VOID
Suman sat in the garden of the Tiwari house.
And she could hear all those voices again and again. It killed her that how easily, things can crumble into dust and still hover over your body like a second soul. It ruined her, each day.
My favorite cadet!
Her father's voice was drumming in her gut the day she was commissioned as an army doctor.
Captain Doctor Suman Tiwari, she pressed the feeling of those words behind her tongue bitter in her gut. Kanchan was away in Ambala, doing her post-graduation. Her Uncle- Aunty were setting up their business in Indore. So when she had looked ahead in the crowd full of unfamiliar claps, she could just imagine the silver lining of her parents and of course him. Her parents were ghosts of memories and Shravan's alter figure was an impression of her mind, the only thing she could remember about him- his smile and his adoration for her.
A blink.
A flutter.
A breath.
And there she was all alone, once again. It never mattered if she was holding a drill, an OPD, or was just sitting in the silence of her room- she was hollow and thoughtless.
The only changed truth was that Shravan is now a Captain too. He emerged as the topper in his NDA batch, and now his praise sits on everybody's lips in the Cantt.
She pondered if he too missed her father on the day of his commission.
If he too felt her void in the crowd?
Suddenly she could see him walking across the manicured expanse of his garden. He walked in a lazy rhythm, different from what he always did. There was a breeze of the past in his demeanor. As he looked on the other side, his eyes met hers.
It felt like peeking into the past, the last time they had hugged each other in happiness. or maybe- he didn't know!
Would you have hugged me tighter if you knew it was the last time we were meeting?
A question, so heavy for their fragile eye contact, broke it apart.
Suddenly, she could feel a kind of lethargic anxiety taking over her senses. So when she again looked up, she found him walking away on the other side.
Still, it felt he was coming closer.
Funny isn't it?
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