11 Hours

by Daniel Paul Singh

  “Are you... You mean... Should I consult a psychiatrist?” I asked putting up a sad face.

  “No no... Absolutely not necessary. Take these stress pills, it will keep your blood pressure under check. Have these ice bags with you and place it on your head every half an hour. Do Yoga or meditation… hmmm even prayer will help…Basically, don’t get stressed. You will be alright soon. Take your tablets on time” he comforted me.

  I believed him. I would have believed him even if he had told that I didn’t exist and was just an illusion.

  June 21st Saturday:

  The drive in my Bajaj Crux through the vacant roads of OMR on that Saturday evening was pure bliss.I was heading to the Cosmopolis mall at Thoraipakkam. From Thiruvanmayur it was just a 15 minutes ride.

  I started well ahead of time at 6.15 Pm for the 7 pm show. I was not ready to risk the first half an hour of the movie. No, not for Avengers.

  I was riding only in the 40s as per the doctor’s advice. I saw the signal changing red at the Kandanchavadi signal and slowed down my bike to park it behind a Volkswagen. 30 seconds wait.

  The signal turned green, but the vehicle in front of me , didn’t move. I honked my horn, but he wouldn’t budge. I pressed my horn as hard as I could. There was no response from him. I started to lose my cool. I was too close to him and couldn’t move my bike either side. I looked at my watch, it was 6.20 Pm. 40 more minutes for the movie.

  I honked and honked and honked again… the car slowly moved… I lost my patience and yelled an expletive at him.

  I then raced past the vehicles, crossed the toll gate and reached the mall. I parked my bike at the basement in a hurry and rushed towards the lift, which closed in slow motion just before I could barge in. I pressed the second lift’s button as hard as I could and waited. However it was still moving up, with no intention to come down. I decided to take the escalator and ran towards it. I took giant steps in the escalator and reached the fourth floor in five minutes.

  I searched for Screen 9, found it and showed my tickets to enter in. 6.30 it should be or at the max 7, I thought.

  I was startled to see the movie having started already. Bemused, I looked at my watch. The dial smiled back at me showing, 7.30 Pm.

  My God!! Have I just lost one hour?

  July 3rd, Thursday:

  I was lying in the hospital bed with the tubes protruding from my body being connected to several machines. My ECG was running normal. I still hadn’t updated my family of the debacle. I checked my watch for the date, it was the 3rd of July, my mom’s birthday.

  I had always been the first one to wish her on all her birth days and nothing was going to change that. I wanted to wish her immediately. I asked the nurse who was standing nearby, for my phone and she obliged.

  I called to my mom and wished her a prosperous year and a great time ahead. I couldn’t speak properly to her and she constantly kept asking if I was alright, if anything was bothering me and if everything was fine.

  How could I tell you mom?

  How could I tell you that I am losing my life...? Losing my time, inch by inch, frame by frame, hour by hour.

  I somehow convinced my mom that everything was fine and cut the call.

  I looked all around me and felt sick. I wanted to scream, I wanted to run away, I was normal human, I was no mad man.

  I slowly got up from my bed and sat.

  “Don’t strain yourself... Just rest and relax” the nurse intervened.

  “Rest, I will” I nodded.

  I looked at the sole clock in the corner. It showed 11 am.

  A sudden surge of thoughts occupied my mind. It all started with the train, from losing half an hour, I started losing one hour, missed deadlines, met with accidents, almost lost my job, lost sleep, lost peace of mind and lost myself. The doctors couldn’t even comprehend my problem, there was no such case in history. I was a lost case for them, just being used for experimental purpose.How could they?

  All of a sudden, it pained. It felt like a migraine attack. I couldn’t bear it any longer. I held my head within my hand and shrieked. I screamed aloud like hell and let out all my frustration, all of it… for one last time… for one last time.

  I closed my face with my hands and sat silently on the bed. I didn’t want to look at the clock.

  The nurse tried to console me.

  I slowly removed my hand from the face and with a grip of fear saw the clock. It was 11.05 Am. Just five minutes had passed on. Just five minutes.

  I couldn’t believe my eyes. My happiness knew no bound. I hugged the nurse, then removed the tubes that were stuck to my body and jumped from the bed. The nurse tried to stop me in vain.

  I ran happily, like a mad man towards the doctors’ room. Dr. Madhan was busy in a call and didn’t notice me. I stood outside excitedly for the call to be over. I had finally recovered, Relieved of all my stress. That one final let out of frustration helped.

  I am no more the man who would lose his time.I thought, when I overheard the doctor’s words.

  “Yes chief… The experiment is a success... The time travel pills we gave as stress control pills are working perfectly fine for him... but he is able to only travel forward in time… we are still experimenting on..” The doctor continued to talk.

  Shocked, surprised and engulfed in a reign of terror, I stood frozen, when I inadvertently looked at the daily calendar in the doctor’s room, which read.

  July 4th, Friday.

  Realizing that I had just lost one day……….. Or time travelled, in the words of the doctor.

  ₪ ₪ ₪

  Acknowledgments There are quite a lot of people who have stood by me in this journey. My parents, Arockia Samy and Suganthi, who took care of me in the best possible ways. My wife Christy, who was a great pillar of support throughout this journey. My bestie Deepak, who was pivotal with his constant words of encouragement and support.

  To my sister Deepthi who is the first published author in our gang of nerd bad ass pirates and inspired all of us to take up the path and B3 for observing and leading the way besides mentioning me in every published work of his.

  My editor friends Sharadha, Apoorva, Roh, Sherin, Deepthi, Prabha, Jagan and Prats, who helped in polishing the script. My friends Jenni, Kila, Sowndharya, Deepikaand Sadhana who were the first to read this novel and provided valuable inputs.

  To all my blog readers for their constant support and trust in me. To team of professionals in Write India Publishers, who believed in the story and helped in bringing it out to the world.

  Above all, to the almighty.