Twice alive.
Twice embraced life.
Wasn't it all because of him?
Shiuli read the first three sentences that popped out of her Kindle. She stared at the three lines like they were mocking her somehow, she was fed up with these novels that talked about love and the guy being the savior all the time… Why should the girl always represent the damsel in distress? Shiuli's heart asked her the question.
Shiuli was reading this typical love story of a princess being captured by a dragon and the prince saving the day by freeing her with his sword's might. Like every other love story out there the girl was just the epitome of prettiness who had no capacity of taking care of herself and was desperately in need of a prince charming to save her life. Stupid. All the fabulous ladies from across the world were setting up examples of being independent and strong, while there still existed these writers who wrote stories that irritated every single strong woman out there. Though the world proclaims the slogans of Feminism, there are certain people out there who need to get their work right. The pen is mightier than the sword. The sword here definitely seemed blunt. With irritation brimming in Shiuli's feminist heart, she wondered whether she could ever be a successful writer who didn't have to give her female protagonist a character that suits cowards. Women are more than that. Shiuli always aspired to be a writer and that made her an amazing critic. The book she just read was a disaster… A disaster she would never let enter her work… Ever.
"Shiuli." Called her mother, "Come down. We must leave."
Right. Shiuli had to leave for Mumbai and never return back to Nigamnagar ever again. It was not like Shiuli hated the small town she was raised in, but Mumbai was the city of dreams, the doorway to everything glamorous! I am so damn excited. Shiuli was just sixteen and at this age, every Indian teenager wanted to pursue their dreams at the speed of lightning. Shiuli was so excited that the thought that her train was in an hour totally crossed her mind.
"Coming"
Shiuli ran downstairs with utter haste and looked around the house one last time. The sea-green walls with exotic, ancient Indian paintings of Mughal emperors… Truly beautiful, but her tiny flat in Mumbai with her mom and dad was going to be even better. Shiuli looked at the entrance with an air of finality when she spotted her best friend Amisha standing there, teary-eyed. Drama. Shiuli hated drama, but maybe her EQ (Emotional Quotient) was actually not zero… Maybe a 10 out of 100? That meant she just could not walk away without saying goodbye to her friend. Alright then.
"Don't cry Amisha… You know I will meet you soon… We can Skype or Whatsapp." Shiuli smiled "It's not like I'm going to die or something. We can still see each other."
"I know."
"Hey… smile for me, please. I don't want to see you cry like that when I am leaving."
"Sorry." Amisha smiled lightly, "Goodbye… I will miss you."
"Same. And well, see you soon."
Relieved that all the drama was finally getting over, Shiuli hugged her best friend one last time and walked out of her now-abandoned house. Shiuli was not really a coward, but somewhere in some corner of her heart, she felt afraid… Afraid of not reaching Mumbai safely. Why am I feeling this way? Shiuli asked herself one last time and then taking a deep breath, she sat in the car and left.
Sitting in the back seat of her dad's Innova, Shiuli was already very excited that she did not even notice the dark figure looming right outside the compound of her house. Watching.
***
Death watched as the silhouette of a beautiful young girl rushed towards the car parked right outside her house. She must die. Death thought to himself. But the figure of this dazzling beauty swaying her head to the rhythm of her happiness caught him off guard. Her eyes were dark brown like almonds and her skin wheat brown, glowing and radiant. The girl's dark black hair was straight and long and something in the way she moved was so graceful that Death could not help, but stare at her as she sat in the car and left.
It was Death's task tonight to retrieve six souls to the judgment grounds. Though Death collected thousands of souls every day in his fancy business-like briefcase, he had the special task of collecting these special souls every once in a while who went directly to the judgment grounds without the prior torture of entering hell. These souls were the ones who dared to dream but had to die due to various reasons. These souls dreamed, but died too early to see their dreams come true… After all, not everyone's life is a fairytale.
Life.
The word hit Death in the gut. What will Life say when he sees Death wasting his time like this? Life was Death's elder brother. They were both the creatures of the universe who were immortal, but the reason for others' mortality. Life was responsible for giving life and keeping creatures alive while Death was to carry dead souls and take away life. Though this sounds like Death is the villain of the story, he is actually the one created with a softer purpose. His purpose, which the world did not understand was to provide salvation to good souls and punishment to the bad ones. It was noble and right. Every mortal must die. Life was to create a new soul while Death had to end its existence to make way for the newer souls to live. It was to maintain balance in the world and it was right. There were certain protocols that both Life and Death had to follow and the first among these protocols was that Death had to take the soul assigned to him no matter what. He could not show pity and let any soul live longer than the rules allowed.
I shall have a stone heart. Death reminded himself.
He walked across to the other side of the road and stared at the night sky. The stars shined bright and held the brilliantly beautiful crescent moon in place. Life always said that the moon was the leader of all the Creatures who worked for the better functioning of the universe. In fact, Life and Death were both the children of the moon. Mother… give me the strength to do my work efficiently with no flaws. Death prayed for a harder heart. It wasn't that Death had a soft heart, Oh his heart was stone hard already, but this girl… what was her name? Shiuli Basu? Her aura hit him like a feather on a stone. She was somehow a difficult soul to take. She was too beautiful being alive that Death could not move.
"Walk Death, walk…" He insisted himself, "She is just another human soul."
Though the briefcase felt heavier than usual, Death started walking towards the hospital he was supposed to go to. The hospital where Shiuli must die.