Life Uncensored

CHAPTER THREE - PART ONE.

(Song of the chapter : In My Blood - Shawn Mendes)

And then tomorrow.
Tomorrow will be a new day.
- Unknown

Daniel left the room slamming the door shut behind him. Mr. Martin just stood there for a second, surprised by Daniel's response and tried to control his already raised temper. He shut his eyes tight, sighed and dropped the topic for the moment.

"Alright kids." He sighed and almost turned around to leave the room, but then turned back at us, with a face that clearly showed how tired he was, of always trying to fix things.

"Try talking some sense into your friend, if thats even possible." He said, turned and left the room without waiting for our response. We looked at each other, none of us knowing what to say next and what to talk about. I stay shut. Every topic that I could think of would in one way or another lead to a sad story somewhere, or to Dadi and all the pity talk would start again. I was exhausted already and genuinely needed something else to think and talk about. Else, I was going to be a crazy man soon. As if reading my mind Sachi got up to leave.

"I should leave now. Try and get some rest." She said, giving me a tight hug. " Its going to be okay Sahil. It'll all be better soon. Till then, please stay strong. We'll make it better for you."
She whispered in my ear and left the room without even looking at, or saying bye to Karan and Esha.That was rude I agree. But, lately Karan and Sachi had a cold war going on for some stupid reason. I had tried my best in the past few weeks to end the war or at least find the logic behind it, but obviously, I  couldn't get even one thing done. Karan shot her a look as she left and threw the Rubrics cube at the foot of the door in rage when she shut it behind her. All those colored squares scattering on the floor! Esha looked at us with one eyebrow raised, waiting for an explanation from one of us. Karan ran a hand through his hair and sighed. And I got up to go to the bathroom.

"Cigarette anyone?" He asked, removing one from his pocket and holding it in his mouth.

"Not in my room. We'll be dead if anyone comes." She answered giving him a stern look and pointing to the door that led to the balcony. But he lit it anyway.

"Quit being an ass to her." I teased him, hitting him lightly on his head and heading towards the bathroom.

"Ya! Ya!" Holding his cigarette in his hand, He rolled his eyes got up and put his free arm over my shoulder. "You can pee later. let's smoke first !" He said, in his usual happy-go-lucky tone that always made me feel better. After all, he was a brother that I never had.

"Aaawww! My darlings are back! I am so happy !" Esha teased, dramatically wiping her fake happy tears and hopping out of the chair to join us. "But you monkey face; you still owe me an explanation for breaking that." She looked at Karan and pointed to the scattered pieces on the floor. He ignored her and walked through the door mimicking what she had just said in a childish whiny voice. She hit him hard on his arm with the book she had in hand and they continued mocking each other while I smoked in peace enjoying their impersonations of each other. After what seemed like forever this was the closest thing I had to normalcy. And this childishness right now, felt good. After a long long time this felt like home.

The definition of home to me had changed ever since I was ten. It was as I grew up I realized that home wasn't a place where you lived, it was the people around, that made any four walled house a home. And in my life Dadi, Saigal's and a few of my closest friends had been the people who had turned my hell of a house to a loving home.

I was only ten when my father had to leave for the States for his new job. Back then, going out of India for a job was a pretty big deal and once you left the country the chances of you visiting your family were once in two years, at the least. And my dad had extended this to three years and thereafter to forever. I wouldn't consider my biological family to be a happy family. Even as a kid I knew that my family wasn't as normal and happy as they pretended to be in front of others or in front of me. Back then, Dadi had no role to play in my life. She didn't even live with us before.