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"Why are you grinning like an idiot? Does this seem like fun to you, getting stranded in the middle of nowhere"
She glanced at him for a while and continued grinning. They both were dripping from head to toe. Their uniforms and limbs were all muddied.
"Are you nuts? You are still smiling. Mazaak lag raha hai yeh sab? Do you realize ki we can actually die here. This old building that we are on, could crumble or get washed away, and if not that, then either of us could die from pneumonia."
Yes, it was a disaster. As far as she could see, there was only water and more water. The sky was still grisly dark, there was no way that the rain was going to stop anytime soon. They were stranded on top of a very old building in the old town and not a single soul was to be found. The only sound that permeated the air was of the hissing rain and the crashing waves. Death wasn't a fantasy anymore, it was staring them right in their eyes. Manik was right, this building could crumble or they could die out of pneumonia. Only God knew when this mayhem would stop, when the water levels would subside, when they would walk back to civilization, get some food and go back to the life they had always known. "I am smiling Manik, first time in two months I am smiling...and you know why, because if I were to die, I 'd rather die like this, with you here with me"
"Listen Tapri, mera marne ka koi irada nahi hai. I don't know why you girls fantasize so much about death, is it those stupid romantic novels you read?"
"Listen Manik, I was not attempting suicide yesterday ok?"
"Oh really, then what were you doing? Catwalk on the edge of the hill?"
"Whatever, and you please stop acting. I know you can't leave me to die alone, I saw yesterday, how frantically you were searching for me and it was the same today. I am nuts, so I can walk out of home when the whole town is flooded but you are sane. No one can make you step out unless you want to. I have eyes and I have a brain..who are you kidding here."
She had caught him red-handed.
"Why are you so secretive Manik, would you take all your secrets to your grave? Imagine if we were to die today, would you not regret dying next to a stranger? Would you not regret not having shared your feelings, your thoughts, yourself?"
She wasn't a stranger to him, he knew her in and out. But he would perhaps always be a stranger to her and that's how he preferred it. Silence was comforting.
"You know Manik, the last few words I spoke to my parents were full of anger. I was shouting at them for being late and see they never reached. If only I could have them back just once, I would tell them just how much I love them, how much they mean to me. The regret of not being able to say 'I love you' that one last time will perhaps haunt me for the rest of my life. We shouldn't bottle up our feelings inside....we should just let them go.."
He still remembered those words as if it was just yesterday. His heart sank at the very mention of the accident. He knew, he had experienced it firsthand. He had seen her cry for days, he had seen her turn into a stone, he had seen it all from a distance but he was so helpless that he couldn't wipe her tears... he couldn't hold her tight and promise her that it was going to be all right. Every time he had returned home after visiting her, he felt hollow, like there was no reason for him to carry on.
