Sick day, fuck it. As always she called him . Her refuge for all her feelings."Come to ESB" ,she said. "I'm coming" ,he said, asking no further questions. He knew she'd need him to hear her over if not do something about whatever she was going through. That's how it's always been. She was already there standing near the entrance of the hut shaped reading facility-the hut-as they called it.Her face red, burning with frustration. As he approached her with a soft yet hesitant smile, he only wished, wished and wished that she would not burn him down into ashes."What did I do now? " He asked himself as he followed her into the hut, for there were many times he thought he didn't do reasonable enough of something to get all the beatings he got.
Yet he loved her, these were the few- err many of her frustrating fits, there had been excessive love fits too, so it compensated for it. For a record he never did all of tha math- he just loved her-as simple as that She started-"I fucking hate that hideous bitch! , LOL, what does she think of herself and why am I compelled to be surrounded by such people , everything is so fucked up here, look at the politics, is this the qua-li-ty of I-I-T". The way she said that, it made him want to laugh, but he knew that wouldn't be the safest thing to do, so he controlled- what he does the best, and continued listening to her rant. "And LOL, what's up with this Chemical Engineering. And what's the name of the course-CH2014-whatever-Just fuck it, why does the guy show up in boxers as if he's going for an early morning stroll with an end purpose of bringing eggs, milk and newspapers back home."
"I don't like this place "- she said, for a millionth time She wasn't angry anymore.She went from frustration to fatigue in like 13 seconds, (because it's fancy),she rested her head in his arms and started speaking -"I don't feel a part of this place yet."
"I understand" He said.
You know, "School was great-" He prepared himself to listen to the same bunch of short stories for a millionth time again you know- there's a pattern in how this went."Those were my best friends, those two idiots.. we laughed so much for every small thing, there's nothing I hate about school. I used to hate my ex but I don't hold on to it anymore, there's nothing I hate about my school ". Bringing up her ex's name got him a little uncomfortable, she didn't hate him anymore, he did. She continued" Our ground was huge for a Sri Chaitanya, you know and I had so much following- I was the ultimate topper there". He adored her, for he found it cute seeing her face filling up with pride as she said "the ultimate topper". "My chemistry teacher, was the best- we shared lunch, we played badminton after school".."Okay why? " He said to himself with a pinch of jealousy as he continued to listen to her. "Me and my two idiots, how we acted like dons, no doing homeworks and shit, just having fun. It's not just the people, it's the place, the vibe. Those rainy evenings of 2014..."As she recounted some of the funny instances, they both laughed at it.
He let her get that comfort of being lost in the past.
After a lot of that talking-" You know, that bakery smell we used to get just before the lunch hour-our stomachs used to go barr barrrrrr" She laughed and then she sighed "I would do anything to go back there, in those times"
As she said that, they saw something weird brewing up at the bottom of the tree right in front of them.It looked like a Whirlpool, just a slice of it resting against the tree as it were a mirror or something. It was utterly dark. Dark purplish, looked like space shown in YouTube videos,he was too amazed to say anything.
She couldn't stop herself, a little apprehensive, she peeped into the hole, it's the third floor, of her school.He was too shocked to even try. Half her body which was inside the hole now emerged back. She smiled, the biggest smile "that's-that's my school! It looks unchanged".
He couldn't help it, he was so overwhelmed, all he could do was point at the big plate at the bottom of the hole- what could have been a number plate but read- "there's a trade off, FEELINGS BE, NAMES WON'T". She paused and took a look at it,"what the fuck does that mean "she said, "anyways let me just take a look and come back, this is unreal! " "Unreal, indeed-" He didn't complete, she jumped across the hole and the hole closed.
She's now standing before IX-C, she freaked out as the hole closed.She now found herself in her school uniform, buses had started arriving, has she been the first one to arrive at school like she always used to-yes she is- Manogyna( her best friend) - as fresh as ever- came walking to her- she was wearing her uniform too-"what's that bag you're carrying, when have you bought it" Said Manogyna pointing at the bag Shravani from future-from the future indeed had been carrying, she got it along with her across the hole.It normally had a water bottle, a wallet and mobile phone future Shravani would have carried all along with her in her campus at IIT.
Manogyna led her to their classroom, "You know what that stupid Pachori told yesterday? " She listened to everything, lived through everything with utter confusion. Her ex- then best friend-err- now best friend, smiled at her,she couldn't help but look at him with disgust. And as her "now"(had to be) crush walked by, her best friends Manogyna and Srujana started off teasing her.
She couldn't help but feel weird.
After a mentally exhausting day- she said to herself- I need to talk to him- "Him? Him.. What the fuck, what's his name?! "
She got reminded of the board- "there's a trade off, FEELINGS BE, NAMES WON'T"
She gasped, utterly horrified, she still had a way, she picked up her phone from the bag she'd been carrying, the last called number-"HIM-7013... " She couldn't have felt more overwhelmed- she just dialled in haste.
"The number you are trying to call, does not exist".
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