In the doldrums..

Rinky was walking down the street, when a number of faces and voices kept coming back to her. Was she dreaming in broad daylight? No, she wasn’t. Instances kept flashing in the display unit of her mind. Her pace increased as her thoughts raced with the flashes of recollection. With every increase in her pace, the voices echoing at the back of her mind, became louder & louder.
Finally she had reached the gate of a huge building. In a moment, she was inside the building, & had placed herself where she usually did. Being unable to match what was going on inside her, with her surroundings, she yanked herself away. (This act of yanking was again a common characteristic of Rinky. Her friends called her insane for that. Naturally! How was anybody to know that she always took help of that, to do away with in-fights?)
It was when she reached the staircase that she was nearly choking & she ran up the flight of stairs. She kept running till she reached the place where she had come so many times in the past half-decade. Still she couldn’t get rid of the instants & the cacophony. Almost out of breath, she strained her vocal-chords as much as she could, “Shut up & Go away” being its main content. But, they were too adamant to obey her orders. When the stairs ended, she turned right and ran towards the end of the floor. Now, she was there for the umpteenth time & was looking at the empty corridor.
She pressed her hands over her ears, to shut out the sound. Gradually, the voices faded out. It was then that she fell to her knees & covered her face with her palms. She broke down. Yes, for the first time in her life did she break down in a public-place.
Minutes had fled past, after she had started crying copiously, when a hand rested on Rinky’s head. She knew this touch so well, that she didn’t look up to see who it was. Soon she was in those familiar arms & as usual she heard the words, “I’m still there with you. Even if everybody deserts you, I’ll never leave you.”
For the day, she was released from her keyed-up state of mind. She sidled towards the staircase. When she looked back the corridor was just like it was, when she had entered it – empty. The often-heard, melodious, Sanskrit devotional song came down the stairs from the terrace, as it always did at 6:30pm. This made Rinky feel the presence of her consoler. She was at the topmost floor of RMIC, with…..