In retrospect , everything that morning was queer.
Down to the colour of the sky . A smear of fiery crimson against the usual azure . The sun tried its best to emerge , fought against an army of angry black clouds and was injured . The sky bore testimony to its injuries .
"Paah ! Balderdash ! " Sun bend her head and whispered to herself "Focus ! focus " . She had missed the bus and was sprinting to the school . She had begun running , the moment she saw it trundle away , "without her ". Not an easy task with a "two ton load of wisdom " , as her mother would put it , thudding on her back .
Gesturing or shouting didn't seem to help , as the back benchers on the school bus were the footballers, her sworn enemies . Not only did they show her the finger , one of them was actually making a video with his smartphone , as she ran . She noticed the chap. Samar ! Must report him to ma'am , for illegal possession of the phone , get his phone confiscated . It was this stubborn sticking to rules that made her , a prefect , and a natural enemy of the footballers , the congenitally lawless lot.
He stood by the roadside , selling oranges. As all fruit vendors do . Possibly crying out his wares . She doesn't remember . She remembered seeing him earlier too , but never paid attention . That day , she stopped . Why ?
Two reasons . The school was in plain sight , there were ten minutes to the first bell . The footballers were alighting . She wanted to give them wide berth , and the oranges looked tempting.
In fact , they looked like the sun , bruised , red , glistening . Sun , or Sunita , shook her head . The vendor , quickly grabbed one and sliced it . It squirted red juice . Horrified , she looked at him . The vendor looked different , almost radiant ,smiling . "Blood oranges , baby ! Here , take it !" He squeezed one of the bleeding halves and the red juice landed plonk , on her shirt front .
"Oops sorry!" He offered a grimy dusting cloth , rubbing with which made matters worse . The vendor was still holding out the cut halves towards her .
"Seriously , he wants me to buy the cut orange ?" Sunita thought absently. She also remembered reading about blood oranges being native to the mediterranean.
She shrugged , paid for one orange , and thrusting it into her bag, slouched away . Today was just not her day.
$$$$$$$$$$$
First person to notice the stain was , of course , Samar . Smirking , he brought his head close to hers , as they stood in the prefects' line , at assembly, whispering confidentially . "You've burst your heart , running so hard, Sun ". he smirked .
"What?"
"You're bleeding from your heart " He dramatically placed his hand on his chest and swayed .
"Silence " PT sir thundered . The prayers were on .
Sunita looked down . Horrors , the juice stain had spread , and it actually looked like blood . She touched it . Sticky , thick . Goodness, it even smelt of blood . Must rush to the washroom , immediately after the National Anthem .
Next two minutes were the longest two minutes . Warm , sticky red fluid , started trickling down , and actually dripped onto her shoes .
"Blast ! Omigod ! What was this ?"No one else seemed to have noticed , thankfully .
$$$$$$$$$$
The more she rubbed , the larger the stain spread . She had taken off her shirt and was rubbing it vigorously , then she noticed her reflection . It was actually pumping out of her , in spurts .
But she felt no pain , only a queer calm , and an urgent need to hunt for a clean shirt .
Giving up on all efforts , She took off her shirt , camisole and bundled it up carefully , before dumping it into the dustbin . She remembered seeing a grimy shirt , full of plaster stains , which the janitor didi hung in the broom closet . That would mean sprinting two metres across the corridor, clad in nothing but her bra . That too had started oozing blood ." Yech!"
She peeked out , no one in the corridor. Taking her chance , Sun sprinted and yanking the door open , closed herself in .
$$$$$$$$$$$
Two minutes later , She knew all will be in classrooms . She slowly emerged . The bleeding had stopped and now she smelt of stale oranges . The trick was to sprint back home , find a new shirt , wear it and come back before the first period is over.
Then she could explain everything to the class teacher , Mr. Roy , who would probably not believe a single word . Sunita sighed . A completely strange turn of events .
The school seemed strangely silent. Padding softly , to her classroom , Sunita was surprised to find her classroom empty. The clouds had moved in , and the day was grey . A cold wind blew from open windows. One panel banged noisily . Sunita sighed. No one had bothered to close the window. It was all upto her , the prefect.
Still wondering as to where all had gone , She climbed onto the last bench and tried to shut the window, when a large newspaper cutting on the notice board across the corridor , caught her eye.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
It described in great vivid details how a schoolgirl , sprinting to school, behind the school bus was seen being stabbed in the heart several times by an orange seller .
It took her a moment to realise , she was reading about the morning's incident . It went on to describe Samar's observation , in his own words and described the video clipping he made .
"This is ridiculous !" Thought Sunita . " How come ?" Stupidly , she felt through the fabric of her shirt. There were no stab marks , nothing . She pinched herself . It felt real .
So where were the people , students , classes ? How come she is the only one in the school.
She ran to the gate , where the watchman was sitting . Relieved at seeing one person , in the deserted school , she breathlessly placed a hand on his shoulder and asked -"Bhaiya , where have the others gone ?"
Still staring at the ground he replied ,"they have gone at the poor girls' funeral ,what are you doing here ?"
He looked up , there was a massive thunderclap , and Sunita , was dimly aware of staring at the face of the orange seller .
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Next thing , Sunita finds herself staring at the orange vendor at the school gates .
The bus has finished offloading the footballers , and no , she is in no mood to buy an orange , so thank you. She was also relieved to note that these were tropical oranges , yellow-orange in colour . Her uniform shirt is unstained white .
Thank God ! Bright sunshine pouring from the heavens and all was well with the world .
She enters the classroom , dumps her bag and joins Samar on the prefect's queue.
"Late comer " He sneers and Sunita actually smiles back . Nonplussed , he frowns .
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
There is one teeny weeny problem though. Janitor didi has suddenly discovered some blood stained clothing in the dustbin of the girls' bathroom , and that her own old grey shirt which was covered with plaster bits is missing.
Down to the colour of the sky . A smear of fiery crimson against the usual azure . The sun tried its best to emerge , fought against an army of angry black clouds and was injured . The sky bore testimony to its injuries .
"Paah ! Balderdash ! " Sun bend her head and whispered to herself "Focus ! focus " . She had missed the bus and was sprinting to the school . She had begun running , the moment she saw it trundle away , "without her ". Not an easy task with a "two ton load of wisdom " , as her mother would put it , thudding on her back .
Gesturing or shouting didn't seem to help , as the back benchers on the school bus were the footballers, her sworn enemies . Not only did they show her the finger , one of them was actually making a video with his smartphone , as she ran . She noticed the chap. Samar ! Must report him to ma'am , for illegal possession of the phone , get his phone confiscated . It was this stubborn sticking to rules that made her , a prefect , and a natural enemy of the footballers , the congenitally lawless lot.
He stood by the roadside , selling oranges. As all fruit vendors do . Possibly crying out his wares . She doesn't remember . She remembered seeing him earlier too , but never paid attention . That day , she stopped . Why ?
Two reasons . The school was in plain sight , there were ten minutes to the first bell . The footballers were alighting . She wanted to give them wide berth , and the oranges looked tempting.
In fact , they looked like the sun , bruised , red , glistening . Sun , or Sunita , shook her head . The vendor , quickly grabbed one and sliced it . It squirted red juice . Horrified , she looked at him . The vendor looked different , almost radiant ,smiling . "Blood oranges , baby ! Here , take it !" He squeezed one of the bleeding halves and the red juice landed plonk , on her shirt front .
"Oops sorry!" He offered a grimy dusting cloth , rubbing with which made matters worse . The vendor was still holding out the cut halves towards her .
"Seriously , he wants me to buy the cut orange ?" Sunita thought absently. She also remembered reading about blood oranges being native to the mediterranean.
She shrugged , paid for one orange , and thrusting it into her bag, slouched away . Today was just not her day.
$$$$$$$$$$$
First person to notice the stain was , of course , Samar . Smirking , he brought his head close to hers , as they stood in the prefects' line , at assembly, whispering confidentially . "You've burst your heart , running so hard, Sun ". he smirked .
"What?"
"You're bleeding from your heart " He dramatically placed his hand on his chest and swayed .
"Silence " PT sir thundered . The prayers were on .
Sunita looked down . Horrors , the juice stain had spread , and it actually looked like blood . She touched it . Sticky , thick . Goodness, it even smelt of blood . Must rush to the washroom , immediately after the National Anthem .
Next two minutes were the longest two minutes . Warm , sticky red fluid , started trickling down , and actually dripped onto her shoes .
"Blast ! Omigod ! What was this ?"No one else seemed to have noticed , thankfully .
$$$$$$$$$$
The more she rubbed , the larger the stain spread . She had taken off her shirt and was rubbing it vigorously , then she noticed her reflection . It was actually pumping out of her , in spurts .
But she felt no pain , only a queer calm , and an urgent need to hunt for a clean shirt .
Giving up on all efforts , She took off her shirt , camisole and bundled it up carefully , before dumping it into the dustbin . She remembered seeing a grimy shirt , full of plaster stains , which the janitor didi hung in the broom closet . That would mean sprinting two metres across the corridor, clad in nothing but her bra . That too had started oozing blood ." Yech!"
She peeked out , no one in the corridor. Taking her chance , Sun sprinted and yanking the door open , closed herself in .
$$$$$$$$$$$
Two minutes later , She knew all will be in classrooms . She slowly emerged . The bleeding had stopped and now she smelt of stale oranges . The trick was to sprint back home , find a new shirt , wear it and come back before the first period is over.
Then she could explain everything to the class teacher , Mr. Roy , who would probably not believe a single word . Sunita sighed . A completely strange turn of events .
The school seemed strangely silent. Padding softly , to her classroom , Sunita was surprised to find her classroom empty. The clouds had moved in , and the day was grey . A cold wind blew from open windows. One panel banged noisily . Sunita sighed. No one had bothered to close the window. It was all upto her , the prefect.
Still wondering as to where all had gone , She climbed onto the last bench and tried to shut the window, when a large newspaper cutting on the notice board across the corridor , caught her eye.
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
It described in great vivid details how a schoolgirl , sprinting to school, behind the school bus was seen being stabbed in the heart several times by an orange seller .
It took her a moment to realise , she was reading about the morning's incident . It went on to describe Samar's observation , in his own words and described the video clipping he made .
"This is ridiculous !" Thought Sunita . " How come ?" Stupidly , she felt through the fabric of her shirt. There were no stab marks , nothing . She pinched herself . It felt real .
So where were the people , students , classes ? How come she is the only one in the school.
She ran to the gate , where the watchman was sitting . Relieved at seeing one person , in the deserted school , she breathlessly placed a hand on his shoulder and asked -"Bhaiya , where have the others gone ?"
Still staring at the ground he replied ,"they have gone at the poor girls' funeral ,what are you doing here ?"
He looked up , there was a massive thunderclap , and Sunita , was dimly aware of staring at the face of the orange seller .
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Next thing , Sunita finds herself staring at the orange vendor at the school gates .
The bus has finished offloading the footballers , and no , she is in no mood to buy an orange , so thank you. She was also relieved to note that these were tropical oranges , yellow-orange in colour . Her uniform shirt is unstained white .
Thank God ! Bright sunshine pouring from the heavens and all was well with the world .
She enters the classroom , dumps her bag and joins Samar on the prefect's queue.
"Late comer " He sneers and Sunita actually smiles back . Nonplussed , he frowns .
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
There is one teeny weeny problem though. Janitor didi has suddenly discovered some blood stained clothing in the dustbin of the girls' bathroom , and that her own old grey shirt which was covered with plaster bits is missing.
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