Unheard

As the apartment’s creaky door slowly swung open, Tobey stepped in, followed by his friend from college, Andrew. Tobey’s parents lived in the suburbs which led him to rent a one-bedroom apartment to continue college in the city. The apartment was well kept – it was after all one of the very few places in the city that he actually loved and cared for. For him, it meant the world and though he hardly had any time to rest after college and an exhaustive part time job, he’d still squeeze out some time to at least clean his apartment. Lately, with end of the financial year around, even this part time job got more consuming leaving him no time for himself. However, he was lucky today. Being the last Saturday of the month, he had the day off and decided to spend the morning in the college, with friends. It was here that he met Andrew, his classmate and struck a conversation that went all the way to his apartment.
“I haven’t had such a nice time for quite a while”, Andrew exclaimed, an honest smile brightening his face. “Yeah, even I hadn’t expected the attendance to be this low on the very first week of the semester”, Tobey answered. Their college had many students who weren’t from the city, and so, most of them chose Tobey’s style of accommodation. However, it was quite reasonable to not find any such students during the holidays or even the first two weeks after. Having lived in the city for the better part of the year away from family they quite normally felt homesick and were often reluctant to leave home. Even the city’s dazzling lights, flashy life and addictive vices failed at keeping them in the trance they were otherwise in for the rest of the year. “These holidays have been such a drag. There was barely anyone in the city, let alone the campus. I don’t know how you all could spend an entire month in your homes. As far as I know, many of y’all didn’t even leave your houses. I, however, need to visit the campus every day. It’s just as important as breathing to me”, Andrew started. “Well, we all have a myriad of web series and novels to make any holiday a trip to paradise”, Tobey replied. “The same old thing that everyone has to say whenever asked about holidays. Don’t you find this to be nothing but parasitic, just feeding off other people’s works? Though I depend a lot on my visits to the campus, I try to create something or the other, whenever I can. In fact, even when here, there’s hardly anyone around and so it’s pretty clear that I don’t just come here to play cards or while away”, Andrew said, this time with a wild gush of energy and enthusiasm. However, things weren’t as easy for Tobey. Since, Andrew lived with his parents for he was from the city; he never had to worry much about money. He didn’t find the need to work at a place while in college. He never had to take the responsibility of even his own sustenance unlike Tobey. Tobey knew these things well, but still felt a bit bad. It was already dark outside and his phone said 7 P. M. Tobey knew Andrew very well, and didn’t take it to his heart as Andrew had spurted it more out of concern than disgust. Like children they didn’t require any effort or time to swiftly latch onto the subject of movies and their binge patterns. Andrew left for home at ten, leaving behind Tobey to be consumed by social media. Though he loved reading books, he could never say that he loved them more than the many cat gifs and memes at his disposal. With it, he never felt lonely. In truth, he could never understand loneliness. He didn’t wait any longer and cooked himself a light meal, which he finished in a jiffy while simultaneously gulping down a Pewdiepie video. By the time he had polished the last morsel off his plate, his phone let out a buzz of terror as a notification on the screen read:
5% battery remaining. Please put your phone on charge or
turn on the battery saver mode.
The switchboard that had the plug socket was on the wall opposite his bed and was high enough to not let him sit on the floor and surf through memes while the phone charged. Hence, he was forced apart from his phone while it charged and had no option other than reading a book. Two pages into the short story, just when things got a bit interesting, the lights went out, heralded by the poor phone which let out another buzz telling that it still had less than 10% charge. This time, he was left with nothing to do, but sleep, which again was just as tough as reading in the dark – the humid tropics that were his home would never let him sleep without a fan spinning furiously. As he unlocked his phone, to let its faint light help locate the packet of cigarettes and his lighter, he also saw that it was just thirty past eleven and wondered when the still unknown, or yet-to-be-created deity of electricity would have mercy on him. Sadly, he lit a cigarette and breathed it in passionately when he heard another voice in the room hack as if it had choked on the smoke – just the way a person smoking for the first time does while inhaling. Tobey could now feel a chill crawl down his spine like a spider. Scared, he even forgot he had a cigarette in his hand and let it burn on for a few seconds until he asked,” Is anybody else here?” At first, he feared a robber, but if one did break in, it wouldn’t be something he’d not hear in a one bedroom apartment. A chuckle followed. “What is it that you want? I’m a broke kid, have mercy. You won’t find any money on me”. There wasn’t any answer. Now seated on a wet bed, immobile in fear, he mustered all the courage he could gather and asked,” Who are you?” “I am whatever you want me to be, I am whatever you think I am”, came the answer. The silence was making things worse in the dark, along with the knowledge of a stranger’s existence in the same room. Tobey now no different from a five year old, asked quite plainly,” So are you a robber, or a…” “Wraith? I am indeed robbing you off your sleep and peace, so a robber I am and a wraith too… a wraith inside you, one you never see, one that you evade” Perhaps this was all Tobey had to know. For some reason he felt like he knew a lot about this person he was talking to, yet that it had some more things to it that made it different, perplexing. This time he didn’t even have to ask to get his slight doubt clarified out of the blue… “Wraiths may also talk. Hence, when they do, do not turn a deaf ear” Tobey had now heard it loud and clear and could tell who or what this voice was. It sounded a lot like his friend Andrew, and spoke a lot like an old friend of his from school. Most importantly, the voice thought a lot like him, which is why he could make sense of what it said. It felt as if his memories and thoughts had been gifted a voice, and that this was a call for retrospection. “I have really wanted to talk to you for long”, said Tobey. “No, you haven’t you have always plugged your ears shut to me and opened your eyes to the madness outside. When others talked about retrospection, you laughed and now you say me this. You aren’t lying to me, you’re lying to yourself”. The voice was strong and clear. “Why did you choose today of all other days? Why this place of all? Most importantly, why now?” The voice answered,” You already have the answers. You just choose not to see them and now you waste the time you have with me for these questions. You haven’t changed a bit since I first heard you.” Birds could now be heard outside, the world outside was lighting up as the sky started getting lighter. Tobey’s eyes were all droopy with sleep. In the end, all he managed to ask was,” Will I ever be able to understand you?” There wasn’t an answer, as the first rays of the sun, shone through his window onto the floor of his room. There wasn’t a sign of another soul. Tobey lay flat on his belly, sleepy with a smile on his face. He was happy he hadn’t wasted any time trying to explore and understand his thoughts for something told him that it had no end to it. For him it was a futile exercise and the wraith of a voice, a little pest. For him, even the inability to communicate with others was better than having to speak with oneself. All he now waited for was to get back to his usual routine on Monday. A few minutes later, the fan started spinning with a jolt, the phone buzzed heralding its happiness with nourishment and the tight shut eyes ensured a fragile sense of completion and security.

– Anirban Chakroborti