The spoon moved submerged in the soup. The crumbs of bread that floated on the surface of the orange-red tomato soup moved along following this movement.
Outside the weather was not a pleasant one, heavy rain along with thunderstorms had taken over. Aakar could hear the heavy rain clashing against the wall of the building and the ground.
Aakar finished his soup and the remaining two sips of tea. He turned to look at his mother who was carrying a look which he understood.
“No, I cannot take a holiday every time the weather is bad outside,” said Aakar, “I am leaving”
Down the stairs he went, greeting the few known who were passing by. The fast steps led to the parking area and to the car.
Aakar inserted the key, unlocked the car, and sat inside. The blue coloured car rolled out of the garage into the rain.
Aakar slowly drove the car to the society gate and the security guard rushed out from his room with an umbrella to open the gate. The car moved out of the open gate into a surprisingly empty street.
The heavy rain had been falling for the past two days from Sunday. Aakar had decided to take an off on Monday with expectation that there would be some relief on Tuesday. But the weather seemed to have become a bit more upset.
Aakar kept driving as rain lashed against the windshield with the wipers almost failing. The roads were however empty, there was no one.. absolutely no one.
Aakar maintained the speed of 40mph. He looked at the trees which were the only things moving around, while everything else was still and the road was devoid of any other presence. There was no one else who came from this side of the city, hence calling and asking anyone would be pointless.
The speed of the car rose as Aakar started becoming a bit worried about absence of any presence. He had rather expected a long traffic jam. The car was at 65 now, and was accelerated even further.
The rain seemed to intensify even more and visibility started becoming an issue with the fast raindrops intercepting what could be seen and then came someone into view all of a sudden, someone whose face could not be seen, the only thing which could be understood was that a person was standing in the rain and his/her head was following the car as Aakar passed by.
Aakar decided to apply brakes, although a bit later. The car came to a stop and Aakar looked back, the figure was still visible standing still at the same place without any movements. Aakar put the car in reverse and when he was about to put his foot on the accelerator, his phone rang. It was one of his colleagues, Viraj.
“Hey Aakar, listen, there is no office today,” spoke Viraj
“What? Why?” asked Aakar looking back to find the figure still standing but it looked like he/she had moved a bit away
“Haven’t you seen the news today?” asked Viraj, “the river has overflown at several places and they are saying there have also been a few casualties”
Aakar did not notice the figure moving but he could feel it moving a bit farther
“Hello? Aakar?” asked Viraj
“..Yes.. Ok so no office today, fine. What about tomorrow?” asked Aakar
“Depends on the water level receding,” replied Viraj
“Right,” said Aakar, “I am on road, I will get back home and give you a call”
The call ended and Aakar for the last time looked back and the figure was where he had last seen it. A sudden lightning in the sky appeared and the figure disappeared.
Aakar took a moment. He could hear his own breathing and maybe his own heart beating, then he started the car and drove away.
Written by Anuran Chatterji
Early Morning Memories 