melancholy

The Healing Begins.....

"Yehna.... Anish ku kaathu ketkathu" shouted Anandhi

"Vali le olarathae Anandhi" snapped Mullai... 

Picking up a cushion, she slid it under Anandhi's injured foot to keep it elevated...

"Naan poie avana kootitu varren.. Nee asaiyathae" she warned and wrapping the towel around her shoulders.... She ran out... 

The distance from the guest house to Anish's Villa usually took three minutes, but that day, her wet clothes weighed her down along with her mind... Why was Anandhi lying? Anish was perfectly fine... Her pain was making her talk nonsense... That was the only plausible explanation...

Mullai pushed the gate open and ran in... Thankfully, the door of the house was open too... "Anish.... Sikkirama va" she shouted, ringing the  calling bell that echoed musically throughout the house... She peered inside...

The transparent, glass like ornament boxes that hung on the wall in every room, that Mullai had assumed was empty, lit up... Flashing in bright colors exactly in rhythm of the bell...

Something clicked in Mullai's brain and her heart broke into pieces...

The lights.... They were for Anish...

He couldn't hear the bell ring...

The lights were there to let him know that someone was ringing the bell...

She saw Anish come out of his room on the top floor...

Saw him glance at the flashing lights and look down...

"Ennachu Mullai? Are you OK?" He asked rushing down....

She shook her head... "An...Anandhi kilae vizhunthutta" she breathed, clutching her side...

His face paled in fear...... And he ran outside in direction of the guest house....

Mullai ran behind him but couldn't keep up with his long strides... Her mind was churning... Anish, truly, couldn't hear... That knowledge was enough to cleave her heart into two... By the time she reached the guest house, Anish was carrying Anandhi in his arms... Her ankle was now swollen to twice it's size.... He carried  and placed her carefully inside the Harrier..  "Kathir engae?" He asked, looking around helplessly, a tremor in his voice...

"Kathir... Kathir" Mullai screamed, her voice getting hoarse...

"Varren...varren... Yehn ippadi kathurae?" He said, coming in from the entrance of the generator room... His jaw dropped in shock when he saw Anish's white face...the streaks of blood on the top of his jeans... "Ennae aachu?" he asked... "Engae irrunthae Kathir?" Mullai shouted, "Generator ku diesel fill pannittu irruthen" he threw the empty can down and rushed towards the car.... "Anandhi... Enna aachu?" He asked, looking at her ankle in shock... "Avae kilae vizhunthutta" replied Mullai... Her friend wasn't in a position to speak..

"Mullai nee ingaiyae irru... Dress mathittu varathukku time illae" Kathir got into the driver's seat and drove off with a grim Anish holding Anandhi in the back seat....

Mullai turned around and walked up, her clothes still dripping water but she wasn't bothered by it at all... Her mind was showing her all the cues that she had missed.... Anish not driving.... Always texting on the phone... Now that she thought about it, she never saw him speak on the phone even once... His different body language of always turning fully to the person who spoke... She had even commented positively about it to Anandhi.. That he had his full attention on a person when they spoke, without distractions... 

Was she caught up so much in the proclivities of her life that she missed such an important detail?

Mullai felt bad and somehow... She didnt even know why... She felt guilt ridden, for she had always thought that Anish had led a perfect life... Some people have it all; great looks, wealth and most important of all he was a good human being... This was such a rare combination..  She thought that Anish was the person who had it all..... Now, she discovered that one of his sensory organs had failed him...