Abhina

Part Three - Dark Embrace

The rest of the days blended into each-other. His mother took him out of school entirely, and forced him to take a job in a nearby beachfront hotel. He worked as a server, blankly taking orders and setting down plates of food.  His shift had just ended and the routine was the same: clean the tables, sweep the floors, turn the lights out. He felt numb. How long had it been since he had been able to leave the house freely and run to the beach to visit his only friend? He couldn't remember. At least a year had passed. Sevita's face was starting to fade in his mind. "All of this for a red sari in a shop-front window," Abhijit thought. He cursed himself for his selfishness.
    The city had bulldozed the settlements on the area of beach surrounding the hotel. Abhijit leaned against a railing on the back porch. He could see an endless expanse of dark ocean from this vantage point. Abhijit felt his hands reach down and take off his shoes. He stepped out on the beach. The sand was cool beneath his toes. He glanced back. The hotel loomed behind him with smiling, bright window-squares. All those people inside their tiny rooms...and Abhijit was the one who felt the most trapped. His feet led him down the beach until the lights of the hotel and the city of Mumbai were insignificant specks. The ocean water murmured softly. His body moved forward. The water lapped against his legs. It was warm, inviting. The water reached further up his body, coaxing him in. His legs moved forward to accept it.
    He came up coughing and spluttering. He wanted to, his body wanted to, but a feeble voice had spoken up in his head. It told him he didn't want to die.