TWO SOULS AND A SHADOW
Caught in the hustle of the city, the soul forgets its true purpose. It is when the darkness sets in, that the mind wanders and thoughts surface. With millions of thoughts and untravelled paths, a 3 AM conversation becomes a beautiful memory.
I still remember the night I and my roommates watched conjuring. Friends I could trust my life with, lights out, a pack of lays, a charged laptop, and borrowed speakers set the ambiance for a perfect movie night. That was when I came across “The devil’s hour”. It is so-called because the demon or the devil who leads hell is at his strongest at this hour of the day or maybe it’s just because we as humans are the weakest at those hours that we become easy targets.
The infamous 3 AM is popular now not just as an unholy time but the time when most humans “think”, think about life, about their jobs, about the secrets buried in their souls, about their passions, about heartbreaks, about how they’d convince themselves to leave that desk job and follow the fire in their heart, about the last time they felt the comfort in their mothers’ lap, about the last time they filled their lungs with the fresh smell of first rain, about the first line they’d say to a cute neighbor who’s just moved in or just about the last time they had a pizza and a can of chilled beer with their best friends.
I find it amusing how our minds start to wonder as the night sets in, we think about nothing yet everything from the smallest of observations we made in the day to life-changing decisions.
It was around 3 AM on a summer night and there were only two sources of light in the entire room, a dull beam of light from a nearby streetlamp that hit the main hall through the sheer window glass and the other was the gleam in those eyes.
Eyes that have endured a lot of pain, happy moments, scary events, cricket matches and have even smiled through the smile on a kid’s face, eyes that dare to dream and also strive for them to come true.
The eyes opened doorways to the heart and spoke what words could not.
There were two young souls with a million thoughts like the stars in the sky but one small shadow on the plain yellow wall ahead, next to a book rack. I leaned with my head back on the sofa and let out a deep breath. I could hear no traffic, no zoom calls, no kids whining and their moms screaming on the top of their lungs, no notifications, no faint whirring of the fan above, not even the rustling of leaves.
All I could hear was the sudden noise from the refrigerator’s freezer that seldom sent a chill down my spine as a result of all the horror movies I’ve watched.
There wasn’t eeriness in the pitch-black devil’s hour. The darkness wasn’t symbolic of tragedy and lost moments but it was more of a ‘life vision goggles’ that helped me steer clear of the daily hustle and look beyond and beneath, see things that my eyes missed to notice in the broad daylight, to breathe in slowly and breathe out, listen to my own heartbeat and notice its perfectly followed rhythm, think of the things that I do for just myself apart from the work and everyday routine which fills me up with joy, realize that I’d never trade the feeling of touch and warmth for anything in the whole wide world, notice a smile so amazing that it can’t be missed at any cost, to wonder where my heart lies behind all the layers impenetrable and seize the very moments that I’m living, to collect more simple yet unforgettable memories.
Memories that are forever imprinted in my brain and sometime in the middle of a fine Tuesday, I’ll pause life and close my eyes and remember them, with a smile on my face and peace in my heart.
It was one Sunday night and a 3 AM talk of two souls and one shadow.
