Ordinary?
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Ordinary, that was the best way I could describe myself! Ordinary life  with ordinary friends, ordinary middle-class parents, and an ordinary social life. I had recently reached voting age, but I didn’t have a girlfriend yet. Forget girlfriend, I didn’t even have a girl who I could call a friend! My life was just a conglomeration of games and movies, which is pretty standard when you are still living with your parents and have to do everything under their supervision.

 

My life was a pretty menial existence which basically involved labouring through each day without any excitement to balance things out. I was pretty tired of my mundane existence up to that point in my life and couldn’t help but envy those heroes in fiction who suddenly found out that their life wasn’t really what it was supposed to be, their existence turned on its very head in a matter of minutes!

 

Think kids in magical castles learning spells or a world populated by fantastical wizards, mighty elves and sturdy dwarves having to be saved by creatures living in holes in the ground! I couldn’t help but fantasise and put myself in the role of these heroes, with the adventure being their lives and every day being a bevy of new experiences! Little did I know how much I would come to simultaneously be wistful and regretful regarding those thoughts in the future!

 

“Man, not again!!!” Those were the first words out of my mouth as I woke up on an ordinary Friday morning, drenched in sweat. You see, today was a special day in my rather hectic life. Or as special a day can be in my humble opinion. Today was the last day of my end of semester exams. Even the most studious students in class look forward to this event because it signifies an important milestone in everyone’s life. The long semester breaks.

 

For me, the breaks weren’t filled with anything major to look forward to. My days filled with video games, movies, and long showers at inappropriate times of the day where my left hand did most of the work. My mother randomly appearing to make sure I was well-fed and hadn’t randomly decided to transcend the mortal plane.

 

Sad, I know but you can bet your bottom dollar I was looking forward to it.

 

Monotony was my thing. I thrived in monotony. But lately, my monotonous life had hit a snag. A minor snag that was proving to be very inconvenient. You see I was having trouble sleeping. Some sort of weird insomnia, my doctor told me. Random spells of sleeplessness which made following a routine impossible. And when I did sleep, I woke up feeling more exhausted than I had been before I went to sleep. It was as if I had run a marathon while I was supposed to be sleeping.

 

Every day it was the same. Sporadic spells of sleeping followed by body ache the likes of which I had had only experienced once before when I had tried going to a gym. The pain that had afflicted on my body the next morning had made me quit the gym immediately but I will never forget that. Now I was getting the same amounts of pain after doing the most relaxing job a man can do.

 

The amount of tension built up in my body due to the general lack of rest meant I was always at my boiling point. I was always irritated and this affected my already redundant social life. Friends didn’t interact with me and my family barely tolerated me. This made the upcoming break even more crucial as I could use it to set my life in order and do something about my sleep deprivation. With my conservative family there was a definite stigma regarding sleep medication (“It’s a crutch”, my father’s snide voice reminded me in my head). So, I really needed to research alternative methods to that would allow me to get some sleep.

 

With all the problems affecting the monotonous humdrum that was my life, it was with a heavy heart and a sore body that I got up from the bed. The final exam was beckoning and I really didn’t want my mental and physical health affecting me adversely. I was out of my house in record time, doing the bare minimum to get ready.

 

The hallways were filled with the buzz associated with the end of the exams. The academically-inclined students were discussing the paper, hell-bent on finding out their scores before they exited the premises while the others were already making plans for the break, intent on planning out their whole breaks right then and there.

 

Me? I was busy feeling terrible. Halfway through the examination, my eyes got really droopy and I felt like I could fall asleep at any moment. While this would be welcome at literally any other time, the middle of the final exam was not one of them. It was an effort to just stay awake through the exams, let alone complete it to my satisfaction.

 

Now, with the exam over, I was feeling like someone had run me over with a truck then thrown me off a cliff for good measure. If that wasn’t enough, I was feeling nauseous and figured I could hurl at any moment. I could say without a shred of doubt that this was the worst I had ever felt. I just wanted to curl into a corner and sleep, cry and then sleep some more. The break hadn’t even started and things were already looking dreadful. It was in this haze of uncertainty and hopelessness that made my way home, ignoring all calls coming my way, not feeling up to any interaction.

 

I was walking to my home, unaware of where I was and letting my subconscious carry me along when someone called out, “Dave!” That stopped me in my tracks.

 

Dave, short for David. David V. Goliath. That is my name. No, really, that is my name. My grandfather chose this surname when he immigrated to this country. My first name might just have been the result of the fact that my father hated me the moment I was born. Or his bad sense of humour. I have no idea what V stands for. I really think he wanted to name me David Versus Goliath but had to settle for V since someone must have straightened him out. My name is the one thing that is not ordinary about me and has made my life a tragedy, rather than enriching it. A socially inept boy with such a name ensures a lack of popularity and some introspection time in lockers and duffel bags. But I digress.

 

Looking around I saw that I had ended up near the park overlooking the apartment I lived in. And the person calling me was my kind-of-best-friend/friend-I-had-known-for-the-longest, Frank. Frank Specter. Son of millionaire parents, straight-A student, ultra-popular and the most athletic person I knew. The kid was a freak. Why he chose to waste his time by hanging around with a loner like me, I don’t know.

 

Frank, for the lack of a better word, was colourful. His hair was dyed blue, he wore the most colourful branded clothes and to top of it all off, he had tattoos covering his entire torso, from neck down to the waist. If anyone else had such a gaudy outfit, he would be laughed off the park. On Frank, the same outfit looked as if he had just walked through a rainbow and nature had given him the gift of looking spectacular. The man had a swagger that no one else could pull off. His 6’2” lean frame was ripped with muscles. Chiselled like marble. Modern-day Adonis. That’s the word one girl used to describe him at a party I had the misfortune of attending alongside Frank. On a normal day, my chances of hooking up with a girl were 0. With Frank, that number dove into the negative.

 

“Hey, just finished my exams. I am not feeling well. Can we do this some other time?”

 

I really had no interest in engaging in a conversation with Frank. My entire being was screaming at me to just lie down somewhere!

 

“Yeah, man. You really are looking pale. Still having trouble sleeping, huh?”, Frank enquired.

 

“Yeah, it’s a bitch. But what can you do?”, I said, really wanting to end this conversation as soon as possible.

 

“Mate, I may have something for your condition. You interested?”

 

Now, I was intrigued. Was Frank peddling drugs? He didn’t strike me as the type, though who could say in today’s world.

 

“Like drugs?” Curiosity and hesitance evident in my voice.

 

“No, man not drugs! Just a pill. It really helped me with my own sleeping problems.”, Frank stated vehemently.

 

“You had sleeping problems? When? You didn’t tell me anything about it.”. I couldn’t keep the skepticism out of voice.

 

“It was a long time ago. I didn’t feel comfortable talking about it. You know how it is!”

 

Even in my delirious state, I could tell Frank that wasn’t stating the whole truth. Something fishy was going on and I had no interest in being a part of it. I had too much going on already and this whole thing seemed troublesome.

 

“Thanks, man but I think I will pass.”

 

As I started walking towards my home, Frank just came up behind me and held my shoulders, stopping me in my tracks. I was startled for just a moment then I turned towards him, to ask him what his deal was.

 

Before I could say anything, Frank just pushed a container into my hands with some force and just said, “Just take it if it becomes unbearable. Trust me on this.”

 

Ironically every action of his caused me to trust him even less, my subconscious telling me to steer clear of whatever mess he was trying to drag me into. I lifted the container to look at it and saw it contained a single pill.

 

I categorically replied, “Dude, I said I will pass. It’s not as bad as it looks. I will be okay after some food and rest. Maybe even a cold shower, if know what I mean.” I tried to inject some humour into the situation, trying to escape whatever this was and to give back the pill.

Unfortunately, Frank wasn’t amused. He simply said with some force in his voice, “Dave, just keep it in case of emergencies. On account of our long years of friendship. If you ever valued it.”

 

There was something in his voice that just told me that I should just leave it at that and not prolong this confrontation. I quietly nodded at him and made my way back home.

 

Once home, the conversation with Frank quickly went to the back of my mind as I got super sick. I quickly found myself laid on the bed and curled into a ball, my mind in a state of delirium, my body racked with pain and head feeling like it would burst open. That’s how the next few hours went, with me rolled up into a ball of self-depreciation, pain and pity while the universe punished me for some unknown sin. The only respite was that my parents were out of town for some family function allowing me to escape the plethora of unwelcome questions borne out of concern for my state and suspicion about the reasons for it.

 

I was broken out of my pain-induced stupor when my phone beeped. Thinking it was a message from my parents, I checked to see what the message said. Instead, it turned out to be a message from Frank.

 

“Feeling well yet? If not, please take the pill. It really works wonders.” This was followed by some emojis whose meaning escaped my mind at that particular moment.

 

I still had the container on me as I had been in no state to change my

 clothes or do any other activity for that matter. I took out the pill and just stared at it for a few seconds, before thinking, “What’s the worst it could do?” I was probably not thinking straight but popped it into my mouth anyway and waited for some reaction.

 

Well, the pill did work wonders. Within seconds my head stopped hurting and I felt as if someone had given me the best massage ever and had drained the stress from all of my muscles. I was euphoric. Forget being miserable, this was the best I had ever felt. Not only that, I was feeling sleepy. And I just knew this was unlike any sleepiness I had had in the last few days. No, this would be sleeping like it was meant to be, relaxing and rewarding. I just put my head on the pillows and within moments I was sleeping like a log.

 

I woke up after what felt like seconds. But I knew that it had been a good sleep since I felt refreshed and unburdened by any soreness. I got up from the bed and went to the window to draw open the curtains. What I saw outside had me stumped for a moment. It was night outside. Was I asleep for a whole freaking day? Man, I knew I was sleepy and tired but this was a whole new level of sleep. This had to be some sort of personal record. But I just shrugged, thinking that while the day had been a waste, it was still the best sleep I ever had. Turning around to go and fix myself something to eat, I saw something that had my heart stopping for a few seconds. It seemed as if I had forgotten to breathe. This was stuff taken from the horror movies I had seen on occasion.

 

On the bed I had just vacated, where I was positive I went to sleep alone, was another person, sleeping as if he didn’t have any care in the world. But what had me positively terrified out of my skin was the identity of the person.

 

The person sleeping on the bed was me. I was literally staring at myself sleeping on the bed. Words can’t describe the terror-inducing fear I felt. At that moment I prayed to God and the devil simultaneously, hoping that it was just a dream. I pinched myself as hard as I could but to no avail. I even gathered up my courage and pinched the version of myself sleeping on the bed. Only to see the same results. This was not a dream. My brain went into overdrive, thinking about the various horrifying scenarios, all assuming my death.

 

It was in this situation, where I was contemplating various scenarios of my death and being replaced by my doppelganger, that the second heart-attack-inducing scare of the night happened.

 

“How long are you going to stand there staring at yourself, you narcissistic perv?”

 

That voice scared me out of my mind. I was positively sure that I had locked the doors before entering my apartment and no one could enter. I was close to passing out or soiling my pants or something when I looked up to see who it was.

 

There, standing in the doorway, with an amused grin on his face, as if he held all the secrets of the universe in the palm of his hands, was my kind-of-best-friend/friend-I-had-known-for-the-longest, Frank Specter.

 

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