Albel:
My life in isolation had ended around a month ago. Now, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief. At the beginning of the fortnight, it felt as if time had stopped; a boxy room with empty walls with no decorations and chipping lime, a closed door and a small window, a tattered piece of cloth, a small bundle of sticks for cooking, a small rusted bowl and two fists of rice only added to my misery.
The tattered cloth looked shabby as it had black patches and it was my kitchen cloth and a blanket which wasn't long enough so I wrapped it around my feet so that I won't catch a cold from the cold air that leaked in through the large cracks and holes around the window. Every night, I wrapped the cloth to my feet and hugged myself to sleep. The water I had some dust and chipped lime pieces which had fallen from the ceiling.
I had to make a choice if I wanted to eat or drink that day. I had to either boil the water to drink or cook rice in the same bowl and it felt like the biggest dilemma of my life. It was as if they were hoping for me to die of either suffocation, starvation or just out of sheer disgust.
Anagha:
Albel was really dejected ever since she came home from isolation. She was trying her best to smile and show me that she was okay but I knew that something was wrong. I understand that living alone in a suffocating room is not pleasant but I still wanted to ask her what had happened. So, that day I sat her down and asked her...
Albel:
I was back to home after I lived in isolation. I couldn't help but feel sorrow and it was to the point that I couldn't even fake a smile anymore. I came out of that shabby place and sat down for a minute to collect myself and evaluate what I was feeling.
I took a moment to stand still, and took a deep breath. The air had never felt so fresh and new ever. The air in the room I was living in only had the stale smell of cooked rice mixed with the smoke which had risen up after burning wood, I couldn't even open the window as it was jammed due to abandonment.
Then I randomly remembered that this room, from what I heard, belonged to a man who used to live here when this piece of land was a part of our village. This piece of land was fought over and was finally taken by the neighboring village.
This room was suddenly abandoned by the man and wasn't maintained ever since then. It was evident as fungus can be seen on the walls inside out and there was some fungus on the floor which made it slimy and slippery. I did not want to remember the fact that I had to sleep on this floor. The path out of the room had a lot of thorny weeds.
As I walked with my barefeet to which the fungus was stuck, on the path, some thorns pricked my feet and I bled. But it didn't feel painful, but I felt relieved instead; relieved that I didn't have to walk around in a room; relieved that I can now walk freely on the ground and return home.
I felt...alive. As I was done crossing the path, I got to walk on smooth and lush, green grass which alleviated my hurting feet a little bit. Now, I was only a few metres away from home, I sat down on a boulder to catch my breath and muster up some courage and went back home trying my best to not think of anything that would make me cry. Then, mother took me in and sat me down.