Chapter 4 : The Rain and The Boy

His touch. It felt different. We were friends. We were always friends but today it felt different. My heart was pounding. I didn’t understand it at all. He grabbed on to me and hugged me. The back of my neck was getting hot, my mouth dry. I felt parched. My breathing was getting heavier by the second and just then, that very moment, he squeezed me tighter.

‘Calm down’

I gulped. 5 minutes back, we were all playing on the street. He decided to watch from the sidelines as always, the injury on his foot prevented him from participating anyway. He always watched us play, intently. Then it started raining. We hurried to find a shelter. The open ground made it difficult for us to run the same direction. But he waited for me, held out his hand, I caught it, we ran. Found a decent cover in the old garage by the ground.

I stood there looking at him, his gaze was fixed at me. What was this air? It felt weird.

‘Do you have school tomorrow?’ He asked.

‘Hmm. Yes.’

‘Then you shouldn’t be so wet. Come close, I’ll keep you warm.’

And It had come to this. I was scared. He began to unbutton my shirt. I hesitantly tried to break free.

‘Maya. We need to dry this. You don’t want mother thinking that you played in the rain, do you? She will be mad.’

I calmed down. He was right.

Mai had a nasty temper when it came to playing outside in the rain, Mai never understood the smell of wet soil, the freshly painted green on trees. Mai wasn’t good at showing it, but I knew she loved me in her own way. But today she’d be mad, if she knew I got wet like this. So I stood still. My breath a little heavy because I couldn’t understand what I felt. Maybe it was the fact that this room was abandoned for years together. Maybe it was the fact that it felt so closed, no fresh air. Maybe it was the fact that the rust this place had accumulated throughout the years, was sticking to my wet skin.

My shirt was off, only a thin layer of a black undershirt separated his skin from my body. He unbuttoned my pant.

‘Maya?’ An echo bounced off the walls of that rusty room. I couldn’t recognize the voice over the heavy rain, but I could see the silhouette of a big boy.

The man backed away almost immediately. The boy walked as I stood in place trying to place him from my memories.

‘Mikel..’ I groaned.

 

Chapter 3: Sleeping with the Ashes

I looked up. Either the lights had gone off or I had entered afterlife. I could still smell the foul stench of dead something. Rats, dog, another Maya. I felt relief. If the good guys had gotten here and if they were winning, I was happy that I got to know that before I died. The room was dark so I didn’t see much but I did hear enough to know that someone had blasted…something…someone. I didn’t care. I wanted to die. I was tired. I wanted to sleep. I wanted to see Mikel one last time. I wanted to tell my mother it wasn’t her fault. I felt light, like I was being lifted. Maybe this was goodbye.

***

‘Maya?’

I woke up with a start. My breathing was heavy and tired. The more air I gulped, the weaker I felt. I had to blink my eyes several times before my eyes could see properly. I saw someone. A boy.

‘Mikel?’

I tried to pick myself up and look at him. For the briefest moment I thought my eyes were being tricked; Sebas.

I smiled and touched his hand. Sebas came back to get me. He should’ve left but he didn’t. Who could tell? The scrawny one showed the brawny ones who was stronger and smarter. I looked around to see wet walls.

‘It’s a cave.’

‘Where…’ Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t speak. I was sleepy.

‘It’s close to the quarters but protected. You should rest, we have a long way to go.’

**

I heard clicking. The kind that you hear when someone types a typewriter only softer. I didn’t open my eyes, I just kept still. I wanted to breathe in the peace before I didn’t have it anymore. Before I realized that I was in a cave with Sebas and no knowledge of where Mikel was. Before Sebas told me something bad happened and I started to asphyxiate and Sebas tried to save me again. I wanted to feel this peace for tad bit longer. I tried to block the clicking but I couldn’t. I tried to think of the rain, the rain when I met Mikel. I always loved rain. The smell of wet soil. The smell of blood. I got up abruptly. I looked around. Sebas wasn’t there but the clicking continued. I was coming from inside but where? It was a closed off cave, but the clicking continued. I looked around to see the world’s tiniest frog. It was so pretty, so yellow. It couldn’t have been bigger than a paper clip.

Sebas entered with his hands full of fruits.

‘Sebas look! It’s a yellow frog!’

Sebas looked at me and pulled me.

‘Get up Maya, we have to leave.’

‘What? Why?’

‘That’s a dart frog. It’ll kill you.’

I looked at the little frog making his way to me. Such a beautiful thing and yet it could kill me by a touch? I backed up as fast as I could. Even when getting out I kept looking at the frog. I felt like I knew that frog, somewhere back home I was that frog.

‘Thank God, you’re safe.’

I turned and hugged Sebas. ‘God had nothing to do with it, you had. Thank you, again.’