What time do you go to bed and wake up currently?
The lens of the eyeglasses reflected the white light of the screen.
The screen displayed a variety of different coffee drinks. It was a
new coffee vending machine that the office had recently got. Unlike
the last vending machine, this one didn’t dispense tea or tomato soup,
not that it made any difference to Advik who has been addicted to
coffee for years.
He swiped on the screen sideways to the left to go through the menu,
he knew coffee as a beverage had multiple variants but he was
surprised to see so many. The years he had spent having instant coffee
had made him part with the thought of the other varieties existing.
The last vending machine had only one option of coffee.
“Having trouble understanding what to select?”
Advik turned around to the familiar voice; it was Ekbal. Ekbal worked
in another department but Advik often met him during his walk outside
during lunchtime.
“Do you know the difference between the variants?” Advik asked in a low tone.
“Of course I do. Me and my wife often have coffee at coffee shops when
we go out,” replied Ekbal, eyeing the screen of the vending machine.
“Is these double espresso shots with milk strong?” asked Advik
“Strong? How strong do you want? This one could be strongest” replied Ekbal
Advik selected the double espresso shot with milk, the machine made a
sound of grinding the roasted coffee beans in the container above and
then liquid coffee poured down in the cup through a nozzle accompanied
by milk from another nozzle later on. Ekbal stared at the cup and then
at his smartwatch, it was 10:45 am and their office started at 9:30
am.
“Strong coffee so early in the day? Had a problem sleeping last
night?” asked Ekbal.
“I slept late then got up late too..” Advik said as he picked the cup.
“Maintaining good sleeping hours is important. I don’t know how you
are even working with so much tiredness in mind,” said Ekbal and he
looked at Advik’s cup, “you better add some sugar to that along with
more milk or it won’t go down easily.”
Advik sat down on his desk, the lens of the eyeglasses reflected the
computer screen. He realised he was still stirring the coffee with the
spoon. He looked at the date on the bottom right corner of the
computer screen. It was still Tuesday, there were three more days
between him and the weekend and presently the clock was still in the
first half of the office working hours.
“You might be thinking that maybe no one is noticing, but let me
inform you it can be clearly seen that you are slacking today”
Advik rubbed his eyes, it was 11:10 am and all he had done for the
The last half an hour was to get a cup of coffee. He looked at Fiyaz who was
still looking at him. They sat next to each other in the office.
“If you are not feeling well, you should go home Fiyaz said.
“I feel drowsy and tired.. I need sleep, will that be a good enough
reason to go home?” asked Advik who had started to drink the coffee,
“Ekbal was right, it was too strong. It just might work.”
“Is everything all right at home?” Fiyaz asked
“Yes, everyone is fine and everything is fine
“Then why the lack of sleep? Are you doing freelance work at home?
Advik thought about his late nights, it was not because of work and it
was not because of family or a girlfriend. At night the light of
another screen reflected on the lens of his eyeglasses, it was a
television screen. Advik was addicted to internet streaming services.
He sat down to watch his preferred shows right after dinner, but there
was no decided end to the time he spent doing so. He would mostly fall
asleep in between watching television otherwise he would keep
watching. Once he kept watching television till 5 in the morning.
“Work, you are right. It’s work that’s keeping me awake.. freelance
work,” Advik lied.
Fiyaz had observed how Advik had made an effort to form and speak
those words, like Fiyaz’s younger brother did when he lied about not
spending too much time playing video games when no one was at home.
“Even if it is work, you have to get a hold of yourself. It looks like
you have not been getting enough sleep for more than two nights now,”
Fiyaz spoke, “.. and this is serious, you can fall seriously ill.”
“This coffee is great; I am feeling well already. Don’t worry, things
are fine,” Advik ended the topic and with the help of several cups of
coffee and the intention of not wanting to be caught slacking, he
maintained a barely acceptable work performance throughout the day.
The lens of the eyeglasses reflected the metro train that entered the
station. Advik stepped into the metro when the doors opened. He sat in
one of the seats near the gate. Next to him was a girl who was reading
a book. Advik was once an avid reader.
The metro train doors closed and the train started moving.
“I just can’t remember the last time I read a book,” Advik spoke and
realised he intended to speak it in his mind but spoke it out verbally
instead.
The girl looked at him and smiled, “Well you can always start again,”
and she got back to reading her book again.
As was the habit, Advik opened his phone and started going through
videos online.
The train became relatively empty as it approached Advik’s stop, the
The girl next to him got down two stations back. He wished he was still
into book reading; he was surprised at his diminished ability to talk
about books like he used to once during his college years.
As the train slowed down while entering the next station, it suddenly
came to a stop with a sudden jerk as the brakes were applied strongly,
Advik’s phone fell out of his hand. He got up to pick it up and that’s
when he felt the heat, he looked ahead and fire was approaching his
way.
The doors were closed, Advik quickly turned and started walking fast
to reach the next door at a safe distance from the approaching fire
and then try to open it. He reached the door and made an attempt to
open it but it didn’t budge.
The fire was approaching, Advik decided to go to the last coach and
try breaking through the glass of the window if it could be done. As
he approached the last coach, and saw a boy sitting on a seat.
“What is going on? Where is everyone else? What happened?” screamed Advik
“Everyone left before the doors closed and became locked. It is no use
trying to open them. The speed with which the fire is spreading, it
will do its job before anyone comes to help,” the boy looked at Advik,
“I guess this is called facing the end.”
“Why… then why are you here?” Advik asked.
“I had fallen into a deep sleep and didn’t realise what was happening
until too late. The same thing might have happened to you too.”
Advik rubbed his forehead with his right hand, wiping off the sweat
and trying to remember the moment when he fell asleep, but nothing
appeared in his mind related to the subject. He looked at the empty
station, there was no one. The fire had almost reached the last coach.
“The window..?”
“The glass won’t break, there is nothing here that can break it” the
The boy cut through Advik’s words, “no use panicking, there is no escape,
sit down.”
The sweat from the heat trickled down his head, Advik wiped them off
again as he sat down as the flames of the fire reflected on the lens
of the eyeglasses.
“Let’s close our eyes, I know it won’t make anything better but who
knows something might happen, like in the shows you watch,” the boy
spoke
Advik looked at the boy, “What? What show? What are you talking about?”
“Quick!! Close your eyes it’s here,” the boy shouted
Advik took a glance of the roaring fire and then closed his eyes
awaiting what was coming.
Seconds passed, Advik could feel the heat coming and that’s when he
heard it, the screaming cry of the boy and he opened his eyes in
fright.
On the lens of the eyeglasses reflected the light of the screen, the
television was still running. He looked at the clock on the wall, it
was 2:30 am. He got up and went to the washroom to wash his face.
Advik returned and sat back on the bed, he picked up the remote and
turned up the volume.
Early Morning Memories 
3 responses to “Notion of Reflection”
🥶 I really thought it was the end! The twist is suprising!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you so much for reading 😊😄 and yes twist was unexpected
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome ❤️
LikeLiked by 1 person