The Passengers : Story #1

The Passengers is going to be a collection of short stories written for the readers. It shall have a particular theme or topic. The title is borrowed from the concept of life. Life is a journey, what many of us think so. A journey comprises of people and you. So, these people are your companions or probably the passengers of the vessel you're commanding. I don't think it's original enough, but my stories are.

There are millions of broken hearts around the world today. I am not telling you my story. No, I am too ordinary for such a story. Broken hearts were recorded in history, they created epics and battles.

However, right now nobody has time for heartbreaks nor do they have time to heal themselves, instead, they move on. I never understood the concept of moving on. So, I decided to write this. 

I once knew a boy, not a friend. He knew nothing about me. I was not someone who people would recognise. I lived as a nobody, never tried to be somebody. I knew my parents had planned for me; school, college, job and wife. So I learnt about someone else's life. He was a great student, proficient in everything, I was nothing like him. 

He had a girl, a pretty one. I heard things got complicated between him and her. I don't know why, I just know it shook him up completely. Rash decisions followed; got himself kicked out from school, dream colleges rejected his application, and so on. 

You pretty much can reckon the damage. Do you think he moved on? 

A couple of years later, when I was an average college student trying to get hold of some beer, I saw him. Doing business with the liquor store manager. He didn't see me and when he left, I decided to follow him. I would never forget that journey; narrow lanes of a small village in Delhi, dark, dingy and filled with sewer like smell. Somewhere, I knew I could land in trouble but luckily I did not. He stopped at a dilapidated building. I was about to go inside when I heard gun shots.

 Like a coward I ran, some of you might think it wasn't cowardly but sensible. I get confused most of the times.

He died today, almost sixteen years ago. Strangely enough, everybody who knew him moved on. I somehow never did.