The Aparichithan

Padiyam was a dying town, with no more than its 1205 residents making their way through their depressing life. Electricity was cut off from the city supply for more than 29 years, it wasn't like they had a problem with that, the people of Padiyam weren't new to power outages for long periods of time. But this time it was permanent. They didn't blame the cities though, they knew cities like Tirur and Tanur had died long ago, no communication, no news, no transportation. They just learned to live without them.

But a new aparichithan(Stranger) had arrived in Town. She was the talk of the town. How she got to Padiyam was still the debate among the populace. Some said she reached via air, underground, sent

from above...

The aparichithan told Meharsha that she had climbed over the mountains to get here. Now that made the ladies chuckle and the men angry. Getting over the harsh snow-covered mountain tops was worse than being thrown into the ice-cold sea that lapped the shores of Padiyam. But it was the same mountains that helped them from the Toxic fallout that killed Tirur and Tanur, even the rest of the world for what they cared.

Shehin Shad and Sinan hurried through the cold ground towards the Townhall. Meharsha had tolled the town bell not less than 15 minutes ago and it was Sinan's fault that they were late.

Shehin muttered under his breath, they would probably be stuck with night duty covering meenshala (fish bin), Mackarel, Chala, Avoli, and tuna was apparently the coinage for the past few years.

The town hall was buzzing and packing with excitement. The town folks seldom get something worth exciting.

"Late as usual" Meharsha's thunderous voice reverberated across the hard wooden boards, and it became silent as all eyes fell on them.

"You know the drill"

They were the only teenagers in the gloomy town, "irresponsible" teenagers if you factor Lashin into it. He was at the

front row smirking at them, feeling good for himself. He recently got promoted to fisheries group, meaning he could go with the fishing group whenever he wanted, plus extra ration.

"We apologize for the inconvenience caused by us," they chorused "We are willing to lend our 1/4 ration to the Janam, including tonight and the next day" Shehin crunched his teeth as he finished and he fought the impulse to give up Sinan instead of his meager ration. But ratting out your only friend in this hole wasn't a pro move, so he kept his mouth-hole shut.

The talk of ration put the people at ease and the sound of excitement slowly filled the town hall as they shifted their focus from them to the matter at hand.

"Quiet!!" Meharsha brought down his mighty fist down on the ashwood desk, that large desk was older than Meharsha himself. Pin drop silence followed. The crashing sound of the waves on the cold sand was the only sound that rang through the frigid wintry air.

"The next Fishing group is due in 45 minutes, so I am gonna have to make this quick" Meharsha said, "There is a lot of chatter going on about the new stranger in town. I have heard the stories".

"She isn't very talkative therefore there isn't much to share with you" he paused "At first she kept repeating 'Eyya' whenever I asked her something. Now after a full meal and a good sleep she

spoke these words exactly 'I came here by crossing the Manjeri mountains'"

The crowd rustled at the mention of 'Manjeri' Mountains, murmurs and whispers filled the town hall. Sinan scrutinized Shehin's face to see how he was reacting and sighed to see that he was confused too.

"It might have not have made a difference if she had said that she dropped from the sky" Meharsha continued, "Now we don't have enough meals to feed her and time to wait before we get a whole paragraph from her mouth" stifled laughter was heard from here and there.

"Now, I have shifted her to the North East apartment, for the time being. I don't want anybody poking their noses or anything else in her until we know more about her". More murmur.

"Also I want Lashin to stay with her to understand how and why she came here and...."

Before he could finish his sentence the crowd got restless and explosive. Somebody shouted something about 'poking'. It was getting acrimonious.

"QUIET!!!" the desk creaked under his fist once again.

He took a deep breath "Let me finish. Shehin and Sinan are also going to accompany Lashin in this task, they will sleep in that apartment for two days. She looks like she could be 25 (he wasn't sure) and since we don't have anybody close to that age I decided to include the boys for this task. We will decide on what to do with her after the said two days".

The audience was dispersed immediately after some more discussion on various topics.

Lashin and the boys were asked to stay back. Meharsha didn't plan on including the other two boys initially, it was an at-the-moment decision.

"I want you to be friends with her and that's all I want you to do. No funny business and I will have you removed from the fisheries" he spoke to Lashin, "It goes for the others too, they mess up, you will be held responsible"

Meharsha walked towards them "Don't mess this up, I will see that you don't have to give up your rations anymore".

He liked them, even though the feeling wasn't mutual. He squeezed their shoulders hardly before leaving them.

***

"He could have at least cut us from giving up tonight's ration, right?"

"Don't make me come over there and hit you in your fucking stupid face, Sinni"

"Come on man, I did warn you"

"Fuck you and your warning," Shehin said as he tossed his sweatshirt and extra pair of socks into his knapsack.

They were to carry two days' worth of dress and other personal items and coming back for anything else was out of the question unless they wanted to part with more of their ration.

"I am gonna miss you girl" Sinan kissed his pillow.

Both of them didn't have anybody to say goodbye to except their warden Aman. But they didn't bother doing that.

All children were shifted into the Shishumandir after their breastfeeding months were over. Elders thought that time could be spent on other things instead of looking after their own children. They were told that the whole of Padiyam were their parents.

They had to walk for 1.5 miles through the wide path in the

woods. Enormous trees higher than 150 feet guarded the wide path on both sides. It was relatively warm here.

Getting to the Northeast apartment wasn't easy, because it was on an island north of the mainland. The only transportation up there was by the Vanji, that too only steerable by experts.

The island was popularly known as Jaaruda(prison). Back in the day, the island was used as a prison. Not anymore.

***

She was still sleeping, like a fetus. 'Warm' Shehin thought, he felt warmth looking at her peaceful face. Her coal-black eyebrows curved in a crescent arc outwards, and the hair cascaded smoothly down to her face covering half of her face.

"She is hot," Sinan said.

"Shut up"

She woke up suddenly and sat upright rubbing her eyes, her eyes were light brown, like that ashwood desk in the town hall. She observed carefully and a faint smile appeared on her thin lips.

Shehin thought she looked not more than 19 or 20, not 25.

He smiled back at her.

***

They ate their dinner in the orange light of the furnace. Boiled Kora and pickled vegetables. Kora wasn't rare for dinner but it tasted good, not like aiyla, which was the opposite.

Lashin had already eaten his food half an hour ago and hit the bed, said he was tired. Some good news after all.

"So you got a name?" 

She raised her head from her plate, it looked like she was about to say something but she continued eating. 

"Shehin, and this is Sinan" 

"You can call me Sinni, if you want" He hated anybody else calling him that except Shehin, he tittered quietly.

***

"You had to ask her tonight itself?, all aside you had to call her crazy, huh?" 

"I didn't mean it like that..." Sinan shrugged his shoulders "I was just trying to be friendly you know, like teasing her"

"And you didn't even stop there" he could feel his ears and nose getting hotter "Next time let me do the talking okay?"

"Alright man, calm down will ya. You and weird girl can do all the talking" Sinan drew his blankets to his chin "Why are you getting so worked up anyway? Maybe pretty boy here is falling in looove for the weird girl"

Shehin kicked in the ass, not so hard.

They both laughed. Sinan fell asleep but shehin couldn't. The ashwood eyes kept staring at him, he felt a strange sensation in his chest. He liked that sensation.

***

He talked with her more than he ever talked to anybody, he opened up like he never opened up to anybody, he loved her more than he loved anybody. That fact that she never spoke about herself made him like her more, in fact, he didn't care how she got here, who she was, or from where she was. 

The two days were coming to an end, and he wished he had more time. Shehin was worried about the verdict the town council was gonna come down to, most probably getting married to some dickhead, he thought. He realized the envious looks that came their way when they were leaving the mainland.

He couldn't stand the thought of seeing someone else with her, he would rather elope with her, except there was nowhere else to run off except the sea, and he even considered that option if it comes to it.

"You know I have to go back this afternoon," he said upset.

There were in their usual spot outside the cottage, close to the river, fine mist hung in the air where the river crashed with the mean-looking rocks. Tiny rainbows could be seen if looked closely. The snow-clad Manjeri mountain range loomed like a barrier in the far background.

She slowly caressed his face, he closed his eyes to feel her soft touch and leaned into her palm. 

"I don't think I can accept the decision they will make for you," He said "They are not gonna listen to you and they never listened to me for the past 18 years".

"Maybe we could go back the way you came, you survived all these years out there, maybe it's not bad after all. Us together, living life our way".

Her face took a sudden U-turn, she became pale and the color from her cheeks drained away. She retracted her hand from his face and looked away.

"What's wrong?" he asked, holding her hands in his, "You deflect anything related to you or your past. I am fine with you not telling me, maybe you have some bad memories from out there, but they are gonna make you tell, believe me. Everybody wants a ticket out of this hell hole, and they think it's you".

She looked tensed, she wanted to say something but the words were stuck inside her throat, unable to escape through her mouth.

"Look, I won't judge you, you can talk to me," he said honestly, "Most of the people think that crossing the Manjeri mountains was impossible especially after the avalanche that stopped us from getting out, that was 29 years ago. But you can trust me, as far as i am concerned, anything can happen"

"But, I can't," she said tears welling up in her beautiful eyes. Women do have certain beauty when they start to cry that fades instantly once it gets intense.

Shehin was starting to get irritated, he just couldn't keep that to himself anymore.

"Why? Why? Why can't you?" he said "It's just me!" his voice was picking up decibels.

"I CAN'T" she almost screamed. 

Shehin sat there dazed for a moment, then he got up, he turned away without even glancing at her face for the last time.

"But I can show you…." 

He almost missed that, but he knew what he heard. He slowly looked at her. 

"I can show you..." she spoke those words prudently.

"What?"

"Come with me"

"What?Where?"

"Eyya, come where?" he ran back after her, but she walked hastily towards the edge of the river.

She stopped at the edge of the river, she carefully stepped onto the waterway, barefoot.

"Before I show you, you have to promise me something"

"What? Where are you going? Are we going towards the mountains?" he was beyond confused "You can't cross this river on foot? The undercurrents will pull you down, within 2 hours you will end up in the ocean, and promise what?

"Promise me Shehin, promise me that you will come with me"

"I don't understand Eyya" he said "Just tell me"

She took a deep breath. She was running out of time.

She took a compact, sleek bracelet out of her pockets and drew some symbols on it quickly.

Instantly a vacuum sphere originated in the space in front of them, Shehin gaped at the Dark hole that ripped out of nowhere. Blackhole dark. Darkness that was truly empty and void. The dark hole was pulling him. Not physically, he felt like it was calling him.

"Come with me"

"What?"

"Come with me" 

"But...."

"You said you wanted out of here," she said "This is the chance. Living life our way..."

"But....." he was still trying to look away from the cataclysmic hole bubbling in front of him.

"There is no BUT" she screamed "Don't you get it?" tears rolled down from her ashwood-colored eyes "There is nobody else! This is the last stop!! This is the last town!!"

"Nobody else...? Last STOP? What do you mean? Eyya, what do you MEAN?"

"You think I have a CHOICE?" she screamed "I DON'T!!!"

"We can still be together, please come with me...."

"What about the others? What about Sinan...." He couldn't complete the rest.

She shook her head helplessly, tears streamlining down her cheeks. 

"I can't leave him behind," Shehin said those words so slowly. It wasn't meant for her, it was for himself.

But she heard him perfectly.

"I will miss you, forever”

(Eyya Dios)

She vanished before he could blink his eyes, before his goodbye.

He knees sank to the soft ground.

He sat there, he could hear the distant Manjeri mountains. They were coming down. Rubble.

He sat there looking at the chaos. It was beautiful.

He got up after some time, walked towards the apartment, woke up Sinni.

“This is the end, my beautiful friend, my only friend, the end”

They laughed together one last time, even though it was for different reasons.

They fell together as the noxious air filled their lungs, so did Padiyam.