Dreams can change you

Rahul and Samantha were just done with the hundredth fight for the day. What were they fighting over? They themselves were not very sure. All they knew was that the very sight of each other made them crave to run away from each other. Or at least that is how Rahul felt like.

It was probably a lot harder for Samantha, since she fought against her parents for him. She betrayed and left them for him. She was thrown out of the church, since she had a Hindu husband. She was denied the right of baptism for her daughter, since she did not have a church to call her own. In short, life was hell for the first few years as man and wife with Rahul. But now, it turned out to be a lot more difficult. She missed him, and still loved him. Probably a lot more than when they were in college. But she was unaware of the reason for the sudden change in Rahul for the past few years.

He enjoyed being with his friends rather than at home. He enjoyed returning home late at nights drunk and out of his senses. He enjoyed beating Samantha once he returned home, for ‘sweet’ nothings. He enjoyed hurting her, and she enjoyed being hurt.

This time, they were returning from a party, where they had no other choice but to bare each other’s sight. It started off with Rahul complaining about her talking to another guy instead of to him. He was busy talking to another lady, and so the fight went on. The next thing Rahul knows is opening his eyes with tubes stuck to his noses and the beep of the ICU monitor. And the news of Sam’s death.

After a month’s stay at the hospital, Rahul returned home, which didn’t really seem like home anymore. Shreya was the only person who helped him with coping back to life. Her smile reminded him of Sam’s smile. When she got angry, he remembered Sam getting angry when he scolded her. When she cried listening at him getting angry, he wished Sam was there for him to beg forgiveness. He missed her, he wished for her to be with him, for him to caress her, to love her, the way she loved him in return.

But life had to move on. And so it did. He had a tough time looking after Shreya all alone. He left his alcohol bottles and the ‘evil’ friendship that came along with them. He devoted his life to bringing up Shreya in the best way possible, to make her happy, him happy and most of all Sam happy. He got back early from work, spent time with Shreya and helped her with her homework. He managed to make her eatable meals, which she had without a word of complain. But she asked about Sam at times. Too young at her age to accept the fact that she would never she her mother ever again, Rahul hid the fact till he thought was the appropriate time. But at times, he felt he was cheating on her. But he loved too much and the fear of losing her as well kept him going.

While walking to a nearby restaurant on a sunny Sunday afternoon, with Rahul busy on the phone, Shreya prefers walking on a zig-zag manner, only to fall and be hit by a speeding car.

With the thud of the plate, Rahul gets up. He realizes it was all a dream. He ran to the kitchen, to see Sam scared, for if it were a usual Sunday, Rahul would now be beating Sam for being clumsy and ruining his precious sleep. But today she saw him running towards her and hugging her. She felt him next to her. She felt hi loving her, the same way he loved her in college. And she returned the hug, hoping he would never go back to that sinful person that he was before his dream.

P.S: Sometimes people forget to express the love and feelings they have towards each other. and that is when God pinches you with ‘nightmares’ as they are called, to remind you that you better hurry up before it is too late.