“Who in hell are you?” Ron thought. His brain threw countless possibilities regarding the stranger’s identity to him, ranging from ghost to Martian. Like a makeshift sorter in action, he immediately extracted the ones which were feasible. It’s funny how the brain follows a step by step manner when recognizing someone or something. One, he’s a human being. Two, he’s a rich human being judging from his clothes and the Rado on his wrist shimmering in the faint moonlight. Three, he’s a smoker. The lit cigarette between his fingers bore than enough testimony to that. Four… now the fourth was a question. What the hell was he doing up here at this hour?
It had been a crappy day at the office. Computers may be a blessing to mankind, but coding seems to be quite the curse, especially when the code doesn’t seem to unravel itself and keeps showing huge errors, emboldened and underlined. Ron’s manager, being as much of a team player as he usually was, was not in the mood to be messed with that day. “Must’ve fought with the wife before heading here”, Ron thought. But he didn’t have time to deal with the manager’s mood. A few hours later, he realized he didn’t have to. The manager’s mood had caught up with him. “Ron! Just the man I was looking for! Tell me you’ve completed your section. I’m sure you have. You havebeen at it for three days now”, he smiled. Ron could see the redness in the manager’s eyes. So he didn’t get much sleep last night either. How very convenient!!
“Not yet Hari... I’ll be done with it by the end of the day.”
“You will? Truly? My my!! It must be my lucky day!! To have you actually finish your work!! I’m so proud of you, Ron!!” He turned to face the room. “Everyone, if I may have your kindest attention… here is my star employee. Mr. Ron here has been working at a piece of code for the past three days now and today he says he needs another day to complete it. Have you ever seen such dedication to work? Such performance? Such zeal for work? Such UTTER NONSENSE??” Even a pin drop could be heard in the entire room. He turned to face Ron again. “Get it done within the next two hours or you can kiss your appraisal this quarter, goodbye.” With that he stomped out of his cubicle.
Red faced, Ron turned to his PC and started his work again. It wasn’t his fault for delaying his work. He usually had a good reputation at work for being able to deliver on time and sometimes even before time. But for the past three days he hadn’t been able to concentrate on his work. It was only three days back that Trisha had rang him up to tell him that she won’t be able to see him from that point on. The tone she had and her pauses in between only to hear her deep broken breaths, had convinced him that she had been crying till that point. She had hung up on a speechless Ron, him clearly hearing her sob as the call had ended with a metallic click.
He had called Trisha’s best friend Ana, only to find out that her parents had fixed her marriage without her consent and she had been too weak to come out of it. He realized it’s his fault as much, maybe more, than hers. Every time she had asked him whether he loved her or not, he had always procrastinated, diverting the topic to something else. He knew he liked her but was not ready for a full fledged relationship. He somewhat liked his freedom. Now that he didn’t have Trisha in his life, everything seemed incomplete. He wished like hell he could go back and tell her how much he loved her. Maybe then she would come back to him. But he was too much of a coward to do so. As a result, his professional life had taken a turn for the worse. With three days of unshaven stubble and huge dark circles under his eyes, he looked less like a human being and more like a zombie.
Late that night, not being able to sleep, he had come up to the terrace of his apartment, a pack of smokes and a mug of coffee in hand and Pink Floyd in his ears. With Comfortably Numb playing at a low, pleasant volume, he took his favorite seat atop the water tank, looking over the city, the lights making it seem alive even at that hour. He lit a cigarette, almost in slow motion and stared out into the silent night blankly. And that’s when he heard him…
“Nice night isn’t it?”
The voice startled him as he looked around for its source. He saw a bit of smoke rising from one corner of the tank. He crawled over to find him standing on the terrace, his eyes towards the city lights as well.
“Excuse me?”
“Why? You’ve done nothing wrong. Or have you?”
He grinned at him, more of a sarcastic grin. He had a goatee on his chin and short hair, carefully spiked. The baggy jeans he wore were torn at some parts but those looked more intentional and less out of use. Same was the case with his green t-shirt with Metallica printed on the back.
“Yeah whatever” Ron began to crawl back to his place.
“Hey, mind if I join you up there?”
He looked back. “I’m not really in the mood for company.”
“Neither was I, mate. But it sucks being alone, dontcha think?”
He thought for a while. “Fine… C’mon up”
In a while, both of them were atop the water tank, the stranger reclining, almost lying down. Ron began to get back to his thoughts when he heard him speak again.
“Haven’t seen you around here much. What brings you to my sanctum, friend?”
“Who’re you calling friend? And your sanctum? Last I remember, this was a free country. Now I’m not in the mood for chit chat, dude. ” Ron replied, clearly annoyed.
“Alright, okay, chill, my man.”
Ron turned back to the city lights, trying not to pay attention to the stranger.
“So, you loved her?”
Clearly taken aback, he didn’t show it on his face. He continued to ignore him.
“So you did. Why’d she leave then?”
It became too much to bear for Ron.
“Who’re you to comment about my personal life?”
“It’s that bad, huh?”
Ron stayed silent, glaring at him for a while. The stranger continued to puff smoke, seemingly enjoying Ron’s behavior.
“Chill, bro. I was just askin’ why she left, that’s all”
Ron wanted to sink a punch into his face for bothering him right then but he turned again to face the lights. After a while, he replied quietly. “Her marriage’s been fixed”
“How come she didn’t protest?”
“BECAUSE SHE….” He calmed down a little, “because she couldn’t. I’m to blame for that. I never realized, nor did I make her realize how special she was to me. And now she’s going to be someone else’s and there’s shit I can do about it.”
The stranger stayed silent for a while. Then he spoke, that inherent tone of humor gone from his voice.
“You’re chicken, mate.”
Ron was outraged. He wanted to teach that guy a lesson right then.
“You’re not only chicken, you’re a fool as well. You’re a fool coz you don’t know a good thing even when it hits you on your face and you’re chicken coz you’re too afraid to go after it when it’s left you. That girl is probably waiting for you to take her away and marry her and here you are getting rid of your responsibilities in puffs of smoke or drowning them in that mug of coffee. You, my friend, are one of those losers who don’t know when to quit on complaining about how sad and difficult their life is and yet, when something comes along to make it better, are too afraid to embrace it, just trembling at the fact that it might change your sick, pitiful lives into something better. I pity your existence, my friend”
“You don’t know shit, alright? It’s not that simple. You can’t just go and tell a girl that’s getting married in a few days that you love her. What if she’s happier with the new guy?”
“Nice!! Blame it on the new guy, I always say…” He chuckled, letting out another puff of smoke.
Ron stared at the stranger with intense malice, but it didn’t seem to bother him. He kept humming the Smoke on the Water tune, apparently aloof to his surroundings. Ron turned away from him only to realize that his eyes had begun watering. A few drops rolled down his cheeks when he felt a hand on his shoulder. The stranger motioned to the smoke rising from the cigarette held in his limp fingers.
“Happiness is like that smoke, mate. It’s there one instant, gone the next. All one can do is try to enjoy its influence as long as it lasts, like a drug. Ya feel me?”
He stayed silent for a while longer and then quietly said, “Call her.”
Ron lifted his eyes to his face, to see him smiling at him, not the mocking smile he had on all this time, but a reassuring one. He mustered all his strength and said out aloud, “I will.”
He got off the tank and walked towards the door leading to the stairs. Before going through the door, he looked back one last time to the stranger on top the tank. He was looking right at him. Their eyes met. He gave the stranger a smile, then turned and went back to his flat.
“Hello…” Trisha sounded sleepy.
“Trisha? Ron. Well I…. I know I haven’t been a…. I’ll understand if you… All I wanna say is…. ”
“Yes?”
“I love you. Will you marry me?”
He could hear sobs on the other side of the call. Then he heard her reply, apparently still crying, “Yes.”
As if a drug induced euphoria passed through Ron. He couldn’t believe his ears!! She said YES!!!
“Tomorrow, first thing in the morning, I’ll be at your house, meeting with your parents. Wait for me till then, will you?” He tried to sound cool but he could feel a knot forming at his throat.
Her reply was barely a whisper, “Yes, I will”
He hung up and stood there for a while. The stranger had been right. He must remember to thank him when they meet next. He must be from this apartment. He’ll seek him out if he has to. He lied down, closing his eyes drift into a peaceful sleep after three long days.
“Call the ambulance quick!!”
“Someone get a doctor!!”
Ron awoke with a start wondering what was happening. He opened his front door, to see people rushing downstairs. He caught hold of the neighbor's 10 yr old kid.
“What happened? What’s the commotion about?”
“There’s been a suicide!!”
Ron rushed downstairs with the crowd, to see a large group already formed around the suicide spot. He pushed through the crowd and spotted the body lying in a pool of blood. The face was smashed beyond recognition. All he could make out was a pair of torn jeans and a blood-smeared green t-shirt with Metallica printed on the back. He stood dumbfounded, rooted to the ground. He heard someone say, “They say his girlfriend had left him. He took it real bad. But I never thought he’d do this to himself”
Ron opened his mouth to speak. But all he could manage was, “And he called me chicken”.
~
