The Perfect Photo

Chapter 18

Pritam's viewpoint.

Did I get a new bed?

I laid feeling the texture of my blanket. It felt softer than usual. I slid my blanket down and tried to open my eyes a little. I was blinded by the light in the room that I covered my face immediately. I moved my hands around but couldn't find my spectacles beside my bed. This was very unusual. My room is not this bright anytime in the day. The place looked unfamiliar, and I couldn't make out much with my blurry vision. I attempted to get off the bed and felt a sudden surge of pain in my left knee. My head was spinning, and I dropped back to the bed with a thud and groaned loudly. In addition to all that, I felt extremely dehydrated. Was I in an accident? What had just happened to me? I could hear voices in the background, but the pain in my head was so excruciating that I could not make out what they were saying. If I was in fact in my house then whose voices are those I'm hearing?

I felt like I was experiencing something unreal. It was just like waking up in the hospital after a strong anesthetic. But it was no hospital; there was no familiar disinfectant smell associated with hospitals. Then where was I? I had trouble linking my thoughts together. I kept my eyes closed, and with my hands over my head, I tried to focus.

I felt someone lifting my hand off my head. I became defensive and started pushing the hands away. I wasn't sure who that was. I felt something familiar placed on my palm. My spectacles! I put it back on. My vision was still not back to normal, party due to the pain in my head. But I could see much better now. I saw a familiar someone standing in front of me. It was Harsha. But where exactly was I? I opened my mouth to ask that.

"There There There", she said.

"Do you drink without brushing", she asked.

I nodded. I wanted to ask her where I was but my throat was so damn dry. I was thirsty as hell.

Harsha held up a glass of green liquid and asked me to drink. I didn't care what it was and didn't bother to ask her either. I was ready to drink anything liquidy which could suppress my thirst, which at that point felt unquenchable. I grabbed the glass and devoured it.

"Slow down dude. Do you drink anything slowly? Drinking like this was what has gotten you into this mess", she said laughing.

I asked for some water after downing the green juice which tasted like what Popeye would drink in the morning. I drank half a can of water and felt more hydrated. My vision became a lot clearer. The party that I shouldn't have attended, the drink that I shouldn't have had and the story I shouldn't have told, it all came back to me. But I could not remember what happened after the party. There was a bed next to mine, Neha was sitting there intently looking at me waiting for me to say something. I looked around, and the place looked like nothing I've seen before. Neha and Harsha, what could this place be? Their room? Their hostel room? Am I in the girl's hostel? How the hell could that have happened?

I looked around and found a white dress beside me on the bed. I picked it up and identified it to be the one Harsha wore yesterday. But I found the dress torn, what the hell happened? Who tore this dress? I couldn't remember. Could it have been me? Senseless thought but I still went ahead and checked myself. I had everything I was wearing yesterday still on.

Neha started laughing wildly.

"Neha, why did you put my dress next to him? Look at the guy. He is confused", said Harsha.

"What do you mean confused? You remember what happened yesterday Mister?"

I shook my head sideways. After a hearty laughter, Neha and Harsha narrated the incidents post my loss of consciousness. They had carried me like a lifeless mannequin and had also dropped me multiple times on the way. Now that explains the pain in my knee. My shirt showed evidence of that too.

"So where exactly do you stay? Why aren't you staying in the hostel?", asked Harsha.

A question where I had to open up my past again. What do I tell them? Do I tell them the truth? That I was robbed of my inheritance and that I have spent the last few pennies that I had on my trip to Germany. Do I tell them that I was practically homeless the day I joined college and that I had to go hunt and find a job to support myself? I said enough yesterday. I did not want to get close to anyone here in college, but I have somehow gotten close to these girls, especially to Harsha. I decided to keep it abstract.

"I do a shift at Swiggy delivering food. Just a part time job. I couldn't stay at the hostel as it had a strict curfew. My shift ends post 12 AM. So I chose to stay in a PG outside. The upside is that the food is much better than it is in the hostel."

Both Neha and Harsha laughed. They did not ask me any more questions; I was happy I did not have to open up anymore. I remembered that it was Sunday. I looked at my watch. It was past 9 AM. I looked into my pockets to find my phone. But it wasn't there.

"I think I lost my phone at the party", I said.

"No you didn't lose it, I have it safe with me", said Harsha.

She walked up to her handbag and looked in and found the phone. She handed the phone over to me. 'Damn! The battery has run out!' I needed to go online. I had to check what has happened.

"My phone is out of charge. I need to check my emails. Can I borrow your laptop?", I asked.

"Yeah sure, my laptop is just beside the bed", she replied.

The can of water and juice which went in has started to put pressure on my bladder. I had to use the restroom.

"May I use the restroom here?", I asked with a hint of embarrassment in my voice.

"Sure. This is one lucky hostel room which has an attached bathroom. Go straight, and you'll find it to your left", said Neha.

I stood up and went straight to the restroom. It was a bit weird for me to be inside a girls' room leave alone their restroom. As I entered the bathroom, I found innerwear hanging from everywhere and pretty much everything. I tried to avoid them as if they were radioactive material and went ahead to take a piss.

I came back out and walked straight to the bed without making eye contact with either of them. It felt very awkward.

"Pritam?", called Harsha.

I lifted up my head.

"Do you have any problems wearing Kajal?"

"What?", I asked unable to understand what she was getting at.

Both Harsha and Neha started giggling.

"I don't think he has a choice", said Neha.

I ignored what they were saying and switched on the laptop. I didn't know if I was anxious or if I was hungry, but I could feel it in my stomach. I drank some more water. The windows loading screen animation kept playing over and over, and impatience started to crawl slowly inside me.

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Btw, Dedicating this chapter to that depressed soul on a full moon's night
-M.A.D
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