What The Eyes Don't See

13 | A New Life

A senior man who was chatting up with the security guards at the building gate was the one to see him first.

Blinking against the growing darkness of the sunset, the man hollered, "Hey! What is that boy doing? Oh God, is he trying to jump out of his window?"

Suresh Oza, the retired banker, was a father of three sons, all of whom were settled outside the country. He had all the time in the world to talk about issues that did not matter to him. Gossiping about an alleged murder by that debauched single man living on the fourth floor of the E wing was the kind of thing that he and his group of retirees were happy to talk about. But the man trying to kill himself by suicide was a twist in the tale that was hard to take even for him.

"Do something, guard! Save the man!" Oza shouted.

The guard fumbled. "What can I do, sir?" Turning to Anay up in his window, the guard blew his whistle hard and waved his hands, "Sir, get down, sir. You will fall!"

"Idiot, that's precisely what he's trying to do," Oza screamed at the guard.

Another guard left his post and ran up to the building in a bid to reach the fourth floor as quickly as possible. More people gathered below. A group of boys in the park left their game of football and came to watch this more interesting show.

For Anay up there, everything was a blur. How long would they shout? How long would he hear them? In a few seconds, no noise would ever be able to reach him.

"You cannot do this, young man!" Oza shouted as if it was a rule he had laid down. "You cannot end it like this. Be a brave man and face the consequences."

Face the consequences?

"I have done nothing!" Anay shouted angrily, not sure who he was trying to convince.

Oza looked at the gathered crowd and shook his head helplessly. "The youth of today," he told the people loud enough for Anay to hear. "First they do such things and then they cannot face it even."

That was it! Anay shut his eyes and shut out all the noise. No one could reach him. He cut out those horrid visuals of the screaming guards and the old man and everyone else, and of the chalk outline that he was going to meet soon. Perched on the balcony ledge with his feet curled around it and his hands outstretched, he looked much like a diver ready to take the plunge.

People gasped. The shouting increased. There was banging on his door, trying to break it down. The watchman had evidently reached.

Anay shut his eyes and began to count in his mind...

"Five...four...three..."

He felt like a free bird. He saw the pain going away. He gathered his last ounce of courage...

"two...one..."

It was at that exact moment that something most incredible happened.

He felt a grip around his waist. It was as if someone had a tight hold of him at the waist. It was a firm grip, kind of a wrestler's hold. He could feel the musculature of the palms of the hands and, as he was hoisted in the air, he was aware that whoever it was that had grabbed him was blessed with a great deal of strength. Before he could open his eyes and see who the person was, he was pulled back into the balcony and dropped on the floor. Anay screamed in agony as his back crashed against the floor of his balcony. He hadn't just been dropped; it was as if he had been flung in anger. And as if that was not enough, the next moment, he experienced a strong gust of wind. It was so strong indeed that it swept him back into the house with great speed and that was where he crashed and landed—backed up against the wall of the house.