Rama

Chapter 11

I was finishing assembling the onboarding kit for new joiners for the next day when Prakash barged into my home office. His hair was a complete mess and he was still wearing his shoes inside the house. It was unusual to see one corner of his shirt hanging out while the rest was still tucked in. He was profusely panting as if he has been running from something or someone for miles. His shirt was soaked in his sweat and his chamber bag was not with him.

Before I could register his disheveled state and ask him for the reason, he started switching off the lights and fan frantically.

"Prakash, what are you doing?" I was terribly shaken by his abnormal state and deranged actions.

"They will be here any minute. Don't make a sound." His voice was trembling and so were his hands. He tried to dash out from the room but my reflex got hold of his sleeves at the nick of time -"Who will be here? What the hell is wrong with you?"

He paused for a second and turned to face me. Even in that dark, I could see that all the colors have drained out of his face and his eyes were totally lifeless. Holding my elbows, he thrusted me away from him and then whispered - "Stay Here!".

Before I could ask any further questions, the door was loudly banged on my face and I could hear him bolting the same from outside.

I thumped the door a hundred times, shouting "Prakash, get me out of here....Prakash....."

For a moment I turned around to look at the room and although this is where I have spent almost 2 years now, it felt as if I have been locked down in a karst cave with no route to escape. The darkness seemed to have come into life and was swallowing all my oxygen. I could feel that my scream for help was becoming feebler with every passing minute. Suddenly I felt like a barbed-wire was tightening its grip around my neck and I could hardly breathe. Flashes of my past life were moving in front of my eyes like a black and white movie - I could see Appa, my childhood friend Sneha, my first crush Murali, Prakash, my marriage, our honeymoon... everything. They were like shadows circling around me but I couldn't touch them even when I desperately tried to.

By this time, I was sure I was dying. My vision was getting blurred by the sweat dripping from my forehead. I was unable to feel my legs and my hands were desperately searching for something to grab, something to lean on. I was not ready to peg out yet.

"And then I found a table, at last, and I slumped down..."

And suddenly the entire hall of Pratiksha was flooded with lights killing all the shadows and pumping air into my lungs before it would have finally collapsed. I was sitting on the floor on my foot with one foot tucked underneath the opposite leg with the heel of my shoe pressing directly into my back while holding onto the center table with a grip that made my palms go white. I could feel that my blouse was fully wet and there was a slight tinge on my lower lips and it tasted like blood when licked. 4 people standing in front of me were aghast at my state while Preet and Divya came running towards me and embraced me in a tight hug - making it slightly difficult to breathe once again.

"Are you okay, Rama? Why didn't you switch on the lights, you idiot?" Divya's heart was pulsating over my ears as if it would implode any second. Preet kept on massaging my back silently - she was almost on the verge of an impending outburst.

As I was trying to control my throbbing, I felt a hand stroking my head softly as my Appa would do whenever Amma would throw a fit about our exams. The touch worked like a magical potion and almost instantaneously, my breathing got normalized. I was afraid to look up thinking that I may just lose it. But as I shifted my gaze upwards, my eyes met his and I was stunned to see how vulnerable and soft Prabhas's eyes were. The rage that ruled them just a few minutes back had departed completely and it was very evident that he was struggling to apologize but was failing to gather the right words. "Challenges in a star's life are so different from us commoners", I inferred internally.