THIS SIDE THAT SIDE

A Reality Hard to Define

"Is it really the beginning of a new dream?"
She pressed her forehead with her thumb as she saw her computer type these words on its own.

"No! No! No! Stop it already!" She shouted at her computer. She tried clicking on her backspace key but it was of no use. The story will no more listen to her. She banged her head a lot of times and tried to find out the solution to this problem. But nothing seems to work.

It all began when she started writing the sequel of her book, 'Waking up with you.' This time, she wanted to start the life of a new character- Atish and Arushi. She was determined that she wanted to have a mature approach and not get into the same falling in love with the cold CEO type story. Her book, 'waking up with you' has bought her immense fame at the age of 21. Her best friend Sunaina was always hooked in this book of hers but she never knew that her own soul sister, Ms Preeti Chaturvedi was the one writing this book under the pen name of Ayu. Her family never really supported her writing career and looked down upon her dreams of being a writer altogether. She had a loving family of four. Her father, her mother, her sister and she. She was always by their side and doing everything to keep them happy. She was responsible for making lunch and dinner for them and she also helped her father with his office chores. she meticulously juggled her college life and home chores without even flinching for one second. Despite her book winning the best seller, she refused every magazine to give an interview of hers. Reason? She didn't want her identity to be exposed. Ayu was her secret persona and she had no intention of making Ayu public. Life wasn't all sunshine for her. She had her own share of break ups and the recent one literally made her question herself. Often wondering if it mattered to her if she suddenly disappeared. Well...anyone except Sunaina. She knew how badly she was attached to her and vice versa. It wasn't very long since they met but it seemed to others that they were childhood buddies. She smiled to herself remembering how Sunaina used to shine the moment she started to talk about the character Arjun from this book. I knew she wished to get herself a life partner like Arjun. She often felt guilty that she hid this truth from Sunaina but she knew it was for the best for both of them. But something happened on the day she finished her first chapter.

It was 3 AM when Preeti finally was done with the draft of her first chapter for the sequel of her book. She went in the kitchen to get herself a cup of coffee. She saw her parents sleeping soundly. Her elder sister was married off years ago and now she lives with her husband. She often goes to stay with them and that's when she has her own share of freedom other than when she is with Sunaina. Reminiscing the old days when all four them were happy and not sullen at each other brought tears to her eyes. She made herself a cup of coffee and decided to return to her desk when she realised that the clock was showing that it's still 3 AM.

"That's strange. Didn't the clock strike at 3 when I went out to get myself a cup of coffee?" She went closer to the clock only to realise that the second's hand is not working.

"The batteries must have worn out." She thought to herself. She checked her phone to see the correct time but she was again shocked. It was 3 AM there as well. Now she was getting worried. She turned towards her computer where she finished her first chapter. To her shock, the backspace key was running automatically and the whole chapter was deleted. She tried typing again but it was no use. The word document was blank again. Everything was silent when suddenly, she saw something typing again. A heading?

'MY HERO ARJUN'?????

Preeti cannot believe her eyes. What is happening? It seems that the story now has a plot of its own. She was now getting a hang of what's going on around her. In order to be sure, she checked her phone again. It displays '3:00 AM'. She was sure now that the time has stopped somehow. But why? She decided to read the story.