ON A RAINY NIGHT

Chapter 1 : Left Alone

Black clouds sprawl across chennai, billowing in from the west. Their brassy glare drains colour from houses and trees and burnished cars in driveways, leaving neighbourhoods tinted bronze in the faltering light.

The sky became dark and low with ominous black clouds and the wind picked up, howling, crying, warning, baying like a wolf into the night. The air grows heavy and the humidity presses down, suffocating. The scent of rain is dark and heady. A stillness falls over the street, and in the silence comes a low crackle of thunder, rolling across rooftops. For a moment, everything stops. Even the wind holds its breath. A streak of hot silver splits the sky, and the downpour begins.

Every person on the streets walked with their head down and moving at maximum speed. Those with umbrellas take wider berths of one another, the rest take care to duck when the spokes come their way.

The sound of feet on wet paving stones is almost lost against the splashing of the traffic. The usual smell of the fumes is dampened by the hazy drops. A wide variety of shops lined the nearby streets: antique and art stalls, jewelry and accessory shops, mobile and electronics, luxury boutiques, souvenir kiosks and stores selling leather goods, all shops are getting closed one after another. People are rushing home. Many people were lining up in food stores to ration up like they won't be getting out of their house ever.

After a while roads seemed deserted. Chennai is famously said to have only three seasons – hot, hotter, and hottest! However, sandwiched between these are the musical and mesmerizing months of the monsoon that brings out the best version of this city. But today it is not a day in the month of monsoon or it is not a regular rain which the city of chennai ever experienced. 

Whole city has been covered in darkness due to power cut of the entire city. Blackness came with such completeness it obliterated the memory of the day that had just been. With the thick cloud above, no relief came from either the moon or stars. Without stores and streetlights nothing could stop this city ever becoming consumed by total darkness.

Viyan was asleep in his apartment which is on the 4th floor in East coast Road (ECR). The apartment was so calm all the doors were locked shut only a mild sound of water dripping from rain could be heard and a faint sound of thunder in a distance .

Because of the late night shift viyan still can't wake up from his bed. power cut is least bothered to him right now .Viyan works as a software engineer in a well reputable company. His parents are from a small town in Tamil Nadu. They dream their son to be in a good office job and earning handful. So like all other parents they choose viyan to attend BE computer engineering without asking what his passion is. But now viyan is living his dream. A separate posh flat, 1 lakh salary, and weekend parties. But he rarely visit his parents or invite someone to his apartment. 

In his apartment he is cut off from this whole world. He works in night shift so most of the time in his apartment he spent his time sleeping, watching movies and playing video games. Apartment life in Chennai is like that not knowing who your neighbor living next door to you. Viyan chose his friends carefully from school days so he has selective few friends and like to hang out only with them. And now one such friend of him is calling him on his mobile.

The phone starts vibrating as viyan always puts his mobile on silent mode while he is sleeping. The "vurrr vurrr" sound from the vibrating phone wake viyan up. Viyan always hates to wake up in his half sleep.

"Waking up can be really harsh, especially if your dreams are better than reality. The saddest part of it is, though, that eventually even the memory of your dream will fade - if you are even lucky enough to remember it that is. Then you're left with this lonely feeling of detachment, left to explore in the empty void of emotions, the only proof that you ever had the dream to begin with."