That Night By The Shore

2. Arrival

Slowly I tried to open my eyes, maybe still feeling dizzy from that shock. I put all of my strength left in my body, and finally raised myself up. I squabbled my hand here and there, in order to find my glasses. Yes, you guys got it right, being a software engineer always requires to look at the screen constantly, so gradually I developed myopia defect in my eyes. Anyways, going back to the topic, yes...after some searching, I managed to pick up my glasses. They were covered in stains of blood. I somehow cleaned them with my clothes. Now I could finally see my surroundings clearly.

I found myself lying on the bed of an unknown hospital, probably brought by the rescue team. I looked around, lots of patients were by my side, and probably they were the victims of the train accident as well. I took a long breath. My head was so badly hurt it I could not feel the pain. Guess the doctors used some sort of anesthesia. It was better though to be honest...I didn't want to feel that immense pain.

I realized that I was only injured in my head, for which rest of my body did not hurt much. I looked out of the window. It was already night...guess I was unconscious for the whole day. And to add to much amazement...I could see the ocean outside the window...maybe the train was derailed somewhere near my destination. I could care less about what happened, because after the hardships faced...I somehow managed to at least reach the beach.

Slowly waking up from the bed, I took my suitcase...it was kept beside my bed.

"It's gonna be a hard AF job to find a hotel at this hour...even if I find it...it's gonna cost me a lot of money..."-I thought to myself as I started heading towards the reception. The other rooms too contained the many victims from the accident...it was a serious tragedy as many lost their lives. I felt a bit lucky to have survived the accident...and maybe that day if I had not been near the floor....I myself would have been an unfortunate to have suffered death in just my mid-twenties.

I finally reached the reception. There was no one present there, for which I took initiative and just wrote my name on the checkout list without informing anyone. It was already much late...and I already was going slow according my trip schedule...for which it will would be a fool of me to waste further time.

Thinking all this, I completed the checkout formalities and was on my way out of the hospital. The people present in the waiting room were much lost in their own world, did not even someone ask me my condition on my way out...even a little greeting would be appreciated. Well it's not the people...the generation is like this, people don't care about their surroundings.

Finally I set my foot outside the hospital. Even though the summer was in the run...the breezes were so cool that they almost sent chills down my spine. At first, I thought about getting myself checked in a hotel, keep my belongings, and then go to the beach to spend some time, but the fun fact is, I am a type of man who is run more by emotions than by intellect. So keeping aside the plan of getting myself a hotel...I crossed the road and stepped on sandy beach.

The moist watery smell, sound of the waves, and the soft breezes felt much much pleasant to me. It felt like if it was not this vacation, my brain would have exploded out of the intense work load I was taking this days.There was a free chair available in front of the ocean. I took my liberty and went there to keep my suitcase, after which I finally marched forward to dip my feet in the soft waves near the shore.

The water felt so nice to me, that it felt like to remove all my clothing and just take a dive in the sea, but no hotel would welcome its guest all drenched up in the salty sea water. So I controlled myself, and was on my back to pick up my suitcase and venture for my that night's first quest, which was obviously to find a good hotel in minimum range. I picked up my luggage, but suddenly my eyes fell on a woman, sitting completely solitary by that boulder right up ahead, seemed to be lost in her own world of thoughts, maybe she was looking at the starry sky like the rest girls like to. I kept gazing at her for a while, and it was in no time, that our eyes crossed each other's.

I hurriedly tried to look away, but she remained gentle, and waved at me. Her smile had a touch of kindness.

In a manner of eye signal, it seemed to me she was calling for me. "Maybe she's separated from her team, and is really bored waiting for them to arrive, so she might have thought to herself that I would make a great company till the arrival of her friends"- I thought to myself on my way of small steps towards the lady. I reached her. She moved a bit to make space for me to sit. I sat down by her...and gradually to disrupt the shy awkward moment, I gave the first call-

"HI...Aksh here, it's a pleasure to have met...what about you though...what's your name?'"It's Aadriti...it's my pleasure to meet you as well"- she replied with a soft gentle tone, and her sweet voice mustered more courage in me to talk to a just met stranger, that also a girl.Anyways with chit-chats like this, we were gradually indulged in talking to each other."Finally I get someone to share some words after this disastrous day"- I thought to myself as we kept on talking.