Holding Hands 3

Are dreams a portal to another world or just parallel chapters of our brains creation? 

Drawing in a deep breath, Maaya was mesmerized by the view ahead of her. A giant French window, like the ones she always saw in movies, opening to a view of a beautiful valley, lay ahead of her. The scene looked like a painting from another world; lush greens of shades she had never imagined, swayed with a gentle breeze in wayward fashion. The sky was a clear blue canvas painted with small patches of bright, fluffy, white clouds, like baby sheep running amok in a pasture. 

Maaya touched the glass sheet gently, as she ran her fingers over the oakwood panels bordering the glass panel. Her face gently pressed like a three year old child looking at candy on display. She longed to breathe in the freshness that lay ahead of her, but, there was no way she could. She looked through the glass window with longing eyes, this was the kind of destination she had been wanting to go to for a while now; to take a break from her busy life. It was magically perfect, and the more she looked outside, the more she was tempted to step out and see for herself, to experience the beauty of nature and smell the exotic looking flowers she could see in full bloom.

 Looking around the details of the tall grasses and the vista lying ahead, a familiar face caught her attention. Her view felt like as if it zoomed in on the person and she realized it was none other than her old friend Mridul. He was wearing a safety harness, for ziplining across the valley. Surprisingly, there was no safety crew around, which made her feel overtly concerned. Maaya felt a lump build up in her throat (an intuitive response of her body which she had learned the hard way, to never ignore), she wanted to warn Mridul, to prevent him from embarking on the risky adventure, a fear gripped her. Banging her hands hard on the glass wall of the window behind which she had stood moments ago as a gleeful spectator, she now felt trapped. Trying her very best, she hit her fists repeatedly, with no success. Her hands were hurting, as she tried hitting harder and harder each time, blood was rushing to her face now. 

 Exasperated, she collected all her might and yelled as loud as she physically could, to get Mridul's attention. 
"MRIDUL!!!!!!!!!" . . . . . . . ."MRIDUL!!!!!!" 

 She drew in large breaths, as she saw Mridul's head turn towards the window from where she was watching him. She felt elated, thinking her efforts had succeeded. She could tell him to get of the zipline. Flailing her arms she tried to warn him again. 

Mridul simply stared at the window for a moment and then took out his phone from his pocket, shoving it back inside the pocket of his cargo pants, Mridul secured the device, re checked his harness and went ahead with the ziplining activity. 

Maaya stared in horror, counting each second as time went by slower than it had a while back in the dimly lit room where she stood looking at the window which was serving as the only source of light. Each moment she feared for the worst, as her thoughts troubled her, finally she heard some commotion from behind her. She turned around and followed the familiar voice coming somewhere from the dark alleyway. Walking with carefully steps along the dark alley, she was greeted by a giant hall where she saw Mridul walking towards her with a big smile. She greeted him with a sigh of relief, her intrusive thoughts had made her worried sick. Taking a seat on the round table at the center of the hall, Maaya and Mridul talked with glee. 
"Tu meri baat sunta kyu nahi hai?" Pata hai kitna zor se chillayi thi main. Maaya remarked complacently, telling Mridul about her attempt at preventing him from risking the ziplining activity in the absence of the safety crew.
"To wo teri galti. Tujhe pata hai na meko shauk hai to hai, phir kyu tension paalti hai" Mridul knew, there was no point reasoning with this over thinker.
"Shauk hai to hai- Bakwaas kara leyo bas inse, koi dhang ki baat na kaho" Maaya mocked his words in a childish accent before chiding him for his irresponsible behaviour.

"Tum log ladtey rahogey ya race bhi lagaogey ab, Bhai bet lagi hui hai. Ab dekhein to kaun jeetega" Parth, a friend of Mridul, chirped in to break the fight. 
Maaya looked at the table and realized, she and Mridul were holding toy cars made in wood and metal respectively. Hers, was shaped like an alligator head, while Mridul had a metallic truck shaped like a solid box of steel. They were supposed to be racing these over the table top.
"Ready. . . . . Set. . . . . . Goooooooo" Maaya exclaimed with childlike joy, as she let go of the toy, just to realize Mridul had not released his and simply sat there looking at her. Smiling ear to ear with a joyous grin he looked at her.  

"Oooiiieeeee" Maaya turned to Mridul, "Pehle meri baat nahi maanta, ab merse saath race ni laga raha. Kyaa hai teko?" She pouted

"Dekh tu jaanti hai, haar main sakta nahi. Aur terse jeetna main chaahta nahi" Mridul gently reached out to hold Maaya's right hand, and caressed the red-blue blotches that had build up on the sides of palm (like Palmer Erythema) that had formed while she banged the glass panel a while back.

"uhmm. . . . " Maaya could not help turning red as she realized Mridul understood her fears and appreciated her concerns. 

Maaya could now see Mridul sitting at the table, his hands intertwined with hers, her head leaning on to their intertwined fingers, palms touching, faces smiling. This was a peaceful moment, and she was happy. Her view seemed to be zooming out as she saw herself smiling, face half covered with her hair and Mridul sitting right behind her, pulling her chair closer to his. Her view of the scene faded out as the chirping sounds of birds grew louder. Fading into a haze, she felt like she was coming out of a tunnel as she woke up to turn off her alarm. Rubbing her eyes, she checked her phone, it was 5:30 in the morning. She had a flight to catch, but her feelings were caught instead. She had been craving peace, and at peace she was in this dream, but was it really ? There were 3 unread texts from Mridul waiting for her. 

Continued in Part 4