The Friend Circle

"If only I had a gun," thought Ali. "Maybe, if I could blast a bullet in my head, it'd help to stop the pounding." He laughed at the absurdity of the thought almost immediately though, as real life took a grip on him again.

He had never thought that he could fight with Raman the way he did. He never thought that he was capable of saying the things that he did, to Raman; his best friend since childhood.

He wanted to say a lot of things to him; that he hadn't really meant any of the things he had said to Raman when they fought. That he still was his best friend, in spite of everything. Most importantly, he wanted Raman to know that he did not want him to "die and go to hell" as he had told him to.

Ali had tried calling Raman quite a few times, but he had had no luck. He was very hopeful thus, when finally the phone rang. He picked up the phone hastily, only to see that it wasn't Raman, but Kalpana who was calling him.

"Kay. I thought it was Raman," said Ali the moment he picked up the call. "More than thinking, I was actually hoping it was him."

"He still hasn't called?" asked Kay. It was evident that she was worried about the friendship between the two of them.

"Not yet. I tried calling him a bunch of times, but he's not picking up the phone. How am I supposed to make up with him, when he won't answer my calls?"

"Have you tried visiting his place?"

"Last time I went there, he wasn't home. The door was locked, and Mrs. Dixit didn't know where he was either," said Ali.

It was getting insane. He had never felt worse in his entire life. There were very few people who mattered to him where he was. One of them was missing, while the other one was on the phone with him, trying to convince him that things would turn out fine.

"Kay, you don't think he's taken everything that I said to him seriously, has he?"

"I don't think so Ali. It's Raman, our Raman. More than that, it's you guys we're talking about here. I'm sure you guys are gonna figure this out soon. The both of you just need some time to cool down, that's all," said Kay.

"I'm cool now. I am a little worried about Raman. He's not gonna do anything stupid, is he?"

"Nah, he's a mature rational guy. I wouldn't worry about him much. He'd turn up alright, probably with a couple of bottle of beers for the two of you. Who knows?"

"Yeah, with Raman, you never really know," said Ali, as the doorbell rang.

He looked through the peephole, and saw it was Raman, standing just outside the door. Relieved, he quickly told Kay about him.

"He's here Kay; I'll go talk it out with him."

"Yeah, you do that. Then you give me a call and let me know what happened, okay? Don't worry now kid, you guys are alright," said Kay. A click and she hung up.

Ali unlatched the door to find Raman standing with a gun in his hand. He raised it. The bullet made a small coin-sized hole dead center of Ali's forehead, and he crumpled to the floor.

***

Image Courtesy robinn.