Reshma

5

Hair messed up, his blue shirt wet with sweat, Ishaan took the water bottle and finished it.

"What were you even doing?" Reshma asked, disgusted. She was seated on the bed, opposite to Ishaan.

In the past four days, they had become...well, what you could call as friends. She used to sit on the bed, opposite to him, and he'd speak a few sentences before he'd start intaking drugs. But Reshma had noticed one thing. The more they used to speak, the less number of those white little balls he'd swallow. Basically, he'd run short of time. After all, he had to reach home before the predator found out and started hunting him down.

"I ran fast today, taking a slightly longer route." Ishaan huffed. "I even ran through the reception, and up the stairs, all the way till here."

"And why is that?"

"Exercising."

Reshma laughed. "At this time?"

"I take drugs. It ruins health. At least I should reduce its impact, right?"

"Look who's saying. And you still take that, saying all this?" Reshma questioned.

"It's addicting. If I don't take it...you don't know how it feels...my blood burns, my skin pricks...I feel like a walking horror movie."

"How's your ex?"

Ishaan shrugged. "Maybe fucking her buffoon-like boyfriend. How should I know?"

Reshma stared at Ishaan, wide-eyed.

After a moment of confusion, Ishaan bit his tongue. "I'm so sorry! I'm...I shouldn't have used that word so leniently. I'm so...god!"

She just smiled. She wasn't offended, really. But it wasn't necessary for him to know that.

"But seriously! Look at him! He's an insult to our species, as well as theirs." Ishaan exclaimed, showing her his ex-girlfriend's boyfriend on his phone.

"Yeah, whatever. But I still can't believe you."

"That..."

"You did drugs for her."

"She was part of the reason, yes. But not just for her. For everything," Ishaan said, serious.

"You say that everytime. But think, Ishaan. Was it needed?"

"It was! Why do you think people do drugs? For this!"

"For this too!?" Reshma exclaimed, pointing at herself.

"For you?" Ishaan asked.

"For what I've been through...am going through. Did I take?"

"I don't even think you knew what drugs were!"

"I'm a grad, for god's sake!" Reshma defended. Ishaan went silent, shocked. "How the hell do you think I know this much English? How do I know the meaning of 'fuck'? You think we are taught here? In the brothel? Half the people here don't even know what 'sex' means, let alone that f-word. And you are telling me all this?"

Ishaan did not speak a single word. The little amount of drug running through his blood couldn't drug him enough to lose his mind. He kept his opium box aside. Drinking lots of water, he went and sat beside the furious Reshma.

"What happened?" he asked softly.

Reshma took a deep breath. "It's okay, Ishaan. Let it go."

Ishaan took Reshma's hand and held it in his. "You can trust me. Tell me," he said, his voice still slow and soft.

Reshma heaved a big sigh. She hoped against hopes that she would not cry.

"I'm from the North-East. The conflicted parts of it. Where nothing ever goes right. I had a decent and happy life, to be honest. Dad died when my younger sister was born. My mother used to stitch shawls for a living. That's how she brought us up. It was scholarship that helped me graduate. In literature. Literature! What job would I get?

"Then there was this advertisement. 'Wanted for teaching post in school' it said, with a contact number. I rang them up, they called me for interview. I passed. But I was placed somewhere far from home. I was placed in this city. It was later that I came to know I was sold. Sold to this brothel." Reshma's eyes were teary. She did not want to cry, thinking about the past. Ishaan didn't probe her to continue. He just let her sit there, trying to control her emotions. When she was a bit fine, she continued.

"Yeah. So, uh, I was sold here. And I couldn't leave. It was an eight year contract, apparently. If I wanted to leave, I had to pay 45 lakhs." Reshma snickered. "45 lakhs... 45 thousand was a big deal for me. 45 lakhs? It never came to my mind to leave this place, nor run away. This place gave me what I wanted—food, clothes, shelter, and the main thing, money. I send back money to them, you know? My mother and sister? So they can survive, and my little one can go to school."

"You never thought you'll end up in such a place, did you?" Ishaan asked, rubbing his fingers across her hand.

"Never. I imagined myself among children, teaching them. Now...this is my life. And will be."

They sat in silence for quite some time. Ishaan never left Reshma's hand throughout. When several minutes had already passed, Ishaan saw his watch and realized it was time for him to go.

"I should go now," he said, standing up. "I'll...Bye."

Ishaan left. Reshma sat lost in her own thoughts. Was it okay that she told him so much? They were friends, right? Not knowing what more to think, she got up to switch off the lights, when she saw a small box lying on the bed. Ishaan's little treasury. She took it in her hands and flipped open the lid. A whole packet of the little, white balls lays inside, neatly placed.

Those little spheres, though so tiny, could cause so much pleasure and so much destruction. Reshma was tempted to try just one. What harm could it do right? Maybe her worries would vanish, maybe she would forget her woes. She deserved one, didn't she? Reshma knew what she was thinking was dangerous. It could ruin her already ruined life. Better to give it back to Ishaan as soon as he comes tomorrow.

So that his life is even more messed up? her consciousness asked. Taking a quick decision, she took out the packets, poured it out into the box, rushed to the bathroom, mixed random detergents into it, and flushed it down the toilet. If he'd come back for the drugs, she'd tell him that he never left it here.

Sighing, she left the room.