Away

“Sleepy?”
“You were feeling sleepy? How could you be sleepy just after your bike had been smashed, with you on it? Were you hit on the head?”
Anoo had shaken her head helplessly as he had struggled to push away the thought that it had all been one weird dream. It had not, and the throbbing in his leg and the plaster on his temple would not let believe it could have been. By afternoon he had started to feel exhausted and disoriented, and even stealing glances at Anoo’s green tresses were not comforting. Yet, even then, Anion had known he would go. That was 2 days ago.

He had been stubborn. Very stubborn. Think the mule, and the mule’s grandfather.
He was till limping, but he did not care one bit. He had fought for this. Actually he had fought for this twice.

First, many weeks ago, he had told his boss that he wanted a few days off in May. It’s too early to decide, he’d been told. “Precisely”, had been Anion’s reply, “I am telling you now before it is too late for you to adjust stuff around” (so there)
Lots of pointless back and forth later, they had agreed on 5, not 8, days, but Anion had not been convinced the trip would happen.

Then Torios (aka the red headed goddess) had loved his flowingly beautiful blue creation, and he knew then that the hills awaited, without doubt. Until, that is, the accident- his bike was smashed apart and his body hurt in appropriately dramatic fashion, he was in bed for two days, and in a train on the third. If he wouldn’t ride to the hills, he would chug along. But he would go. He had to.

Now the brown plains stretched out before him as the cool a/c compartment let him sit back and look outside. All a/c compartments have dark film over the windows, and it was something that had always been a little unsettling for him. The film on his window had been ripped out- now there were only streaks of shading on the sides of the glass. An unhindered view. A potentially unhindered journey, as both berths across from him were unoccupied. A longish journey. He had a full 14 hours of rushing landscape and solitude to look forward to.