SHADOW

  • 02 Feb - 08 Feb, 2019
  • Nadeem Alam
  • Fiction

6:30 a.m: Her mobile phone rings. It is the alarm. She wakes up and puts it on snooze. While still lying in bed, she turns to her left and watches him sleep, so peacefully.

Farhan was the love of her life. They both knew each other for the past five years. He worked in a multinational company and had shifted with his mother near her home. Soon, their mothers became friends and started visiting each other. The friendship turned into a relationship when Farhan asked for her hand. She had met him couple of times. He was smart, intelligent and sensitive. She had started liking him.

6:40 a.m: Alarm rings again. She gets up from the bed and shuts off the alarm. While standing beside the bed she looks at him. He is still asleep. They both got married two weeks ago and shifted to a new apartment. She works as a receptionist at a renowned school in the area. She was granted leave for two weeks only but she took it positively. She liked her job a lot as it provided her an opportunity to remain surrounded by people most of the time and kept her busy. That was her psychologist’s advice as well. So, she never thought of quitting her job and Farhan supported her decision. She picks up the phone and sends reply to a couple of messages and then puts it down.

6:50 a.m: She is really getting late for school. She takes a last look at her sleeping hubby who had few more days of leave left and rushes into the dressing room.

7:15 a.m: While making coffee in the kitchen, she recapitulates last two weeks. It was the best time of her life. She had not seen any scary thing since her marriage. She recalls the time when she first saw it. A shivering cold wave travels through her spine. She looks around with fearful eyes but finds nobody. She engulfs the whole cup of black coffee in few sips and goes to her bedroom. He is still sleeping. Strangely, he had not changed his side. She notices it but looks at her watch and hurriedly runs to the door.

8:15 a.m: Assembly is over. She is receiving felicitations from everyone at school. She thinks of her sleeping hubby and smiles. Time of her hallucinations was finally over. Her doctor had told her to get married. Farhan knew about her condition too. Everybody was supportive. Her thoughts are soon shattered by the voices of children who are now running all around her. She makes her way to the reception and continues receiving congratulations.

9:00 a.m: She sends first text message to Farhan but does not get any reply. He must still be sleeping. She thinks for a while and then smiles. She puts her phone back in the purse and gets busy with the incoming parents seeking information about new admissions.

10:30 a.m: Break Time. She sends another text to him. No reply. She calls him but to no avail. She thinks of his casual attitude as he often forgets to unmute his phone when he wakes up but starts worrying a little bit too.

10:50 a.m: Break is over and she gets busy like a bee. She keeps thinking about him whenever she gets alone and checks her mobile phone every few minutes.

12:30 p.m: She sends a text message to her own phone number just to verify that it is working. She receives back the message within seconds. She calls on his number again. There is still no response. What the heck is he doing? She starts getting agitated.

1:30 p.m: Home time. She quickly collects all her stuff and rushes towards the gate. Before she could get out, a peon intercepts her and gives the message that the principal wants to see her now. She had already met principal twice during the day. Now what does she want? Halfheartedly, she turns back and starts walking towards the office. Outside the principal’s office, she spots two policemen. She herself had let them in about ten minutes ago as they came to meet the principal. Ignoring them she enters the principal’s office and finds a police inspector sitting there. She is told to wait in the staff room.

1:35 p.m: She calls him again but no reply. She starts having goose bumps. All sorts of bizarre thoughts cross her mind. Hope he is all right. She calls her mom but there is no reply. Now she starts feeling sick.

1:45 p.m: She is summoned into the principal’s office. Police persons standing outside the office are staring at her. She starts to shiver in the summer sun. It becomes increasingly difficult for her to breathe. She closes her eyes and recalls her doctor telling her that she is alright now. Her dual personality has been cured. Her evil twin is long gone. She opens her eyes and suddenly sees her shadow getting away from her. She faints.

4:00 p.m: She wakes up on a hospital bed. Her mother is sitting by her side. She looks around with hollow eyes. Suddenly she recalls something and starts screaming, “I killed him, I killed him,” and loses her conscious again.

5:30 p.m: Her eyes are closed. She feels warmth in her left hand. Anxiously, she tightens her grip and feels his hand. She dares not open her eyes.

5:35 p.m: She hears him say her name. Slowly she opens her eyes and finds him standing right in front of her. She grabs him tight. Tears start rolling down from her eyes. He tells her that his phone was snatched in the morning when he went to the bakery to get some stuff after she left. She holds him tighter.

6:50 p.m: They are interrupted by a doctor who tells them that she collapsed in school probably due to stress and weakness. She knows it otherwise. She could tell that this day will come again and then he will not be here to bring her back to life. She closes her eyes and starts making plans of letting him go before it is too late. She has to make that sacrifice and spend rest of the life with her own shadow. •

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