The second day we ascend further to the hills. Sarah wears a camouflage printed T-shirt dress, I, a black denim dress, and Kevin in a Black denim shirt and jeans. Sarah and my dress prove too short for the cold. We didn't think it would be this cold, given that we were sweating in the plains. Our breath comes in mist, and the road is covered in fog. The green pines stands in attention as our cab moves through them. We stop at a monastery, a mountain river and a park, and I can't remember the last time I had so much fun.
On returning back to the homestay, we clean up and order food. Lots of it. I have no idea why, though. Then Sarah brings out a packet of something green, and proceeds to perform an operation on it. She breaks the dried leaves, crushes them into powder, and fills an empty cigarette with it. She lights it up, takes a few puffs, and hands it to me. I look at it in confusion.
"What is this supposed to be?" I ask.
"Just take it." She pushes it in my hand.
I take the smoke in. It hits me hard in the throat. I cough.
"Easy, there."
I try it a few times, each more daunting than the last. But I don't back away; the blunt needed to be taken away from me so that I don't end up on the floor of the bathroom. But I don't, it feels great. Everything feels light; I'm floating. I laugh, giddy, and don't quite remember the reason of the laugh. I should be crying, of all the things that have happened. And then I start to cry. Then Sarah and Kevin are staring at two different directions, and Sarah is calling her boyfriend. I don't like her boyfriend, he hasn't got guts to fight his family for Sarah, and his mother calls her some pretty ugly names. Kevin starts to roll on the bed, flirting with at least three girls, and without any indication that he is aware of our existence. Sarah sidles upto me, laughing and flirting with her boyfriend, and tells him to say hello to me. We exchange pleasantries, and Sarah is trying to control her laughter when I call her boyfriend an ass. He asks her why I'm calling him a lass, and Sarah falls down laughing her head off. Then we end up calling Shahbad.
"Hello, am I speaking with Shah-butt?" Sarah is on a roll.
I have to hold my stomach with my hand, I'm laughing so hard.
"Who are you?" Shahbad asks.
"Your secret admirer," she whispers. "Are you the handsome hunk I have seen on the premises of my dreams?"
"Wrong number." He hangs up.
This is hilarious.
We are packing for our return the next day when Sarah gets a call from her mother that her grandmother has expired; she leaves by a flight. I go to the bathroom to wash myself off, and my eyes burn; probably a reaction from last night. It increases, and I'm still a little blank from yester night. I can't think straight, but it was fun. I enter the room to find myself in a room of my dreams, or nightmares; a room sculpted from fog, brighter than any, only there is no monster in here yet. I wait for one to make an appearance, and I see something. A human shaped, tall monster with spiked hair making its way towards me, clearing the haze, holding a baton in his hand. But he's slow, slower than the other monsters of my night, and I close my eyes waiting for a sudden assault. It doesn't come. Instead, Kevin appears.
"Az, what was in this container? I thought it was perfume." Kevin coughs.
"Let me see, where did you find it?" I ask.
"In your bag. I had to open all the doors and windows, it was getting impossible to breathe in here."
I check the label. It's the Pepper Spray.
Kevin almost kills me as I laugh.