The Great Loss

    Vikrant and Tanisha went on Diwali holidays to his hometown. They were very happy to be able to travel as it had been two years since they could celebrate Diwali together due to the lockdowns and other issues. But now that the virus was on a little bit of a back foot, people relaxed a bit and life resumed normalcy a bit. People forgot to keep 2 yards distance and masks disappeared in some forgotten corner of the house. Although when they visited the markets they could see many people still wearing the masks in public, they appreciated that but didn't wear one themselves as they were vaccinated and all. 

         The days before Diwali was spent waiting for the family to assemble and then it was time to buy different things not only for the festival but for the family as well. Despite the worry about the pollution both of sound and air kind. Vikrant and his brothers still bought a few firecrackers for the babies of the family. 

              And then it was Diwali all the buildings in the colony were covered in myriad colors of lights and like every year the night was illuminated by millions of little lights and after the pooja, the candles and diyas were alighted and put across the home and other places. And then it was time for the little ones to enjoy their firecrackers. And they enjoyed the little fuljhadis and Chakri and anaar and a few rolls in their pistols as well. But soon others joined the family and everyone wished Diwali to each other. And other people burst their bombs and firecrackers. Someone brought a 5000 crackers rail and it burst with aplomb but then some came rushing towards the people and they ran along with them Vikrant's son Dishant ran as well but rather than laughing he was crying. When checked they found that the cracker had burnt his hand a bit and with that, the family Diwali was over. 

            The next day the kid was better and the burn was healing nicely. Tanisha and Dishant had to go to her parent's house for some functions so they left. Vikrant himself stayed behind as he had to attend the function and pooja at the family home.

            Meanwhile, Tanisha wasn't doing very well although the trip started well soon everyone in the family started getting ill with a fever and cold. One after the other started getting infected and the kids were affected most and all the kids were admitted to the hospital for care. Slowly everyone started recovering.

               And soon it was time to leave and Vikrant got on the train and would pick up the rest of the family the mid-journey which was the norm with them. And because it was the night train journey they all got in and slept. Although both Tanisha and Dishant were not fully well the Doctor said that they should be okay to travel. So they traveled and slept through the night. And the train got delayed a bit but then they reached their destination.

             Vikrant got up and woke up Tanisha and went to wake up their son but he didn't respond to the voice so Vikrant tried to shake his son but he tensed suddenly as he realized something strange, despite under the cover his son was very cold. Through numb fingers, he checked the body and confirmed that their son wasn't breathing anymore. And soon the train was rocked by the sobs of two parents grieving the great loss.

The Body

 "Did you see it yet?" Suraj asked Prakash excitedly 

"No, not yet, have you?" Prakash replied

"No, I am just going there, I heard that Sonu, Jigg, and Peter, saw it already," Suraj said

"So what are we waiting for let's go and take a look ourselves." Said, Prakash

Both of them followed a group of people as they rushed across the narrow road excitement clear in their voices, but also slight hesitation because of course you don't get to see such things every day. 

And thus Prakash and others reached the field and there it was the body of a dead guy. Nobody knew how long the body was there in the field but it was naked and the skin had darkened completely, eye sockets were empty and the mouth was open in a dying scream and most peculiar of all one of his hands was holding his penis. 

No one knew how he had died or who he was but as soon as kids saw their first dead body they left, some crying, some in fear, and some in excitement. Most of them will have nightmares about it for the next few weeks.

After all, it's not every day that you get to see a dead body in the field.

The Start of Something

     She stood in front of the mirror, she wasn't yet ready to look at herself in the mirror so she was looking down. She had just broken up with her boyfriend and it was over another petty issue but he had hit her. And that was it. But she was still sad after all emotions are stupid they don't understand the logic. 

    She wasn't sure if she was able to get over the pain ever. She had finally stopped crying after two days but she could still feel like crying and hence she found herself in front of the mirror. Suddenly she noticed a razor and her hand grasped it. And there was the start of an idea, a thought half formed, she never thought that she would ever do something like that but now she felt like she had to try at least once. 

    A small sound escaped her lips as the blade scratched against her skin. She didn't know what she was doing but it felt right. She didn't want a deep cut so at first, she did a shallow quick cut and for a few seconds nothing happened but the skin cracked a bit, and then a little red appeared and a small stream of blood started and she felt her sadness disappear in her pain. She made a few more experimental cuts and now she didn't feel that sad and though she wasn't close to happiness, she wanted anything but sadness. And this was the start of something beautiful for her.