He woke up with the first gleam of the naughty sun which escaped through the window. It gleamed past the red curtains which contrasted with the paint of the room. The daily routine of pinching himself to make sure that being alive is not a dream was done curling up under the bed sheet. His lifespan had already been predicted by the white clad few months back. As they say, he was a living ‘medical miracle’. The name of the new uninvited friend was too complicated for anyone to remember. Even the names he by hearted in his 10th standard biology were way better. So he named it ‘The Encroacher”.
“Should I be happy or be sad?” he asked himself looking at the mirror in the bathroom. Forrest Gump says “Life is like a box of chocolate, you never know what you get”. The unpredictability is the essence of life, an incentive to stay alive, and an energy that pulls you up from the bed. “It was not there in my scariest of nightmares to end up like this” he sighed. “May be it is good. Great minds have never stayed in this crowded globe beyond their thirties. May be I am one of those species. May be I should just stop worrying and start doing something productive.”
This was the resolution of the day. He cleaned himself up, fed his concavely shaped stomach and wore his white shirt, the final set of washed piece left in the cupboard. He went to his study to start something novel; took out his writing pad and sat on the easy chair next to the writing desk. “Easy-peasy” he murmured to himself. He stretched out his legs and leaned back on the chair to rest his head. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Sigh!
Inside him, The Encroacher looked around at all the angry cells surrounding him and said, “Why are you all looking at me like that? That wasn’t me!!”
***
