◻Blunt Beginnings◻

I usher you. I make you nervous. But let me not win you. I'm more vicious than you ever know.
~IMPATIENCE.
__________________⚫___________________

Tae Tic.

She opened the raven door with heavy force. Her eyes shrunk when a sudden spasm slammed her shoulders. With some comforting presses, she entered the room as her eyes wandered from the floors to every spot lit up by the amber pelts exhaled by the blinding curtains.

As far as she could decipher, it was all neat and flawless, contrary to how ravishing she had deserted it this morning. Her lips curled tight the moment a sense of remorse suffocated her. Letting her entities slip past her rioting emotions, she sat at the edge of the oak-made settee.

Who did I see? What did I go through?

Her mind gave in to the spree of her never-ending turmoil. Even after those consoling words from her brother, she felt something was hidden.

Did I startle him? Will we cross this in a good way?

Akin to the oddly withering blossoms, her thoughts sprouted to rot with no good cue.

At a point when her trafficking rambles exploded her breaths, her eyes halted at the oval silvery antique mirror hanging at the polar wall. From a distance of a good five meters, she could see her sunken socket and dry skin.

Wow! Am I this shabby?

The clattering of wings and crisp noises of dried twigs were masked by her boisterous laughter that scared those delicate chirpers of the day.

Sleep now! He will take care of it.

She gathered herself and laid down on the solacing mattress.

But why? I must find a way. Maybe I will lessen his burden.

As her reasoning consoled her jagged breath, she sighed in relief after a lengthy hold.

"But where should I begin? How can anyone make their dream happen again?"

Her musings grew loud as her worried palms crushed the soft frills hemming the shirt edges.

"Shit! Why couldn't I recollect anything that happened so recently?"

Her spine slumped low, yearning for some rest. As she comforted her tense muscles, some iffy knick-knack pitched in.

She ushered to her brown-wooden table. Pulling out the side drawer, she took an amber bottle. Rotating it, her eyes pried on the printed text.

"NOTE: Use as per the dosage instructed by the physician."

What if I am my physician?

A simple smirk lifted her lips. Twisting the cap, she tossed out four pills. Rolling the parted white pellets between her fingers, she gathered her strength thick enough to proceed to the next step.

Will this be right?

A sudden jitter on the forearm stopped her. Yet, she gulped the bitterness down her gut. Slowly she rested on her pillow. Her eyes swam to the floral patterned window, the plain walls, and the bolstered veranda.

Kraww. Kraww.

In a moment, her lids shrank. But she couldn't detect the source of the noise.

Am I imagining? Or is it the meds?

Before she could resolve, the metabolites of the medicine invaded her reasons.

~•🔳•🔲•🔳•~

"Sir! Congratulations on your promotion. Happy to see you become the president." He edged his thumbs in front of the camera.

"Haahaa! Thank you, Tushant. How have you been? Are days in good colors?" He paused as his thick, burgundy-dyed brows folded his forehead.

"Agh! I know this isn't the-"

"Shoot than loitering. What is it?"

He folded his adipose-rich arms across the trapezoid chest.

"Yesterday, it happened again. But-"

"Tusha-"

"Sir, she needs help. All these years, she couldn't, but now she is aware of it. Maybe we can use it as a clue to-"

"Empathy is a physician's essential quality. Should I remind you of that, Tushant?"

His audacious voice choked Tushant's words. The grimy air strangled between the sighs that were caged in his chest. His dilating eyes slackened their restraints.

"There should be a cure. Right, sir?" He kept his words gripped as his nails poked the creases of his palm.

"Not for everything. And you know that very well. Right from your first year, we were tracking her."

"Sir, it's been twenty years!"

"I agree. As far as I see, her condition is not within our reach. The sooner you understand it, the better it is." He pressed his lips while stirring the steaming liquid in his paper cup.

"But what if this is a new disorder? We never knew how many out there are suffering like her."

"Oh, Mahadeva! What is wrong with you? Stop overthinking. It's too much." He guzzled down some liquid and placed the cup to his side with force.

"But sir-"

"Don't try to be a kumbhakarnan when you can't even spell sleep rightly."

His abrupt comment made Tushant cage the fussy breaths in his gut. He wouldn't dare to let fatigue nor uproar ruin all his hopes.

"Tushant, trust me. Don't delay it any further. You do know that it's not in our hands."

"Yet, every new thing has had a beginning. Every disease was thought to be strange until it was known, and as a president, you can't deny that."

He slammed his fisted wrist on his thighs, numbing his legs, but he kept his moves careful to be off his vicinity.

"Do a survey then. Go and reach out to the world. But do you have anything specific? She kept singing every night-"

"Yes, but unconsciously."

"Whatever! Now suddenly, she remembers it, and you are trying to call it a brand-new condition. Are you even in your senses?" He hurled his arms while his dilated dark black eyes popped out of the sockets.

Moments of palpable anguish scurried amidst the silenced words.

"Sir, please. You are our only hope."

"I'm sorry, Tushant. I never expected this from you."

"Please, Sir. One last try!"

"Argh?" His fingers tapped the table erratically as his glares propelled to the geometric rhombus running across the beige walls, which was visible through the reflections on his black and gold spectacles.

"Okay, then. Hear me. I know a former parapsychologist-"

"You conclude it to be ghostly with no evidence?" His meddling senses took their toll.

"If it's for the longer good, why not? Above all, I trust his skills more than anything."

"If he is skilled-"

"This is your last chance. Pick it or drop it. I don't have all day." His pointers kneaded the skin above his brow, and Tushant knew what this moment meant.

'We will survive this, right?'

His incoherent mind kept replaying it in a loop. As the depth of nasty truth stung its sharp points, he gave in.

"Alright, sir."

"Wise and quick decision! I will talk with him. He will reach you."

"Sir, if you could give me his contact-"

"Tushant, he isn't a techie. His world is different. Worry not. I can find him through my acquaintances. And worry less, with the mercy of Mahadev, let's hope you get to meet him soon."

"Yet-"

"Mr. Mahadev, the boarding gate will open shortly." A silvery voice announced from the other side, which made him grab his bags in a quick move.

"Okay, Tushant. Take care."

Even before he could retort, the screen turned all black. His vague frowns pierced through the opaque screen in front of him. He folded the laptop and tossed it into his bag.

A man with no access to even a phone?

His fingers played with the vehicle window control key, making the ebbing specks of dust and honks rush in with the screeches of the glass.

"These untimely traffic blocks! If not for them-"

Perhaps even this little help would have been bygone.

He bit his lip between his teeth as he rushed the glasses up and down recklessly. In the gliding, the glasses stuck as his fingers peddled them to the sides. With time the honks grew terrible enough to get him off his scruples.

"Damn! Where am I stuck?"

FOOTNOTE:

Kumbhakarnan: A mythological character who can sleep for six months and wake for six months in a year.

Leave your thoughts and comments. Now you can try to guess what's in front of you.

Ever in your memory,
🪢..Yaris..🪢