The First Fall

Chapter 8

One day during break time Rhea dragged to an empty class saying that we need to talk about some serious stuff. I could guess the severity of the serious stuff because I have never seen Rhea being serious about anything untill then. She was going to question me about something or wanted to know my opinion about something. She was one those 'always happy people' you will meet at some point in your life.

Since it was raining and I loved watching it I went straight to the windows. She cleared her throat and was played with her phone. It seemed like she was reluctant to start.

“Why? The always bubbly girl is having starting trouble and that too with the most ordinary friend of yours?” I couldn’t help but tease her a little.

“You can tease me all you want. After all you have started living only after I became your friend and after you met someone else who will become the most important person in your life someday.” I blushed a little when she mentioned it like that. To be frank I was afraid to think about the future too much because I knew that anything could happen and it was better if you were prepared at least in your mind to face the unexpected. I didn’t realize that I said it loud, but knew it once I saw the look Rhea was giving me.

“For God’s sake just tone down your serious mode a little bit. You are not a sixty year old lady to talk like this. It’s irritating me a lot. Just tell me something, who told you all these highly philosophical ideas which you blurt out at times?”

“It’s a long story but will give you a brief version. You know about my past and how I was leading a life without friends. During vacation and whenever I wanted some company I used to go to my grandmother’s place. She had a lot of siblings and they used to get together every weekends to watch old movies, to share all the current gossip, to reminisce their past and to share these ‘philosophical thoughts’ about life. I used to accompany my grandmother and I liked listening to those stories.”

“No wonder you are like this my girl. I can’t even think about listening to old ladies talking about anything. I will go mad.”

“But I used to love it. Listening to them saying things about life and how they dealt with difficult situations helped me a lot to overcome the grief which I felt when I lost my pet dog and then my grandmother.”

“How did that work. You got my curiosity.”

“Well. According to them when someone dies, their soul will get released into the nature. It is a form of energy and it is powerful enough to do certain things like helping people they cared for when they were alive and even powerful enough to protect their loved ones. Some of them even had experiences which will raise your hair if you hear about it. The eldest sister once told me that if your love is pure enough then one will able to feel the other’s presence even when he or she is not there with you.”

“I believe every single word of that and when Joe, my dog died I liked to believe that he is around me in some other form such as wind, rain and sunrays. It helped me to overcome the grief because I didn’t had any friends to share it. He was the one who used to help me with my studies. My therapist once asked me to try to teach him whatever I could understand and not understand and that dog had the patience of a saint. He used to sit there tolerating my classes for hours and when I used to cry because I couldn’t understand some parts no matter how much I tried, he licked my tears away and lied on my lap asking to pet him. It was as if  he was trying to say ‘you are not alone, I am here for you.’ When my grandmother saw our friendship she said  that Joe was God’s gift to me."

"Even when God gives you a lot of pain he also gives you his love in some other way, the problem is that you won’t be able to identify that and appreciate it'. She also used to say that I should always try to see things which were not only plainly visible but those too that you could feel along with seeing. Even now I don’t understand fully what she was trying to say.”