Monday, August 31, 2009

The Storyteller - 2

Continued from Part 1

I don’t think I’m explaining this well. She was beautiful, yes, but more than that… it was the way she talked. She made you want to hold her close and take care of her. The stories she told – I don’t think I even remember much of all that now. But when she was in front of you, talking to you… she was mesmerizing. You felt like you were in this wonderfully exciting dream. But later, when you were alone… you usually felt a little ashamed of yourself, like you had behaved childishly. At least that’s how she made me feel.

So well, I asked her to move in with me.

Yeah, it was sudden. It’s not like me. I told you, it’s like… she had put a spell on me or something. When I was with her, I never wanted to go away. So after a few days, when she was telling me how hard it was to find an affordable place to stay, I asked her to move in with me.

I lived in a small one-bedroom apartment then. I liked living alone. In fact, I didn’t even like having guests. Yet I wanted her to come and stay with me.That was a mistake, I suppose. Living in such close quarters… well, it got too much. I couldn’t deal with the perpetual excitement. She didn’t even have a job then, and as soon as I came in, she would jump up, all excited, and want to do something. Maybe go out for a long drive, maybe make love in the balcony. At first, it was exhilarating. It was so exciting, so new. But I worked long hours, and I couldn’t do with just a couple of hours sleep every night.

She felt it, you know. She felt that I was growing, you know, distant. That I wasn’t as into her as I’d been at first.

One morning, I got up and she was gone. All her things were gone too. She had packed up and moved out quietly while I was asleep. I couldn’t believe it, at first. We had even made love at night. And in the morning, she had just disappeared.

I didn’t know what to do. This was about eight years ago, so well, she didn’t have a mobile phone. Though I’m not sure that would have made a difference. I went to Sia: she said she hadn’t heard from her in weeks. I asked everyone I knew who knew her. But I heard nothing.

It was maybe a year later that I heard about her, at some party. She had moved to Kerala, apparently, was living with some artist guy. I’ve never seen her since.

What’s the matter, you’re not angry, are you? It was a long time ago, and it only lasted a few weeks. She wasn’t my type at all.

Everything I remember about her? You want to use her as material? No, I don’t think you should. You see, if I read about her in a book, I’d think the character was unrealistic.

9 comments:

Pallavi Sharma said...

Ah, this is intriguing.

Pramathesh said...

Very intriguing

Unmana said...

Well, I hope this means you two like it. :-)

Maitreyee said...

Surreal- both the character and the story, liked it :)

Anonymous said...

The last line did it for me :-)

Unmana said...

Maitreyee: Thanks. I've actually known people like that in real life!

lostonthestreet: Ah, you know, I remember thinking that about certain events or people, so I thought I'd use it here!

Anonymous said...

It was closer home for me, as someone used that to describe me.I was young and impressionable- didn't realise what it meant.Actually even now I don't know what it meant with regards to me :-)
Damn I wish I could write fiction.

gitima said...

Damn.... this is too good.. kinda gave me gooseflesh all throughout.... keep it coming...

Unmana said...

lostonthestreet: Your last line seems like a compliment!

gitima: I try... But the muse seems to have abandoned me - I hope, temporarily.