The Same Never Same Window

Sana woke up with warm rays of sun peering through her room’s

window onto her face. The rays gave a lot of energy to her that morning. As she peeped out of the window, she found her neighbor Mr. Rau in his garden, weeding out his rose bed. He waved her his hand, with a beautiful smile, which she thought is the most attractive feature in him. He was followed by his son Saketh, who is

Sana’s colleague. He was coming back home from a jog along with his pet dog Rony.

She waved her hand to him, saying ‘Good Morning Saketh...!’

He wished back and went inside panting hard.

She went back to her daily routine of getting ready for her

office. She made breakfast for herself with the leftover rice from the previous night. She also had a mug of coffee with the last half carton of milk she bought a week ago. Tired, she sat in front of her monitor, skimming through the day’s schedule.

"5 calls, 2 staff meets, and 3 mentor classes—what a long day to spend" sighed Sana.

She made a to-do list, including shopping, tagging a huge list

of to be bought items. She then proceeded with cleaning her room and continued her office work.

It was 6 o’clock when her work ended. She looked out of her

room’s window towards the setting sun and spoke to herself, "I wish I can see the Sun at least one day", with a sigh. She then grabbed some shoppers and popped into her car, locking her house behind. She met Saketh on the lanes, who was waiting to go shopping.

She lowered her car’s windowpane and spoke to him, "Wanna join? I’m heading to the supermarket for some groceries"

"Yes, thanks for asking", he said, as he sat in the car.

‘How is your office work going on?’ asked Sana, to break the awkward silence that broke in once he entered the car.

‘Well, not so good. I’ve been breaking my back in front of the

screen for the past 2 months now. I got no appraisals except for backache and weight gain’, said Saketh, with a burst of laughter.

‘How’s yours been?’

‘Haha haha, laughing out loud, said Sana, ‘It’s been the same

with me too. The office work is adding on to our pressure and ill health.’ They ended their conversation there as they approached the mart. He got out of the car as she parked it in the lot. She then joined him and they moved towards the entrance. They each pulled out a cart and walked in.

‘Please give me a call when you are ready to leave, I’ll join you home’ said Saketh with a small smile.

‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to leave you here and go away. I’ll be waiting for you at exit number 2 in 2 hours. If you are quicker than me, wait there for me.’ She said with a wide smile.

There they diverged into 2 paths and continued with their

shopping. Sana put in all the things that she has put on her list whereas Saketh was just roaming through the mart to find a perfect present he can give to Sana.

Sana finally finished her shopping, paid the bill, and walked

towards the exit when she saw Saketh being there already.

‘You’ve shopped so quick!’, she said with a smile, glancing at his hands.

‘Well, I couldn’t find any perfect gift’, he said.

‘Gift? For whom?’

‘Er…er…to my mom. She’s got her birthday ahead this week’, he said stuttering.

‘Oh…then I must find something good to gift your mom, thanks you’ve mentioned it’ she said thinking hard about what to gift his mom.

He heaved a sigh of relief as his plan to propose to her stayed safe and walked beside her to the parking lot.

They got the things into the boot and drove back home. She

dropped him at his house, waved a bye, and reached her house. She took the things in and shut the door. She grabbed a frozen pizza, put it in the microwave, and went to change her clothes. She came

back, finished her pizza and went over to her room, and peered out of the window.

‘The morning was as bright as a spring day, why is it so windy and dark with clouds now? Better I’ll shut the window and sleep tonight.’, she said to herself as she quickly arranged her desk for tomorrow.

By the time it is 10.30 pm, she was already in bed reading her

favorite novel by Ruskin Bond. In another half an hour she’s deep asleep, unbothered by the things happening outside the shut window.

*  *  *

Saketh next door has been fidgeting in his bed for the past one hour, thinking about how he can confess his love to her. All the ideas he’s been thinking about are appearing silly and is now trying to think of the best way to show his love. He suddenly saw a bright shine outside his window. He rose from his bed and peered out of

his window to find out what it was, but found nothing. He saw that the weather has changed dark and windy. He decided to take a stroll in the garden as the weather is cool. So, he walked out of his room and went into the garden calmly without stirring any noise that would wake his parents up.

He went towards that part of the garden that shows Sana’s room’s

window and fell into an ocean of thoughts about her. An idea sparked in him suddenly. He looked for a pebble and shot it directly towards Sana’s window. It hit the window with a ‘Clack’, but no response from her room. So, he chose two more pebbles and threw them towards the window. By the time he has bent to pick another pebble, the light in her room shone dimly and she opened the window with a startled look on her face.

He raised his voice a bit and called to her, “Hey! Will you come

down once? I have something to show to you.” Though she looked a bit cross, she said a small yes and walked down to the garden, which was a sigh of relief to him.

Neither Saketh nor Sana never knew what was in front of them that night!

*  *   *

Sana walked out of her house and came near the fence

with an irritated face. She asked him, “What’s the matter? You’ve called me at this time, late at night.”

Saketh, looking a bit embarrassed, has asked her if she could walk

with him down this lane as a company. She agreed and they both walked out of their compounds and started moving left of their houses on the road.

They gossiped a bit about their office chores, colleagues, work

from home problems, and others. As they kept walking for over 30mins, the weather took a shift. It suddenly became all chilly, windy with dust in the air. So, they’ve decided to go back to their houses.

As they turned back, something shocking appeared in front of them.

All the houses they walked past have disappeared along with the street on which they walked. They looked at each other with a shock and turned back again to see the way they were planning to walk ahead. As they have seen, the road in front of them was invisible due to dust in the air.

Saketh immediately picked up his phone to find the way back home using GPS. Alas, the phone’s screen is black and is not turning on. Sana immediately checked with hers and it was the same. Both their phones lied shut down suddenly without any reason.

A shiver of fear ran down their spines as the wind hit softly over their faces.

As they stood there clueless, fidgeting back and forth trying to understand the situation, Sana saw a faint light glowing 30 feet West from where they are standing.

She called to Saketh, who now is worried about calling Sana out and for standing out on streets clueless. She showed him the light and asked, “Shall we go there and seek shelter until all this storm settles?”

Saketh, now relieved by the sign of light, nodded his head

immediately, “Yes. Let’s go quickly before anything other happens.”

So, both of them briskly walked towards the only visible light in the blinding darkness surrounding them.

It is a small cottage with a lantern hung to the pole which is swinging to and fro due to wind. The cottage appeared a bit gloomy with a scarecrow in front of the house, all windows shut with curtains. Only one window in the above room out of all stood lit.

They now felt a bit scared compared to earlier for the peculiar

view the cottage displayed. They glanced at each other before Saketh took a step forward to knock on the door.

“Knock”, “Knock”, he hit the door with an iron handle hanging on it.

 “Is anyone in the house?” called Saketh from outside. There came no response to his call, but the light in the room above went off, and a faint noise of feet shuffling on wooden stairs was heard from inside. Suddenly the door in front of them flung open with a small light showing the path.

Their hearts started pounding hard, as they hesitated to go

inside. But the situation outside was worsening, finally forcing them to make the decision of going into the mysterious cottage.

The cottage inside looked small and old…like some decades old.

There is a stone passage through which it led into a living room, lit with small fire. A small staircase ran from the left corner of the living room, which led to the above floor. That floor had 4 to 5 rooms, which appeared to be bedrooms.

Beside the living room, there was a small kitchen and a pantry too. The house appeared normal from inside. The warmth from the fire gave them a bit of relief.

As the house appeared empty, they’ve decided to explore the house a bit. They were hungry from all the strange experiences. So, they’ve found some bread and marmalade to feast on. Once they completed eating, they climbed up to look at the other rooms, completely ignoring the pantry that was beside them.

The bedrooms were all small and neat, with all the bedding made and kept ready. All those rooms had their windows covered with curtains pulled over them. They have looked into all the rooms except the one which was lit when they came in earlier. They were afraid to open and find someone, who might be upset seeing strangers in their house.

But Saketh made his mind firm and opened the door softly to peep in. The room was in dark with no noise being made. Sana nudged him from the back, which made him jump out of his skin, “What’s the matter? Is anyone in?”

Saketh recovered quickly and nodded his head saying No. Soon Sana too joined him. They turned the light on and glanced around the room, which was clean and warm. There was a small bed, often used by kids, a study desk with some pens, and a diary left open.

As the room was part of the attic, they walked forward with

their heads bent. Sana looked on to the writings on the diary. The handwriting seemed similar to that of a small kid. She turned pages of the diary and kept it back in the same place as it was empty.

Nothing seemed more interesting in the room. So, they turned back

heading to the door until a sound startled them. The diary on the desk, which she kept shut, suddenly opened and the pages of it started fluttering as if the wind is being blown onto it. But there seemed no visible source of wind in the room as the window was shut with curtains pulled over.

Saketh moved to the desk to close the diary when he suddenly found writings on it. It read

“STAY OUT OF

THIS HOUSE IF YOU WANT TO BE ALIVE”.

Sana too, read it and immediately pulled him out of the room and shut the door behind them. “This house seems so peculiar. Please let’s go out of here as quick as possible.”

Saketh felt the same. He quickly climbed down the stairs as Sana

pulled him down all the time.

They rushed to the living room, trying to find out where the trail that led to the front door. But they couldn’t find it. They rummaged in the living room searching for the trail.

Suddenly, Saketh found the pantry bright alight. He called for Sana, who is now at the brink of tears. “Look here! The pantry is lit. Let’s have a look here before we look for the way out.”

Sana was indignant, not listening to any words Saketh is saying. She’s desperate to go out of the house, panic struck. But as Saketh was insisting her to be with him, she calmed herself down and joined him towards the pantry.

The pantry is now looking green in color, a faint light coming from the opening that is on the floor, which seemed like an opening to the cellar. Saketh hesitantly opening the lid up and peeped in. He saw no source of light as the room is very bright.

Slowly, both of them climbed down the stairs and found the most astonishing thing. The cellar seemed to be another world, filled with nature, which seemed so fictitious to both of them, who work

in front of screens every day.

Sana exclaimed with joy, forgetting what has happened to them a

few minutes earlier. Saketh is now half fascinated- half worried, not knowing whether it is safe for them to be there.

The cellar as lush green lawns neatly mowed, there were trees with fresh fruits hanging from their branches, the flowers smelled sweet with bees hurrying to collect nectar from them, an underground river flowing slowly with a gurgling sound. The water was

cold when touched and it was full of fish of different colors.

The source of light still seemed unknown to both of them, but the view was amazing for them to forget the past situation. Both of them were so immersed in the meadows and were having a life

of their time when they suddenly heard a faint voice, which felt like that of a small child,

“THIS IS MY

GARDEN, WHICH MY PARENTS GAVE ME. PLEASE MOVE OUT BEFORE THEY COME HERE FOR ME.

OR ELSE, YOU’LL REGRET COMING HERE.”

Suddenly both of them came to consciousness, who were till now hypnotized by the amusing adventure they were in. They heard a small noise, which was the opening of a door. They approached it and ran out of it gladly, happy seeing the old locality they were part of. They ran a few meters forward and then turned back to see the old cottage.

Now stood no cottage over there, except for barren land with some gorse bushes here and there. They stood there in silence for few minutes, trying to understand what has happened to them. They slowly walked back home, without uttering even a single word.

As they reached their respective homes, they waved goodbyes and went in.

*  *   *

The next seemed so new to both of them. Both Sana and Saketh woke up early in the morning, looked out of the window. This time, the view from the window, the Sun, the morning fresh breeze, the trees, all looked more beautiful, filling a lot of energy in them. They jogged together and as they passed by the plot, where they have seen the old cottage the previous night, they slowed down a bit, looked at each other with a smile, and moved forward.

They have now made time for themselves to take a break from

screens and look at nature, enjoy and appreciate it. They have also vowed to work for nature’s conservation and set up their own start-up which included volunteering for the protection of nature.

What’s more! They both are now in a relationship, a relation built by nature!