A Lockdown To Remember

Day 2

"Then go and do it yourself!"

Xenia watched her parents fight with her eyes wide open and her breath on hold. After her mother returned from the kitchen, her parents started talking and in a few minutes, they were loud and angry. Xenia could not comprehend the situation, staring was all she did. Her mother abruptly stood up from the sofa and went to her room. Her father turned to her and asked what had happened to her mother. Xenia or anything neither could understand nor know what had happened. Her parents similarly did not know what led to the eruption. Before they could study the situation both of them were screaming. Lockdown started doing its magic.

"Why were they fighting?" Her brother asked upon entering the room.

"I have no idea. How did you wake up so early today? They woke you up?"

"What is time?"

"Two-thirty. How do you manage to stay awake the whole night? Why do you do that, is the correct question."

"What is for lunch? They are still fighting?" He rubbed his eyes as he laid his head on the backrest.

"Cabbage and roti. When was the last time you took a shower?"

"Is she trying to make us vegetarians? And why is it that we don't have rice anymore in this house?"

"Be thankful for once. Do you always need to have that scowl face?"

"Shut up. Don't bore me," He said before standing up. 

"Go and take a shower!" She exclaimed in anger.

"I took one yesterday!"

Xenia crossed her arms and clenched her teeth while her brother left the room. She sat unmoved for more than five minutes before she took her phone in her hand and left the room. Her mother and brother were in their respective bedrooms, Xenia strolled between the living room and her parent's bedroom, and the man of the house was on the terrace. For the most part of the afternoon, they were all in different rooms, staying away from each other. 

Xenia found herself again hiding from her parents in the spare room. After a few hours, her parents were the same making hiding the best of options.

"Hello!" Ashwini said when her friend answered the call. "What are you doing Xenia darling?"

"Nothing. You sound bored."

"Everything is so boring! I want to go out! I want to go to McDonald's! I miss going out."

"It is literally the second day."

"I want to go out. I miss Minnie. We were going to meet last day and because of that stupid Haim, we could not! We should have met."

At length, her friend talked and she smiled, listened and said one or two words. They did not have a meaningful conversation yet it lifted their morale. The call eased Xenia's mind, and by the evening her parents started talking, dropping the temperature of the house.  All three of them sat together and watched TV, while her brother locked himself in his room. They were together until her mother went to buy some vegetables and Xenia returned to her shell.

"Papa, did mom take her phone with her?" She asked fifteen minutes after her mother left.

"She did not. Why? What happened? You want something?"

"Chocolate. I suddenly want to have some. It's okay. Maybe next time."

She sat down on the deewan and unlocked her phone. She first was chatting with her friend when she's remembered she had to submit a quiz. Answers were circulated by her friends and all she had to do was to select the correct answer without using her intellect. Five minutes later she had answered thirteen questions and eight more were to be answered when a disturbance on the window sill caught her attention. There was something entering through the window. Narrowing her eyes she leaned forward. Before her brain could identify the object it fell down. It was the biggest bar of Cadbury she had ever seen.

"Thank you for helping me. I don't think I would have been able to handle it if it was not for you. Thank you very much. At present, there is no other way I can thank you, so accept the chocolate."

She picked up the chocolate before saying, "I did not do anything. You don't have to do this. And I really don't think I can accept it."

"Please accept it. I heard you wanted chocolate plus this would make me feel good."

"Um, Okay." She lifted her lips up. "Thank you. I never saw such a big pack in D-mart," she said to herself however her companion heard her clearly.

"It's not from here. I brought it with me when I came to India."

"Of course. No one ever comes from a foreign land without a bag full of chocolates. Tell me why is that so? Why chocolates?"

"I do not know. I often wonder the same. In fact, for years I thought India did not have chocolates which is why everyone gets excited to buy it and never ever board a flight without it."

"We have a lot of chocolates! We have our own versions too. Even a small cigarette shop has candies!"

"Okay. Wow. You are very defensive. I was not being offensive "

She stuck her tongue out before saying, "Me neither. I was just saying."

"I know. You are as surprised as I was back then."

"Aha." There was a pause for a moment. "Aha."

He frowned before asking, "What was the other Aha for? Did I offend you again?" 

"No no! I just released we are strangers. But we are not talking like that." She said the last line slowly.

"Right. We are strangers." Feeling awkward she pressed her lips together. The silence caused her to move backwards and rest her back on the wall. "Ah, so stranger." She raised her eyebrows in alarm. "Can you talk to me for just a moment, if you do not mind."

"Okay. I think?" Unintentionally it came out as a question.

"Thank you again. If it is not too much to ask for, can you tell me how to pay the electricity bill? There is no electricity in the house."

Her eyes widened. "Oh my!" She leaned a little forward to look outside the window. "Wow, I did not notice. Our electricity is prepaid. Pay online on the website and you will get a code which you will have to insert in the machine."

"Machine? Where is the machine?"

"Right next to the main door. It is small and has buttons. Looks like a telephone."

"Okay. Can you tell me what the website is or can I find it online?"

"I am not sure. I also don't know about the website but I will ask my mother and get back to you."

"That would be very helpful. Thank you."

With a smile on her face, she left the room. Strangers they were, uncivil they were not. She helped him light the house and he thanked her with words. And that was what they were, in the beginning, a helper and a thank-er.

***

I am very very tired and I am not sure how I ended the chapter! I will edit it tomorrow and make it better but for now please deal with it!

Have a good night, people!