My head hurts from last night. The bottle of whiskey lies on the chair beside my bed, the last dregs of its content spilled. A burn mark on the bedsheet and a cigarette lying beside me reminds me that I have to clean my room. These things are easy to deal with, even the burnt hole could be concealed, knowing that my mother doesn't visit my room anymore, her lumbago has seen to that. The hard part is to clean the floor, which looks like a nightmare that has come true. I don't know if a human body has so much liquid in their body, but the vomit on the floor is colossal. It smells like death in here, as if my insides have been squelched up and thrown on the floor; it looks something of that kind. I can't think straight, my head hurts and it takes up all my strength to put myself up and clean the room. It takes me three hours.
I spend the day walking around the town. It's a Sunday, so I don't have classes today. And I don't want to visit anyone, nor do I have many friends to visit. After months of not being in touch with anyone, even Aunt Sayani and Katherine seems like a crowd, and I don't feel like talking to them. I visit the coffee shop, slurping my hot chocolate for a long time, and looking at the customers like a creep. The owner seems like a nice person. He lets me sit there for a while, and since his shop doesn't get a lot of customers, I think he probably doesn't mind me being there. Truth be told, his coffee is trash, the hot chocolate bearable only because it's made with milk and instant hot chocolate powder. Then I visit the library; pull out a book on the myths and legends of Ancient Egypt. Sentences slip through my mind but I persevere. I leave in the afternoon to get something to eat.
As I come out of the food court, I see Shahbad and Melissa making their way towards it. They seem to be arguing; I haven't seen them after school ended. I sneak past without them noticing and decide to take a trip outside the town. I haven't been in these parts, since the streets are almost deserted, and I haven't had any work around here. The road curves through an alley, dustbins overflowing and cats fighting for their evening meal, and I come up upon a straight path. A broad, paved path leads straight to nowhere, apparently; it is surrounded by parks on both sides. There are swings, and see-saws, and slides, and looks strangely familiar. The breeze flowing through the hair on my neck prickles, and I feel my insides turning cold. Every breath is dusted with chills. I see the pink clouds on the horizon turn to purple, and blue, and it seems like months and years but I persevere. My legs lift from the path of the nightmares and I turn back with increasing agony, and run.