Fall From Heaven …

I know what it feels like to be invisible. I know because for the rest of the world, I have always been invisible. No one has asked me my name but since this is my story, I want you to know that my name is Aisha and I hail from Newport, Oregon. I have always been a loner but the one thing that has always kept me happy have been books. That is why, without a second to waste, I took the job of a Librarian when the position opened up. But I think God has a sense of humor ‘cause with making me this ‘invisible’ girl, he also made me clumsy. You see how that is a joke, right? I like books, I am a librarian but I always end tripping with those pile of books I carry! I know you are laughing but hear me out, the best part is yet to come. I get paid to remember faces and the likes and dislikes of people and what kind of books they like but I always, and I mean always end up embarrassing myself because I don’t remember who is who! I mean, in this day and age, you might think that Gen Z can just kindle their books but no! They have to come to the library and they have to come to the counter and see my blank expression when I forget who they are! Misery had a discount offer when it was dumping things on me. But my story has come to a weird place. You see, right now, I am waiting. Waiting next to the tallest roller coaster in the tri-state area ‘cause I am about to meet the boy of my dreams. Well, before I go into the schematics of my heart and how hard it is beating, I wanna tell you that being a Librarian did finally pay off. Not just with me sitting alone after work hours and being lost in books but also it’swhere I met my Prince Charming. Those blue eyes and blonde hair with his buttery smooth skin and a physique to go, oh-la-la, a random, chance encounter where clumsy me tripped yet again and Michael was there to catch me. When I looked into his eyes, it was like all the paintings in the world got submerged into one and created this beautiful living creature. This creature who’s very purpose was to save me … from everything. So I wait. Wait in despair and excitement. In anxiety and nervousness for him to arrive and every second feels like an eternity.

 

Heights don’t frighten me. That is why whenever I have to access the ladder to keep those vintage books all the way at the top, I don’t flinch. The books falling because of my clumsiness, well, that is the different story al together and all too tragic and boring for me to discuss now. Heights, don’t scare me and that is why the screams of all the people on the roller coaster behind me doesn’t affect. This roller coaster is called ‘Fall From Heaven’. A weird name for a roller coaster but it states that it has a drop of 600 feet from the air which makes one feel that they are touching the heavens. I honestly find that funny. But now, I am not smiling. As I told you before, I wait in anticipation. I ain’tno fashion diva but when Michael told me to meet him here, I made sure I wore my dark green dress which I haven’t worn before. I know this isn’t a date but it feels like a date to me. The way he was asking me if I was ok when I was in his arms, it felt like someone was playing the violin and the nerves of my heart were it’s strings. I couldn’t hear anything beyond the words, ‘You should join me at the theme park this weekend. It’s going to be fun.” Imagine the best moment of your life happening right in front of you and you are so happy, you just keep nodding your head like an AI Robot whose circuit is all screwed up. So, I wait, trying to look pretty, in a world who has always told me I won’t be pretty enough. And then, the wait which felt like eternity ends with joy as I see Michael in the distance. Oh my, how handsome he is! That football jacket and that masculine perfume which I can smell all the way from there to here. Michael is truly too good to be true. But the moment he keeps coming to close me, I start feeling this dread. Dread, because I notice that he isn’t alone. There are a few boys and girls with him. My mind immediately tells me that this isn’t a date but just a friendly rendezvous but my heart keeps telling me to have hope as the night is still young and the miracle called Michael has already come in my life. But what happened next, ripped me to pieces. Even the shards of glass were crying when they were inflicting the pain which came when I saw Michael kissing Cassandra, the prom queen! Not only was this a ‘casual’ meet, it was also by far, the worst day of my life.

 

They say life flashes in front of your eyes when you die but I think I didn’t have to wait for my end to come for what that flash meant. Seeing Michael and Cassandra kissing and being oh, so in love was like death to me. Take it from me, don’t be like me, a loner who God abandoned and who convinced herself that God actually had made her this way so she could find true love and then marry him and become Mrs. Michael but no, God just seems to keep laughing at me, over and over again. First, with dad leaving, then the bullies at school calling me sad Wilma, you know from scooby-doo but that Wilma was classy, I, for them have always been trashy Wilma and a reject. And now … this!!! I mean, where is the fairness in all this? Why are those boys and girls and the prom queen still walking with Michael and coming towards me! Why is godstill inflicting this pain and horror on me? But as time waits for no one, that moment arrived when they all came and stood besides me and it wasn’t Michael but Cassandra who spoke to me. She said, “So you are the nerd Michael keeps talking about?” Wait, did she just call me a nerd and hold up, did she just say that Michael keeps talking about me? Is there still hope? Will Cassandra, the perfect beauty feel an insecurity by me and my love for books and knowledge and leave Michael? Can this miracle actually happen with me? Before I could start a fairy tale in my head and have three babies with Michael, it is Michael this time who speaks up and says, “She isn’t a nerd, she actually is very smart and she is helping me with my paper. Speaking of which, did you get the assignment I had told you to write?” Oh, my, god !!!Michael thinks I am smart and that is the best compliment I have ever received, well, in fact, the only compliment I have ever received! This isn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Michael just didn’t save me from falling that day, he also saved me! Saved me from own despair. But wait, why is it that I am feeling a sense of dread and despair now? Oh lord, oh lord … Damn it! That’s it! It’s what Michael said AFTER the compliment which is making me sweat! That assignment! I forgot all about it! I, invisible Aisha had one job and that was to bring Michael his assignment so I could help him and he would eventually in a few years, fall in love with me but when it rains it just doesn’t pour, for me, a thunderstorm comes with it!

 

“You forgot? Are you serious right now?! You had told me that you would be delighted to do the assignment for me and when we meet here, you would give it to me and now you are telling me that you forgot all about it?! Damn it Aisha! I was so looking forward in getting a B in Literature and now thanks to you and your GREAT sense of memory I am gonna get a D-! Thanks a lot Aisha!” “Let’s just go Michael and let this person we don’t care about just stay here and let her reflect on her bad life choices!” …

I could still hear the screams from the people on the roller coaster. I could still see people buying candy and taking selfies. I could still see the world moving but I know it was moving without me. Michael and Cassandra and their clique walked away and I was there, standing alone. I was feeling a whirlwind of emotions. Hate for Cassandra, angry on Michael and pity for myself. I don’t think I would ever recover from this trauma. I don’t think I would ever be happy. My one true love has gone away and all because of my stupid memory. All because I was nodding my head like an idiot and so lost in Michael eyes, that I forgot he was also mentioning his assignment to me! My life is over. What is left now? What is there to loose? Nothing, right? And that is why, as tears were rolling down my cheeks, I decided that I would just sit on the roller coaster and never step out of it. Since my life is a whirlwind, I think being in an instrument of chaos and madness suits my life to the T. And so, alone I sat with the two seats next to me empty. I attract emptiness and so this scenario completely justifies me. The safety instructor comes and checks whether I have the belt put on tight and whether the chest rest is completely submerged and touching my breast bones. Ironic for the girl who is always clumsy. That thought almost made me laugh. And then, in a few seconds, the coaster stands to ascend. Slowly and slowly, like a tease, it ascends and everything for me becomes small. The people become small, the flashes on their phone become small and someplace, even their judgements. We finally reach the very top and in any second now, this coaster is going to descend and the screams will return. But it doesn’t move. It just lays there, like a giant, fallen asleep on the top of a mountain. I then hear the operator announcing, “Ladies and gentlemen, please remain calm. There is a small malfunction in the machine and we are already fixing it. The ride will resume shortly.” I hear murmurs and sounds of panics from the other people on the ride but I feel something else. Here, on top of the world, I sense the quietness. I feel the cold air tickling my face and just over the horizon, I see the last rays of the sun saying it’s goodbye to me. I start to cry but not because I am hurt but because I am overwhelmed with such beauty and grace. I feel like I am truly in heaven. Oh my god! This is so pretty! And then it hits me. Then I understand. I was supposeto come up here. I was suppose to see this magnificence and be in awe. I was suppose to realize what God wanted to show me after all, that being alone isn’t a wrong thing for God is with me. Being clumsy or forgetful isn’t wrong for God is always with me. Being in pain isn’t bad for God is with me. God, always has been with me. I was just too stubborn to see it. To scared to not think what others thought of me and too timid to accept that I actually was special.

 

They say, your life flashes before your eyes when you die but for me, it wasn’t death nor heart break which did that. It was this moment right here. Alone, in heaven, along with God. I then closed meeyes, and suddenly a smile appeared on my face. A smile which I have never smiled before and before you know it, the coaster was back online and like an angel, I came back to earth. 

 

The End.

The Woman In White ...

 

It’s New Year’s Eve …

The entire world is excited and is in a celebratory mood.

This 2-Storey Lavish House Party, isn’t any different.

We see people coming in with big smiles and having a glass of their favourite cocktails in their hands, dancing to the tunes of Bollywood. Everyone is excited for this coming year with hopes and dreams and aspirations, as they were the year before.

But one man isn’t a part of this celebration. In fact, he isn’t happy at all. This man is called Raj and the truth is in the middle of the loud music and dance moves gone wrong, he is sickly worried. He doesn’t have a glass in his hand and neither he is meeting and greeting the people inter-locked in this house. His eyes are looking, frantically, for someone. Someone he came in this party with but who vanished without a trace. The only thing he can do is try to find her and retrace his steps to unfold this mystery of the disappearance of the beautiful woman in white he came with. Raj is convinced that he will find her. After all, this is just a house party and the color white will surely pop-out in these make-shift neon lights. But Raj doesn’t have time, for in the next 10 seconds, the new year will begin and the woman he came with told him to not leave her side when the clock strikes 12. For if he does, she will forever be in despair. Raj, clearly not a believer in superstitions doesn’t take her words seriously but for some reason, he is still pulled in by this mysterious woman. By her mystery, by her aura. By her innocence. 

They say time is relevant and it couldn’t be more relevant to raj right now just mere seconds before the clock struck 12. As the men and women hold each other and scream 10, Raj just closes his eyes and tries to remember. Remember exactly what happened …

10!

We show Raj in his car, driving alone, lost in his thoughts and the radio turned off. Raj doesn’t want party music being played right now as he knows there is gonna be a lot of head-banging music to the party he is going too. Raj didn’t wanted to step out at all tonight but his best friend insisted that he come. It is unusual for Raj to see such empty roads in a city like Mumbai but Madh Island is still that part of the city which hasn’t been filled with an ever-expanding population, so Raj is taking in the quiet and enjoying the lone drive.

9!

As Raj is driving in the serene quiet, his eyes catch a shadow ahead. For a moment there, he is confused with what he is seeing but not more than a second later, he sees the shadow being an actual woman just waiting alone, on the side of this loom road. He immediately reduces the speed of his car, dims it's headlights and stops right in front of the woman.

8!

Raj is awestruck by this woman! She is by far, the most prettiest woman, Raj has ever seen and not only is there a charm about her but her White Satin Dress and her open hair and mascara in her eyes, is increasing her beauty to infinity. For the first time, in a very long time, Raj doesn’t have words to speak. His heart is taking beats faster than a race car! After what feels like forever, Raj finally opens his mouth to speak but before he could say a word, it’s the woman in white who speaks up.

7!

The woman in white says, “Hi, sorry, my uber broke down a few kms back and I tried too call for another one but my phone’s battery is dead and I was wondering if you could give me a lift? My house is just down the road. It will be a huge help to me.”

Raj doesn’t think twice and immediately says, “Yes, of course!” As raj gets out of the car and opens the passenger seat for the woman in white, a part of him is thrilled and a part of him is surprised with the emotions that he is feeling right now. It has been 3 years since Shikha broke Raj’s heart and since then, he has never felt this way. As Raj, sits in the driver’s seat and places his hands on the steering, he senses that his hands are sweating. He knows this is all out of the crazy adrenaline he is feeling because of the woman in white and he tries his best to keep his composure and pushes his foot on the gas and the car moves ahead.

6!

Both, Raj and the woman in white are now in silence but Raj decides he has too start talking, so raj asks, “So, where is your house?” The woman in white replies, “It’s called Bhullar House. It’s just a few minutes down the road.” Raj notices how pleasant and kind her voice is. It has a serene feeling, like someone playing the flute in an open garden. But Raj also realises that it is the same house to which he is going too! With a burst of excitement raj quickly replies and says, “I am going to the same house party too! What a coincidence!” To that the woman in white replies, “There are no coincidences. Everything is already pre-planned.”

5!

As the wheels of the car take them ahead, Raj doesn’t want the house to arrive soon, for he wants to talk to her more and more and he feels that for the rest of his life, he only wants to listen to her voice. But he knows that the house will be arriving soon and the silent emptiness won’t do him any good, so he asks her, “So, you are spending tonight with friends over there?”. To which the woman in white responds, “Actually that house is my parents. I am going there to meet them and be with them on new year’s eve. The thing is I study in Pune, Senior year college and I had told them I won’t be able to come home due to the heavy load of my studies and assignments but actually, I lied to them and I had planned to surprise them. So, this is me, surprising them. My mom and dad are very social people, so I know they must have kept a huge gathering at home. I thought, it will be the perfect cover for me to slip in quietly and go and hug them when the clock strikes 12. I hope I can do that as we are already closing in on 12am.” Before raj could say something, the woman in white starts talking again and says, “Can you do me a favour? I mean, another favour? If you would be so kind, can you please stay besides me when I am with mom and dad? I want this moment to be recorded so if you could just record me surprising them and seeing the joy on their face, I will be eternally grateful to you.” I want the new year to start with a good omen. If I don’t do that I feel I will be in despair! Raj, who is now completely mesmerised by this beauty doesn’t flinch and says, “I would be delighted too!”

4!

That moment arrives, as they see the house in front of them. The car slows down and it’s like the air goes quiet as well. Raj finds a parking spot and then shuts the engine off. But before he opens the door, he turns towards the woman in white and asks her, “I am sorry and where are my manners! My name is Raj and what do people call you?” To which the woman in white replies with a smile on her face, “Pari. People call me Pari.” Ever since his break-up, Raj stopped believing in love but when he hears her name, Raj knows, without a shadow of a doubt, in his heart, that for the very first time in his life, Raj knows what Love At First Sight feels like!

3!

Both Raj and Pari are walking towards the main door. They both can hear the loud music which is trying to tear the sound everywhere. The windows reverberate the vibrations and within a few seconds they both arrive at the main door. The door is unlocked as it should be given the number of people arriving for the party. Raj looks towards Pari. He gives her a look of pure joy, like he has found a lost treasure. Raj takes his hand to open the door but then Pari stops him and tells him, “Thank you Raj. You really helped me tonight. I honestly thought I wouldn’t make it here but because I met you, I am here, home, with my parents. I am never going to forget what you did for me.” To which Raj blushes and replies, “It’s ok. You don’t have to thank me. All I did was gave a lift to a kind soul who wanted to surprise her parents.” To which Pari replies, “Trust me, you have done more than that.”

2!

Raj opens the door and as soon as he does, his eyes are blinded with the flashing lights and smoke. His ear drums feel like they are about to burst. But raj finds his footing and the moment he looks towards Pari, she is gone. Raj looks around, left and right and his eyes try to gaze every inch of the room but he can’t find Pari. He can’t find the Woman In White. Raj tries to squeeze his broad, athletic body amongst the people dancing and twirling. He is confused and angry on himself that how could he loose Pari so quickly. He had promised her that he would record her when the new year began. He keeps looking but doesn’t find Pari anywhere. In his quest to find the enchanting woman, he stumbles upon a man and a woman, both whom tend to be in their early 50’s. Their Hair Grey, their eyes, protected by glasses and their faces long, which shows that they have seen life more than others. They smile but they aren’t smiling from the heart. They hold each other’s hands and are counting down the numbers. Raj’s eyes suddenly catches a glimpse of a photo and a face he can never forget. The photo is of Pari and oh my does she look beautiful in it. Even in this picture, she is wearing the same white satin dress, just as she is tonight. Raj is delighted and has a feeling that the people standing next to him must be her parents. Raj feels that he should stand next to them and soon Pari would find them. Raj’s guilt has gone and a sense of joy returns to his face.

1! 

He looks and waits for Pari with awaited breath and he takes out his phone and keeps it on record. He knows any moment now she is going to come and surprise her parents. He is filled with excitement!

0!

The whole room erupts together the words, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Raj looks through the crowd but he doesn’t see Pari. “Where is she?” He murmurs to himself. But then, the music quiets down and the whole room goes silent, like someone reduced the volume of a song drastically. All the guests started looking towards the direction of the couple who were standing next to Raj and even Raj gazes his eyes towards them. He notices both of them are crying and smiling at the same time and they both turn towards the picture of Pari and see in a very hush voice, “Happy Birthday Beta. I hope this joy, gives you joy as well. We love you and we will always miss you.” They both wipe their tears and turn toward the crowd and they say, “Thank you all for coming tonight. We all loved Pari very much. Not a day goes by that we don’t want her back. It was this day, 3 years ago that she was coming home to meet us and to be with us. But she was taken away from us on that lonely road when she was only minutes away from us. If that man wasn’t drinking, she would had been her with us. We have cried and grieved over her for all this time. But this year, we decided that we won’t mourn our Pari but celebrate the life she had and the joy that she gave us. I really hope that by celebrating tonight, we have somehow given her soul rest and that she is smiling at us from heaven.” The couple then say, “Happy New Year Pari!” And with that the entire crowd also repeats the words, “Happy New Year Pari!”

Raj is numb. Raj is silent. Raj doesn’t believe what he has heard. It can’t be! Pari was with him. He picked her up. He spoke to her! He felt the connection with her! Raj wants to say a thousand things but not a single word comes out of his mouth. His mind is all over the place. But then as his pulse quiets down, he looks at Pari’s Parents and then to Pari’s Photo. He keeps looking at her is again lost in her beauty. Raj understands now. Raj understands everything. Raj did keep his promise to her. Raj smiles and as he does, a tear rolls down his eye. He picks up his phone and presses it on record and looks at the frame of Pari and says in silence, for he wants this moment to only be his. He says. “Happy New Year Pari. Happy new Year My Woman In White.”

The End.