Internal Bleeding
The blood is supposed to be flowing inside the body, but there are channels for regulated flow of this life fluid. When blood flows out of damaged or ruptured blood vessels and into the body spaces where it is not required or not supposed to Flo, it is called Internal Bleeding. There is no outflow of blood, and yet it is dangerous.
The last few weeks went by in a haze as Mehr found herself wrapped in a whorl of festivities. Catching up with friends and family her 10 days of Diwali break were up in a blink it seemed. Much to her surprise she did not dread going back to work, rather a wave of relief washed her over as she thought of getting away from home. It was a guilt ridden thought, but an honest one. Things had not been too great, not gone as expected.
Going back to work, first thing Mehr did was walk into her boss's office and inform her, of her change of heart. Having begged her, to let her stay back in town and work remotely for a project, a plan which till last month she had wanted to go through with. She had pleaded and reasoned with all her might and worked extra hours to make up for her expected absence. And yet, now, she made herself available and offered on site support if required. Taken aback by the sudden change of this otherwise stubborn girl, her manager could not help but stare in amazement and give her a thumbs up for the same. Every time she thought she had cracked the code, this girl simply stormed in her office with another shocker. She liked it anyway, what's work without a few hard to figure out characters that can be relied on for crisis management at the 11th hour, even if it meant dealing with their mood swings, she thought.
Mehr walked around purposefully with a brisk walk, like she had somewhere important to go. Everyone could see that, but nobody knew that she was simply trying her best to keep occupied while taking care of menial tasks which she could have passed onto her intern just as easily. Finishing up work on her sheets, she sat through the lunch break in her cubicle avoiding all form of human contact with those around her. It was her philosophy, small talks and random gossip did not account for anything humane, just human nature. She did not want to sit with Richa or Kshitij, fearing they might notice the humane side she was hiding. Thankfully to her relief Nirvan was away and not many people at work were sharp enough to notice the glitter gleam or gloom, in her eyes whether it was joy or pain.
"Ye aaj hi Sara kaam kar logi tum, kuchh kal k liye bachana nahi h?" Richa asked, in her usual wit.
"Na re, just been away for a long while it feels, trying to catch up to speed". Mehr smiled.
"Not having a good day?" Richa could not stop being Richa, she gave an understanding nod to Mehr in her you-know-that-i-know-what-you-dont-wanna-show way.
"Hmmmmm. . . . " Mehr could not say anything more.
"It's cool, you don't have to talk. See ya later. I'm going downstairs with the gorlz. You wanna join ?"
"Meh, maybe later" Mehr smiled reassuringly, more to herself than Richa.
"Okay, your choice" Richa picked up her coin pouch and left.
Richa went away with the others, chit chatting about the monotony of work and the fun side of it. There could never be a dull moment around Richa and Kshitij with their friendly banter.
"Ye aaj kyu ni aari? Iske zada bhao badh gye hain?" Kshitij could not help his curiosity.
"Rehne de, uska mood thik ni lagg ra kuchh. Aajaegi khud" Richa brushed it off.
"Bhai tu miss kar ra hai usko" Shubham teased Kshitij.
"Main koi miss wiss ni kar ra usko, nai aati na aaye. Waise bhi jahaan jati hai problem create karti hai" Kshitij pleaded in protest.
"Maan ja, dekh fark to padta hai tujhe. Aur koi ni dekhta usne kya problem kari, tujhe hi chinta khaati hai uski. Uska ana na ana, mood kharab hai ya thik, tu bhot dhyan rakhta hai" Shubham refused to let go.
Kshitij steered the conversation towards his embarrassing stories from freshman years, his saving grace to any awkward situation was to dump a bunch of hilarious stories of worse magnitude and make everyone laugh. Most people would be caught up in nitpicking on details of this new story while Kshitij would neatly hide the current topic below this new pile. Smart lad, could still not escape Mehr's inquisitive notes and that's exactly what he missed now that she was not around.
The friendly banter carried on for a while. Kshitij still could not help but wonder if it was his harsh words because of which Mehr had chosen not to hang out with the group. Richa tried helping him get over his guilt, but to no avail. She let them both be, one thing she knew was, the more she'd ask, the more these two would retract further in their shells. Letting them be was the easiest way, to help them step out and share. Plus she had convinced herself, even if remnently that she did not care about these two idiots.
Now at home, Mehr breezed through her chores and looked forward to a good night's sleep. Putting down her toothbrush, she picked up her bottle from the night stand to fill up for the next day. All through the day, she had managed to keep a straight face, and was glad about it. Turning around with the bottle filled and her charging cable in hand, she stubbed her toe hard on the dinner table in the hallway. A sharp pain shot through her leg, this was definitely bad. She walked up to her bed, crossing the dinner table and eyeing it meanly, as if it were a living being that had harmed her on purpose. Putting down her bottle on the night stand, she plugged in her phone for charging and sat down on the bed to examine the stubbed toe. There was throbbing pain near the nailbed, the skin was red, but there was no visible damage. Slowly there was a sensation of blood movement, she stared at her toe, turning red to a deeper red and finally maroon. No blood oozed out, but the entire skin on the top of her toe was now maroon with blood trapped inside the upper skin layers, showing brightly. Mehr sat staring at the injury, not focusing on the pain but rather the manifestation of the damage.
Part 5
Comments
Post a Comment