An Excerpt from Pebbles in the Sand

Healing

Part-1 Alone

Forty-eight hours had passed since she had last met him. No message or call since then. Her calls had been routed to the answering machine, all forty of them. Maya hated that she was constantly checking Aditya’s 'last seen' status on WhatsApp, and yes, he was online just five minutes ago. Yet he didn’t respond to the pleas or the threats she had sent in desperation.

This sinking feeling was becoming unbearable, almost torturous. What if he…….

And then, her phone vibrated. With her heart thudding in her ear, she unlocked her phone and stared at the screen. Finally! It was his message.

But reading it, she nearly stopped breathing. Was he joking?

“Think it was a mistake. Happens between two young people….It’s best to forget”, he had written, “Let’s cut our losses and move on…”.

She had a wild urge to call him up and scream at him. How dare he do this? What right had he to suddenly break up like this? 

Though she knew Aditya was married, such technicalities didn’t matter with her. Rather it made him more attractive. The problem started when she realized that he was not just a conquest; she had genuinely developed feelings for him.

For the past couple of months, she had started to get a niggling feeling that his ardor was weakening somehow. He was distracted and evasive. He explained it away as work pressure, but her womanly instincts had rung warning bells.

Maya was used to having her way in all her romantic relationships. She was, after all the diva, the unattainable goddess people sought and ran after. When Aditya started showering her with his single-minded attention, wooing her with flowers and expensive gifts, she had taken her own sweet time to prolong the chase.

Once into it, however, she had got totally involved with Aditya. She had never experienced such ecstasy and completeness with anyone else. Without intending to, she had lost her heart to him.

She had starting planning a future with him. And now, he had abandoned her. Just like her father had……

Then she could stand it no more….she screamed out in pain and frustration. And then the tears flowed, flowed as if they would never stop.

She called up her 3 am friend, Anu, and poured her heart to her.

“How could he do this to me? We were so close…”

“Hmm. Guess some things are not meant to be, darling. Try to forget him and move on.” Anu pleaded.

“Anu! How could you! You know what he means to me!”

“I know, I know. Just trying to help you. Don’t shoot me!”

“I want him back Anu. I don’t have anyone besides him.” Maya’s voice was breaking.

“Listen baby, just sleep over it okay. You will get over the shock in the morning. Catch you tomorrow.” Anu tried to sign off.

She sighed. She was tired of being Maya’s rock, her friend in need... Maya depended on her and was used to leaning on her like a crutch. Whenever things went wrong, Anu was her agony aunt.

But Anu had decided to go ahead with her own life now. Her boyfriend had proposed, and she planned shifting to Mumbai to start her life with him. Marriage, career, babies, her own life. She had planned to break the news to Maya this week, but now this happened.

The next morning, Maya called Anu and started howling once again. Anu had an important meeting to attend so she couldn’t come over to console her.

Maya didn’t feel like getting out of bed. Though she was used to staying alone, sometimes the emptiness got to her. And the heartbreak?

Through dint of sheer hard work and the right networking, she had made her way through the dog-eat-dog glamour industry. She was lucky to have Anu as her confidante and soul sister. Anu was her opposite – calm, reserved and level-headed.

After Maya’s mother died of cancer when she was ten, her life had been empty and devoid of any real happiness. Her father was never close to her even earlier, and now became a complete stranger. She had tried her best to bridge the gap created by him, but somehow the walls around him were too high and impregnable.

She didn’t have any sibling, and her best friend Anu and her parents became her family. For all her brazenness, Maya was actually a softie at heart. Sometimes she felt that she demanded too much from Anu, who was living in Kolkata only to be with her. Anu’s fiancé had been asking her to make a move to Mumbai where he lived.

But Anu wouldn’t leave her friend alone to battle with her demons.

Something had left Maya scarred for life. Anu had seen a different Maya as a child. Happy, chirpy, normal. But now……her eyes had hardened with suspicion. She spewed venom at everyone. She had changed beyond recognition. Where had the original Maya gone?

That evening it rained like the heavens had broken up. Sheets of rain poured down the windows of Maya’s house, making her even more miserable, if that was possible. She had tried calling Aditya again, but he was unreachable. Probably had changed his SIM card to avoid her, she thought bitterly.

Alone and hurting, she walked around like a ghost in her own home. Where were the fairy tale endings she had read so much about? Life had been a bitch to her.

For reading the rest of the story, check out the book here:

Pebbles in the Sand 

#shortstories #sliceoflifestories #pebblesinthesand #englishshortstories