6.3 Vhy
I reached home feeling frustrated and angry with myself. I should have made Dad listen to me somehow. But he was so worried about Maa. And there were things to be done at the hospital. I didn't blame him for not believing me--for looking at me like I was some attention-deficit South Mumbai rich delinquent, even though at the time I was so mad as hell, I had felt like shouting and kicking the walls while going down the hospital stairs. No, it wasn't Dad's fault at all, from any point of view.
Besides, I knew how freaked-out my story sounded: "Dad, Mikey and Viveka were sucked into some kind of internet vortal and came out as different people."
But it was the truth. I knew it. Ruchi knew it too. We had seen what we had seen. There had to be a way to convince Dad. Before something else happened.
The maid was still in a state of shock. She was trembling when she opened the door and her eyes looked like she had been crying nonstop. I felt really bad for her. She must have got the shock of her life, seeing Viveka attack Maa like that. Just the thought of it made me feel like someone had shoved a fistful of ice down the front of my jeans. Your sister attacking your mom, slashing her badly enough to put her in hospital. Badly enough to need an emergency operation and plastic surgery.
I tried to control my own feelings and stayed calm long enough to give the maid the night off. She almost sobbed with relief, saying "Thank you, baba, thank you, hah? Mein kal subah-subah aati hun," and was out the door in, like, ten minutes. I wondered if she would be back in the morning, then realized I was too tired to deal with one more thing right now.
Then I collapsed on a couch in the living room and zombied-out totally. Like, I lay there for an hour or maybe a year, totally blank. Too much had happened too fast. Was it just yesterday that Ruchi and I were sitting in my bedroom watching Eyes Wide Shut? Just last night that we saw Mikey disappear at his comp? Then saw him reappear again out of thin air? It seemed like another lifetime.
When I came to my senses again, I got the scare of my life.
Mikey was standing there beside the couch, looking down at me with this really really wierd expression on his face.
It shouldn't have scared me. After all, hey, this was my younger brother, good ole Mikey Hard Rock maniac. Pizza-lover extraordinaire, tech nerd and net junkie, lone wolf and social outlaw.
Except that it wasn't really him. This was the other Mikey. The one who had come back through the Vortal. Just like Viveka had this morning. The duplicate Mikey.
And if the duplicate Viveka had been vicious enough to put my mom in the hospital, then what might this duplicate Mikey do to me?
He grinned just then, as if reading my thoughts and leaned closer. Close enough to bite.
Besides, I knew how freaked-out my story sounded: "Dad, Mikey and Viveka were sucked into some kind of internet vortal and came out as different people."
But it was the truth. I knew it. Ruchi knew it too. We had seen what we had seen. There had to be a way to convince Dad. Before something else happened.
The maid was still in a state of shock. She was trembling when she opened the door and her eyes looked like she had been crying nonstop. I felt really bad for her. She must have got the shock of her life, seeing Viveka attack Maa like that. Just the thought of it made me feel like someone had shoved a fistful of ice down the front of my jeans. Your sister attacking your mom, slashing her badly enough to put her in hospital. Badly enough to need an emergency operation and plastic surgery.
I tried to control my own feelings and stayed calm long enough to give the maid the night off. She almost sobbed with relief, saying "Thank you, baba, thank you, hah? Mein kal subah-subah aati hun," and was out the door in, like, ten minutes. I wondered if she would be back in the morning, then realized I was too tired to deal with one more thing right now.
Then I collapsed on a couch in the living room and zombied-out totally. Like, I lay there for an hour or maybe a year, totally blank. Too much had happened too fast. Was it just yesterday that Ruchi and I were sitting in my bedroom watching Eyes Wide Shut? Just last night that we saw Mikey disappear at his comp? Then saw him reappear again out of thin air? It seemed like another lifetime.
When I came to my senses again, I got the scare of my life.
Mikey was standing there beside the couch, looking down at me with this really really wierd expression on his face.
It shouldn't have scared me. After all, hey, this was my younger brother, good ole Mikey Hard Rock maniac. Pizza-lover extraordinaire, tech nerd and net junkie, lone wolf and social outlaw.
Except that it wasn't really him. This was the other Mikey. The one who had come back through the Vortal. Just like Viveka had this morning. The duplicate Mikey.
And if the duplicate Viveka had been vicious enough to put my mom in the hospital, then what might this duplicate Mikey do to me?
He grinned just then, as if reading my thoughts and leaned closer. Close enough to bite.
posted by Ashok K. Banker at 12.10.05
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