Chapter 1
Massive explosions and gunfire sounds could be heard all over my precious city and the entire world. I have been hiding in an undercroft with my group of fellow strangers since the bombing started. It hasn't been easy for us. I'll explain it to you in detail but right now I am in dire need of some PB&Js.
"hey, shelly! pass me some bread"
"Remember Lila, they are for everyone and we have-"
"Limited supply yeah yeah I know."
I made my PB&Js and went to eat with sid. One thing you need to know about sid is that he's an asshole but a loving asshole. Also, my guy's 6'1 and an athlete so you can imagine the sexual tension between him and the girls we have over here. Hehe, just kidding. No, I wasn't but ok.
"Hey hey! Lila, what are you doing?"
"what does it look like I am doing? idiot"
"you aren't supposed to eat thrice in a day man come on"
"STOP YELLING, Sid I am very hungry and wrathful right now so you better not mess with me or I will tell everyone about your private 'issues'."
"you're the worst but whatever share with me"
As he said those words, something dreadful happened. All I could see was huge light and my ears were ringing. After what I think were good 10 mins, I opened my eyes and saw sid's hand on my lap and his body lying somewhere quite far from me. Everyone I knew was dead. Again. I tried to see who did this and how this happened but when I turned my head around, a loud bang on my head left me unconscious.
Let me start from the beginning, 2 weeks ago, when all of this started.
"Lila, RUN!"
"What did you do Ritu?"
"just RUN".
I started running and while doing that I turned around my head a little to take a peek at what this brat friend of mine has brought onto us. Three hugely built men were chasing us. It was 2 am and I was already pretty drunk. This is obviously exactly what I needed. Classic Ritu. After a good run of 20 minutes, we realized that they weren't after us anymore. We took a rest to catch our breaths.
"What the fuck was that! What did you do man I told you not to cause me trouble."
"cause you trouble? guess I'll just have this vodka bottle I stole, just to myself."
"You stole a whole bottle? why? We aren't broke."
"meh! I did it just for the sake of stealing."
"You are strange Ritu, I'll tell you that. Let's find a nice place to sit and enjoy the stolen 'artifact'."
"ah let's go to your place"
"And be the victim of my parent's rage and their withering damnation of me not being able to step out of my own house for what will feel like an eternity? Hell Nah!"
"You are such drama. Fine! let's go to mine."
"you won't understand," I say as we walk towards Ritu's mansion.
Mansion. Yeah, you heard it right. Her parents are loaded. I met her during my 1st year of college. She has a kind soul and can be silly sometimes. I enjoy her company. We don't usually go out and drink like this at clubs. We are just trying to enjoy the holidays. Absorbing the essence of what true carefree life feels like for once. As we walked towards her home, which by the way wasn't too far from the club, a guard was there to open the gate for us. We walked through her garden and reached the main door of her home. I have to say these people have one of the best gardens I have ever seen. All the flowers looked extremely beguiling even under the moon. But as I have already mentioned before, we were both drunk so everything was kinda spinning. She silently unlocked the door and we slid onto the terrace with our vodka.
"It was such a good night."
"I know right. That hottie just couldn't stop staring at ya. You should have talked to him."
"Ritu, you are drunk. Stop spitting nonsense."
"What? I saw it. I am sure you noticed it too. I thought he would dig a hole on your face just by those alluring brown eyes of his."
"I am sensing some strong libido from you." I laughed.
"Fuck you!"
My plan was to get drunker and just pass out on that terrace but Ritu obviously had other plans. She puked and had to use the washroom thrice so we just came back to her room. She slept and I kept drinking wondering nothing. Yeah, I realized not too long ago that drinking makes me clear-headed and nonchalant. I just drank until I passed out besides Ritu.
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The sun was shining as usual. She was still asleep. My head was aching like crazy as if someone was hammering a wall right next to me or just hammering my head. You know just casual hangover symptoms. I freshened up a little and showered because honestly, I wasn't in my best state. As I was leaving her house, her mom stopped me.
"Hey, Lila! How are you?"
"I am good aunty."
"good. you must be hungry come join us for breakfast."
"Oh no I wouldn't want to cause you any trouble"
"Nonsense. Come join us."
I sat down and she served me a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and then a dosa. Dosa is this delicious south Indian breakfast. I like it.
"When did you both come home last night? I didn't notice."
"We got a little late yeah. Ritu didn't want to wake you up so we just went to sleep right ahead."
"I see. Well, eat as much as you like."
"Thank you, aunty."
I call Ritu's mom aunty. It's pretty common here. I continued to eat my dosa. After having it, I thought of seeing Ritu off as she might have woken up by then. But she was still sleeping like a baby. I was about to leave her room when I noticed something freaky outside the window. It was pitch black at 11 in the morning. I mean it was literally so bright just a second ago. "What in the world is happening," I thought to myself. I immediately went to wake Ritu up. Took her some severe shaking and yelling to wake up.
"Bitch wake up! Look outside the fucking window."
"Let me sleep, it's still night."
"It's fucking 11 am."
"What did you just say? I swear to god if you're joking I'll kill you." She sat up and glanced at her phone to check the time.
"What is happening? Am I still asleep? Is this a dream? Lila, are we dead? Did you change the time on my phone?"
"What? NO! This is so real. I swear the sun was shining just a minute ago."
"Well, shit!"