PARALLEL

CHAPTER 2

I am so terribly sorry for the delay . I wasn't expecting it to take this long. I had too much stuff going on related to college & everything. I  would love to hear comments from you guys. Again, I am deeply sorry. I'll try my best to  publish the chapters much faster.

-AJ

Norah James is an Insomniac.

Probably one of the worst conditions that a person could suffer from (one of the worst) and she would trade anything to get rid of this spike that's been thrust permanently into her body, pricking her mind, haunting her to stay awake for days. It started out so suddenly around seven years ago; like a weird parasite, it crept into the cortex of her brain and bloats up like a balloon occasionally, causing skull splitting aches which then forces out ruthless nightmares like a whoopee cushion.

She'd been for a number of therapies and even tried out yoga but nothing worked out for her. She's been surviving by gobbling up sleeping pills every night since her brain needed to rest and also because she could never face her recurring nightmares without waking up crying and never being able to sleep again.

But a year ago, she found a cure. The perfect cure, according to her, that is.

Alcohol.

She had too much of raspberry vodka at a party one night, and for the first time, she slept like a baby for more than eight hours in years. It was like a miracle. A medicine that was so easily available, gave the best head-spinning experience and stomach-aching laughs with the worst side effect being just a hangover the next day, which one could overcome with some tea or coconut water and nonstop trips to the bathroom to throw up all the contents from the previous night. Soon it became an addiction. She needed to have alcohol and pass out every time to get some z's. It started to affect her performance in college and her behavior around people, her friends. But she's a little too deep inside to be fished out now.

Every time she went back home during her festive breaks, it was the same scenario all over again. Her parents pestered her with questions about what happened and how much she's changed but all she did was scream and then lock herself in her room for hours until the next meal. Pretty soon, everyone started to give up on her. She doesn't really realize it since her head is always high up in the clouds. (Literally high)

Then there was that weird game in the newspaper. She attempted it every day just because it was strangely amusing to see her life and other things in the form of codes and crosswords. It was mostly amusing since she's drunk most of the time. Then came the letters. Every single day. Initially, she assumed it to be hate letters from her previous pesky boyfriend since she had blocked him across every social media platform. She would rip it apart in frustration and throw them high and let it rain like confetti. Letters came in everyday of that week until she finally decided to rip it open and for once, read the content. But as she read through, she could feel sweat forming behind her neck and her eyes nearly popping out like ping pong balls. Confusion and excitement and nervousness marinated her brain into a thick glop, something they generally called Aloo Kofta and served for lunch in her hostel.

For around half an hour or so, she sat there, staring at the piece of crumpled paper in disbelief.

I'm still high. This can't be happening.

She must've rubbed her eyelids off by now.

"What's the matter? Is he coming back to take your heart again?" Ananya giggled.