The Moonlit Mask

8th October 2001

Reena could hardly take her eyes off him. It was her first day at college and she already had a crush on someone. The tall-dark-handsome hunk, 2 years her senior was hard to avoid. The charm of a senior combined with the charm of his killer looks had the magical effect. She had never even looked at a guy before, let alone speak or interact. And even if she had seen a guy, she had never felt this way for anyone. It was the freshers' orientation, where the seniors were ranting away tips to the newbies, like what they should do to save their necks in tough times, how to safely escape ragging, how to complete journals and still not spend more than a few hours on it etc. But all that she could care about was the tall and silent guy in the gang of seniors, standing well behind in the group, talking less, smiling at times and looking uber-cool in his Metallica T-Shirt and Blue Jeans, with a rock-star hairstyle. She thought that the guy would eventually notice her, especially when she was blatantly staring at him and he did. Soon after the assembly dispersed Reena found herself moving towards him. Quickly she recovered and walked out of the room instead. He was looking at her walking away.

8th March 2002

Reena could not stop bugging her friends about how he looked, how he walked, how he dressed, how he SANG! Oh he was the best guy she had ever seen. Vinay had had enough. He dared her to go speak to him then, After all she wasn't even sure what his name was. Reena was positive that his name was Arjun but 'positive' was not good enough for Vinay. Reena dared Vinay back to get her introduced to Arjun then. Off went Vinay to get her an introduction. Reena ran after him in pure terror. What the hell would happen now? She had been happy being a silent admirer, it gave her the freedom to look at him anytime and anywhere without him realizing (or at least she thought so), hear him sing with his band - lost in the crowd, follow him around- basically stalk him. But she wouldn't be able to do that anymore if he ever got a whiff of what she was up to. But too late, Vinay was already there talking away to Arjun. She ran to a stop almost bumping into her hero and heard Vinay say - "She is your biggest fan you know, she only talks about you all the time". Reena's dream guy was standing right in front of her and she seemed to be having a paralytic attack. He smiled and extended her hand saying "I am Arjun", "I know that", Reena found herself saying. Arjun laughed, Reena swooned.

8th June 2002

Reena had run into him every single day since the last two weeks. Every single time she had made a fool of herself, stuttering, talking rubbish and not paying attention to what he was asking. She had made up her mind to ignore him for the next couple of days so that he forgets the embarrassing encounters. But as luck would have it, she was alone in the cafe and he was right there with his buddy. He saw her and walked upto her. She could not help but notice that he was at least 6 feet tall and that he had a stylish walk. He did exactly what she was dreading - invited her over to his table. She walked away with him, excited/anxious/tense- all at the same time. But if anything, she ended up loving the next 4 hours she spent there (having bunked all her lectures and practicals in the day), she had found an extremely good friend in Arjun. "He is a really nice guy to say the least", she thought. "She is the sweetest girl I have ever met"  is what he had to think.

8th October 2002

"Come on Reena, can't you bunk one lecture for me" Arjun cribbed. Reena was vigorously finishing her assignment that she had to submit during the lecture. She said "No Arjun, it's really important, trust me". A guy walked over to Arjun and asked for his autograph, after all he was a famous rock star now. Arjun looked embarrassed and only managed to say "Come on, I'm just a student like you. The day I am able to stand on my own feet, I'll sign your autograph". The guy walked away. Just then Rajesh came over and sat with the Reena and Arjun. He started "I have this stupid journal writing task, an assignment to write from scratch ,a term test to study for and a presentation, all due tomorrow and I'm sick today". He looked miserable. Arjun took away his journal and said "I can take care of this". Reena stopped writing to smile at Arjun, the first guy she had ever spoken to, whom she loved more than ever. His simplicity, his helpfulness, his "strong and silent" attitude, his dignity using the "don't talk more-don't talk cheap" rule. She loved him truly. He smiled at her seeing the sweet innocence in her eyes. She was no more than a child to him. Only like his own child.

8 years later-

Reena was home when she received it again. A message hidden in the fireplace. It read "If you ever truly loved me you have to come with me. This is the only way around. I cannot bear to see you with someone else". She already found tears welling up in her eyes. She knew what Arjun must go through, she herself wasn't happy with what her parents wanted. They wanted her to get married to the nerdy Aditya Iyer, who didn't know what she had been through in her past, didn't care what would make her happy, all he ever talked about was how good academics can fetch wealth and prosperity - complete with examples of fellow nerds who had passed out of the biggest institutes on planet earth. She loved Arjun till today. He was everything that Aditya wasn't- simple, modest, down to earth, caring and most importantly she could not think of a life without Arjun.

Just then the landline rang and she jumped. Her parents were away so she had to do the honors. As she received the call, her irritation increased manifold, it was Aditya. He always thought it was his duty to call her once everyday, no matter how boring the conversation ended up being and irrespective of what Reena had been doing at the time of the call. But kindness personified that she was, she never had the heart to snub him or hurt him. She just patiently listened to him and made a mental note of how he manages to veer the conversation in the direction of jobs, companies, profits, gains, merit and so on. But she was pretty sure she could hear another sound in the background. It was her cellphone ringing with a distinct ringtone which could mean only one thing, she knew who was calling. She kept Aditya on hold and received her cell phone "Arjun?" 

"Yes it's me, Disconnect the other line", said Arjun.

"But how do you know? Are you watching me? How?"

"That's not the point. The point is I still watch you. I will always watch you. Please do not put up with an idiot like him for your parents' sake."

Reena disconnected Aditya's call. Arjun hadn't called in a year. He always sent secret messages, she was hearing him after ages. And she felt a tremendous amount of energy in her from hearing his voice.

Arjun continued speaking to her.

"Reena please do as I say, This is the only way you and I could get together." said Arjun. Reena heard him word to word. She was afraid of whatever she heard, she could not in the least understand how she could unite with him if she did what she was told to do. But she promised him to follow every word of his instructions. She waited until evening. When her parents came home, she had the one last cup of tea with them because she didn't know if she would ever get this chance again. She tried not to cry. She spoke to her Mom about random things like jewelry, next door neighbor's problems etc. She would miss this mother-daughter connection. 

As night fell, she got prepared. She wanted to bid goodbye to her mother and father but it was risky. She drove to the lake near the forest as she was told. Then she prayed to God and stepped into the cool water. She started walking right towards the middle of the lake. She was doing exactly what she was told to do. She trusted Arjun more than herself. He would never have meant harm, she thought. She was soaked and cold. Within no time she was neck deep in water. She grasped the bizarre scene with her eyes. The sky was a moonlit mask. She had been looking around for Arjun to come. She still did not understand why he ever asked her to do this. May be he was under water. She closed her eyes as the cool water started swallowing her head. She was drowning. She felt her leg leave the bottom of the lake and a bit of buoyancy lifted her up to completely topple her. She knew now what Arjun had wanted. He had never wanted to rescue her. He had wanted her to die. But she was not sorry. She remembered everything. As she struggled to breathe, her not having learnt to swim appeared like a boon to her. She was waiting for life to escape her. As it did, she saw him finally. Arjun was right there, on the bank of the lake, his face was one moonlit mask. She had not seen him in a year, not once after he had the tragic car crash that left him dead. But he did not let go of her. True love never dies, she thought.  He never forgot her. And she could have died a million times to see him just this once. She now understood how he watched over her. She now understood how he could call her or send her messages using the ashes of the fireplace. Only she could not understand how she had come to forget that he was no more. She imagined the extent of trauma she must have undergone to forget everything.

She saw her own lifeless body come floating to the surface. She felt herself gliding towards Arjun and he took her in his arms. She closed her eyes in the warmth and relief that she felt.

She opened her eyes with a jerk. She was in the cozy comfort of her bed. But she was drenched in cold sweat. And she was sitting up. Her heart was still beating fast from what she had just seen. It was dead of the night, full moon glowing in the sky. She heard a sleepy groan next to her. "Are you OK?", he asked. She could just make him out in the dark, his face a moonlit mask. She smiled with relief and asked, "Do you know who I dreamed of?".
"Give a hint", he said.
"His name starts with an A...", she said.
"Not that same guy again", he said.
"I wont awaken you with details of my stupid dream", she said. "You need some sleep before your show tomorrow".
And the moon continued shining.