Gently casted away
How many years I had to lie on the hard floor after tiring days of work for this day, he thought softly starring at the bed then he quickly regained his consciousness and waited impatiently for the ad to load. Thinking about the hardships he faced in the past humbled him. He felt like these fifteen seconds were the longest he had ever waited in his life. ”Time has a way of making us feel like it’s moving faster when we have a deadline and slower when we are waiting for something”, he thought and immediately it brought a smile on his face.
Then the ad started playing interrupting his flow of thoughts, “On this week’s CFC (Crushing False Claims) we will be looking at a closer look at ANERA-25, an invention by Norman Clifford, a young Scottish physicist, who claimed that his time portal generator, that is ANERA-25 will enable us to travel back and forth in time. However, the trials for this machine were not as promising as the claims. Then a video of an enormously large machine appeared.
The time machine was indeed very strange looking contraption with a lot of wires, big tanks and lots of switches. He had seen tons of these on science fiction movies but they were relatively smaller and did not possess as many thick wires as this one. By this time the skip button had appeared but his curiosity to know what will happen when the machine is turned on kept his eyes glued to the video clip. From the words of the anchor, he knew that the trial did not well but he is quarantined and has plenty of time for everything so he chose to watch the whole video.
After a few seconds, about thirteen men in lab coats started to turn multiple switches on and pull levers. A faint bluish glow started to appear from the machine. Anil's face lit up in the excitement but the smile quickly transitioned into a frown when the machine started burning after a chain of small explosions here and there. Then the anchors moved on to give a brief introduction to the next clip by saying this scientist is going to have a hard time finding investors in the future.
Why would anyone even invest in something like this in the first place, sure time travelling sounds fun but this is what happens when you take fiction too seriously, he thought then he skipped the advertisement and returned to his strangely calm activity. Something or someone disturbed him again but this time it was his wife. She was carrying a huge tray that contained his lunch along with some freshly cut mangoes that matched her mask under the clinical mask. It was hard to tell whether she greeting him with a warm smile because of the mask but the gentle creases around her eyes assured him that she was doing her classic warm smile and he smiled back at her too.
Where is all your hair gone Shalini? he said as he was missing her long glistening raven locks which are now shoulder length. If it weren't for your long luscious hair I would've married you. Now that they are gone I would like to file divorce against you he said to which she replied teasingly too bad that you can't bring yourself to do it, Mr Srivastav. I guess I'm stuck with you forever Mrs Srivastav he said and both of them burst into laughter. It's very hard to put on PPE suit with long hair and I believe that treating patients is more important than hair. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right? she said to which he replied Yes they do Dr Shalini and it's hair it will grow back but please do take care of yourself too okay
Suddenly the sunshine in the room dropped when this dejected question creeped out from his burdening soul. Hey, Did you really have to drop Ayush at his grandmother’s house? I miss him so much he said with a melancholic voice to which she replied I know how much you love and care about him. I am sorry but I am doing this for the sake of our son. It’s only a matter of a few days after you quarantine is complete I will bring Ayush back. Her words lifted some burdens from his chest. Then she reminded him to have his lunch in time as she left the room. He looked out of the window and watched her driving towards her battleground. He was both proud and worried about her. In her absence, solitude was slowly engulfing him piece by piece.
