Sanit was thankful to no one for the random sack cloth he had found lying on the ground, just as soon he had walked further away from the shutters of the burning warehouse.
He had decided to take the closest alley, that led him away from the burning warehouse, to try and avoid the bright lights flashing towards him from a series of fast moving objects.
Their specific names were escaping him at the moment.
The clothes on him would have been enough, but the sack cloth gave him a much better feeling at being snug and safe.
All he knew about the fast moving flashing lights was that it meant trouble. The mind that he was not yet fully equipped to handle right now.
His body was smoking from the burns but his slow healing ability let him ignore it as he walked,letting him take in the darkness around him.
At the end of the narrowing alley he saw figures walking past between the gap of the buildings. Like they had purpose to go be somewhere.
It was continuous. The steady flow of people that greeted him as soon as he exited the damp alley beyond which lay a busy city.
It was someplace unrecognizable to him. And that was to be expected given his long absence from humanity.
So this is where all that noise that burdened my senses came from.
The people left him alone, mostly just giving him longer stare so he didn't pay them much attention either. Instead he focused on the sights around him. The visions of a developed city.
Vehicle, yes....cars, bus, autos, hawkers...yes, yes.
The noise, the sounds were more clearer now, the ache in his temple persistent.
Maybe if I concentrate, I can distill this overwhelming knowledge.
But he was too tired for mind games or physical exertion. The combined toll of everything he had done during the past hour slowly taking its toll on him. Now he just wanted to rest somewhere. Anywhere.
As he shuffled through the crowds, it began to dawn on him slowly.
His half-life, lived with regret. And discarded with no second thought when he had the chance.
These were daily sightings to him once. Now they were just reduced to a fleeting glimpse upon his past.
There were large flashing images on a huge billboard hung about 20 feet from the ground, displaying several brands, some celebrities.
A random movie's advertisement played, showing a couple kissing, their heads tilted sideways before it cut off to a romantic getaway.
Hmm. This I remember clearly. Mating. Two persons together bonded by something strong.
I seemed obsessive over it for some reason.
The tagline beneath it reading, '"Love for all seasons,"' let him put it together.
Love. Have I felt that yet? Is it for a friend?
He finally sat down at a corner, under a looming flyover. With other quiet but curious homeless folk. His mind wandering to his previous existence.
This isn't home. But its not a bad place either. I previously had a form of shelter here. A friend or two even maybe.
But where to go from here?
He had seen signboards of the city. Named Bareli. If he remembered correctly it was quite a distance from his place in Balbhar.
He exhaled and sat back, elbows resting on his bent knees.
At least I'm not naked now. It would have definitely brought unwanted attention if I had decided to walk out like that.
He let the sack cloth fall and examined his fingers. Then his hand. His feet. His body seemed in good condition, despite the brief exertion he had put it through.
But if he were to do what he were really capable of back in that realm with the Gandharva...he had to shape it up into something else entirely.
He knew he couldn't rid of that inherent strong and manic emotion he had forced to develop inside him over time.
So he had to get creative. Nurture his base humanity back from somewhere within. Or let it rub off from people around.
That seemed the only way he could quell it lest it go out of bounds.
It is a necessary part of me, I can't abandon that.
But it needs to be mine to grasp, instead of myself being under its summon.
He decided to stay there, under the dusty flyover, for a few days.
Hunting for scraps with the other kids and people while trying to get used to his new body, as well as figure out a way to get back to where he had come from.
By now he had discarded the sack cloth, its purpose over. Yet the bloodlust persisted, now mixing with the heightened sensory allusions to produce a cocktail of pointed aggression.
Aggression that stemmed from activities he found really interesting or stimulating.
If he ate, he smashed his food with sweet hunger.
If he saw someone he liked, he would instinctively develop wild emotions, enjoying the beat of their heart and rumbling of blood through their veins as if they were his own.
If something upset him, he gnashed his teeth at the thought of dreaming unholy harm.
It was sickening but it was within control. For now.
That headache seemed quelled and with that his wilder emotions too, at this point in time.
An old lady helped him to take a bus to the city and when he had mentioned that he vaguely recollected being a student she told him to go to where the college campuses were.
So he did. Entering every bus without money meant he was abruptly kicked out at the next stop, where he took the next one, till he finally reached Balbhar.
The place was massively built, with wide roads and a focus on ecological beautification, people of his age swarming into public areas with bags.
His eyes fell on a girl with a kurti which immediately reminded him of someone. And a name came up.
Piya.
She had been someone he was sure was a friend of sorts. She had to be someone close to him.
Why else would I know where she lives?
With nothing to do and nowhere else seemingly close to the life he lived he made his way there.
It was afternoon. He walked for hours on instinct.
But as he stood outside her home, later that evening, he didn't make a move to either leave or attempt to meet her.
To say he was very unsure about his next steps would be a massive understatement.
"Sanit?" a soft voice from behind startled him and he turned to see a young girl, shorter than him with dark hair, her fingers removing her earphones from her ears as she gave him a long stare.
"Are you Piya?" his voice sounded raspier than he intended.
The girl looked at him weirdly before wrapping her earphones to put it in her bag, "who else would I be? And where have you been the last few days?"
Days? Think years.
"I was....lost."
She placed a hand on her hip and tilted her head, "lost? As in mentally? You still look like you are actually."
He didn't know what to say to that but he was ultimately glad when she ushered him to her home, "just come inside. My parents are out again so no worries."
She opened the gate for him, "wash your feet under that tap," she pointed to a plastic faucet near a couple of huge flowerpots.
He went near it and twisted it open to find clear water flow out. It was something of a rarity since he had only seen murky ones with the homeless people.
He almost smiled at the sensation of water washing his skin and looked up to see Piya scratching her head.
"God, what have you done to yourself? You're all mucky and...you need a bath. Urgently."
He nodded in agreement and followed her inside her home after her.
Her home was lived in. Neatly organized, cozy not too expensive. To Sanit it was like a different world altogether.
"This place is neat," he remarked.
Piya smirked and eyed him, "it's not your first time here...come, upstairs."
She gave him a long towel and pointed to the bathroom after they had taken the stairs to where her room was.
"Go and spend an hour inside till you're sparkling."
He didn't know how much time he spent, but he was certain he enjoyed every moment under the shower which he found a bit confusing but cracked it soon enough.
When he came out, he found his clothes that he had removed and kept on the floor missing.
Her room was a bit of a mess than the lower floor, with clothes heaped over a chair that overlooked an open balcony that ushered in the setting sun's rays and painted the room in gold.
Her walls were decorated with news articles about several political and global events, and some crude sketches too.
Her artwork was a very striking but coherent thematic representation of gothic media, with dark colors, hues and shadowy figures dominated most of them and it was a bit creepy while also equally fascinating.
Yet her mannerisms and attire reflect none of that, does it?
It made him wonder about this strange, trusting girl a whole lot more.
He peeked out to see where Piya was but not finding her in the bedroom he walked out with the towel, wiping his wet hair and stood in front of the cupboard mirror.
His body was unfamiliar even in the reflection, his face even more so, but he attributed it to the long time he had spent without it.
His eyes were a deep brown, dark hair and a sharp jaw with traces of facial hair sticking around it. His skin a dark brown which went well with the rest of his features.
He grazed his wet hair with his fingers and shook it a little as if styling himself. Then he looked down between his legs.
That's a big pickle. Quite good.
"Hey don't mind me as you preen yourself," Piya said as she sauntered in without a care.
She looked down between his legs and then back at his face, "at least something hasn't changed."
A sudden sense to cover himself came over him so he pulled the towel around his waist.
"It's alright, I've seen you without clothes already remember?"
He paused before tucking the ends around his waist, "you have?"
She nodded faintly seeming a bit displeased, "after you heroically saved me of course."
She stopped clearing her room and turned to him, "unless you don't remember that too."
When he shook his head, she slapped her head. "Well it wasn't for anything weird, I just wanted to see you without clothes."
Huh?