Once Upon a University Campus

To Do or Not To Do

Her shoulder blades stiffened and back straightened when the silken touch of a warm, moist finger lightly tracing the length of her nape. Or was it his lips? The very thought froze her till she could no longer feel the touch. Did he find the dark mole by the edge of her right shoulder blade, the very mole she had accidentally noticed in the full length mirror of her hostel room on a sunny day while changing her clothes. Did he stop because he found the mole hideous? She reached out her hand behind to touch him, seeking reassurance. She had never been this conscious of her body, but all of a sudden she became aware of all the moles, the imperfections, the pigmentations, pockmark left behind by an occasional pimple, the jiggly bits, the sole silvery stretch mark on her thigh and the dark scar on her left knee from a bicycle accident and everything else. She stretched her hand as far as she could reach but she could not find him. When she turned around, it was all dark. She could see nothing.

"Don't touch me.." A familiar female voice sobbed at a distance. "You don't remember who you are."

"Don't despair, she will not let us down" remarked a calm but familiar male voice.

"Papa" exclaimed Annika.

Again there was no response. Annika cried for her parents again and again but her no response. She felt the moist warm touch down in the middle of her back and felt it. Something told her that it was a trail of tears. Had she mistaken her parents tears for Shivaay's touch? Her stomach twisted and knotted. She clutched herself tightly like a ball and collapsed, but she did not hit the floor right away. She kept falling into the depths of darkness. Everything felt empty inside her except her racing heart and it did not feel good. Her mother's sob grew distant and distant but she continued to fall....

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Annika woke up with a jolt. Her muscles had frozen stiff and she could not move. But eyes wide open, she saw the candle burning half way down the jar. The flowers were still there and the ice on which the crème brûlée rested had melted into a puddle. Her throat was parched dry and sweat beads as big as green peas were running down her forehead and from the back of her head making its way to the nape of her neck. It took her a few minutes to check where she was and what was happening. Still clutching herself like a ball, she drew a deep breath to calm her racing heart. She gradually released herself and stumbled out of the bed.

It must have been an accursed bed, she was convinced as she stepped away from it and stared at it fearfully. She had had nightmares twice in a row sleeping on this bed. The fear of the inexplicable crawled under her skin for the first time. In all her years of living alone, she had never experienced this kind of fear for the world beyond our own realm. It was more horror than fear, actually. Her brain started conjuring tricks of its own, reminding her of an episode of a cheap horror show on late night cable TV, the one where a possessed bed spun and spun till the people sleeping on it were flung out..

"But where is Shivaay?" She thought aloud and her own voice startled her. She paced up and down the room thinking if she should go in search of Shivaay, each time a little away from the bed. It should not have taken him so long. But then why should she? It is unlikely that he lost his way. It must be that he is having a good time with his friends. She knew how it worked. Many a times, she had lost track of time while chatting with friends. But then staying alone in the room and its accursed bed was something she could not stand anymore. She grabbed the candle, creme brulee and a bottle of water and headed out to the patio settling down on a chair by the pool. It was pitch dark, the dark before the day broke.Though unaware of the time of the day, she refused to step into the room by herself for her phone or anything else. She told herself that the only time she will step in is when Shivaay was back.