Unanswered Feels

Amas, Navya and Kahala along with her family boarded the flight. Navya and Kahala's mother were sitting side by side. Amas and Kahala were sitting next to each other. Amas offered Kahala the window seat but she let him take it. Meanwhile, her dad had to sit in the alternate row because of the availability of seats.

Amas was engrossed in the view outside the window, looking at the clouds. It was his first time on an aeroplane ever since he woke up from the coma so it felt kind of nostalgic to him. On the other hand, Kahala wasn't intrigued by the scenery at all. To her Amas's gleaming eyes were exciting enough so she kept looking at him pretending to be looking out the window.

Suddenly Amas turned around and Kahala felt a rush of blood coming to her face, making it bright red and her eyes widened when he said, "Kahala look! The river looks like a centipede!". "That's a cloud dummy, we're too high up to be able to see the river", she replied, giggling. "The coma really took a toll on me, I guess", he said scratching his head. "Indeed", Kahala replied leading to Amas looking at her with an expression that said, "You're really mean!"

Soon the landing announcement was made, the duo of moms glanced back at Amas, Kahala and then the fifth member of their squad only to find him cosily dozing off. Kahala's mom then walked toward his fellow passenger and asked her to wake him up. The only person who didn't want the flight to land was Kahala, but she pacified herself with the thought that many more such beautiful moments were yet to come. As soon as they all got off the plane, Kahala got mixed up in the crowd at the airport but Amas quickly reached for her hand and holding it tightly he said, "Don't worry, I'm here for you". As she followed his lead out of the airport with the two families, she felt better about the landing and was really happy that they were there in that moment, a sweet smile spread across her face.

On the other hand, Amas had been thinking constantly about his mother, her childhood friend and their relationship. The thought of Avyanna never left his mind either. He hoped to meet her when they got back to Delhi and narrate everything to her. He was sure that she'd be really happy. Before he could give it another thought, the hustle and bustle of the busy roads brought him back to reality and he remembered they had to leave for the outskirts of the town, nearly 80 kms away from the urban area they were in.

The five of them booked what looked like a Rickshaw but was referred to as a 'Tempo' by everyone. "I've never been on one of these", said Kahala. "I'm pretty sure none of us have", replied her mother. The two males nodded in agreement but Navya said, "I used to travel on these when I was a child". A sense of nostalgia came over her as she spoke.

Amas watched her talk happily about her childhood days and how she used to run around in her hometown. As they approached their destination, Amas felt as if the landscape was familiar and he had been there before but it was his first time he had been to his hometown so he dismissed it just as a feeling of 'Deja Vu'. To divert his mind, he plugged in his earphones and tuned into his favourite music, thinking about how things would turn out when his mom finally sees what she had been avoiding for so long. How would she react when her dead friend's memories would freshen up. He was so consumed by his thoughts that he didn't even notice they had reached his great grandparents' place. He was brought back to his senses by Kahala who made him realize that his mother was already in tears just by looking at her grandparents' place where she spent her childhood. Amas paid the driver and thanked him for his services as he left. As Navya towards the main gate to ring the doorbell, she felt all those childhood days rushing back to her and along with them the memories of her childhood best friend. Although she knew the person who answered the door wouldn't be her deceased grandmother or grandfather with the sweet mangoes as they did back in the day, but for some reason her heart still felt like it would be them.

The door opened with a creak but on the other side stood the caretaker of the house, not her mother or grandmother. The group, especially Kahala's family was surprised by the amount of loyalty of the caretaker, whom Navya would repeatedly call 'Kaki', meaning mom's elder sister. She then narrated the story about how Navya's grandparents had raised an orphan like her as if she were their own daughter and how she had an elder brother in Navya's father who was the one sending her allowances every month. The family-owned big farms and was full of philanthropists, which was why no one in the village ever starved. However, the caretaker never married in order to pay her debt back. Everyone that night had a traditional Indian dinner which consisted of cooked pulses, rice and mashed potatoes with spices. All of them knew that it was a meal they would never forget.

At night, after dinner, when everyone was supposed to be asleep, Amas snuck up to the roof of their ancestral home to catch some of the fresh air and of course think of his lady. At the roof he found his mother all by herself and spoke, "Well look who's here". "It's your mother!", she replied and clapped sarcastically. "So tomorrow we visit your past and you come at peace with it", Amas said to her. "I already am at peace honey", she replied with a victorious giggle which caused the duo to laugh together for the next 8 minutes.

"We should probably sleep now", said Amas. "Well, that is exactly what I was gonna say, so jinx and good night honey", she replied before going off to her mom.

As the sun rose, Kahala got up to wake Amas only to find him already awake at the rooftop. "What are you up to?", she asked him as she stood by his side. "I don't really know, just feels like an important day for me", he replied as both of smiled and Kahala dragged Amas downstairs for breakfast. He quietly let her drag him with her which made her feel like he was adorable. After everyone was done with their breakfast, Navya asked Kaki about Annu's home and came to know that she'd go every week and get the house cleaned but she'd never mess with how the things had been and gave the keys to Navya. At the place's door, Navya froze and she couldn't move her hand as she stood in one position. She suddenly remembered how her tomboy friend would drag her there just because she liked her parent's cooking. Amas hugged his mom and took the key from her. He shook a bit before opening the door, then finally opened it. Navya stepped in first as a stream of tears started to flow down her cheeks and she started to guide everyone about the place as if she herself had been living there. Then she entered her best friend's room, which said 'Avyanna and Navya's Kingdom'. It went unnoticed by Amas at first but when he saw a picture of his Avyanna in the room, he was shocked. Why was there a picture of her in his mom's best friend's room, who died years ago? This was the only question in his mind at the time. He went numb due to the shock and then started to cry like a baby as he began to recollect every story his mother told him while he was in a coma. His eyes were beginning to swell because of how much he cried but the tears just wouldn't stop. The loss of energy caused Amas to lose consciousness and as his conscious began to fade away, he saw her smiling at him. A smile full of life. As soon as he blacked out, Amas found himself sitting next to Anna at the park they had their first date in.

"What did I tell you, Amas?" she asked him as he looked at her, puzzled. "To hold onto your heart just this once, dummy!", she continued. She got up from the bench, took his hand and started to run as she spoke, "You're good looking, smart and a good person, but I'm not the one who says that. It's her, Kahala." Then she picked up some dough from the kitchen counter and threw it at him as she continued to speak. "It was very nice of you to fall for me, but I'm just a collection of your thoughts."

She then stood against the pole with her phone in her hand and her hair dancing with the wind as she looked Amas in the eye, smiled and said, "I'm not real, she is."

She started to wither away into petals which flew away with the wind. The last glimpse that Amas remembered of her was a teardrop falling down her right eye, forming an arc with its left counterpart, which closed while smiling. A smile full of life, before she turned into petals and flew away with the wind. Amas ran to hold her one last time but he just kept chasing the wind.

Amas woke up with his right hand in the air and his eyes filled with tears. He was at the local hospital with his mom crying and Kahala hiding her tears while her parents tried to console Navya. Anna was nowhere to be seen and that was a pain Amas couldn't share with anyone, only embrace it. A pain that proved he was stronger than many, a pain that wasn't real but still stung him. Even if Avyanna wasn't someone he could marry, maybe she was just a projection of his thoughts or maybe a spirit wanting to be remembered and loved, she taught him to be strong and showed him who the right one was.