
It worked. My one-day friend sat still again.
'Both died. ' he said, almost close to a whisper, 'Doctors said that my brother had been tortured by our mother to death. They scolded dad for being so careless, and ordered him to take me, his fifteen years old child, to a good psychatrist. Your turn. '
"My turn" came very abruptly, almost knocking me into oblivion. I kept staring at my one-day friend. Anger started to poke me in the ribs. Couldn't he show a little emotion? Couldn't he just trust a little more and cry? I was ready to accompany him.
But I knew, then, that people have a demarcation chalked across their hearts, and no one can cross that, especially a one-day friend like me.
When I think back to the incident, I feel funny, and then I don't want to think anymore.
Next week, we were again assigned somebody's one-day friend. I saw that my previous one-day friend was with a boy with a grizzly figure and round eyes. I wondered if he would share the same secret with him. I also tried asking the grizzly boy about it, but he was not ready to expose his friend's secret.
At the end of term, we were asked who we wanted to become our permanent friend from all those one-day friends.
I chose Varun, whose blackhole had attracted me long back on a certain midnight hour. He said yes, he'd become my chap, and then I asked him about that secret he had told me.
He said that he had never told anyone about the death of his mother and brother, only me, mainly because he had other interesting, less gloomy secrets to share.
And he was right indeed.
