A SHRUTI STORY

Shruti was a very beautiful girl. She worked at a local deli, and dreamt of a heroic life.

One day while working in the deli at after hours, cleaning up the place, and arranging for the next day chores, she heard something. She heard a screeching sound and was instantaneously alert to avoid any mishap. It was not the time when anybody would generally visit around the deli, and she was all alone for her defense if need be. Sneakily, she moved towards the back door, to find a wounded boy, about her own age. She called him and tapped him but he was not in a condition to reply anymore. She tried to lift and pull him inside, without any fear that this could turn out to be dangerous for her. The boy was unconscious. Shruti was worried now, as she couldn’t leave him inside the shop for the night, as it might not be safe for him or the shop. But she could not pull him out and take her to her house either.

She thought to give a call to the owner. Dialing the number there were hundreds of thoughts gushing around in her mind. The phone was ringing when she realized that the boy was gaining back his consciousness. She left the receiver and ran up to him. He murmured something, and fainted again.

Those words were “Shruti, you are the one…”

What she heard, invigorated her, and she decided to stay back in the deli for the night taking care of him, and also to find out the secret behind his words. She waited for him to get better and wake up to tell her the truth. Who was he? Where did he come from? What did he want? Why did he say what he said? Why was he unconscious? There were thousands of doubts in her mind and no clue to any answers. So she waited. Waited until the dawn, taking care of him, thinking about the possible answers to all those questions in her night reverie.

Is he a secret admirer? Or someone from the CIA, who has found her to be the one agent of all the best agents that they have, he came to get her and give her the news, but the bad guys found him. He possibly tried to fight them all, and somehow reached her, makes perfect sense with the words he uttered before fainting again. Or maybe he was in love with her, but there is another lover, and both of them wrestled to win her, and finally he did, he is not that bad looking after all! Or maybe he is someone from the outer space, who had been observing her since a long time, and now he decided to finally meet her, but something went wrong with his space shuttle, and he was hurt.

WHO IS HE AFTER ALL?

It was morning, the boy looked better, she had already cleaned his wounds. He woke up, looked up at her, like he wanted something very badly, and then he said”Shruti... you are the one who ordered the installation of room heater? My owner has apologized for the delay, as the equipment was not on time. I am here to convey his message, and while finding you, I ran into an accident yesterday… I am sorry for the inconvenience and I am thankful to you for taking care of me...”

And there she stood… smiling…