Here and there

Shriya isn't here.

I don't know where she is. But people ask.

" Hey, where's Shriya?"

The curious eyes, expectant minds and theories about her whereabouts make me choke on my saliva.

I check my messages, if she has texted. None

I check my feed, if she has posted about her whereabouts. None.

I Google ' the girl who disappeared from a farewell party.' None of my interest.

***

"Would you like some tea?"

" Yeah, some tea would be great."

"Mind you though, our tea differs."

" Let me guess, is it sweet and milky or watery and herbal?

"Those are curries. So none of your guesses are right."

" So… is your tea…. full of spices? "

" Yeah, don't cringe, food is essential. Our food keeps us alive. Same for yours."

"So you do act opposite, just like the judge said."

" Yes we definitely are opposite considering the environment here. And the judge said " You might have difficulty in adjusting to the novel surroundings that are drastically contrasting to your lifestyle. But you will stay here till the possibilities of you being a potential harmer to this peaceful world of ours is ruled out. Till then your lawyer will guide you through all the proceedings and be your window to this world."

"Good God , you memorized the judge's speech ? I can't believe it."

" That's what we are accustomed to do here."

" Like memorizing useless stuff ?"

" These are not useless stuff. Remember the judgments decide whether you stay here or go home. But yes memorizing things is something we do unconditionally, like a habit. Like you comb your hair everyday."

" And keeping your potential harmers in jails made of gold? You have to be kidding. Why all this kindness?"

" Gold is least expensive element here . It is very stable. You can't melt it in a temperature like this. And it is not kindness. We don't act on emotions."

" I do."

"We are different, like I said."

" So you have milky curries, spicy tea and golden jails. What else tell me?.....Hey why do you speak the same language as mine? Why not something like….um …like "hi, I ma ayirhs ?"

" Technically that's how we speak. And you are listening to the translated version."

" Like Google translate?"

"Yeah."

"Okay… then what's your version of Google?"

"Brain, simply. You see, we don't need search engines to find answers. The solution is within us."

*****  

The police is looking for her. Her parents are taken into custody. Every student is questioned.

I don't know how progressive these investigations are. But one thing I am sure about is that, I am being watched by the police.

They might have been the local vendors I interacted with. They might be the plumber our neighbor called. They might be hiding in the store room, looking for some clue.

Why not?

After all I am the boyfriend of the girl who disappeared from the farewell party.

****

" Don't you have a family to look after? Why are you here all the time?"

" No, I don't have a family. We don't have a family here. And I am here all the time because the order demands."

" What does it mean, 'we' don't have a family? Parents? Siblings and all?"

" In our world we don't need relationships to survive. So we have no parents or siblings."

" How were you born then?"

"I was born through artificially cultured embryos ."

" Who looked after you then? "

"The person who was assigned to look after me. We don't disclose their names."

"You are human, right?

" Yes."

" Don't you at times feel the need of affection? "

" No. Like I told you, emotions are least effective at saving us from detrimental situations. So we have evolved into beings who give least priority to emotions. Happiness, sadness , joy, stress mean almost nothing to us."

" You aren't humans then."

" We are humans, we just have insensitive receptors for emotion."

" Just because you have face and body like us, doesn't make you a human. You are robots."

"That's your disbelief and preconceived notion of human advancement, mocking the future human brain development. To disagree with you , I would like to say, we are humans, we are not robots, more that ninety eight percent of our genetic makeup matches with yours. So there is scientific basis to it."

***

I get suicidal instincts every now and then . I get a feeling that Shriya won't ever return. That she is not in this world anymore.

The police knows I and Shriya had visited the deserted top floor of the hotel to have some time alone. But we had left in a few minutes. She couldn't be just gone. We were holding hands as we climbed down the stairs. We kissed in the lift. Unfortunately, there is footage only of us going up and not down.

"Then we were at the party hall- dancing , eating and talking. Sometime later I got to the loo and she was gone." I replay the story over again.

"Son, you do know that there are consequences to criminal offense ,right? I think going to serve big time isn't in a bucket list of a young dynamic guy." This officer is by far the most polite one I have come across. Jess Sharma, his card says.

"Sir, I am telling the truth."

" I hope so."

***

" Can I at least keep this clothes ? They are so nice. We don't get fabrics like this back in earth."

"You can keep them but they will vanish as soon as you cross the stratosphere. This elements don't exist there. "

" I had a nice time here."

"Sure, I can see that."

"So you know when a normal human feels happy, considering you don't ever feel happy."

"We observe. That's all I would say."

"Will I ever come back here?"

"No, you won't. Our gates have been repaired."

"Don't you think when I go back, I may grow up to be a scientist and find a way to open your gates?"

"Unlikely. Firstly, you will forget everything when you go back, the time on earth just won't suffice enough to store that information you have learnt staying here, in your long term memory. Secondly, our gates have been fed with your DNA information. So this won't happen ever again."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"How did I come here?"

"The gates were signaling one of our guards to get back to here. Since his genes were identical to yours. You were connected to the chord and transferred here."

" How long did I stay here?"

" One minute."

"One minute ? Are you kidding me. It felt like days."

"According to earth time it has been five days."

"Seriously though, one minute? In a minute I have been to the jury twice, seen the city ,debated with you and drank your spicy tea. I used to take half an hour back in earth to finish my coffee. Ha, this is ridiculous."

"This is fact. Now let me help you get journey ready ."

"I wish Ronny was here. He would have enjoyed all the techs you have here."

 "Your boyfriend loves you a lot, I see. Maybe that is why he is going to shoot himself."

" No! Why? Oh god . Stop kidding."

"This is true. Stop getting hyper. This won't do any good."

"Tell me , you are lying. He is the best thing happened to me . He can't do this."

"Relax."

" How can you say that! GET ME BACK RIGHT NOW."

"Calm down. You'll worsen the gate statistics with your anger."

"Are you insane? How can I calm down, my boyfriend is dying! GET ME BACK."

"First of all, stop pulling at your hair and sit down. Take a deep breath. Yes... If the gates find large amount of adrenaline in your body, they would shut down and you'll be trapped in time. Second of all he has not shot himself right now . He will , in one hour earth time. Don't you worry. We'll get you safe but things would be weird for a while."

" Just...send…me already."

"Listen very carefully, the time on earth is something we can't alter from here. So you will see things you think you have lived before but haven't. But the other parts of the world will run undisturbed."

"Like Déjà vu?"

"Yes."

" We are sorry for all the mishap we created and all the best for your future ."

"Ironically, I am going back to the past. Please hurry."

***

" I am going to get butterscotch. You? " I tuck at his shirt.

" I'll have whatever you are having." he says.

"Okay."

As I am returning to our spot with two cones, I see a girl running towards me.

"Sis, can I have the butterscotch? The ice cream van guy didn't tell me he had a butterscotch . So I took the strawberry. I haven't eaten it yet. I don't like it. Will you exchange? " Oh my gosh, the kid is cute. I kneel and extend one of the cones.

" Here you go , sis." I say and accept the strawberry. 

"Thank you so much."

***

" I thought you said butterscotch. Its strawberry, sweetheart."

" I got one of the cones exchanged with a cute kid. She wanted it badly unlike you."

"Well , love, I want the one you are savoring. I want it badly."

"Shut up. You won't even get a bite" I flick at his cheek and he laughs.

" I think I am way cuter than the kid, Isn’t it?"

"No, she was way cuter, let me show you." I surf my eyes through the park and notice the girl licking the cone.

"Look there. She is wearing a red frock , maybe the guy is her dad."

"Yeah she is cute. But the guy….I think I have seen him before."

"We come here often maybe …."

"Nope , I have seen him before in a uniform. I just can't remember ."

"Possible. We come across so many people everyday."

" I think I have interacted with him." He rubs his jaw hastily and starts sweating.

"Hey what happened?"

"I don't know, my lower jaws feels like it has been hit by a bullet. But it is itching a lot. Is there ringworm ?"

" No I don't see any bullets or ringworm." I inspect his jaw more carefully." No, nothing."

He clasps my hand in his and smiles.

"Come on, you can take a lick of this ice cream." I say.

"Really?"

"No."