THE MIDNIGHT ESCAPES

Click-clack.

Click-clack.

Click-clack.

The chatter of the keys was music to the ears of Ishani Chatterjee. As she sat in the dimly lit bedroom of her rented apartment in Behala, the screen of her phone glowed with a couple of notifications. Her long fingers- tired and chapped from hours of strenuous work- tapped the first notification : a headline from a news app.

" A 2 year old startup 'Middle Man' has entered the list of unicorn companies"

The news immediately brought a faint smile on her face. However, life had trained her far too well not to linger in her happy moments. She swiped out of the app and her college group chat where her schedule for her final year at "The Rosewood Institute" was posted. Her gaze wandered to the stacks of books and files spread across her cramped room: some crucial for her swiftly growing company 'Middle Man' while others necessary to acquire her MBA degree.

Beyond her apartment stretched the bustling streets of Kolkata, glowing under innumerable street lamps. Roaring bikes sliced through the streets to the south of the city where people stayed up till dawn- drinking, dancing and dissolving into club lights.

Mahendra Roychowdhury parked his Harley Davidson in the parking lot of "The Minxx", a refuge for the elites of the city to mix liquor with sarcasm and heartbreaks.

Inside the club, lounging in the VIP section, Arko Sen had a girl on each side, vying for his attention. And yet, his discerning gaze was fixed on Sayantika Ghosh who stood across the room swirling Belvedere in her glass. Sayantika raised her gaze from the rim of her glass, sensing the burning stare of Arko, her childhood friend, and with a smirk, returned to fake her smile to the oblivious boy trying to charm her into his bed. Little did he know, Sayantika Ghosh was fire wrapped in Gucci and Prada and the lone fellow able to burn with her and walk away unscathed was Arko.

In another corner of the room, Kaushik Dutta laid back on the velvet couch, nursing a glass of whisky and flirting with every female; earning laughter, lingering glances, and invitations he never intended to keepearning laughter, lingering glances, and invitations he never intended to keep

Sitting beside Kaushik was Shourya Lahiri, pretending to listen to the girl hanging on his arm, while being fixated on his firefly: the center of his day-dreams, Sayantika. He could sense the unspoken exchange between her and Arko, and he felt a familiar ache arise in his chest. He remembered all the times he used to go around the college just to catch a fleeting glance of his one sided love.

The glass door separating the elites from the average party visitors slid open and in strode Mahendra. Nodding his head in an acknowledgement at his friends, he retreated to an empty corner of the bar and ordered a beer for himself. None dared to encroach on his personal space- the last girl who had ventured to put her hands on him had ended up fleeing the club in tears after the public humiliation that followed.

Far away from the neon chaos, in a tranquil condo, Ananya Mukherjee sat leaning against the glass wall. The silence was occasionally broken by the thumping of the tail on the floor by her pet dog, Chikoo. She sat petting her sole companion while her thoughts drifted off to her dysfunctional family. Her trance was broken by the ringtone of her phone. Her best friend, Ishani was calling her to share the felicitous news of the success of her uprising venture in the business world. As Ananya ended the call, her face was lit up with a fond smile for her kindred spirit who had climbed every rung of the ladder despite facing several ugly storms very early on in life.

From the quiet contemplation in solitary apartments to the boisterous party, the night was a rich tapestry of emotions as the people of Kolkata wholeheartedly welcomed another year of whispered wishes, silent resolutions and brewing hopes.

However, life carried on without care for these seven brooding souls- each harboring a secret carved deep into their being

And somewhere in the city, a blogger hit "publish".