Strangers & Secrets Read online

  “You are not going to say what’s going on?”

  She kept her silence.

  “It’s OK. I respect your privacy just like you do”

  She looked at him. Her eyes wanted to say something. “It’s OK Mara. Whatever it is, it won’t go unless you let it”

  “Why are you still friend with me?” She asked. “You once said you leave people the moment they think you are their best friend. I have told you that more than once and I keep meaning that too. Why didn’t you leave me? Why are you sticking around?”

  “You are already suffering and I don’t want to hurt you more. I’m being with you because of Eva. She hasn’t considered me as her friend”

  She smiled sadly. “She is a tough one. You got to have a lot of patience” She looked at her daughter.

  Eva helped the boy sit in the seat, and she pushed him in the swing. They both giggled.

  “What the hell?” Devin noticed Eva bonding with the tiny boy. “She is playing with another boy? She is a dominator, just like her mother. She is going to settle with someone younger than her, that’s for sure.”

  “Hey!” She patted his hand.

  “Speaking of dominator, look who is here.” He pointed to the jewelry store opposite to them.

  “Oh damn, she already spoiled my name in our street. If she sees us here...” She said hiding her face with her hand. The fat lady they were talking about looked at her. Mara turned, buried her face in the menu card. “Oh god. She saw me”

  He noticed she was taking her cellphone and walking right toward them. “If you are going to hide yourself, you are just feeding her rumors. We will give what she wants”

  “What do you want me to do?” She looked up

  “Pose for her”

  “What? Are you crazy?”

  “Give me your cellphone”

  “Why?” She asked

  “Just give me”

  Mara typed the passcode and handed it over to him. He hid it under his palm. They both pretended to be on a date, ignoring her.

  He turned on the camera, selected the continuous shot mode. The lady came near to the window and raised her cellphone, pointing at them. Devin moved his left hand, pressed the button on the screen. Series of flash shot at her. She jumped at the sudden light, yelped as she jerked backward. She dropped the phone out of shock. She picked it up quickly, began to strode far away from them.

  Mara laughed looking at the way old fat lady ran. “Oh, that is so mean”

  “Hey, she was going to do the same. She ran like a scared duck though”

  Mara did a spit take. “Look at her face” he Showed the captured pictures as she wiped her mouth.

  “Leave her. You haven’t answered my question still” She grabbed her phone, swiped and pressed few buttons.

  Eva came running to them. “Mom, pie more minij”

  “Food will be here. Come and sit”

  Eva looked at her new friend, sitting on the swing. He smiled back at her. She frowned and came to her seat. “It’s OK. Five more minutes” Mara said grabbing Eva’s jaw. Her face brightened and ran back to him.

  “You are not going to call her back, are you?” He asked

  “It’s been a very long time since she had a friend. Friend of her age” She corrected.

  “That applies for many people”

  “So tell me about her” she changed the topic. “Is she interesting?”

  “Interesting? She is frightening”

  “Do you think this might be your ‘girl in the white skirt’?” She said air quoting.

  “You remember that?”

  “Of course, that’s your dream girl. In your case, literally the dream girl”

  “Exactly, that was a dream. I never thought I could meet someone like her in real life”

  “You have been searching for someone like her. The mysterious, strange woman luring you into the darkest part. Come on, this could be her”

  “For starters, she wasn’t frightening like her and secondly –” He searched for the reason, couldn’t get any. The waitress brought their food, decorated the whole table with the smell of cream and cheese.

  Mara looked at her daughter. She was bidding goodbye to her friend. He was begging to his father for some more time. They both looked sad. Mara picked a tissue, walked out of the restaurant.

  Devin watched Mara talking to the young man holding the hand of tiny friend of Eva. Eva smiled at him. Mara handed him the tissue, nodded at him before leaving. Eva and her mother came back to the table.

  Mara helped her sit and tucked the napkin around her neck. She looked at Devin, eyed her daughter.

  “So Eva, Who is that boy?” Devin asked taking a slice of lasagna

  “Hij name ij jam. You know he aljo likj wall-e movie”

  “So you think he could be your wall-e?”

  “Could be. Mom got their number. Jo we will be going for a play date”

  “Playdate, huh?” He raised his eyebrow, looked back at Mara

  “Yes, for my daughter” She smiled chewing the bread.

  He raised the glass. “For your daughter”

  Eva burped loud and laughed at herself. She rubbed her fully packed stomach. “Mom, I can’t walk. Carry me”

  “Let me” Devin volunteered, brought her to his waist. “Oh god, You are Heavy. You really enjoyed your meal today?”

  She nodded enthusiastically.

  “Mom, when can I play with him again?”

  “You just met him. Maybe next week” Mara dropped a toffee in Eva’s mouth.

  “Nice way to shut the child” Devin adjusted her around his left arm as he went to the elevator.

  “Way to parking is this way?” She pointed to her right.

  “I know but I want some advice from you first, come” They all got in the elevator.

  “I’ll prejj it” Eva pulled his hand from pressing the floor button.

  “Fine, third floor. Do you remember number three?”

  “I know the yellow number”

  “You assigned colors to numbers?” Mara asked.

  “I didn’t do. Letter and number are in diperent color injide my head. One blue, two red, three yellow, four gree -”

  “What about 55?” Mara asked smirking at him. “What color is that?”

  “Blacky black”

  “You are not wrong” He said as the elevator halted, doors opened on the third floor. A huge crowd waited to enter inside. They squeezed out of the crowd, walked to the center of the mall. Both sides were filled with various electronics stores of different brands.

  “I don’t know much about these gadgets” Mara looked around the shining accessories kept in the window. “You are asking the wrong person for advice”

  “Oh, you know more than rest of us” He halted in front of the huge cellphone store. “Help me find a phone for me”

  “What?” Both Eva and Mara exclaimed at the same time

  “I don’t know anything about this. She asked me to get one. This might be the only way to connect”

  “You are going out of your way. Are you sure you want to do this?”

  “I know” He glanced at the series of slim black screens staring back at him. The desired parasite he recalled his personal description about the modern technologies. He nodded and entered the store.

  “Welcome sir” The salesman came smiling at them.

  “I would like to buy a cellphone” Devin stood confused over the range of models around the store. The slim one, the big one, the colored one. He felt like standing in the pet shop.

  “What is your previous phone sir?”

  “Ah, this is my first one”

  The store guy looked at him like he spoke an alien language. The woman behind the billing computer looked at him like an encountered celebrity.

  “Do you have anything specific in your mind, sir?” Devin looked unsure, turned toward Mara.

  “Do you have any non-smart phone?” Mara piped up “You know like without a touchscreen or any fanc
y items”

  “A basic cellphone?”

  “Yes”

  The sales guy went to the computer. Devin gave a quizzical look. “You said she already know everything about you. It’s better at least she doesn’t track you”

  Devin agreed with her. Eva got down, looking around the colorful eye-catching paneled models.

  “Excuse me, sir. Here” He asked them near to the corner. He placed three huge boxed on the glass table. “This is all we’ve got”

  “This is still available?” She picked the center one. The golden colored flip phone featured on the cover of the box and the name read ‘Moto Razr-v3i’. “This was a dream phone for so many people during that time. It is my favorite one too”

  He broke the seal, opened the box. He handed over the slim shiny, quite a heavy golden piece of work in her hand. The sleek edges shined at the glittering light. The phone looked fresh even after so many years. She flipped the display up, held the phone like a just born baby. She smiled at her own reflection in the small screen. It looked unique and very different among the huge screened phones around.

  “I’ll take this” Devin picked the box, looked for its price. “How much is it?”

  “One second” He gestured for the box. He rotated upside down and pointed the price tag.

  “Thirteen thousand?” He appalled.

  “Yes sir, they have stopped manufacturing this. So the price stayed same but if you are interested I can show you much better phone lower than that price. Huge memory, higher performance and -”

  “NO” He interrupted “I’ll take this”

  “Hey, you don’t have to” Mara pulled his arm. “You can buy something cheaper. It’s not worthy”

  “Never compromise on your loved one’s happiness, you know who said that?”

  “My mom” Eva answered.

  Devin grinned back at her. “Yes, Your mom”

  Chapter 9

  DARK AS DEAD

  “I’m a friend of Mara” Devin was inside the doctor’s office, sitting opposite to him.

  “Oh, okay” Doctor said as he finished typing in his computer.

  “Last time, she went for lunch and after that, she is very normal. What actually happened?”

  “You are worried that your friend is normal?” The doctor looked at him over his specs.

  “I know her better than that. She hardly comes out of her sweats. She never liked to go out. She was crying that day and from then she acts like... I mean she is happy. I don’t know whether she is pretending or not. She won’t tell me what happened but I’m the only person she knows apart from her 4-year-old daughter. So what happened?”

  “Patient’s information is highly confidential. We cannot share it”

  “I’m not asking about your patient. I’m asking about your date”

  He considered for a long time before revealing. “She refused to undergo treatment”

  “You talked about treatment on your date?”

  “That wasn’t a date. She misunderstood”

  He stopped abruptly, understanding what could have happened. A grievous thought came to his mind. Oh, no

  “She is dying?” He asked holding the thought in his mind.

  He removed the specs, holding it in his hand. “There are certain treatments which could postpone it”

  His rage grew over the only close friend who hid such a thing from him. You would help me. That’s why I’m not telling you. He recalled her words.

  “You are Devin, right? Mara did warn me about you”

  “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  “You can’t help someone who refuses to take help. I did give her some suggestions over cost-effective methods, but she has her own plans”

  These shocking information came as a gruesome explosion to him. “Why is she so happy if she is going to die? Does she think she can cheat death or something?”

  “Actually she welcomes it. Not just her, there is a new study which tells many dying people are more happier than we thought”

  “So I just sit there, while she embarks on this journey”

  “Based on what she said, you are her only friend, and she doesn’t want you to know about this. So all you can do is try to change her mind covertly or forget this and let her do what she wants”

  “She is a stubborn woman. She won’t listen to me”

  “Then leave everything and go back to her the same. Try to keep her happy”

  “You are a doctor. How could you say this?”

  “I am not talking as a doctor”

  Devin rose from his chair. “Thank you, I’ll try to forget” He stormed out of the room, went to the waiting hall, sat among the other patients. His training in emotional intelligence helped him to cope with the miserable news.

  He sat there in the silent hall, closed her eyes, imagining the late happy face of her. He thought about all the memories he had shared with her. The sad one, the angry one, the funny one, the depressed one. He remembered his first meeting of her. He remembered how she came to his house with tiny Eva. He remembered the first time she cried in his shoulders. “Never do what feels good, Do what you love” Her first advice echoed in his ears.

  He opened his eyes, bringing happy thoughts about his friend. Almost after 20 minutes he rose up and walked out of the hall.

  “Devin!” Someone called from behind.

  Devin turned toward the sound. A man in the early 40s was standing next to him. He was covered in blue scrub suit with a surgical mask hanging on his neck. “Come with me. I’ve something for you”. He began to walk toward the side of the hospital.

  Devin stood there, confused over this new invitation. He halted near the corner and turned toward him. “Are you coming or what?” he yelled. Devin has never met him before, yet he began to follow him.

  The quadragenarian walked along the side of the garden, crossing almost half the length of the hospital building. The number of visitors lingering around grew fewer and fewer as they walked. He finally went inside the door to his left.

  Devin followed him through the same door. An abandoned long corridor awaited in front of him. Their footsteps echoed through the hallway. He walked behind him thinking it was a mistake. The guy picked up his speed. Devin tried to keep up with him.

  All the doors along the way were shut. The tab above the doors read “Laboratory” with increasing number. He turned right, vanished from Devin’s view. The light blinked from the side he vanished. The white tiles on the side of the wall and the yellow stains on it gave a creepy feel. Devin felt like someone following him. He took the same right. He startled when a young guy came out of nowhere and crossed him. He gave a frustrated look at Devin as he passed.

  The man in the blue costume entered inside the room to his left. Devin slightly jogged toward the same room and stood frozen as he read the label above it. The dark wooden board was imprinted with the word “Morgue”

  “You can come inside” His voice so polite.

  “No, thank you” Devin took a step away from the door.

  The man spoke to another person in the matching dress. He was quite taller than him. He tied the face mask of the tall guy, while he was reading from the huge book. He closed the book and walked toward the entrance. The short guy started wearing a plastic cap and handed over a pair of latex gloves.

  He kept the book under his armpit as he tried to put on the gloves. That’s when Devin realized how wrong he was. He missed the subtle hints along the way. The haunting eyes above the mask stared keenly at him. It didn’t take long to recognize the concealed eyes. “Hello, Devin” It was the same voice coming from the concealed lips.

  “Hi, Yuleika”

  She gave the book to the other guy. “I’ll prepare the vegetables” He said before leaving.

  Devin looked at him as he walked along the hallway. “Are you still following me?” She folded her arms.

  “No. I came for something else” He looked at the only visible part of her face – her eyes. The
peeping eyes became the icon of her in his mind.

  “So, you have something for me?”

  “This is where you work?”

  “No, I work over there” She pointed at the corner, towards where the guy in blue went in.