Sunshine with a Sickle

Saying goodbye is never easy. Trust me. But when the people whom you love stop supporting you just when you need it the most, then you know that there’s no point in staying anymore. 

Thus, my mom and I decided to shift to a completely different city. Before leaving, my mom had that unpleasant expression on her face when she was handing our mansion’s keys over to Lata, the caretaker of our house, probably the only person on this planet who is skinnier than me. Lata said while patting my back with her rough hands, “Take care and eat well,” she turned towards mom, “And don’t worry about this place. Just focus on settling there.” As she spoke those words, I realized that the number of wrinkles on her face can easily outnumber her age.

And so, taking her blessings, we sat in the car and departed successfully before sunrise.

During our whole journey, I never saw my mom being calm for even a minute. She called Lata at least multiple times just to check back on things. I wasn’t that comfortable either. After all, I hadn’t stepped out of the town ever since I was born. 

Entering the city, I realized that I was entering into a completely different world. As we were going further & further, the rush on the roads was increasing. I could already feel myself missing the quiet and pleasant hiking areas back in my town. Opening the windows of the car would only let polluted air in, making me cough. I had literally no idea how I would ever be able to adjust in such a congested metropolitan city.

As I got out of the taxi, I found myself surrounded by really tall buildings. I got dizzy for a second. In front of me stood the tallest one of them, with “Sharla Residency” written on the top. 

We proceeded towards the elevator with my lean body dragging our heavy suitcases. Exiting the elevator, we came across a middle-aged couple stepping out of their door, welcoming us with not so charming faces and an unwelcoming aura. We greeted them from a certain distance and started heading towards our apartment.

As soon as I entered our apartment, I started feeling suffocation. I saw a dusty and stuffy, well-furnished 2BHK apartment painted in the dullest colours that could ever exist. I thought, “How do people even live in such small spaces?! Gosh!”. 

Mom placed her bag on a stool, turned towards me and said, “Let’s get started.”

And so, the whole day after that was spent on excessive sanitizing and unpacking. It was so exhausting. 

By around the time of sunset, we were almost all done. I came out to the balcony for some fresh air. There was nothing much to see except for the concrete jungle ahead of me, and some unpleasant traces of noise pollution.

I suddenly felt like someone was staring at me. It felt really creepy. I turned to my side to find a sweet little wheat complexioned girl on the other balcony playing with a sickle. I figured out that she must be the daughter of our neighbours. She was wearing a yellow floral dress, yellow shoes, yellow band and yellow hairpins on her short hairs. I thought, "What obsession does she have with yellow? Or is she just trying to go for matching colours everywhere? God knows!"

"Hi! I'm Hriday,” I waved in her direction, "What's your name?"

She responded with the brightest smile that could ever exist, "Hi! I'm Roli."

"Nice name."

"Thank you,” keeping her sickle on the ground near a white rose plant, she continued, “Well, I have never seen you in the building before."

"Yeah. That's because I just moved in with my mother. I am from a completely different town actually.”

"Oh, nice,” saying so she jumped up and held the railing tightly, “I had no one to talk to. I guess I'll have a new friend now,” she smiled.

"Yeah sure. How old are you?"

"I am 11 years old. And you?"

"I am 16."

"Hmm, I see. So, how is this town that you're coming from?"

"It's really nice there. I am sure you will like it."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's a huge place.” I think I was grinning from ear to ear at that point. “It lies in a beautiful valley. There are trees and grasses and mountains everywhere.” 

“Wow!”

“I had a lot of friends back there. I used to play with them all day."

"You had a girlfriend too?", she smirked.

I laughed and said, ”Woah, woah, woah! Slow down young lady. No. I don’t have a girlfriend. But I did have a crush on someone. Anyways, she friend-zoned me so I guess it doesn’t matter.”

I felt my smile fading away.

"Friend zoned? What's that?"

"Never mind. But like, overall, it was a really nice place,” I said so while grooming my newly grown moustache.

"Why did you leave then if it was sooooo nice?"

"Things didn't always stay nice for us."

"Why? What happened?"

"People suddenly started acting as if we were aliens."

"Aliens?", she laughed.

"Yeah. They started keeping too much of a distance from us. It felt as if we were strangers for them. My friends even stopped saying hi to me, let alone be playing."

"Because of the COVID-19 maybe. You know they talk so much about social distancing and blah blah blah."

"Yeah. I too had the same thought at first. But..."

"But what?"

"My mom says differently. She said that their parents must have instructed them to stay away from me. People don't want to stay connected with us just because my father is a doctor.“

"That's strange. My mom says that doctors are like heroes. Then why?", she asked in her curious innocent voice.

"Dad deals with several cases every day. He takes full measures though and rarely even visits us. But still, people are just too scared to consider that."

"Oh, I see."

"They got so scared that the people in our neighbourhood even started forcing us to leave. We used to face so many issues on a daily basis. So yeah, we left."

"Must be difficult. I understand."

"Damn girl! Suddenly, you are talking like an adult."

The girl smiled and said, "That's because I am an adult, I am not a child anymore. My mom says that I am a grown-up now."

Her black eyes lit up bright with pride.

I chuckled, "Yes, you are. But I don't expect you to understand how someone feels when they are alienated by the people around them."

"Maybe I do."

"And how so? Did someone trouble you at school?”

"No. Around a month ago, I had fallen really sick. At first, mum and dadda were really worried about me. But a time came when they started ignoring me completely."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know. They started acting as if I were an alien, as if I was invisible to them. At first, I thought they were playing the invisible game with me. But it has been so long now."

I noticed how her bright face became dim for all of a sudden.

To say that I got really confused would be an understatement for sure. Her parents did seem a bit dull, but no one can be that weird. But I dismissed it anyways, thinking that she is just a child. She must be blabbering something.

"Hridu! Come inside! Dinner is ready," I heard my mom's voice.

"I guess I'll have to go now. I’ll talk to you later. Bye!"

"Bye."

As I came in, I could smell something delicious.

"Hey, mom! What is there for dinner?", I asked.

"Your favourite. Chickpeas,” she replied, “Lock the door of the balcony before coming in.”

"Hmmm.”

We sat together on the dining table to dig in. I switched on the television just to find a blank screen. 

“We will need to fix the T.V. too?!”

"Don’t worry. We will figure it out,” pouring down water into the glass for me, mom continued, “So, Hridu, how do you like our new home?"

"Ummm, it's kinda small, but it's cozy and nice I guess,” I gave her a fake smile.

She smiled, but her expressions changed as she said, " Oh no. I completely forgot to tell you something."

"What?", I asked in an unclear manner with food stuffed in my mouth.

"You know our neighbours? Just at the next door?"

"The ones who we greeted in the morning?"

"Yeah. I think you should get to know about this. The couple had a young daughter. Somewhere around 11 years old."

"Hmm. What about her?"

"Actually, around a month ago, she became a victim of COVID-19."

"What?!"

"And unfortunately, she couldn't survive."