A Lockdown To Remember

End of a beginning

As per assumption, the day was fast and energetic. The evening increased the excitement not just in Maier but in her parents too. Their excitement, however, was not well received by Xenia. After spending a few minutes with them she retreated to her room where she spent the entire evening. She locked herself in with her thoughts for hours. Her thoughts were no friends. They kept eroding her peace.

"Xenia?" It was nineteen past eight when her mother knocked on her door.

"Yeah," She sat straight as her mother came inside.

"How are you?"

She frowned and wrinkled her nose, "Huh? What happened?"

Her mother rolled her eyes and sat on the other side of the bed. "How are you?"

"Fine. What will happen to me?"

"Nothing, something. You are upset?"

"No." Her mother raised her eyebrows and kept it lifted until she chuckled. "I am fine amma. What will happen to me? I am in a bad mood that is it."

"Not upset? Why did you fight with your brother?"

"Because he is mean. I know my rotis are not the softest but I am trying. I try daily. And can he make Rotis? Can he do anything? All he does is sleep and eat! He doesn't even pick up his plate. I studied, did better than him. Because he refused to be the ideal son I had the pressure of doing that. I was a better student, a better child you know and I will start working soon. How am I any different from him? Why do I have to listen to all that after standing in the kitchen in this heat, sweating like crazy? Why I have to listen to his taunts? Can he do what I do? Can he even boil water? He made Maggie last week and you know what happened. This is unfair. He is wrong!" She choked on the last word. A tear escaped her left eyes making her cover her face. Her mother did not interrupt her allowing her to cry for some time. She did not cry for long, a few seconds and she managed to collect herself.  "My periods are near so I get angry easily. But he is wrong."

"Periods are near? Those are just excuses. Periods do nothing."

"You never had any problem. You are lucky."

"And you are silly. That is just in your head. Periods. This internet has ruined everyone's brain. Periods?" She buried her head deeper into her chest as her mother talked. "There is something else. Why are you in a bad mood?"

"I don't know. I am just in a bad mood."

"We humans get upset over various things. Lame things more than genuine things. And we feel we have little or no control at all over what hurts us. Let me tell you Xenia that is not true. You always have the power to choose what hurts and what not. All you have to do is be careful of your thoughts and of your heart. You must keep a watch on your thoughts because that is what goes in your heart. And the heart leads everything. Why you are feeling upset, the unknown reason is your lack of control over your thoughts, over your mind. If you had been careful the reason would have not been unknown and you would have not been upset in the first place." She paused for a moment to find the right words to say next. "Guide your heart, it will always listen to you. You have the power over it, it does not have the power over you. Do not let it wander wherever it wants. Do not give it the power to decide. Once your heart becomes the master you won't be able to stop yourself from getting hurt and no one can be blamed but you." Her mother smiled. "You may be thinking I am wrong. I am speaking against the trend of following the heart. But I have seen a lot of hearts running free only to get hit by a storm created by themselves. Following your heart does not mean to let it do whatever it wants. It means to train in well so that it takes the right decision. And remember the heart does not work without the brain. If you try to do that, it will only malfunction. Am I making sense to you?" She nodded her head politely.  Her mother exhaled as she said, "but that is for before something happens. Now it is after. Nothing has changed Xenia. Your life is still the same. Yeah maybe a face will be less tomorrow, but nothing else. Trust me when I say this, nothing. So when nothing is changing, there is no reason to get upset. There is no reason to waste time thinking about what the future holds. Flow with the wind. It will take you to your destination. Believe in the wind it never disappoints." Her mother was silent for a long time after that. She and Xenia both were lost in her words. Xenia was trying to find meaning and her mother was trying to understand her. " If and when the time comes you will know," her mother started talking again, "until then safeguard your heart. You owe that to yourself. Okay?" Xenia nodded her head. "Everything is alright, everything will be alright. Now go and wash your face. Dinner is ready. Let's eat." Xenia smiled and nodded her head.

Maier joined them for the dinner through his kitchen. Her parents and he had a good time, they laughed and talked a lot. Xenia, on the other hand, was fairly quiet. She listened but said nothing. Her mother's words were repeating in her mind. She was trying to understand them, trying to fill them with meaning. Sooner than she realised the dinner was over and she was back in her room.

She had lost the track of time as she allowed her friends to distract her. When she looked up at the clock it was ten to eleven. She quickly came out of her room thinking she was late. She found Maier in his kitchen talking to her mother. She waited in the living room and did not interfere which was why she was not aware of what they were talking about however she could comprehend that they had exchanged their numbers. She smiled at her mother as she walked past her before entering the kitchen. Maier smiled widely upon seeing her but she could not reciprocate.

"So I am leaving Xenia. Thank you so much. I cannot say thank you enough. But thank you."

"You need to stop saying that."

"I should not. Here. " He extended a big pack of KitKat towards her. "I wanted to buy a better gift but there was nothing else available."

"You do not have to give me a gift."

"But I want to. This is the least I can do. Take it."

Taking it from him she forced a smile. "Thank you. I want to say I will keep it safe but it's chocolate so I will eat it well."

He laughed before tucking his hands in his pockets. "It is finally ending. Never realised twenty-one days were this long."

"They are very long," she said nodding her head.

"Oh wait there is something more." He ran to the other room while Xenia waited patiently.  He returned in less than a minute with a big plastic bag which he extended towards her. With a frown, she took it from him and looked inside. Then chuckling she said, "what is this?"

"I ate a lot of your snacks. I am sure you hated me for that." She smiled making him smile. "I brought whatever I saw you eating or sharing with me. So I hope you like them."

"This is such a big bag. Did you buy the whole store?"

"Well, I tried but the store had a few left."

She chuckled and looked up at him. "I don't know if I should take it. We were not sharing to get it back."

"I know but friends share their snacks and I would like to share some of mine with you. After all, you are my friend. A very good friend."

She smiled looking at him. She wished to say something. She was not sure what but something however before she could say anything his ride arrived. He thanked her again, said his goodbye to her and her family before leaving his house. Her parents went down to send him off. Xenia could not do that. However, she went to the balcony. Her parents were standing near their gate and Maier was loading his luggage. He talked to her parents for some time. He had a huge smile on his face. He was very happy.

Friend? He was right. We are friends.  Good friends. And when a friend is happy the other one is happy too. Friends do not get upset or stay upset when the other one is happy. They join in their happiness. They feel their happiness. That is what friends do. That's what a good friend should do. Yes, he was right, friend.

She felt as if a big burden was lifted off her chest. She felt lighter, she felt at peace. When Maier looked up at her and smiled, she reciprocated. She smiled widely, matching his smile and waved her hand. She was happy for him. He was going back to where his heart was, where he wished to be and Xenia was happy for him. A thought of him being content brought peace to her. A thought of him being happy made her happy. She was happy, for him and for her. She smiled wider when he looked at her again before entering the car.

Goodbye, my friend. I wish you always keep smiling and I wish we meet again. Until then, goodbye.