Shock would be an understatement, what Sam went through was a wave of emotion from being perplexed and shocked to intrigue. He wanted to talk to the person on the other side but in his head he believed it to be a hallucination, maybe he didn’t have anyone to talk to and started imagining his diary to be a person. But wouldn’t that be something magical that you have a diary that talks to you, read your thoughts, gives you advice and be there. With a thought too good to be true, Sam closed his diary and just like what Thea did, he went to sleep to get rid of this hallucination.

Meanwhile, Thea waited for a reply all day long, anxious to know who exactly this person was, why and how they could communicate through a diary but a day became weak and she got no reply. “I am a patient woman, I even wait for my pasta to boil in time,” Thea told herself while the diary and a pencil were held in her hand as if it’s going to vanish just like the words she saw. She’d waited for 3 days to find some clues, a reply, to discredit her own experience or maybe just wanting to believe what she saw was real. 

She opened the diary and just waited as usual when she saw words forming on the blank page. “Where are you from? Is someone trying to trick me?” It said. Thea replied that she’s from London UK.

Sam felt anxious yet happy to find someone from him home, even though at the back of his mind he thought all of it as a dream, “I heard that Thames river is rotting, disease is spreading, how are you coping? I used to stay in Mayfair near the Chesterfield house till I came here to India, oh how big that place was, so magnificent, I wanted to live there as a child.”

Thea read those words again, “Thames river is not rotting, that happened in the 1800s and Chesterfield House doesn’t exist, it got demolished in the 1930s and there’s only Chesterfield street that I know of”. Thea joined the dots, the dots she wished would form a path she didn’t have to take. 

Sam wrote “I got a letter from my father on 2 March 1855, now it is June. What happened in these 3 months?” “It is 20 January 2022, it has been 167 years from your time” Thea tried to write calmly but the more she thought about it the crazier this whole thing became.
Minutes became hours and none of them wrote inside the diary. It was now 10 at night when Thea saw something written in the diary “After 2 days of fidgeting over it.. I do not know if it’s real or just my imagination, even if it is I want myself to become oblivious to it because I finally found someone to talk to even if it’s not in my time.” 

Thea immediately wrote back “It has been two days? But it has just been hours for me here”. It was getting complicated for the both of them but they decided to continue with their conversation. Sam told her a lot of things which were happening there in Meerut and Thea told him of the world he had only heard in stories but as unrealistic as it was to him the most unrealistic part was he was giving in, giving in to everything. It had been almost a month for Thea and around two month in Sam’s time. 

One day Sam asked her “What do you think about love and attraction? Look at me a 24 year old man asking about love when I should’ve been married with a child. Do you have any children or a husband, I never asked, did I?” Thea answered that people are allowed to get married at whatever age they want to, at least most of the time, get married and be with whoever they want to be with and she is not married even though she is 27 and doesn’t have children as well. “Anyone? Even if a man wants to live with a man? That’s absurd, the government will put you in jail for that”. For Thea, the handwriting made her feel the hesitance which Sam was trying to hide. She asked him what happened and Sam eventually relented, telling her that this happened last month.

Sam’s POV

I was having lunch with my colleagues when one of them mentioned a physician who is accused of murdering his patient. The victim was supposedly a 20 year old man who was stabbed on the left side of his abdomen by medical equipment and the last person he met was a local physician Anand. Anand has been considered by the British as a notorious troublemaker, spreading pamphlets criticizing the British government, demanding independence and has been on the run. His colleague told that it the man in the photo they have put up inside the station and everywhere. Samuel got reminded of the last time he met that man or to say helped an accused escape but he didn’t mention this to anyone.

That day Sam left for him home and it was a bit late, the door of houses were shut as everyone retired to their homes. Around 7:30 pm when he was near his home he saw a man sitting on a bench in the park, all alone. What possessed him, he does not know, he walked towards the man who was lost in his own world and just as beside him. The light from the rising moon and some from afar illuminate a part of the place, including the man’s face. They sat there in silence when the man asked “Kya chaand ke paas apni marzi thi, kisi aur ke liye na chamakne ki?” (Did the moon ever had a choice to not shine for anyone else?). Sam didn’t answer because maybe the man didn’t want an answer or he just knew the answer himself. Sam turned to look at the man and after a few seconds the man’s head turned. Sam felt lost, from the fact that it was the wanted physician or the feeling inside his heart, for the first time something feeling as home, safe and warm like the hug his mother gave him before she passed away. 

The man, Anand. What does that mean? Maybe he’ll have to ask some Indian soldier working here. His eyes were glazed with the reflection of the moon, dark like the night was growing into but sharp as the creatures who roam around at this time. His face was strong but the expressions held restraint and Sam felt a growing need to comfort the man. Without a thought Sam gave him a small smile, his hand itching to hold Anand’s hand to comfort him but restrained himself. Anand gave him a tiny smile, almost invisible in the dark but the wrinkle near his eyes gave it away. 

Anand inched his body towards him, just a bit, but enough for Sam to feel content. They sat there in silence till Anand got up and turned to leave. Sam sat there looking at him leave, exploring the feeling he found irritating, seeing Anand leave. Anand walked towards the entrance of the park and then turned back. Sam saw Anand’s posture change from rigid to relax and from afar he saw those eyes shine knowing that this smile was for him.

Thea sat on her bed smiling idiotically, reading what Sam told her till now and in the background her playlist sang…

Do I wanna know? If this feelin’ flows both ways?
(Sad to see you go) was sorta hopin’ that you’d stay
(Baby, we both know) that the nights were mainly made
for sayin’ things that you can’t say tomorrow day.

Hello, everyone! If you liked this Short Story, do check out the related posts. Comment and like if you would like to read more similar works from the author. And don’t forget to share this on your social media channels.

I am a law student and a content writer here, who appreciates harmless sarcasm. I write about whatever my brainbox (or yours) fancies. Writing something other than research papers and assignments makes life a little less chaotic, for it gives a sense of unwinding your emotions. I like exploring and talking over ideas and thoughts (and an open political discussion).

Email-kyoshita58@gmail.com

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