In the crowd, we all have that one face which seems known to
us. We feel that we know that person. It attracts us. The soul binds us. It
feels like they are the perfect piece of the puzzle of your life. She seemed to
be that person to me. Best part about this feeling is that this is ageless. I
was able to feel it when I was just few years old. I didn’t know the spelling
of apple but I knew the feeling.
I didn’t talk to her that day. I thought of writing an
apology letter to her. It was the best way to express, my dad had brought me a
new crayon box too, and I was super excited to use it. I tore a drawing sheet
from my drawing book and fold it from mid to make it look like a card. I picked
a blue crayon and thought of drawing something. I knew how to make a flag, a
hut, mountains, sun and birds. However, nothing seemed to fit in a sorry card.
Artist in me thought of something and I tried to make her,
holding hand, smiling, and me. Eventually, I abled to draw two twins like
creatures having round face and rest of the body parts drawn with a single
line. Only the difference was that one had long hair and other had small.
I was the one with small hair and she was with the long
ones. I decorated it from boundaries with other crayons and wrote my apology on
the fold inside. I had asked my mother to tell me what to write. She told me to
write D..E..A..R..I..A..M..S..O..R..R..Y..
I wrote all the alphabets, as my mom told and wrapped up for
tomorrow. My dad dropped me like routine and I walked in my classroom quickly.
I did not find her. However, I found her bag. It was easy; I just looked for
the bag with teddy bear. I slipped in the card inside her bag and went for the prayers.
Three periods passed, still she didn’t reacted. I thought
she hadn’t saw the letter. I turned to look at her, but she wasn’t looking at
me. That thing left me restless. I wanted to know whether she had forgiven me
or not. A smile would be enough. A smile would have patted my heart that she
forgiven me. My eyes glued around her; she was busy with her notebook. Wait
dragged me to the end of the period somehow.
Bell rang and I ran
to her. She closed her book and put pencil in her pencil box. She was wearing a
school dress today unlike previous day.
She pulled out her lunch box and I kept noticing her in my walk to her.
The distance was not much but my legs were small and I was nervous too, which
also slowed me down.
“I am sorry for yesterday,” I said, putting my hand on the
desk softly. I noticed her hands, which were trying to open her tiffin box. She
looked at me and smoothly said, “It was my fault. I am sorry,” she looked deep
in my eyes. I felt like she was sneaking in my soul and was confirming it that
I was seriously sorry or not. I tried to smile.
“Why you carry a teddy bear with you?” I shuffled my mind to
ask a random question. Her teddy bear was always hooked to her.
“It’s my friend.” She gave a clear reply.
“Why? We must have real friends like I have Aman, Sumit and
Yash.” I said proudly and looked at them.
“Not everyone is as lucky as you.” She smiled. I could see
the smile but there was so negativity in her thoughts. It looked strange. I
somewhere understood that she has no friends. I looked at the vacant seat next
to her. She was alone. I looked at the teddy bear. Now she was not. I turned
back and looked at my bag. She was still struggling with her tiffin. I left her
doing that and picked up my bag.
“Can I sit with you?” I asked for her approval. She compiled
my question and reverted with a soft smile and nod.
I occupied the seat next to her and said, “Now you have a
real friend. You can leave the teddy at your home tomorrow.”
“Best-friends never leave you,” Again she said straight.
I found her words thoughtful. I looked in her milky eyes. They were too white and bright. She
was someone different, different from each human on this Earth.
“If I won’t leave you, will I be your best-friend?” I asked,
biting my lips. I waited for her reply but she didn’t gave the reply. Cracking
through her heart to her life wasn’t that easy. I wanted to be in her life, it
wasn’t a challenge for me. It was a need for me.
“You didn’t reply.” I asked.
“You can become my friend by just opening this tiffin box
and giving me your Hindi exercise book,” She giggled. For the first time, I saw
her laughing. Seeing her smile, I felt happy.
“Only on one condition,” I acted smart.
“What?”
“You will have to tell me you name.”
“Anantika, it means forever.” She explained. It sounded like
her parents make her learn the sentence.
“I am Sarthak. I don’t know what it means. It is Sarthak,
just Sarthak.” I gave her a reply, looking confused, and using too much of
Sarthak in one sentence.
She smiled. I smiled.
From that day, Anantika and I became best friends. I vacated
my seat (Yes the one with my name over It.) and started sitting with her. We
used to stand near each other in morning prayers, having lunch together, and
yes walking to the main gate of the school.
Everything was perfect in our friendship of three,her, her
teddy and me. I started liking her teddy and it liked me too. Some other
student occupied my seat and I didn’t fight with him. Instead, I was happy that
he wasn’t seated next to Anantika. I was special. Life seemed twist-less and complete.
Until that day when she was absent from the school. I felt alone that day. I waited for next day and thought of telling her that I missed
her, but she was absent on the next day too. A whole week passed with a vacant seat
beside me. Next week she attended the class. She had two teddy bears with her
this time. I felt happy, but then, she just walked to some other bench and sat
there. Leaving me alone…
Author:
Himanshu Appie Chhabra
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