Sanjana Priya Mylraj
20/UPYA/102
Have you ever wished you could turn back time? A certain event in your life that you would like to change, for it would alter the entire course of your journey on this planet. We spend a lot of days, hours and minutes existing in this world. Isn’t it crazy to think how a few minutes could be crucial to your entire existence? Had you done things differently in those few minutes, the road would be different than it seems to be now. All I need this instant is five minutes. Just take me five minutes back in time.
I watch my hand over yours on the steering wheel. Time has slowed down and so has my body. But my mind is still racing. I sense the headlights of the truck on the side of my face and hear the muffled honk of the vehicle in front of us. But my eyes stay on our hands and I’m transported years back in time. I can see two young boys, three years of age playing among the cornfields. One is running around chasing butterflies while the other is walking, staring at the clouds in the sky. Both boys had their eyes elsewhere, an inevitable crash bringing themselves to the ground. The smaller of the two immediately scrunches up his face ready to cry. But the other child quickly stands up, pats his pants and holds his hand out to the startled boy on the ground. I focus on their joint palms and can’t help but smile at the beautiful start of our friendship. With the wind blowing through their hair and putting smiles onto their faces, the scene changes to one a few years after that fateful day.
One boy stands before a tree with his face up, eerily similar to the day they first met, looking at his best friend shaking in fear on one of the branches. The brunette had climbed the tree valiantly to rescue a cat. Glancing at the boy reaching the top, the cat had calmly yet swiftly jumped off the tree, landing safely, leaving the poor boy stranded amid the leaves. The blonde on the ground opens his arms wide, promising to catch his friend when he jumps. The brown-haired boy has his doubts. Looking into the eyes of his friend, he gains courage and determination. Closing his eyes, he lets go of the branch he was holding and falls. Bracing himself for impact, he is shocked to feel something soft under his body, though the air had been knocked out of his lungs. His eyes meet a mop of blonde hair, with a little blood trickling down the side. It had been a scary day, but everything was alright, considering their tightly clasped hands at the infirmary that night.
The darkness of the infirmary, with the outlines of the boys sleeping, quickly morphs into a rainy day at the cemetery. The brown-haired boy, now much older and taller than he had been ten years ago when he let himself freefall from the tree, stands in his black suit, holding an umbrella above his friend, who is trying hard to stay stoic. The once lively and mischievous green-eyes of his blonde friend now seemed lifeless with the tears that well up when he looks at his parents’ graves. His body trembles with the muffled sobs he is trying to hide. All it takes is a single pat on his shoulder from his companion for the dam to break. The walls crumble as he cries out loud, trying to ease the pain in his pounding heart. His cheek finds a shoulder where he lets all his sorrows and grief rest. He can feel the black blazer under him dampen from his tears. A steady and strong hand caresses his hair felt like the fingers of an older brother, seeking to console him. Engulfing his friend in his arms, and letting the rain hit them, the brown-haired boy stands still, uncaring about the rain but concerned about the tears left on his jacket.
The rain brings me back to the car we are seated in and our hands on the steering wheel, yours losing control and mine attempting to right the car. The glint of the wedding ring on your finger makes me think of your wife and little girl at home, who trusted me to bring you back safe and sound. I can almost feel their tears on my shoulder, just like I had eight years ago. My mind is still reeling, looking for ways to shield you from the impending crash. Neither the noise nor the impact registers at first. A shower of glass falls on us. With what strength I can muster, I throw myself onto you, just like you did when I fell from that tree. I feel the dashboard crush my back, shattering bone. I see your head slam against the window, starting a steady flow of blood that does not seem to stop. It feels like we are flying through the air, consumed by a burning pain. Lying in a pool of blood, our hands are still linked, just as it had been when we first met. Looking at your lifeless eyes and feeling the dying breath slip out from my body, I wish to go back five minutes in time and stop you from driving in the rain down this road. Just five minutes.
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