A 'Zara-hatke' Love Story.

He was devastated. She was but a few feet away, hanging precariously from a ledge, while he could do nothing about it. Or so he thought..

Their family had always been there for him. Right from the very beginning. Cleaning up after him, wiping away his tears, so on and so forth. He couldn’t have asked for much more. As he grew older, they became a shoulder to cry on, a companion in his loneliness and a source of warmth in the cold.

But this ‘family’, if you’d call them that, seemed to age differently, a lot faster than human years, and he lost many close companions, before he’d even turned five! Having any emotional attachment to them was folly, but they were so close to him all through the years, that this was nigh impossible.

Then ‘SHE’ came. ‘SHE’ was different. A ray of sunlight at the end of a long winter, heat in the midst of freezing cold. As soon as he had set his eyes on her, there had been a connection. A deep seated attachment, which would soon become much more. Always decked in blue with red polka dots, ‘SHE’ became an intergral part of his life, someone to share his joys and sorrows.

He knew that getting attached was a mistake. ‘SHE’ would soon be gone. But well, the forbidden nature of this romance, was the spark to his fire. All had gone well, until… he moved house. This had been very recent, and SHE’D obviously come with him, but the move had driven them apart. ‘SHE’ had become distant, an outsider. Thus began the problems, which brings us to the present…

He was scantily clad, down to his boxers, hot water dripping from his body. They were in a relatively dark room, a single bulb providing illumination. He looked up to see her swaying gently in a light breeze. ‘SHE’ was on the verge of slipping over the edge, and if she did, that would mean definite end. Separating them, was a three foot expanse of cold, slippery, TREACHEROUS terrain.

He stood at the threshold, a single foot dangling in the air.. Bringing it down with a sense of finality, he braced himself for the cold. It surged through him like a current, arching his back. He almost turned back to the warmth, but the thought of her drove him on. He took  step after step, shivering his teeth away in the process, while she continued to sway precariously. His arms outstretched, he could almost feel her in his arms.

Just when he thought it was all over, ‘SHE’ began to fall. Gracefully, almost floating to the ground. In a mad rush, he slipped and slid over the last foot of the ice cold ground, as she fell and fell quickly. It was an almost certain end. With a burst of speed that could only have been a lovers’, he caught her, just an inch above the ground. *WHEW* He clutched her close to his chest, feeling the warmth spread through him. A joyous reunion, and she would have cried if she could. Holding her close around him, he opened the door to a gust of wind, thankful for her warmth. He smiled and stepped out..

15 minutes later.

He lay on his bed, fully clothed and warm, his blue and red ‘TOWEL’ lying next to him. He made a mental note to ask the carpenter to install a rack closer to his bathtub. It had been so much better in the old house, a rung closeby, ‘TOWEL’ within reach. These everyday shenanigans in the cold were going to kill him. And oh most importantly, as he crinkled his nose, he realized his favourite ‘TOWEL’ needed a wash.

Planned to success.

21:30 PM

The protagonist stood, his head bowed, his feet beating a steady rhythm to the tune thumping in his ears. The cord of his iPod snaked down into his back pocket, his face emotionless as a million things  raged through his mind. His thoughts turned to previous failed missions, as butterflies fluttered incessantly in his stomach. The Boss wouldn’t be so forgiving this time around, well, sometimes the Boss made the slender-man seem like a homely guy. The Boss was definitely not someone to cross. This time was different, he would redeem himself, because today he had a plan.

 Standing amidst a throng of non-descript, bordering on boring, people, he felt the strong common purpose, underlying in their emotions. He stood under a cavernous roof, the air-conditioning insufficient as droves of people continued to pour down the narrow staircases. If front of him lay an enormous blackness, stretching infinitely to both sides, as far his vision allowed. The air was thick with worry, as people anxiously looked at their watches.  Our teen protagonist could do nothing but bide his time….

21:35 PM

And then suddenly, the air was electric with excitement. He could feel it right down to his bones. This was it. The time had come. He heard a distant voice replaying a message, but his mind was busy going through his plan. A plan which could mean the end of a hundred careers, friendships and in some cases, even lives. But he was desperate, he had go through with this. His life hung in the balance. His face was still a mask, betraying not a hint of emotion, as his feet beat a faster rhythm in anticipation of what was to be.

21:40 PM

The tunnel in front of him burst into light, as a deep grating sound was heard, and a sleek monster of a machine came into view. People glanced at each other with smiles of sheer happiness, as the deadline was upon them. As the magnificent beast screeched to a halt in front of them, the crowd moved as one towards it, crushing all those unwary. But our protagonist, with the practiced ease of a pro, was already moving toward one of the many openings running along the side of the machine. He surged on relentlessly, knowing that the slightest delay could prove fatal. Knocking over a veteran, clearly worn out by some infinite such missions, he paused just enough to give her an apologetic smile, she was unfortunately, one of the many casualties in this mission.

As the end seemed near, a huge shape filled his view. He deftly sidestepped, preventing himself from being run-over by an enormous woman with a pram. Her large pram blocked his only means of passage, and well the flashing, warning orange lights, only compounded his problems. Vaulting over small babies was definitely, not part of his job description. But desperate times called for desperate measures. As the woman’s eyes widened with unmitigated surprise, he sailed over the small blond child, landing with a thump on his brand new Converse.  He turned around, bending down to give the child, the sweetest of smiles. Brushing down his shirt, he squeezed in through the narrowing gap between the closing doors.

21:43 PM

He sat back on the blue and white upholstery, glancing around at his fellow victors. The protagonist was surprised to see the old woman, aka the veteran, smiling at him from the corner, well, experience does count. As his watch ticked away the seconds, he looked down to see the time was only 21:45 PM. The Boss was going to be pleased. Now his mom was definitely not going to kill him for coming late. His plan had been a success. As he rested his head on the darkened window of the Dubai Metro, he watched as the city flashed by, bringing him closer to home.

The Ultimate Prize

There he sat, with twenty others just like him, waiting… Waiting to begin what would be his first and hopefully last quest for the ultimate prize. Squatting on his haunches, he checked whether the Object of Requirement was secure in his pocket of his extremely uncomfortable attire. This was essential to his attaining his goal. He kept his breathing measured knowing not to allow the gravity of the situation overwhelm him. And he waited… Oblivious to all else about him. Waiting… for the signal.

And then in the distance could be heard the shrill toll of the signal. This was it. Like Olympic athletes, they burst out of the blocks as one, dashing out into the wide space. Our protagonist was fortunately the ones out front or else he would have been crushed to smithereens. He knew he had to be quick, for the ones that had escaped weren’t far behind. He quickly looked around, weighing his options, as he spotted the only and quickest way out. For out there was the prize. The ultimate glory.

He raced through the roofed corridor, for corridor it had now become.  He squeezed into the narrow opening as from the corner of his eyes, he saw challengers fall, many his dear friends. But now was not the time to mourn losses.  For he had now arrived at or should I say ran headlong into the first obstacle: The Stairs.

Now rushing madly down the stairs is never a very good idea and here he had done just that. He mentally kicked himself for not counting in so trivial, yet so crucial, a matter. He struggled to maintain his balance on the steep slopes of … not death … probably serious and life crippling injury, thankful for all the training he had received.  A sideways glance revealed the fact that his competitors were not lagging far behind but just far enough. This was turning out to be too easy.

All this was obviously before he encountered the second speed breaker, bigger than most, but it, rather she, did the job. He had just come face to face with the Enforcer. There she stood with her usual long, thin, razor sharp sword. He tried put on the brakes but his forward momentum took him just a tad too close. Not one for mercy, she lunged at him with the deadly weapon… just as he danced out of her reach. Giving up wasn’t an option now nor was going back. And the only forward was through her. He looked past her to see the sunshine glinting against the tiles, beckoning him and something clicked in his mind. And he did the unthinkable, he jumped back into the fray.

Ducking and weaving through the flurry of attacks, like a ballet dancer cum samurai warrior, he avoided most of the blows. The ones that did hit him were glancing but they did sting badly. He saw off most of her advances but he soon ran out of luck. The sword zoomed out of nowhere and our protagonist, reflexes a little slow after all the battering, wasn’t fast enough to dodge it. He caught a blow straight to his face, turning it all red as if he were blushing. Holding his face in agony, he saw the weapon bear down on him for its final blow. He deftly sidestepped causing her just to lose balance momentarily. That was all he needed. Vaulting over her bent back, he dodged a desperate swing and … he was through.

He landed out into the open on both feet, like a cat, dusting off his clothes as he stood up. Shading his eyes against the harsh sun he saw that his destination wasn’t far off.  He ran with an easy loping pace, looking around to see that none of his pals had got past her yet. He savoured the moment as the lovely feeling of victory washed over him. 

Slowing down as he reached his approached his goal , he beheld a sight for sore eyes, the ultimate prize!! He slipped his hand into his pocket marvelling at the fact that the Object of Requirement hadn’t fallen out through all those adventures. He stared greedily at the mouth-watering treasure. Looking at aproned man ,standing behind the counter, in the eye, he took out the one dirham coin. Sliding it across the counter with a sense of relief, the student said,” Uncle, please can I have a samosa?”