The last hug

Today, I ate five times. The day was so boring, that eating five times is the only thing I could recollect doing. My days are never this boring usually; because I was always surrounded by my two idiotic friends, Dooby and Doo. Actually my mom nicknamed us this way; because together, we are known as Scooby, Dooby, Doo and we did the stupidest things with a lot of impenetrable unity.

After being the victim of boredom for a long time, I Played Ludo

online and that game planted a doubt in me. I didn't like that doubt. That doubt disappointed me of the fact that I thought in that way. So, I just quit both, the doubt and the game.

The reason I was left alone today, is Jasmine. She is Dooby’s girlfriend. Despite having a girlfriend, Dooby was always with us. Not because he is one of those rare species who cared friends more than their girlfriends, but only because theirs was a long distance relationship. She lives in Vishakhapatnam, which is quite far from Hyderabad, but she somehow, due to some reason was going to be at Vijayawada, which is also quite far, but comparatively less. She was going to be there only for one day.

Dooby, to meet his sweetheart, came up with a plan to rent a car, go to Vijayawada and be back at Hyderabad within a span of 15 hours. It takes 6 hours car drive to reach Vijayawada. The plan was too risky for our age, and our parents shouldn’t know about this at any cost.

Initially, I was not at all interested in this plan. Not because it was risky, we’ve done twice as stupid as this (but never this risky for sure), I was not into it just because it was for Jasmine. She, to me always seemed like a threat to our friendship. Doo was stupid; he never actually analyzed or took the situations seriously until they burn our pants. He just lives in the moment, which is reasonable to some extent. They both convinced me and went to look out for rented cars that could fit in our budget.

The day light almost faded away, and these guys were still in search. I was waiting for their call. I was not going to call anyway; I don’t want to catalyze the process; I still wanted some or the other thing to go wrong to ruin this plan. They finally came and showed their incapability in executing a plan. I was the one who used to set up things every time, as I had a very good contact list. Then they did the most obvious thing - pleading me. They

really know how to convince me and they did it. I very reluctantly called Aamer, my super senior at college. We had some negotiations about the budget, I convinced him anyway. But the thing is, he is a very commercial guy. He helped someone, only if he finds the guy

promisingly profitable.

Next day, early morning 5 am.

The three of us started on Doo's bike to Aamer's place. It was a particularly cold day. It was freezing and we hugged each other as if we were never going to meet again. I signed the document; I didn’t read it but I knew it was an assurance contract. We left Doo’s bike as an assurance. It was all properly documented, and we all felt like this guy was a bit overdoing things, after all it was just a 20-hour rent.

I took the keys and was just going to start the car, suddenly Doo with his high pitched, over excited voice said "Guys!! We forgot something" Dooby and I looked at each other and began to extensively think for a few milliseconds, as Doo resumed, "Selfie guys!!" in a 'why are you not as excited as me' tone. I always get awkward while taking selfies. Like, how do you pose or smile! I never understood them. But Doo was an expert in selfies and also driving.

We began this journey of love and for love, with a cup of tea and a cigarette. Those highways, at that time looked so heavenly. The sun just rose, and the light when hit the road was so pleasing to the eyes, everything it touched was gold. I was just slouching on the rear seat and was enjoying the scenery passing by. Those morning greens with dew on them, when hit by golden sunlight turned into pearls. As I was so busy analyzing and understanding the beauty, I realized Dooby and Doo in the front seats were crushing weed only after they threw the waste from the window. I was a bit worried and said to them "Guys, Do we need this now? Why should we take risk"; for which

Doo replied, "Dude, chill. You know my skills and please enjoy the moment bro! Don't ruin this for god's sake with your daddy instincts."

"Chill dude! Take this joint" said Dooby, passing the joint.

I didn't refuse. I smoked half of it reluctantly and the other half shamelessly. That was such a beautiful vibe. I could hardly open my eyes. The forces of dark energy wanted to see me and they pulled my eyelids together. I was high. Really, really high; and also were Doody and Doo. The drive was so pleasant that, even the steady linear movements of the car began to reciprocate in my ears as an orchestra. I was lying in peace. All of a sudden there was a bang. I hit the front seat and fell down. I didn't know what happened. I was not able to process that whether something hit us or we hit something. Everything seemed to be in slow motion. I got up and looked back through the mirror, a car hit us. And when I looked in the front, we hit a car. The car in front of us hit a buffalo. He quickly drove away. We were still not able to process what was going on and whose fault it was. We were definitely not going to wait for the police. Doo just took off rapidly. All of this happened in the time gap of less than 5 seconds. We didn't stop, as we thought we were being chased by the car behind us. We were in that imaginary chase for at-least half an hour. We didn't know how bad the car was damaged, but everyone passing by glued their eyes to our car.

"Guys, It must be really damaged. I think we've to stop and have a look at it" said Dooby.

We didn't want to stop immediately beside the road so we took a detour to a village and stopped at a small shop. As soon as I looked at the car I knew that we screwed things a big time. I became insane. I was sweating with a terror in my eyes. Dooby and Doo were too tensed but they tried to calm me down first. They bought a cigarette and gave it to me.

We three sat there on the rock beside the shop and were just staring at the car for an hour; and the curious villagers did not let our tension come down.

"What do we do now?" I asked them; and with this one question, I lost the command over them. They both already decided to continue with the plan. Meet her, eat lunch and reach back to Hyderabad as soon as possible. We were only a few miles away from Vijayawada, so it not a bad plan; but the thing that's back on my mind, and making me restless was they both are not as serious as I was; and that's pissing me off. I was just hiding my panic behind that 'everything's okay' face, just because I didn't want to ruin their date.

We met Jasmine, and she was not at all an evil girl, as I thought she would be. She was very nice to us. Most importantly, she understood the seriousness of the issue and started blaming herself.

I said, "No Jasmine, it would have happened anyway, we always are into these kind of troubles, we manage it, don't worry", and thought that I took the situation under my control again.

They had their goodbye kiss, which made our hero turn into pink. Then,we got into our severely dented, badly sandwiched car, and started to discuss about how to handle the situation. Dooby said that these rental cars definitely have insurance, so no worries. The way he said made my heart a little lite.

We called Aamer and told him that it was hit. He calmly asked me to send the pictures. I sent them. He called and said to come as soon as possible and we'll talk the things out. The way he said, was so polite and calm, which made me even more relaxed. By the time we reached Hyderabad it was 11 pm. We went to him. He examined extensively and all the four of us drove to a mechanic he knows. The mechanic took a look and said, "70,000 rupees minimum, these dents, the bonnet, the air conditioning, lights and many things are damaged." Our hearts collapsed. 70 thousand rupees was a really big amount, we definitely couldn't arrange that amount. Aamer also knows this. He just said "Pay the amount and take the bike, until then

don't come to me." He said it as calmly as he spoke us on the phone. That's when I understood that being soft can also be a powerful command.

We didn't know how to manage money. Doo said, "Dude, I'll manage 10-15 thousand." , and for that he has to go to his Dad's place. He lives with mother and their parents are divorced. He has seen many tragic incidents, and maybe that’s the reason nothing hit him hard. On the other-side, Dooby was talking like he was just not part of this incident. He was saying that he can't arrange any money and was going to his village as his grandmother was ill.

At that moment, I just wanted to slap him on the face. Never did ever we have an issue with or for money until then, and I think that's why we never really didn't know who our friends really are. I knew him from childhood, I knew him only the way he wanted to show himself. The doubt that Ludo planted in me showed itself comes into reality in less than a couple of days. 'If it’s for you to be safe, you never care about any others more than you’. Doo had no choice, he had his bike on stake and otherwise I don't think he also would have stayed. Most people always find detours to escape in hard times, leaving alone those who are with them. All these thoughts, which made me feel bad about myself a couple of days earlier, now made sense.

 Man is that kind of animal which survives in clans, but hunts for itself. Maybe, I would also be really mean if I had not signed those documents; who knows?

After a month, I and Doo cleared the amount. I took loans from student loan apps, and Doo stole it from his Dad's thick pocket day by day. I, also had to give away my savings, which I was saving to gift myself a guitar.

Vinay disappeared for a couple of weeks. Even after he came back, he didn't meet us as he used to do. Don't know whether it was guilt or whatever, he was dodging us. We were not even caring about him; and honestly, even if I was with Tharun, I stopped caring about him too.

The hug we shared on the bike that day was really the last hug of ours and I'm glad that, the last hug seemed really like a last one.