Mortala

 "Jija Ji, I am at the old complex near school. Come fast Jija Ji, there is this boy, and he isn't breathing. Please come fast, I don't know what to do.", I said as I was looking at the boy, petrified by what I saw.
"I am on my way.", he responded and quickly hung up the call.

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It was a half-day at our school because of Annual festivities, so me and my friends, Hima, Deependu and Akshaya, got out of our class and started teasing each other as we walked our way back.

"Let's see who reaches first.", Hima said and started racing towards our favourite place, the courtyard.
After school hours, my friends and I go to the courtyard in our school compound where there is a huge tree surrounded by a retaining wall. The ground was covered with jelly stones. The sight was blissful, so was the air. Just looking at that tree can bring one a wave of inner peace.

"C'mon you lazy girls. Let's climb the tree. How hard can it be?" Hima asked us in excitement.
Akshaya and Deependu looked at her in disagreement.
Hima raspberry blew her and ran. She was about to climb the tree when all of the sudden a skinny boy pushed her down. 

Akshaya ran towards Hima and helped her get back on her feet.
Hima brushed off her skirt and pushed the boy back and accused him about something. The boy talked back at Hima. I was rattled and shouted at the boy and some point there, I even raised my hand at him but I was stopped by Deependu. Hima told the boy to leave, who was shocked and feared like we had ragged him, which made me regret my action. 
I sat there with hands on my face.

When the boy left, Hima started smirking and said, "Did you see him cry?"
"You are one insult away from starting a war Hima.", Akshaya shrieked lightly.
 Akshaya confronted me about my obnoxious behaviour which made me feel even worse.
"He was defending himself about a fake rumour spread in our school about him when Hima accused him..." giving Hima an angry look, "... to get back at him for pushing her. But you shouldn't have reacted that way", Akshaya advised me for which I replied, "Whatever happened, happened. It's over now."

After spending some time there, I felt better and we then started walking towards the next block. The girls tried to keep my mind up with constant talking although I was a bit guilt-stricken for what I was about to do to a small kid. We walked towards an old complex where we usually spend every evening, sitting together at the top edge, watching the sun drop the horizon.
Since we were here early, we had a lot of time to kill so we all just started walking through the verandah.

Although, we had been here for a long time, we had never checked the place out before, 'cause we only come here in the evening to watch the sunset.

There were more than just one entrance door opening and multiple staircases. The building is more like abandoned and all the doors, glasses were taken away leaving huge holes in the wall.
While checking out the place, we came across with the same boy I shouted at. He was walking down the fire stairs, outside, and I ran towards him, followed by the others. He was about 4 steps from the ground when I called him out loud. The boy turned around and tried to run away just as he saw me. I begged him to stop. He stopped and turned at us, scared I guess.

I apologized to him for my rude behaviour, which he wholeheartedly accepted saying, "It's okay. We are good now." with a smile. It was shocking for me to see such a kind person but I accepted the honour and smiled back at him. He introduced himself as Ayaan.

For the next few hours, we all talked and laughed with each other telling stories. He was a listener and loved to hear us talk.
"Can you see that two tall palm trees over there?", I asked him pointing at a distance.
He nodded in agreement.

"That's about where I live. The palm trees are behind my yard. You can easily recognise my house with a pink cycle on the front...", I said with a funny laugh,  "... and Deependu and Akshaya are neighbours in that tall apartment right over there..." I told him as I was pointing at their apartment building and then pointing at a house I continued, "... that's Hima's house at that corner".
He gave me a warm smile.

We all watched the sunset in silence and it was quite peaceful watching the birds fly over and the sky turning orange. Just as the sun dropped, we all went home.

Next day around 5 in the morning, someone knocked on my window. I opened it and found Ayaan asking me to sneak out. I brushed my teeth, grabbed my phone and snuck out.

It was dark and we both walked to the complex. We sat on the side looking out waiting for the sunrise. We were able to see the ground floor and he told me, "This place reminds me of the choices we have, didi; a beautiful scenery outside or the rusty ruins inside. It is always our choice to choose our perspective on everything. " What he said made sense to me. I smiled while looking at the sun.
He, with a bit shrill and shy, asked me if he could lie on my shoulder. I smirked and said, yes. We were the only ones in the building and outside, thus it was really quiet and peaceful.

We both saw the sun rising and he asked me if I had watched a sunrise here. 
"Well... I did spend quite a long time watching the setting sun with my gals, although I have never seen a sunrise before." 

He got up and looked at me in disbelief.
"What? I am not a morning person.", I said awkwardly.
"Well, this is the best morning of my life, didi. Now I can sleep peacefully.", he laid on my right shoulder saying this and closed his eyes with a smile on his face.
I let him sleep for some time.

A bit later I checked my phone to find the time was 7 in the morning. I thought of leaving home, so I called him.

I tried to wake him up, but he wasn't responding. It was making me freak out. I shook him and he fell to the back when I moved my shoulder a bit. He wasn't responding and almost like a corpse. My heart was pounding and I was petrified and terrified, not knowing what to do. My mind was completely blank.
All of a sudden I remembered my brother-in-law, Jija Ji, who is a doctor at a hospital nearby, who is currently living with us. I called him immediately. He didn't pick his phone up. I repeatedly called him about 5 times, yet he didn't pick up the phone. I couldn't call my sister as she was at work. I alternatively called the home landline and him, when finally he picked up the call.

"Khushi, what's wrong? If this is about the Sunday special sundae ice cream you wanna talk about, it's in the freezer. You know I had a night shift, and I literally just slept now.", he said with half-consciousness.

"Jija Ji! No! There is this boy..." I started crying, "...he".
"Beti, where are you? Are you okay? Are you safe? What is wrong?" His tone rose and I was not able to reply to him as it was hard to breathe.
I held my tears and took my breath and said, "Jija Ji, it's not me. There is this boy. He isn't breathing. I am in the old complex, near my school. Please come fast. I don't know what to do."
"I am on my way", he hung up the phone.

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It felt the time was still, I couldn't stop crying when I held him in my arms. My eyes were dried up, it was my inside that cried an ocean. I no longer could cry, talk or even hear anything around me. I saw from the top, my brother's car arriving and him, searching for me and his lips moving or more like shouting. I could utter nothing. I could just see him, but I couldn't react to anything or even hear at all.
He saw me looking at him and quickly climbed the stairs and ran towards us. He took the boy from my arms and placed him on the ground. I sat on the side while Jija Ji was examining him.
The equipment was used and chest compressions were too given. My brother-in-law always had a positive mind about everything and he wasn't that person who just gave up on someone. All that time, I couldn't breathe properly.

A moment later, I realised I was blacked out for some time. I could see my brother-in-law calling my friends. They lived nearby thus arrived quickly. 

I wondered why he stopped checking the boy. Until I realised any more attempts were hopeless.
My mind was completely lost, so was my voice. It felt like someone was choking me, and stabbing me right on my chest. My legs were too weak and the air was too thin to breathe.

He came yesterday in our lives as a stranger. He left as our friend. Well, it wasn't what I thought it would be. All that moment with him flashed before my eyes. My chest was tightly held by my emotions. I leaned onto the wall, knelt and burst into tears. I no longer couldn't feel anything. I felt everything at that point.

I covered my face in my hands and I let my emotions drown me.