Anirudh sat at his study table, staring at the pile of books that had stacked up on one of its sides. He could hardly progress with his homework that evening, because out of nowhere, Atreyee was jumping around in his room, looking through his stuff, and in general being the ball of energy that he finds a bit hard to handle. Anirudh's mother had sent up snacks to his room and was busy herself teaching the kids from the neighborhood.
Anirudh was looking through the chapters for history they had in the upcoming semester, and almost felt sick to his stomach. He had come to absolutely hate the subject over time, which stemmed from his inability to remember all the intricate details of historical events, dates, names and stuff. And as a result, looking at the topics he had to cover in the coming few months, he was feeling almost helpless and disgusted. Atreyee was sitting across the study table, humming some cheesy romantic song while she sorted out the important events from the chapters in her notebook. She glanced at Anirudh from time to time, smiled at his innocent, helpless face, and focused back on her own book. Two hours had passed, and Atreyee had just finished sorting out the important facts from the topic, and she noticed that Anirudh had started practicing the chapters from mathematics.
"Let me help you with the history topics, I have them sorted out in my notebook, I'll explain them to you if you want."
Anirudh slowly nodded as he was finishing off with the calculations of the last word problem from the exercise. She took her copy, and sat right beside him, leaning onto the table and showing him the important sections. Even though she knew she was a bit too close to Anirudh, she was comfortable around him. He was someone who made her feel safe, who made her feel needed. She kept looking at the stupefied face of Anirudh from time to time, who was clearly embarrassed from her sitting so close, and who was still attentively trying to understand everything that she was saying.
"Thank you...Atreyee, that...was of great assistance."
"Why so formal all of a sudden? Do I look like the old hag from our school?"
"No...It was really helpful...you have my sincere thanks."
"Get me a coffee someday, if you want to thank me so much. Well, it's pretty late, I better get going, or I'll get a pretty long lecture from my aunt."
"Sure...Let me see you off at the bus stop."
Anirudh folded his copy, marked the page with his pen, and led Atreyee to the door. Anirudh's mother started talking to Atreyee, asking about her aunt, while Anirudh suddenly remembered that she left her hat on his table, and went back to fetch it while his mother was busy with her small talk. As he was climbing down the stairs with the hat in his hand, he suddenly stopped and turned his head very slowly. He felt as if he could see someone through the corner of his eye, and this sudden realization almost freaked him out. But he managed to distract himself from his thoughts and raced down the rest of the stairs, almost panting by the time he reached the front door. Atreyee was about to leave, and Anirudh's mother insisted that she drop her off at her house in her car. He handed over the hat to a smiling Atreyee, who was pretty embarrassed about leaving the cap behind in a hurry. Before she got in the car, Atreyee grabbed hold of Anirudh and hugged him tight. He was visibly surprised, and he could see his mother smiling at them through the window of the car, and it made him even more tensed. But he couldn't do anything about his friend who was grabbing hold of him, as if he was her life. Not knowing what to do, he very hesitantly hugged Atreyee back.
"Thank you...Anirudh...thank you for giving me a little hope."
Anirudh could understand that she was sobbing for some reason, and he instinctively held her in his arms, and slowly wiped the tears rolling down her cheeks. He was himself astonished at what he was doing, but his body was acting on its own. Even the emotional Atreyee started giggling, still trying her best to hold back her tears.
"You've matured so much these days...I'm so happy...So happy."
She gave the astound Anirudh one last pat on his head and went off towards the car, before speeding off into the night, while he stood at the gates, staring into the dimly lit streets, trying his best to figure out the thoughts which cluttered his mind. After some time, he walked back into the house, poured himself a glass of water, and stood looking at himself in his mother's dressing mirror.
"Maybe I should take my sleeping medication today", thought Anirudh as he climbed up the stairs to his room on the first floor, after having his dinner. The discussions at the dinner table were never really something that he looked forward to. It was mostly his frustrated parents demoralizing possibly every decision that he acted upon, and his mother once even went as far as to say that it was pointless to waste money on him for further education, and it would be better for him to just get a job, as education was not really his "cup of tea". As a kid, Anirudh used to cry to himself as his parents ridiculed him for his shortcomings, but as time passed, he had grown used to the usual jeering from his parents about how the other kids were better than him. Flooded with the traumatic memories of insults and humiliation he suffered at the hands of his perfectionist parents, he thought about the only person who genuinely cared for him, for who he was. Switching on his phone, he scrolled through his chats with Atreyee, smiling at the goofy and stupid conversations they often end up having. She was one of the few reasons he wanted to hold on to his life, just a little longer.
Getting embarrassed with himself, he quickly kept his phone away and lay down on the bed. The long day's stress had worn off the boy completely, and in mere minutes, his mother found him sleeping in his bed, which was strewn with books, copies, pens and stuff.
----------------------------------------------
It was dark, Anirudh couldn't see very clearly what there was in front of him. All he could perceive in front of him was pitch black darkness, and he found himself staggering through the hallway. Far away, he could see a small, rusted metal chair, and a candle sitting on one its arms. He cautiously made his way to the chair, still trying to understand what was going on, and where he was, when suddenly he felt a sudden cold sensation.
He was sitting on his bed, drenched in sweat, but he could feel the shivering coldness in his room. The air seemed to be foul, and heavy, and he almost started choking. With his fading vision, his frantic eyes darted across the entirety of the room, and at the door, he spotted something dark. Just before he lost all sense of reality and collapsed, he heard someone speak to him in his mind.
"Hey little boy, you're pretty messed up, you know? Hahaha."
The coldness in the voice sent shivers down his spine, and just before he lost consciousness, he felt terror clutching onto his heart like a parasite.
"I'll show you what hell feels like...you're the one I was looking for."