There they were.

There they were

There they were, a swell of laughter and giggles issuing from their mouths. Stumbling into the highly furnished cottage they had driven the entire night to reach, stranded on a wispy field with apparently no edges. The large windows and open doors let oceans of honey sunlight wash over the red sofa and the wooden dining table. The patio outside was covered lovingly with purple vines and the pool had a turquoise glimmer dancing upon its surface. Like a haunted house, calling out your name but one you wouldn’t mind being trapped in.

The older woman of the two, let’s call her Ava, with dirty blond hair twirling around her neck and a pair of dark sunglasses jammed like a hair band into it, skimmed the milky white curtains with her thin, calloused fingers and let out a sigh of satisfaction. She threw her big blue bag down on the sofa before turning to the pool, where she stayed, staring at the sun’s shimmering reflections which looked almost ghostly. After a few moments, another woman, young and energetic, emerged from behind and buried Ava in a deep embrace. She had skin the hue of bronzed clay and her hair fell in midnight black ringlets. We’ll name her Zoe.

“Ava, what do you think? It’s beautiful, huh?”

“It’s heavenly. Oh, and I feel so tired.”

“One dip in that pool with me Avs and you’ll feel golden!”

“Oh shut up!” Ava giggled as she tried to swat away Zoe’s comically puckered lips.

“Listen to this” a deep male voice rumbled from the doorway where a very tall and lanky man was trying to push his black, bulging suitcase through the doorframe, “A group of medical staff who were working nonstop through last weekend, contracted the virus and fell ill. The three of them remained side by side until their very last breadth. Can you believe this?” he read aloud from the crumbled newspaper in his hand amidst loud pants.

“Oh, that sounds awful…I hope God rewards them heavily.”

Zoe who had already scampered off to the game room to play with the foosball table shouted back, “Can we please stow the negativity away? Isn’t that why we are here in the first place?”

Ava and the man, who will be called Aman, shared a glance before shrugging their shoulders a little. The newspaper fluttered from his hand and fell out of view. Aman had chocolate brown skin and hair which looked perfectly tousled. He made his suitcase lean against the wall and then jogged out the backdoor to find himself in a nicely made garden with lemon trees and rows of rose bushes. He decided to take a nice long walk along the field where the mist was hanging low and giving the illusion of being a portal to another world.

A splash sounded from the cottage where Ava had stripped down to her inner clothes and taken a plunge in the crystal water of the pool. The last remnants of outside noise faded away as she pulled her head beneath the surface of the water. The waves her jump had caused rode on glass horses above her as she let herself succumb to the nothingness the water provided. Her lungs didn’t ache for air for a long time but she rose out of the water due to habit. The air hitting her face now felt like an ice dropped in a glass of lemonade on a yellow summer day. She let her legs float up and her eyes close before laying back and she stayed like this, occasionally giggling at the squeals coming from Zoe as she tried but failed to make the little wooden footballers to do her bidding on the field.

Inside, Zoe had all but given up on miniature football and moved on after giving it a small kick. She passed rows of windows which had turned opaque with age. She was just about to quit the room when she noticed a gaming station with two controllers hooked to it and a large smile lit her face up like the angel does the Christmas tree. She sat down and rested her feet on the table before grabbing one of the consoles. The screen turned on with a beep and she fixed her eyes upon the incoming zombies who she met with guns ablaze.

“How you doing Aman?” she screamed out of the open windows.

“Doing absolutely peachy Zoe!” was what she heard with a laugh, coming from the field outside.

Aman walked along the evergreen trees, deeper and deeper into the field but every time he looked back he found the cottage to be in a comfortable distance. He stopped from time to time to listen to the patters of rabbit feet as they scampered away from him and stooped to pick the occasional wild flower to give it a sniff. At that moment, the bird’s heated quarrel overhead was the sweetest sound to him and the dew falling on his cheek from rattling leaves was the best feeling. He hummed along to the tune of a song he had never heard and the distant sounds of rippling water brought a dance to his step. He knew he could stay immersed in the coolness of the field for as long as he wanted. Maybe on the way home he would pick a rose or two for Ava. He stood in the time stopping picturesque setting, breathing in the nature as he imagined her reaction. His face turned a dark shade of rose and he sighed under his breadth.

It was a never ending weekend for them, the sultry, blissful days without expiration. The three of them had crossed the gateway to the sky together and there they were to remain under God’s shower of plentiful rewards. In the startlingly cool water, or the oblivious bubble of the games or be it being stranded on a field with infinite delights, there they were, smiling, after a very long time. There they were.

-Riya Das