Jane And Austin

Chapter 1 - Awkward

"You can't just give up on life," Susan said as I shrugged in disbelief. "You are living your life as if you want to die already."

Susan was my best friend. Her long hair flowed down to her waist. She was one of the most beautiful girls I had ever come across. Small eyes and a mesmerizing smile accompanied her beautiful face, which would fill you with optimism as soon as you would look at her, but I developed an immunity as we spent time together. There was a tint of innocence on her face and she had been my friend since we were eight. An optimist.

"I don't want anyone to have pity on me, I have told you so many times," I replied.

"Damn it, no one cares about your wheel chair, Jane."

She was kind of right, but I didn't really care, I was a stubborn person myself. It sometimes felt like it would take the sun to rise from the west for me to actually start living my life. It wasn't that I wasn't happy with my life, I had my small world, but I could have lived it better. Well, if it wasn't for my fears.

My mom came in, accompanied by Oscar, my dog, and thus putting the 'philosophical Susan' on a halt. "Do you girls need anything?" She asked.

Oscar wasn't just a pet to me. I loved him as much as my family if not more. He had always occupied the same spot Susan occupied in my life.
Family.
Oscar and Susan.
No one.
In that order.
Oscar was a golden colored Labrador who had been a part of my life since five years. He loved me and so did I. In a way, he resembled me. His spirits weren't always kissing the sky and like me, he behaved as if he had an irreplaceable void within himself. When my solitude grew into loneliness and when I felt like I grew out of love for myself, I would call him to be my companion and kept cherishing his athletic body and silky fur along with getting his unconditional love in return. Sometimes, his love saved my sinking ship. 

We all knew the answer before the question was asked. "Coffee, maybe?" Susan said running her hands through Oscar's hair.

Susan stood up from the bed, stared outside the window for a minute and then brought the chess board from the closet.

"So you want to lose again, huh?" I laughed and watched Oscar coming close to me and I slowly stroked my hands on his head.

"Let's see," Susan said, "who has the last laugh."

I loved playing Chess for two reasons. Firstly, it had many metaphorical implications and secondly, it was an escape from the awkward silence which prevailed after Suzy and I had ran out of topics to talk. The game started and mom brought the coffee meanwhile.

"CHECKMATE, Clown" I shouted as I watched her cover her face in embarrassment.

"I let you win so that I could see you happy," Suzy said as if she meant it.

"If that makes you sleep at night," I said as we both laughed it off.

Susan then began talking about how her day went at school. I was always interested in talking to the talkative version of her and more interestingly when she talked about school because I had opted for the home schooling since my debacle happened. Well, she was always the center of attraction in the school, but today, she didn't like the limelight. She was accused of checking out on Kate's boyfriend. Susan never had a boyfriend before, even though she was asked out by numerous boys in the school. She would always say that she was still searching for her 'type' and a new topic was never distant when the talk about her love sparked.

"Ugh, I would have punched that bitch if I were you," I expressed my discontentment. Kate was my friend back in the School days, but like my other friends, Kate drifted apart from me. Susan was the one who remained. The only one. Kate used to be a kind person back in the days, but everyone loses some good part of them in the course of their life like a flower which loses its beautiful petals in the course of becoming a fruit. It is inevitable. Susan was there with me through my thick and thin. I felt rather happy when I heard Susan's stories about her school, it saved me from wondering how life would be if I gave up home schooling.