Chapter 1
She gasped for air as her room started filling up with lukewarm water dripping from the edge of
nowhere. She lay dead straight over the bed in the depth of the cavernous room. With eyes wide open,
she observed the room dripping in the blues of the loch. She could feel the moisture lurking over her
skin. She could feel the water stirring from her throat to her lungs. She huffed as the blue began to drip
into her lungs. She was just an inch away from sanity. She could see a beam of light shining
magnificently over the surface of the water bed. With a satisfactory smile beaming her lips, she closed
her eyes. Just then...she began to cough out the water from her lungs. She spewed out the water,
piercing her throat. As she opened her eyes, she found her coughs echoing through the sonorous space.
She was laying sedentary over the bed with a mauve purple blanket casing her legs and her sister
whimpering her name with tints of concern over her face.
A drop of blue falling from the sky,
Rippled over the ocean of her thoughts,
She closed her eyes and smiled,
She felt the blue running in her veins,
This fictional tale felt similar,
The hues looked familiar,
She could feel her heart throbbing inside the chest,
Wasn’t she close to sanity?
Or if not sanity, maybe lucidity?
Why the thread of reality pulled her back?
She opened her eyes & found her soul creeping back into the body,
Same old room with a colorless roof.
“Amara! Are you okay? Should I get some water for you?”
While trying to suppress her sharp breaths, Amara looked around. She looked above...towards the
ceiling. The clock was ticking at 3:13 AM. Another night, another vague dream...She choked in her saliva
down the throat to let out some words of reassurance to her terrified sister. She looked towards her
sister, moved her head in denial with traces of discontent over her face, and stuttered
“N-No I am al-alright. I will just sleep again”.
Amara was breathless and a blub of sweat ran across her cheek as she lay down again. She kept staring
at the ceiling for hours. She couldn’t sleep... She kept switching sides...Those dreams were capable of
sweeping away somnolence from her eyes. After a while, she stood up from the bed...intending to fill
her paunch but her footsteps took her to that room. She couldn’t make herself visit that room after all
that happened. It was the first time in ten years that she could make herself go in. The wooden floor
creaked as she walked over it firmly...Without making any sound, she dawdled towards the corner left
room on the third floor of the apartment. After reaching the door, she unlocked it with shaky hands
using the key hidden inside the flower pot. As she opened the door, the dirt flew right into her nostrils
making her sneeze vehemently. She suppressed her sneeze, trying not to wake anyone up, dawdling
in...she switched on the lights of the room...the light given out thru the electric light, illuminated the
entire place... the azure blue walls of that room took her back to the summers of 2010. Amara found
herself surfing through memories as she traced her fingertips over the azure blue walls of the dusty
room...She smiled as a drop of tear fell over her cheek...
“The lane of memories is bewitching...but contagious at the same time.”
The words of her mother echoed through her ears “Blues and greys are part of life, Amara...but one
needs to see the other colors spread over the canvas of life.” While she was immersed in the memories,
Bisma sneaked in...
“Amara! Why are you here? Uh, at this time?”
She asked while rubbing her eyes.
While hiding her tears; Amara forced a fake smile while looking back towards her sleepy sister,
“Nothing, I just...had to...uh...had to...look for a paintbrush in this cupboard.”
“....You know...sometimes you can say out loud that you miss mom. I’m not six anymore.” After a
moment of silence, Bisma uttered,
“You do...right?”
While smiling at Bisma, Amara chanted,
“You should really consider getting into law school, Bisma...You have all those characteristics. You have
been asking questions since the moment you have stepped in, that too...this early in the morning...”
While twisting the entire statement, Amara stepped towards the Rosewood cupboard present at the
corner of the room. She opened the door of the cupboard; filled with blank canvases, paintbrushes, and
abstract paints. She dusted off the dirt covering all the utensils with a small polka-dot hankie, which she
took out from the pocket of her jeans.
She muttered to herself “This room needs some serious cleaning” while sneezing rhythmically again.
Bisma looked at Amara and said “You know that I can’t sleep without you, in the room...Your creaking
bed is such a reassurance. When you switch side, it creaks, and it feels like someone is staying up all
night to protect me against the dangers.” She chuckles.
Amara replies “Says the danger herself” Bisma rolls her eyes while smiling at her. They both share a
laugh at 4 of the morning.re…
