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blankcanvas003 · 3 years ago

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You are not the one…

Chapter One: Inception

I am Sameera, a banker by profession and mother of two boys in grades 5th and 7th. My husband works in a pharmaceutical company as a regional director. Even though I am quite caught up in day-to-day activities, I love it that way. My boys keep me busy like a beaver, always running in between my workspace and their rooms. I do have household help with kitchen duties which is a great blessing. My family and people from my in-laws’ side are very loving. Honestly speaking I do not have much to complain about, a good life partner, great kids, loving family, and a rewarding job. I always wanted to work in banking domain. It was never the pay package that mattered, for me it was always the work; and I am lucky that I do what I love to do. And that’s important.

Last Wednesday, like any other workday, was very busy as usual. My boys went to their school and my husband reached his office a bit early for an important company event. My day started as usual with a cup of green tea. Then I heard a notification on my phone. It was the sound of a personal email. I tapped the notification icon on my phone to have a quick look into it.

As I glanced through the sender’s email address, it caught my eye. It was from my college’s official alumni group. They are organizing a reunion event for the first time since we left college. The first question that came to my mind was “Why now?”. It’s been so many years now since I left college.

I started to ponder if I really wanted to respond but memories started to flash, and it turned out to be a mixed bag of feelings. Some memories were great, but some were not so. Although I am in touch with a few from my batch, we never took the initiative to meet one another. Coincidently, all of them settled in Kolkata like me, and we occasionally meet with each other in local shops or metro station couple of times. We exchanged our phone numbers but ultimately everything was reduced to text messages only.

Before my tea turned into a cold drink, I started ringing all of them to discuss the email. Not sure why I didn’t text them; it seemed my subconscious mind was already into it. As we started chatting, most were equally surprised except Anita. She knew a few details. There is this guy Avinash from our batch, now settled in USA, took the initiative, and connected with few others and planned for this reunion in December. Avinash always visits India during Christmas holidays and this time he decided to organize a get-together with his old college buddies. So, basically it is his idea to bring our whole batch under the same roof after so many years.

I could not concentrate much on my office work. I checked my work calendar quickly, there were no meetings in the second half. So, I took a half day off and kept collecting information about this event.

It was almost evening when my boys came back from their Karate lessons after school and my husband called me and informed, he would be little late for our evening tea. I shared the news with my boys, and they were very excited. The younger one asked, “Mom, can we join you? We really want to see your college friends.” I smiled, stopped for a while to prepare my response for a ten-year-old. I told him that it is only for the batchmates, and I don’t think anyone will bring their family. But if I hear anyone is bringing, I will make sure both of you are coming with me. They gave a smile and got busy with their tasks. Meanwhile, my husband came home, and I shared the news. He was equally excited and said that I must join them and have fun with friends and refresh some college memories.

A few weeks passed by, and it was almost the time for the reunion. We received a follow-up email with the venue and other details.

I called a few of my friends to make sure they were also coming. Otherwise, I would drop my plan. And yes, all of them are coming and I was relieved. I was quite settled in my mind and started planning for the reunion day. But one question was always in my mind “Is HE coming?”

Chapter Two: HE

Like many, school life left me with unforgettable memories. Towards the end of the high school year, my two besties fell in love with each other; this should have made feel happy, I rather felt awkward although they tried their best not to make me feel so. I made lots of friends during my school days but there was always loneliness. My heart kept searching for a special one; there were all the emotions which I wanted to share with someone, someone special but there were none. So, I wished for a college romance.

Here came “HE”; Akash, the very first student I met in the hallway. One could easily say that he was a good-looking guy. I joined the college for my undergrad a week later due to some admission complexities and my name was published in the second list. Hence, my first college day was not Day-1 like others. I was a bit nervous but very excited for my first day. I went directly to the principal’s office and from there to my classroom. As I said “hello” to everyone, I was thrilled to see the same face sitting in my classroom. I understood that we both had enrolled for the same course. My heart was beating fast. When I think of this now, I tend to think that it was not a great beginning for a future “Banker”. Between all odds, we became very good buddies. May be slightly more than just good friends. We both felt for each other but never shared the same. Akash was my project partner throughout my college years. We always paired up with two of the other students and got involved in various activities.

Chapter Three: The College Days

I completed my master’s in economics but what I am going to share now is from my bachelor days.

A few weeks passed, I came to know more students from my class and started hanging out after college hours. The whole batch was divided into small groups of four for project work and we made sure that Akash and I were again looped into one group. I was feeling on cloud nine and was very confident that the whole universe wants us together. It was just a matter of time.

Happy times go fast like an arrow and more importantly I developed a crush on my classmate. Life became a dreamy sequence, and everything was extra sweet, even the boring theory classes were so interesting.

Soon, we all progressed into the second year. A few of our common friends started giving us names. It was hard for them to believe that we were just good friends. I was confident from Akash’s side it is true friendship and from my end I was desperately trying to move it forward beyond being “Just good friends” but without being much vocal about it.

It was a great second year in college. Along with studies, we organized cultural events and youth parliament. We also conducted events like “Expert Talks” where successful bankers from different parts of the country would come and give speeches on the current market trends and expressed their expectations from the young talented students.

Soon, it was time for the second-year final exam and results were out within a month. Now, the final year of our bachelor’s degree.

To be honest, it was tough on my part to suppress my feelings for Akash and act normal. I tried a few times to share how I felt but was very scared of losing him as a friend. The reason behind that was Akash never showed any signs about us being more than just friends. He was excellent as my best friend, but it was still far from reality to think of him as my future life partner. So, I kept mum and continued with the current. Somehow, deep down I was expecting him to express his feelings or propose to me and I would say yes. That would have been an easy way. I didn’t want to take the first step.

Months passed, and we were almost near our last college exam. Akash was very supportive during those last days as I always had “Testophobia” which is a fancy word for exam stress. It was almost a ritual that after every exam he would take all of us to a local vendor and treat us with fresh glass of coconut water. It really felt nice to see that caring trait in Akash’s nature.

But I always had a question in my mind why he never asked me alone. Finally, it was our college graduation day and our farewell party arranged by the junior batch. As seniors, some of us were also participating in a few cultural events. I was also a free makeup artist for that day for the other participants. Overall, it was super hectic and the reason I never got captured in our batch group pictures.

It was almost the last leg of the cultural events, and I heard one of my friends yelling my name. She told me that Akash was searching for me very desperately. He really wanted to say something very important, but I couldn’t leave backstage, so I told her that I couldn’t leave then.

Time doesn’t wait for anyone. Years later, I came to know from that very friend that Akash announced to our friends’ group that he wanted to propose to me. He never realized before but on the last day he thought he had something more than just friendship. But also, he declared that if he couldn’t share his feelings on that day or I somehow rejected him, he would not be in touch with me anymore, not even as a friend.

When the cultural event ended, all the participants were called on stage for some prize distribution. Once, I was free of duties and I looked for him and could not find Akash. Till today, I do not know why he did not wait for me to say what he wanted to say.

My sweet one-sided love story ended on that day.

Chapter Four: Reunion Day

My family was happy about my graduation and at the same time wanted me to go for the Masters in the same college or from any other leading university. I didn’t have much choice as most of my family members have a huge list of degrees. I decided to stay in my college. Very few of my batchmates took similar decisions like me so I could not see many known faces in my grad classes. I had dived deep into my studies. I didn’t want to miss any opportunity to land a decent job in the banking sector.

I waited but never heard back from Akash. I asked many of our friends, but no one could tell me much about him. I tried to send him emails, but all my emails bounced. I figured he chose to shut all his windows for me. I did not find a reason for Akash’s odd behavior.

Time passed, I completed my master’s degree and started as a junior sales manager in a private bank. I became quite busy with my new job responsibilities. One Saturday, I received a text from Manisha who was working in Bangalore. She had seen Akash hanging out in a mall with another girl from our batch. She could not recall the girl’s name. I was very curious and started asking her all the possible questions to figure out who this girl was. Finally, Facebook came to my rescue, and it was none other than “Priyanka”, the drama queen of our batch.

Manisha believed they were in a relationship. My last hope to get a call from Akash faded away.

Curiosity filled within me, and I was after all a human with just a brain, not a heart anymore. I quickly pulled Priyanka’s profile to get a glimpse of Akash, how he looked now. But weirdly, there was no information about him in her profile. It was even hard to say that they were a couple as her relationship status still showed “Single”. It could be that she just forgot to update her profile.

I simply decided to close that chapter completely and move forward with my life and with my job. And I did well. I got promoted to a new job role after two and half years. My parents were so happy with my progress in life but like so many other parents started looking for a suitable groom. I really did not want to be tied up in a family but there came a time I agreed with them. And after six months of search and validation, I got married to a doctor in an arranged matrimony.

My husband Girish was a medical professor when we got married. He was not interested in a day-to-day doctor’s job. He preferred the life of a teacher to shape medical students in their specialized subjects. We had very different careers but our tuning was on the same pitch. We had a lot in common and the weekends were real fun in our busy schedule. We both are very close to our families, and it was very important for both of us to spend quality time with elder family members.

Coming back to where I started this story, I do not have any regrets or complaints at present and am very happy around all the people I have in my life.

Chapter Five: Planning and Preparation

Now the waiting. College Reunion is just few weeks away. I was excited with the hope to see Akash after so many years. I gathered all the updates about him. He is now settled in Bangalore and married to Priyanka. They have a daughter. When I heard about Akash marrying Priyanka for the first time, I just had a smile on my face. She is not the one Akash ever described how his future life partner would be. Priyanka was in a steady relationship in our college days but it’s quite clear as water now that the relationship didn’t last long. It is not difficult for them to be together as they both were working in the same city, but I have no idea how it started Well, I am not curious about that, but Manisha kept me filling with the details of how they soon felt head over heels for each other. The rumor about them is that Priyanka, being overly possessive about Akash, does not allow him to keep in touch with any of our classmates, especially the girls. I really don’t care about any of these, but it is quite funny as most of us are in our mid 40’s now. I don’t think any one of us will try to snatch Akash from her now.

It’s true that being a good-looking boy Akash used to get a lot female attention, but I could never have guessed in my wildest dream that Akash would finally marry Priyanka.

With all these thoughts going through my head, I opened my wardrobe and started looking for what to wear for the event. I must look pretty. I am a bit confused whether I go with my present day or jump straight to my teenage days in college. Do I need to make an impression? I don’t even know if he is coming. Whatever it is, I simply want the best “Saree and Jewelries” from my collection.

I could not explain much why I want to look best and what are my intentions behind doing all that. But I can just guess that there could be a tiny dot in my heart and it’s like a vacuum. It’s not filled with love yet. For these long-married years, Akash was never in the picture but is there still a slight soft spot for him subconsciously that I was also not aware of? If I can renew my friendship and just stay in touch with him, can I fill up that vacuum? Or is this just my silly predictions? Enough planning no more wild guesses.

Chapter Six: Reunion Day

Finally, it’s the December 19th morning. The reunion is purposefully planned for Saturday evening as more of us could join. That little birdie just tweeted via my phone that Akash is coming but Priyanka is staying back with her daughter. She has a plan to visit her parents and cannot drop her plan just for the sake of some long-lost faces she doesn’t want to remember again. I again have that smile and thought “Is the universe again taking my side?”

I already chalked out the plan for the day. I will leave early and go to a hair salon for spa and then go to the venue directly.

Everything went according to plan, and I am finally in the event hall. My eyes are searching for him. And then, finally at the meet and greet hour I see Akash. He has changed a lot, gained quite a bit of weight, and lost some of his hair but still has that charm. I just yelled at him as there was a huge crowd. He turned back and was equally excited to see me. I am again doing the same which I am best at. I am acting as if I am completely unknown about his present life with my fake excitement. He seems to be little shocked hearing that I got married so early and have two school going kids. My next step is to get his contact number. And yes, we just exchanged our numbers. Now I am with other friends and having a gala time. Refreshing the fun college days, we are all lost in our past. We are teenagers again.

Chapter Seven: The Time In-Between

I booked a cab and came home with a happy heart. Girish and kids are sleeping but my sleep escaped my eyes. I started searching Akash’s profile on Facebook. I was slowly opening a closed book and was not sure how it would impact my present life.

I could not find his profile, so I sent the first text “Are you in Facebook?”. I was not expecting a quick reply, but to my surprise the reply came in a few seconds, and he really had a funny profile name. No doubt I was not able to find him. I finally added “bong_eagle” to accept my Facebook friend request. Akash still needed to accept it and then only I could browse all the details shared on his profile. Don’t get me wrong, I am just a normal human being and a bit thrilled to reconnect with my old crush, that’s it.

Next morning, I saw the request was still pending. I was a little mad at myself. I should have waited a tiny bit longer. But I received a text from Akash that he wanted to meet me and a few other friends in some café before he left for Bangalore.

I am a little bit angry with my old pal. He did not check Facebook at all for the entire time and it was hard to believe. I once was again just going with the wave. I responded back in a text that I am really caught up with some personal work and would try my best to join them. I was about to skip the get together if possible.

Suddenly, my phone chimed again, and it was a notification from Facebook. Akash just accepted my friend request, and we are now connected on Facebook. My heart was pounding fast. Now, I couldn’t miss this get together and all my reservations just fumed away into the thin air.

Akash was my special friend in college but what about the other way around. How close or special was I to him? I honestly have no answer for that. I could have just assumed that I was his best friend. He could have similar friendships with others as well. I was either very stupid or was overconfident about our relationship. My one-sided love for him made me completely blind.

Chapter Eight: Café Date

Sunday evening. Kids were having some fun time at their grandparents’ house. Monday was a holiday, Girish stayed back with them at his childhood home. I was all alone and decided to enjoy the private time to the fullest. I wore the best fitted black dress and a turquoise beads necklace and matching earrings. “Was I going in a wrong direction?” Perhaps not, just normal human complexities.

I reached “Coffee Time”, the café we all decided to meet. Luckily, I saw Akash sitting alone at a table and others were still on their way. I went straight to the table and Akash was feeling slight uncomfortable. I can see that clearly on his face. But he tried his best to behave normally. It was quite natural, when you are out of touch with an old friend and have no common topics to discuss.

He started the conversation, asking questions about Girish, my kids. I also tried to be polite and asked a few questions about Priyanka and their daughter. Meanwhile, the rest of the party came, and we all chatted for quite some time and planned to leave before dinner.

As I was about to catch the cab, I saw Akash standing behind me. He asked me whether I could join him at dinner at some nearby restaurant. I couldn’t disclose or show him signs but that’s exactly what I was planning for the past few days but controlled my emotions and said “ok”.

He asked again for a confirmation “Would your husband mind?” I assured him that Girish and the boys were at his parents’ house, and I would be all my own for the rest of the day. It didn’t matter if I was eating at home or outside. I suggested a name as I have dined there before and liked the food and ambience. Akash agreed easily, which was quite a bit strange as he was always very particular about checking online ratings before entering any restaurant. But this time he trusted me without a question.

We reached and took our seat in a corner. The waiter came and poured water on our glasses and gave us the menu. Akash clearly asked me to order as I knew better than him about the menu and went to restroom.

I remembered all his favorites and ordered accordingly. He had a tiny curve on his lips when the food arrived as he saw all his favorite items together in the table.

Akash asked, “Why you didn’t order chicken lollipop, isn’t that your favorite?” And he added “I have seen that in the menu”. I also matched his smile and replied, “You are in my city, so let’s try something you like.” He could not say more, and we started eating and talking about our jobs and family.

I had several questions in my mind, I wanted to ask like why he never kept in touch after college, why he never contacted me since then etc. etc. But thought not to bring the odd old topics and just enjoy the current moment.

I cannot deny, I had a great time. We both booked cabs and left. He was staying in his aunt’s home in North Kolkata. His parents also moved to Bangalore to live close by their only son.

Next day, it was relatively slower as it was a holiday. I was waiting for Girish and the boys to come home and texted Akash “Have a safe flight” as he was returning to Bangalore the same day. He texted back promptly “thanks 😊”.

Chapter Nine: Falling Apart

The following week was a bit hectic, so didn’t take any initiative to contact Akash and I did not hear anything back from him as well. A few weeks passed. I messaged in Facebook messenger “Hi, what’s up?”, just to make sure everything was fine at his end.

I didn’t receive any reply for a long time. It was almost a month and I saw a notification in the messenger from Akash. I went to my workspace and tapped the notification to read it.

It was a big paragraph. I was not able to guess what that was about.

It says “Hello! I am doing well. After a lot of thinking, I have decided that I cannot continue our chats here. It’s been a long time since we left college. We both have our own family and responsibilities. Our friendship may affect other lives such as my wife or your husband. You know Priyanka, so I will not explain to you much about what happened when I shared the news that I met you after the reunion and we had dinner together. I need to really focus on my wife and daughter now, hope you will understand. And about your husband, I have never met him before. I am still a stranger to him and so, can guess how he will take our renewed friendship. I am sure he will also feel the same way my wife feels. It’s better to end our ‘thing’ and go back to the old self. We both will be happier. Before unfriending you, just wanted to ask a question ‘Sameera, did you ever have any feelings for me back then?’”

And that’s the end of the message.

Now, I was mad. I was not thinking that way. It was just a re-bonding with a college pal and not to start an extra marital affair. But looks like Akash was thinking too much. It’s better to go back to where it was before the reunion.

So, I replied to his message

“Akash, I think you are right. We should stop our chats for the best. And coming to your question, No I never had anything more than how a friend feels about the other. But I would like to share one thing that I know what happened on the farewell day from Reeya. You remember you asked Reeya to bring me from the green room. She has told me everything you said to her.

So, I guess I am going to block you now. Be happy!”

And I blocked Akash everywhere. It was not as bad as I imagined. I was feeling quite confident about how I handled it. And I believe that everything happens for a reason.

Some people are never meant to be in your life and Akash is now added to the list. They are better as strangers who bring so much complexity to simple things and can make a simple thing more complex. There is no need to bring unnecessary stress. This friendship was never meant to survive after college, and I am very confident now that Akash was never a suitable person as my future life partner.

I thanked God for having Girish in my life and two beautiful boys. I promised myself to enjoy little moments with my precious family and make the most out of my life with what is remaining.

The End.

#short fiction #short story #new story #love

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blankcanvas003 · 3 years ago

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“We met at the wrong time. That’s what I keep telling myself anyway. Maybe one day years from now, we’ll meet in a coffee shop in a far away city somewhere and we could give it another shot.”

— Unknown

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blankcanvas003 · 3 years ago

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The Haunted Laptop

Chapter 1: A New Beginning

Medora, a little town in North Dakota. Sandra had been living here for few years now. After retiring as a receptionist in ER department from a San Diego downtown hospital, she moved here to rejuvenate her retired life from the noisy and stressful city dwelling.

It was not always like this. She was briefly married in her late 20s but the marriage didn’t last for more than three years. Somehow, she started believing that she was great on her own and happy with her average job and simple lifestyle.

Not all things were mundane. After working for so many years with no other family members to look after, she made quite a good savings. Sandra was desperately looking for a change of place and her surroundings. She was thrilled to start a new chapter of her retired life close to nature and a slow paced lifestyle of a countryside, where people usually don’t run after small things or always in a rush for their career growth. Her determination to be far away from the sound of emergency sirens brought her to Medora so that she could spend her next phase of life.

After few days of initial search, Sandra settled into a nice comfortable retired community. She found the small little apartment she thought was perfect for her new life. She quickly made some new friends there. All of them became regular attendee in the yoga sessions at their community hall. This group, comprised of mostly elderly women and a few older couples. It seemed they all were looking for a similar life like Sandra wished. To live rest of their lives in a beautiful nature and take these great memories to their graves.

Chapter 2: A New Friend

A new place and then a new friend. Tracey is a fun-loving person came to Sandra’s life and they developed a close bond in a very short span of time. Sandra started enjoying Tracey’s company. She would always laugh out loud with Tracey’s witty jokes, letting her emotions out with a sigh of relief.

Tracey on the other hand was the Human Google who would have answers to every question and all the local gossips. All the juicy stories started reaching Sandra in Tracey’s grace. Overall, it was quite a beautiful beginning for Sandra. The Cherrywood Apartments truly became part of their lives like a charm.

Chapter 3: To the Beach

A year passed. A sudden idea to visit Florida beaches during New Year celebration came from Tracey. Tracey volunteered to serve as main event manager for this entire group. This excited Sandra very much as it was for the first time she was going to Miami.

Sandra started looking at all the deals for dresses, travel items and various other things. She was very good with finding sales, discounts or promotions. All other members of the travel companions, especially ladies started depending on her to get their beautiful beach attire with the cheapest rates.

Within a week, Sandra collected lots of sales coupon and all the ladies went for shopping and had a great outing. While going back to her apartment, it was the moment when she realized that the God had been always very kind to her. Without any support from her parents and partner she managed a pleasant life through different phases. Could it be the reason that she had moderate demands and a very adaptable nature according to her resources?

Finally, the day came. The gang was all set to board the flight and Tracey was acting like the travel agent, checking on them time to time. She really had a caring trait as the same time being funny and jolly.

Sandra a lone wanderer BEFORE, but now she had the cordial companionship. Apart from the promptness, the journey seemed to be quite enjoyable. The ladies had a blast on the Miami Beach flaunting their new swimwear. The couples were too enjoying the bright sun and having some private romantic moments. A great outing, with fun-loving people, good food and soft cozy beds, it was a dream vacation.

Happy days went fast as an arrow. It was time to return to Medora. This time of the year, the little town was wearing a snow blanket, serene to look at but the freezing temperature reminded Sandra about the challenges she faced during her first winter. But this trip turned out to be so fulfilling that she was ready to face the Dakota chills.

The trip ended. Sandra and others reached their little apartments.

Chapter 4: Evening with The Snowy Wilderness

The beauty was beyond anything specially the snow clad mountains, wilderness with bison, feral horses, elks, white-tail and mule deer, pronghorns and many more. The roaming animals in the white land and leaving behind their footprints was something very amazing to witness. The apartment complex was very close to Theodore Roosevelt National Park. The place saw way more tourists during the summer months compared to the freezing winter. Although winter receives tourists looking for winter activities.

Sandra called the apartment service for the delivery of her grocery items. She never felt to drive after the long flight. She invited Tracey over dinner and most importantly, was very much wanted to have the “gossip of their trip”. Tracey arrived a bit late as she dozed off after unpacking and a long bath.

Good that the grocery items were delivered in time and Sandra managed to complete the preparations before Tracey arrived. Both the girls chatted long hours and enjoyed warm mushroom and cilantro soup with stuffed chicken and grilled veggies. Tracey was astounded to see the menu and asked Sandra how she managed all home cooked food in the spread as she was expecting some frozen warmed up food after the tiring flight and their weaker bones.

Sandra told Tracey about the apartment service for grocery drop-off, but Tracey was not interested as she was not a big cook as she mostly survived on ready to eat meals. They continued with other gossips of town and retired in Sandra’s couch after a glass of red wine.

Next morning Tracey jumped off the couch as she woke up and rushed back to her apartment. She was already late for a charity event. Sandra on the other hand had a good night sleep and started her relaxed day with freshly brewed coffee. Next few months went as usual for Sandra with daily house chores, community events and yoga lessons.

Chapter 5: The World Changes

Nothing lasts long. Without much alert the pandemic hit the entire world. The new virus made the normal lifestyle very different. Sandra was learning so many new terms like COVID, Corona Virus, and Quarantine etc. on the other hand she started losing touch with most of her apartment friends. Everyone locked themselves in their apartments and was not coming unless it’s something urgent. News and other reports confirmed that the older people were more vulnerable for their weak immunity. This spread like a wildfire and most of Sandra’s friend became very cautious which was a good thing but not so good for Sandra. She was not expecting this in her retired life. She planned to have fun and carefree life.

Her Yoga classes got cancelled indefinitely. But it was Tracey again who brought the good news. The yoga instructors decided to continue the yoga lessons on a virtual platform. Sandra was little confused at the beginning. She didn’t understand how she could attend a class without going to the community hall. Tracey explained what a Zoom video was and how the meeting would be conducted on every Sunday morning with all batches joining virtually from their home and follow the instruction watching the trainers.

Sandra was curious about the whole thing. Tracey was not a pro either, but she attended zoom meetings before, so she offered to help Sandra during the next Sunday class.

Chapter 6: The Special Delivery

The first virtual Yoga class went well but Sandra wished her phone screen was a bit bigger so that she could have followed the instructions better instead of skipping few of them.

Tracey was not interested in spending extra penny over a new tablet or laptop. She was ok to continue with her phone. Sandra felt for a tablet or laptop. She expressed that she anyway wanted a laptop for all other newly discovered internet things.

Sandra started checking good deals, she started with eBay first for a good deals especially with a slightly used one. Few weeks passed but Sandra could not find a good deal for the used laptop she wanted for her yoga sessions.

It was a late evening when a small ray of hope tinged in her mobile. It’s a new bid at eBay for a refurbished laptop. The seller claimed that the condition to be as good as new. It was the price which caught Sandra’s eye. The price was exceptionally low. She had a doubt that why anyone would sell a relatively newer laptop model in such a low price unless the seller just wanted to get rid of it for a reason or wanted some quick cash desperately.

Sandra with a dilemma decided to bid on the offer. Strangely, within a minute, she got notified that her offer had been accepted even though the original bidding window was bigger. She was quite surprised that it went so smooth but overall, was very happy and excited to get her new but not so new laptop on her doorway.

Sandra started tracking the delivery often between her daily chores. And finally, the moment arrived. At 7 pm, she heard a knock from the delivery guy.

Sandra signed digitally and received her package. The delivery person gave a strange look and left so quickly like a ghost vanished in thin air. It seemed to her that the delivery person behaved like he was sent for the delivery straight from the Devil’s world. Sandra could not understand what that was for. She was super happy to open the laptop and start browsing.

Chapter 7: Something Is Not Right

Sandra found a handwritten note from the seller. It sounded extra sweet. Sandra was so surprised with the information in the note that the seller had renewed the antivirus software few days back before putting it for sale and he would not unsubscribe it for rest of the year so that Sandra could use the same subscription for a while.

At first an exceptionally low price for a laptop with such configurations and then bonus of free antivirus already installed for the entire year, Sandra was slightly skeptical but later she made her believe that she knocked a hell of a deal with this laptop.

Few weeks passed. Everything was so great about the laptop. Sandra was back on track with the weekly yoga lessons. She was watching movies, playing her favorite playlist of songs, online shopping and much more. She was so happy that she didn’t need to struggle anymore with the tiny screen of her old phone.

One evening Tracey came to give a visit with some store-bought peach pies and asked Sandra to brew fresh coffee. The ladies planned to chat about the recent gossips of Medora.

Sandra out of the blue said, “I think my laptop is haunting. It possesses a soul and makes a peculiar noise sometimes as if somebody took a deep breath” and started laughing. Tracey was a bit dumbfounded. She asked, “Are you serious”? Sandra replied “No, silly. It’s just the laptop fan sound and it’s quite different compared to other laptops I had before or worked at my reception desk”. Sandra continued “I wish it makes the sound once you are here. I am very sure you will agree with me, it sounds like a deep exhale of an old man”.

Tracey already freaked out. She decided to call it a quit and left.

Sandra reached out to her laptop and continued to draft an email to her attorney regarding a property she had received as a gift from one of her aunts. She wanted to put it for rent as soon as possible to collect the maintenance cost of the apartment. As she started typing, she noticed her laptop mouse pointer was being slight playful and sometimes it’s going out of control and randomly jumping over the screen. It was odd, but Sandra thought she might be very tired and imagining things. She decided to stop her work and get a good night sleep and start fresh the next day.

Chapter 8: The Experience

Next morning, Sandra started her day as usual with her freshly brewed blueberry coffee. Sandra sat in the living room couch and opened a gossip magazine she subscribed recently.

She realized that she left the glasses in her bedroom. Sandra entered her bedroom to get the glasses and it’s the laptop which caught her eyes. The webcam light just blinked for a fraction of second, but it went off. She ignored it as she thought it could be just a flare as she came to a darker room from a brighter one. Sandra picked up the glasses and left the room. The laptop seemed to be in the sleep mode.

Few months passed and Sandra was still locked in her apartment as the others for the continued pandemic situation. She took up a part time call center representative job for four hours a day from Monday to Thursday. It was that week when she decided to take up the second shift and finish up some household chores in the early hours.

Sandra almost wrapped up her pending chores and decided to take a bath in the tub before she would start answering her work calls for the day. As soon as she entered her hot tub she heard a very loud noise of song being played. She thought, it was one of her neighbors and she started relaxing in her tub.

Sandra didn’t want to be late for her work. She had to stop her relaxation. As she came out of the tub she was in complete shock when she realized that it was her laptop playing that very song she heard from bathroom.

It was a heavy metal rock song with a creepy video, Sandra never saw or heard before. She yelled “What the hell is going on?” and the song stopped, and laptop went to sleep mode.

Sandra was now very confident that her joke made to Tracey had become real. Her laptop was indeed haunted and if she had to get rid of it, otherwise it would make her life miserable. Sandra informed her manager that she was not feeling well and took a day off. She utterly needed to inform this to Tracey as soon as possible and felt she could use her help to make that evil laptop go away. Yes, it was evil in her mind.

Chapter 9: The Decision

Tracey almost fell from her bed as soon as she heard what happened. She asked Sandra to stay with her for the night and next day so that they both could figure something out. Tracey was not ready to leave Sandra alone in a room with this ghostly laptop. The two old ladies prayed together to be safe from that evil machine sitting in Sandra’s bedroom.

Next morning, Tracey called the apartment office and asked for help to check some electrical connections in Sandra’s apartment. It was just an excuse. They wanted to ask the same guy to help dispose the laptop.

A young boy came and knocked Tracey’s door. Tracey and Sandra took him to Sandra’s apartment and asked for the real need. The boy asked why they wanted to get rid of the laptop. It’s in a perfect shape and condition. Tracey told him whole incident she heard from Sandra with a pinch of some added drama of her own.

The young boy had a smile on his face. He was studying Computers in the local college and working part-time in that apartment office as maintenance guy to earn some extra bucks for his tuition fees.

He said “Your laptop is not haunted. It’s probably been attacked with some software virus or commonly called malware”.

He started talking about some Technical fancy terms like bug, worm, Trojan and spyware, which Sandra and Tracey never heard of for obvious reasons. He asked few questions to Sandra if she had noticed unnecessary pop-ups, issue with start and shutdown, frequent blackouts, or abnormal mouse movement. And Sandra replied yes to each of those questions.

He requested to see the laptop and figured out that Sandra’s laptop had been attacked by cross-site scripting. It was basically a web security vulnerability that allows an attacker to compromise the interactions that users had with a vulnerable application. The attacker could have even taken control remotely over the laptop screen without Sandra’s knowledge and did all kinds of activities.

He quickly checked the browser history as well and saw some random websites visited for online shopping. Sandra confirmed that she had been to many unknown websites to get good deals on items, she wanted to purchase. And the maintenance guy suspected that it was one of those websites which might have caused the cross-site scripting attack on her machine. He ran a quick scan and got rid of the infected files and folders. He also noticed that there was an antivirus software installed but deactivated.

Sandra shared a slight background on the deal at eBay and extra sweet seller with a free antivirus subscription with the note. The maintenance guy found it quite weird. He replied that it could be the same person messing with your laptop. Otherwise, it could be any random website you visited last couple of months, from where you got the virus.

He suggested to purchase a good antivirus software and stop going too much to these unknown websites he found in the browsing history.

Sandra and Tracey were still having at least some percentage of doubt that there was something more other than all the technical things this guy was talking. Sandra simply wanted to get rid of the laptop and she could get another one with monthly payments.

The maintenance guy showed his interest in buying but told Sandra that he wanted to negotiate on the price as he needed to be careful about every dollar amount from his current shifting duties and he didn’t have much savings.

Sandra was willing to donate the laptop to that guy without asking for a single penny, but Tracey reminded her that she still needed another laptop for her yoga lessons and for her part time work calls. Anyways it was Sandra’s choice whatever she wanted to decide.

Sandra somehow made up her mind to get rid of the laptop and now there was no harm to earn some extra money to get another replacement. She agreed to sell the laptop to the maintenance guy and ordered a new laptop from Amazon with a six month payment option and said out loud “No more random sites” and gave a loud laugh.

The maintenance guy was very happy with the asking price and promised to pay the full amount soon.

Chapter 10: The Farewell

Next day, Sandra was taking dishes out from the dishwasher and heard a knock. It was the maintenance guy, and he gave the entire amount in cash and Sandra happily handed over the laptop and said, “Bye-Bye Phantom”! She might have named it Phantom unconsciously.

She closed the door and heard another knock. It was the amazon delivery for her new laptop but with the same delivery guy. Sandra made a serious face and asked, “Aren’t you the same person who delivered my last laptop, I ordered from eBay?” The creepy looking guy had no smile either on his face and replied “Yes, I am the same person. I switched my job like you switched your laptop” and went away.

Sandra didn’t bother much and happily unboxed her new shiny laptop. Tracey came over and the two ladies gossiped about the weird delivery guy over a glass of wine.

Next morning Sandra called the maintenance guy and asked a favor. He installed a good antivirus software in the new laptop and Sandra was good to go.

Sandra never felt the same way with the new laptop like her previous one and had happy and peaceful browsing hours. And she is back to the phase where she thought God had been always kind to her, just a few bad days in between. After a long day’s work, Sandra decided to turn off the laptop. She suddenly felt thirsty and went to kitchen for a glass of water. She turned off the kitchen lights and entered her bedroom and her eyes stuck to the laptop screen. She couldn’t move. It was the laptop screen which flashed a single word. “Farewell”.

The End.

~Xeneria

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blankcanvas003 · 4 years ago

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“It’s not about the landing. It’s about the flying.”

— Maggie Stiefvater (via thoughtkick)

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blankcanvas003 · 4 years ago

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The Haunted Laptop

Chapter 1: A New Beginning

Chapter 2: A New Friend

Chapter 3: To the Beach

The trip ended. Sandra and others reached their little apartments.

Chapter 4: Evening with The Snowy Wilderness

Chapter 5: The World Changes

Sandra was curious about the whole thing. Tracey was not a pro either, but she attended zoom meetings before, so she offered to help Sandra during the next Sunday class.

Chapter 6: The Special Delivery

The first virtual Yoga class went well but Sandra wished her phone screen was a bit bigger so that she could have followed the instructions better instead of skipping few of them.

Sandra started tracking the delivery often between her daily chores. And finally, the moment arrived. At 7 pm, she heard a knock from the delivery guy.

Chapter 7: Something Is Not Right

One evening Tracey came to give a visit with some store-bought peach pies and asked Sandra to brew fresh coffee. The ladies planned to chat about the recent gossips of Medora.

Tracey already freaked out. She decided to call it a quit and left.

Chapter 8: The Experience

Next morning, Sandra started her day as usual with her freshly brewed blueberry coffee. Sandra sat in the living room couch and opened a gossip magazine she subscribed recently.

It was a heavy metal rock song with a creepy video, Sandra never saw or heard before. She yelled “What the hell is going on?” and the song stopped, and laptop went to sleep mode.

Chapter 9: The Decision

The young boy had a smile on his face. He was studying Computers in the local college and working part-time in that apartment office as maintenance guy to earn some extra bucks for his tuition fees.

He said “Your laptop is not haunted. It’s probably been attacked with some software virus or commonly called malware”.

He suggested to purchase a good antivirus software and stop going too much to these unknown websites he found in the browsing history.

The maintenance guy was very happy with the asking price and promised to pay the full amount soon.

Chapter 10: The Farewell

Sandra didn’t bother much and happily unboxed her new shiny laptop. Tracey came over and the two ladies gossiped about the weird delivery guy over a glass of wine.

Next morning Sandra called the maintenance guy and asked a favor. He installed a good antivirus software in the new laptop and Sandra was good to go.

The End.

~Xeneria

#new story #short fiction #short story #share this

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blankcanvas003 · 4 years ago

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#german shepherd #my puppy #i love him

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blankcanvas003 · 4 years ago

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Ohio to Oahu…

A 2013 Travelogue

I am born in India, which is a country with variety of landscapes, natural wonders, and serene places. Cultural diversities and languages draw many tourists round a year. Currently, I live in Norton, Ohio, USA, and work in an IT firm. It is a country with lots of picturesque landscapes, vivid flora and fauna, national parks with rich natural elements. My favorite mainland state is Utah, very mesmerizing.

In 2013, I made many trips within USA with my family. I would like to share my journey and experience. November 2013, Thanksgiving Holidays, Me, and my husband travelled from Akron Canton Airport, Ohio to Atlanta, Georgia to reach our destination Hawaii Islands. It is almost 4501 miles from Norton, Ohio to Honolulu, Oahu.

Hawaiian Islands includes eight major Islands. I visited OAHU Island which includes Honolulu city, capital of Hawaii. After a long domestic flight, we reached in the afternoon. I was very happy and excited to explore the places I never seen and much heard before. From chilly Ohio winters of November to warm tropics, it was nothing less than a paradise.

It was a 10 days trip and I didn’t want to waste those few hours before sunset on the very first day.

We checked in Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort Hotel, went to Waikiki beach, and enjoyed the pacific sunset. It was magical.

Day 2, we went to Pearl Harbor and did Honolulu city tour. It had a quite different charm compared to US mainland cities. Iolani Place was so breathtaking. The hand work of the Queen Liliuokalani when she was held captive was something I will cherish as most beautiful handwork ever. It seemed her every emotions were present in her handwork.

Day 3, we had a Circle Island tour. Most thrilling part was when saw the giant footprint of Godzilla and Jurassic Park shooting spots in Kuala Ranch.

I was very excited for the next day, Day 4, we went for sailing and got a glimpse of a giant sea turtle. The day ended with horseback riding inside the Kuala Ranch. I was little scared and thrilled at the same time. We returned to our hotel at Waikiki and went to bed early as we didn’t want to miss the sunrise next day.

Day 5, we hiked to the top of Diamond Head crater and enjoyed the view of the entire city in the dawn.

Later the same day, we enjoyed Hawaiian Luau which is basically a traditional celebration with music and good food. We experienced live Polynesian shows, participated in Hawaiian dance, and enjoyed the popular Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken and native drink Mai Tai.

Next day, Day 6, we kept it leisure to explore the local markets and nearby places to shop and eat. We started our day visiting Byodo-In temple which is a replica of old Buddhist temple in Japan. We were lucky to visit International Market Place which I heard soon will be demolished for building a new mall.

It was amazing to see a large population of Japanese tourist along with people from different countries like Australia, Canada, and US mainland.

Day 7, me and my husband booked a local cab and went to Lanikai beach. Next stop was Pali Lookout where we got the entire northeast view of the Oahu Island. One of the bloodiest battles in Hawaiian history took place many years ago, in which King Kamehameha I conquered the island of Oahu, bringing it under his rule.

I had butterflies in my stomach when I came to know that we booked a doors-off helicopter tour of Oahu Island. It was an experience of lifetime.

Day 8, we went to one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, Waimanalo beach. The coconut trees added extra beauty to the landscape. We also had a glimpse of Eternity beach on our way.

Day 9, Waimea Bay was our last destination of that trip. It was nothing less than a tropical bliss. It had a huge rock and white sand beach with crystal clear water.

Day 10, we could not believe that our most amazing holiday was finally ending. We went to Waikiki beach to listen to the waves, touch the sand for the final time. We came back to hotel and got ready to catch our flight. After a long hour we landed safely to Akron Canton Airport and it was snowing already. Hope you can imagine what I felt after enjoying almost 10 days in warm tropics.

I suggest all the explorers to visit Hawaii at least once to get one step closer to the nature.

Xeneria

2015

#travelouge #travel story #travelblog #travel post #travel blogger

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blankcanvas003 · 4 years ago

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That one JEANS I call it mommy jeans.. irrespective of style .. heavenly comfortable.. go to pair.. I think everybody has one 😀

#thoughts #funny post

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blankcanvas003 · 4 years ago

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Two Lemons :) (Short Indian Story)

Meera is a smart, independent girl. She just finished her college and landed a job in Corporate sector.

She was enjoying her new responsibilities. Her parents were also happy to see their daughter slowly walking towards the path of success. But at the same time as any other Indian parents, they were desperate for her marriage. After completing her first year, she got married to Vineet, a mechanical engineer working at a Government firm in the capital city of India, New Delhi.

Meera was not happy but she had to agree as she did not have any other choice. She requested a transfer to her firm, but they never agreed. So, she resigned from her current job and moved to Delhi after marriage.

Vineet had a joint family but he was living in a quarter provided by his company to live close to work.

After marriage, Vineet and Meera stayed with the family in their ancestral home. Vineet had to travel hours to reach his office. But they have decided to stay few initial months with family as Meera will not feel alone after Vineet leaves for work.

Meera accepted the new changes in her life and she was keeping herself busy doing the daily chores and taking care of her new family members. Deep inside, she wanted to go back to her old life and be independent again.

One day, Vineet was in office and family members gathered to have lunch together. Meera asked her mother in law if there is any lemon in the fridge. Her mother in law replied that we do not buy lemons. Most of us are having acidity problems and specially Vineet hates it. She continued her story.

When Vineet was a boy, he ate his normal meal squeezing some lemon wedges to his curries. Once he finished his lunch, he was having nausea. He soon after vomited out his entire meal and was feeling very dizzy. Doctor was called and he reported that Vineet has chronic acid reflux. He must avoid warm milk, lemon, or lime etc.

After that day, Vineet never touched another lemon although he was very happy that he can get rid of drinking a glass of milk everyday after coming back from school and she laughs.

Meera couldn’t say her that she really loves lemon and her meals will not be complete without one. But she remained silent and adjusted without it.

Meera was taking care of Vineet’s family and most of the household work and Vineet was working hard in his office. He had long office hours as his travel time has also added up but when he comes back home in the late evenings, Meera always has a smile on her face.

Vineet was always shy when it comes to speak what he really likes in Meera, what qualities he really admires about her. Meera was outspoken but she also keeps her feelings to herself when she is not hearing much from the other side. Meera will try out new recipes for Vineet and cook according to his likes or dislike. She couldn’t do much like newly weds as she was living with all the other family members, but she was happy as she was always receiving love and affection specially from Vineet’s grandparents.

Meera will wake up early and pack Vineet’s tiffin and prepare her favorite ginger lemon tea without a lemon and spent some “Me time” doing Yoga in the terrace.

On weekends, Meera will go to market with Vineet for groceries. Someday, they will go for a movie or café. That was the only private time they used to spent with each other outside home. Meera adapted her life to make others happy. She also tried to be happy by seeing other happy faces around her. And all the family members adored her for her caring nature.

Two years passed by.

One day Vineet announced at dinner, that his company has promoted him but also transferred him to a new city, Mumbai. It was happy and sad moment for everyone.

Meera and Vineet moved to a new city and slowly adjusted in their new quarter. Meera and Vineet went to visit Meera’s parents in Pune after long time. She was also preparing herself to start working again. Vineet was also encouraging her. She was working hard to face job interviews soon.

One Monday, Meera woke up and saw Vineet is not there in the room. She went to kitchen to prepare her morning tea and saw a bag full of groceries. She thought Vineet must have went to his early morning stroll and got those groceries from nearby market as she had prepared the list last night.

She decided to sort those groceries first and then make tea. As she was taking out the contents one by one, she saw a brown paper bag and 2 oval shaped yellow things. She jumped off with excitement. She could not believe what she was seeing. Her favorite pair of lemons.

Immediately she prepared her favorite tea, this time with lemon. She also enjoyed rest of her meals with those fresh and juicy lemons.

She then realized her feelings are not anymore one sided. The bond of friendship, love and care is now mutual.

She surely believed that Love can be expressed without words and here, 2 lemons did that.

The End.

#short fiction #my story #storytelling #story ideas #tumblog #tumblr

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