In the Dark

It was a lovely Tuesday. I had just retired from my shift when it happened.

Well hello!

I am Somdutt, and I am tired all the time. I love my job, and it never gets boring. I used to work as a waiter at a local restaurant, and I had been doing great until now. I am a student of English Literature, and I am currently pursuing a major in the same.

So, as I was telling you, I used to be a waiter, and I have been working my ass off to pay for my studies. I am a poet, a writer and also a critique for a monthly magazine. I work and write for money, and until now it had paid me well.

Due to this Pandemic, a lot of things had to shut down. People lost jobs, and I was one of the same fate bearers. I worked hard in writing and I have managed to survive on that for this long, but it couldn’t go on for long, especially since everything was about to be on track the same way as before. So I applied for a new job, as the librarian!

I cannot tell you the pleasure that befalls me when I am surrounded by books. I applied for the job for three reasons. First, I love books, second, being a librarian has brought me a lot of time to study for my major while I am sitting as one of the attendants, and third, I get to read epic novels whilst in the precinct. 

It had been a month and everything was great. I was scoring well on all my tests, I got plenty of reading pleasure, and I had a kinda stable income, but as it is said, “No time stays the same”, it started at the beginning of February.

June First, 2021. Tuesday.

It was a lovely night. I was sitting at the corner table, finishing off my grade paper, a dissertation of the book “Pride and Prejudice” By Jane Austen. If I had to describe it as a haiku:

I see perfection

In the words used to portray

Love, Pride, Prejudice…

I am sorry, I had to try a haiku since I have another project about searching for lesser-known forms of poetry in the public. 

The book, Pride and Prejudice is definitely one of the best books to have ever been written in the history of mankind, and the proof stands openly as the sustained life of this epic literary icon.

So, without geeking out, let’s proceed. 

The owner of the library was an amiable lady. She was (almost) always in a good mood, and he would let me stay after shifts to read more. I found peace in the premise. It was my haven, and also my shrine of earning. I was more than pleased to work there. My vellichor was my motivation for working long hours.

So, my lady of the heavens comes to me and asks about my project. She has helped me with a lot of my works before, for which I am utterly indebted to her. She wore her usual smile, but there was something eerie about it. Undoubtedly it was placed well, but only one very subtle detail about it was disturbing. I could see a slight twitch at the ends of her mouth. She wanted to speak something, but she couldn’t for an unknown reason. She sat beside me and looked into my work. She picked up a stray paper and pretended to read and then slowly grabbed a pen and started writing frivolously. Or so I had thought. She drew random shapes and wrote random numbers. 

“Hey, Anne. What are you trying to write?” I asked gently.

She only shook her head and pointed at the other end of the library, when a girl entered. She was slender and beautiful, with olive skin. She had caught my eye, and I made a mental note to strike a conversation later with her, but now I had to focus on Anne and her symbols.

She seemed distraught now, with anxiety lurking close to her expressions. She still hadn’t spoken a word, and it was 1:22 am. I was getting increasingly worried about her silence when she finally spoke up. “Som, read the sheet.” 

This seemed a fair and normal request, but the only thing was, it was beyond comprehension what she had written on the page. 

I left out a chuckle. “Anne, these are just shapes, how am I supposed to understand them?” 

She didn’t seem to understand what I had just said. But soon she started to tear up. 

“Please… please Som, read it.” she mumbled.

 I lifted the paper for close inspection, but it was far from any logic. I tilted the paper to see if it would make sense then, but no luck whatsoever.

I was still focused on the paper when I heard a thud. Anne had just fainted and her mouth was fizzing. “HELP!” I screamed. I heard nothing. I screamed again while trying to pick up the old librarian. This time I heard rapid footsteps coming towards us and the girl that had entered earlier, came to my side and looked at Anne. 

Her eyes were scanning her quickly and trying her pulse. “She isn’t dead. It is likely to be some kind of poison. If we rush to the hospital quick, we might be able to save her.” She had a sweet voice, just like honey. 

No. I can’t think of anything other than Anne right now. So I tried picking her up, and for her diminished figure, she was damn heavy.

“Call for an ambulance, please miss…” I asked her.

“Vidushi. And yes, I am already dialling 108.” She smiled for the briefest moment. Gods she looked so beautiful. I made a mental note to ask for her number later.

I sat her on a bench and ran to get a glass of water. Vidushi looked after Anne and held her to keep her in her place. Soon the ambulance arrived and we boarded onto the vehicle together. The medics were rushing to clean her mouth and tried giving her some fluids.

I was dead worried about her health when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I looked up and I found Vidushi looking at me. “Hey listen, she will be okay. I promise.” 

Her smile was so natural that for a moment I had believed that nothing could go wrong. But then reality swam in again, and the prospect of losing Anne scared me. I still smiled. 

“Thank you for helping me with Anne. She doesn’t have kids so she opened up this library. I have been working here for some time and she really loved me. I can’t even imagine if something might happ…” And I had to stop before my voice started to crack. 

“Hey hey, listen. She will be okay. You and I are here to look after her, so don’t worry, okay?” She reassured me.

I nodded passively.

“Thanks again,” I murmured.

“Well, aren’t you sweet?” she laughed.

I looked up. She was smiling. I could not help but smile too.

      ********

We were at the ER and awaiting any news on Anne’s health. It was 3:14 am. I went to Vidushi to check up on her as well. She was sitting, her nose buried in a book. I walked towards her and sat down beside her. To my utter surprise, she was reading Pride and Prejudice!

I saw her flipping through the initial pages, so I believed she didn’t have any knowledge about Mr Darcy’s emotional revelation about Elizabeth. 

“So,” I spoke up, “What do you think about Mr Darcy?”

“Well, up till now, he seems like a total jerk. But my reader’s intuition tells me this is not what Jane made this character for. There is something in the store for the young man.” She looked at me, and I could not help but admire her beauty. A few stray hairs hanging loosely from her side of the face. 

She had dark brown eyes. Those with such depth, that even the oceans might not have. I could not see through them as easily as I could have earlier. Also, I was surprised at her intuition, that she could guess how Darcy and Elizabeth were going to end up together. 

“Hey… your hair... Um… you know, are hanging loose. It’s not healthy for your ciliary muscles, because they are strained on focusing too much. I suggest you pull them back. Unless you don’t want to… I mean it’s really your decision to make, not mine.” And I smiled sheepishly.

“What’s your name?” She tried to suppress her giggle. 

“Somdutt. And laugh if you want. To be honest, I don’t wanna do anything to offend you, or in fact, anyone I meet. So I tend to give them options like such.” I said awkwardly.

“Who said I am laughing at your dorkness? I am laughing because I am surprised by how careful you are while talking. Trust me. I have met guys that don’t care what comes out of their mouths. You, on the other hand, I like the way you are concerned about other’s feelings.” She replied with an expression I could very well recognise.

“So I see you have had a very disappointing incident in your life.” I mused.

“Wow! How did you figure that out?”

“Well, my lady of the heavens. I have met people of different kinds, which has lead me to explore a plethora of human emotions… I have studied them all and tried to understand the human psyche”

“Well, master Somdutt, I am pleased to meet you.”

Just then, the doctors arrived. They came to us with smiles on their faces, which was a good sign. 

“Hello, sir, mam. I believe you are here about Miss. Anne?” The doctor on the left enquired.

“Yes. And I am hoping you have come with but good news?” Vidushi spoke up, without hesitation.

“Ah yes! Anne is out of danger. She has food poisoning, and thus the fizzing from her mouth. It was a great thing that you brought her into the ER at the right time. Any later than that could have ended otherwise. Thank you for being vigilant.” The doctors smiled at us.

“Thank you, doctor.” I rose to shake their hands. 

“Also, we found out some paper that she had on her. It had some symbols, but it is very much possible that it was the poison acting up.” They added as an afterthought.

“Oh thank you so much for letting us know. We were really concerned that she was poisoned by someone. Thank you again.”

We headed back to our seats. “Hey, do you wanna grab a cup of coffee? It’s almost four. I suppose you are tired.” I questioned Vidushi.

“Nay, you have been a great company. Thanks to you, I didn’t feel alone and hadn’t had a panic attack.” Vidushi laughed gleefully.

And we left for coffee. 

********

It was almost 4:30 am when we came back to the room Anne was in, and we sat down on the couch, beside her bed.

“Hey, do you mind if I use you as a pillow for some time? I am really tired, and I have to rest.” Vidushi asked innocently.

“Well, I would recommend you going back to your place and resting.” I argued

“Nope. I will look after you and Anne.”

I might have blushed, or someone might have painted my cheeks a faint red. You take the chances.

“Well, gimme one sec. I have to pee.” I said. 

“Sure!”

I smiled all the way to the restroom. I kinda liked her. And maybe we could be great friends after all of this is resolved. 

I entered the cubicle and found a paper on it. I picked it up to see what it was.

“This is not the end. You might have saved Anne, but the girl is next.”