Shape of the Sun

Too much to handle

It had to be a prank, a big, fat one, like the kind that was done on those TV shows where no one knew they were being taped. How absurd could this situation be? It was akin to finding your stolen goods in the marketplace, only for the thief to point at you and loudly scold you for being a liar. That was the disjointed sense of reality that Rajkumar had felt first after waking up to that call in the morning.

Following the events of last night, Rajkumar was unable to sleep until it was very late. He had quietly gone up to the apartment after taking a few minutes in the car to digest what had happened and the outcome of that. Even though Manmeet's door had been locked when he got in, he was able to hear her sobs across the wall joining both rooms. He could still hear them under the rush of water from the shower against his skin, at a temperature hot enough to cause the glass walls of the Jacuzzi to fog, like the heaviness that was pressing against his heart. Rajkumar was still able to hear Manmeet sobbing, accompanied by a repeat of her words to him in the car, even when he covered his ears tight with the pillows. At this point, three whole hours had passed, a time that was so long, that Rajkumar thought he was experiencing either one of two things. One, he was hallucinating, hearing things that weren't there. Or two, Manmeet was still crying even after all this time had passed.

No matter which it was, it caused Rajkumar's chest to feel tight, like he was suffocating, like he was drowning, gasping for air. As if it could ease the pain that he felt, he placed a hand on his chest, he placed it there as if could stop what was leaving from doing so. Rajkumar felt like he had lost something very important today, and he was never going to get it back. It was in such a decadent state of mind that he struggled to get some sleep, even if it was for the sake of work tomorrow, finally doing so at 4 am.

But he had barely done three hours in, when his phone began to beep loudly beside his pillow, signaling an incoming call. He had been awoken, to his dissatisfaction, and waited for the call to ring out till it was over, so he could return back to sleep. It was just a few minutes past 7 am and Rajkumar didn't think a work schedule that began at 1 pm today necessitated waking up at this time. He wanted enough sleep, his current state too poor to even think of doing anything else besides that.

His actions were futile, however. The phone rang and rang, baffling Rajkumar at the tenacity of the caller. This odd turn of events made him reach for it, in the one percent chance that it was an emergency, only to find it was an unknown caller ID. That, and it was an international UK number. Upon seeing this, Rajkumar struggled to sit up on the bed, after which a hand went to rub his eyes with the intent to drive away some of the sleepiness. The other accepted the call. A quick glance at his watch noted that it was still barely morning over there.

This call had to be really urgent or the caller was just a major league asshole. He picked it up.

"Hello. Who is this?"

The reply was immediate, conveyed in a manner that struck a familiar chord in Rajkumar.

"Hello, Mr. Reddy. I am Dr. Rivers speaking from London Civil Hospital. I am sorry to be a bother at this time, but I am calling you regarding your wife, Mrs. Anisha Gopal-Reddy. According to her, you are her next of kin."

"Yes, I am, Dr. Rivers. Is anything the matter?"

At this point, the sleep had disappeared all on its own. Replacing it was a feeling of discomfort, because of the reality of his new relationship with Anisha, and how everything that happened to her became his responsibility in some sort of way. The shadow of depression hovering over him yesterday came back. Still, he prodded the doctor to speak, sensing that she was hesitant over the news to be delivered. For a moment, Rajkumar wondered if Anisha had gotten into a car accident or something similar.