Nomads

Chapter 2, Pt 3- Eruption

When he reached his college, he parked his scooter and dialed up “Shiv” to ask where he was.

It had become a recent habit of his to hang out with Shiv and his friends in empty classrooms, or the college lawn. They would just sit there and talk about random things. He called the other three friends up too and they all confirmed that they would be reaching within 30 minutes. He sighed, and went out to buy some snacks. He bought some Lays chips, Kurkure, and Thumbs-Up Charge like he always did. He went back to his college and searched for an empty classroom.

Regularly, he would find a ground floor classroom empty. It was an extension of the main building and was rarely used. He went inside the class full of dusty wooden benches and tables arranged in columns, and took the last row of the middle column. He sat there and started to watch the anime series “Mushishi”, an episodic anime series of a traveler named, Ginko, who used to travel around in the Edo period Japan as he solved “Mushi” related problems of the different people he met along his way. Nasr had found a deep connection with the series and Ginko because he had always loved the old eras when travelers and explorers were respected and loved for what they did and how easy it was for them to leave their materialistic wealth and move on to different places with no certainty of getting back. One thing he could relate with Ginko, was that they both could not stay in one place for too long, although Ginko had his own reason for that and so did Nasr.

 For Ginko, the reason was that if he stayed for too long, too many Mushi would get attracted to him, and in turn, it would cause the people of that place, or that particular place itself, many problems. The reason for Nasr was that if he stayed in one place for too long, negativity would get attracted to him. It would give him a great deal of anxiety, which would then turn into unbearable depression. He completely submerged himself into the world of Mushishi whenever he watched the show. He would perceive it not only from his eyes and ears, but also from his absolute consciousness. He would sit there, keeping his hand and mouth busy with food, while he felt each and every physical, emotional, and mental emotion of each story and episode.

He was just at the end of the twenty-five-minute-long episode when he got a call from Shiv, who was informing him that he had reached the college and asking him of his whereabouts. Nasr told him that he was sitting in their usual spot.

“What the fuck took you so long, man?” Nasr greeted Shiv, who laughed as he entered the room.

“It takes time to cycle down from CDA to Mission Road, man. It’s almost three-point-five kilometers!” Shiv said.

“Yeah I get it, I get it.” Nasr said as he plugged out the earphones from his phone.

“Is Caroline going to come?” Shiv asked.

“Yeah, she is, I called her up. Who else are you going to drag your ass here for, eh?” Nasr taunted with a smile.

“No, nothing of that sort. I came here because you called.” Shiv laughed, embarrassed.

“Well, call her and her friends up again. It’s been half-an-hour now.”

Shiv nodded as he took his phone out of the picket to dial up Caroline. Meanwhile, Nasr sat there and stuffed the empty wrappers and the plastic Thumbs-Up bottle into a smaller chain of his backpack, which was already a mess of many other wrappers and bottles.

“What did they say?” Nasr asked as he stuffed in the last wrapper.

“They said they’ll be here in 15 minutes.” Shiv said.

“Make it another half-an-hour.” Nasr said as he sighed.

“So, how’s it going with her?” Nasr asked.