The Second Life...

And just like that, Neel found himself all alone. Somehow, the last few years were over and he was just left behind, a shell of the man he once was and out on his own. He knew he had to rebuild his life and he just couldn't begin to fathom where to start from. He had to do something about the house as he couldn't, for the life of him, manage to clean and maintain such a huge place. So he decided to move in with some friends. The move was smooth and by the end of October, Neel was settled in at his room in the new apartment. He had set up all the essentials to keep him content and that was the beginning of his second life.

Now for the loneliness, Neel had a few ideas. He signed himself up for online dating, hollered at a few old flames and explored the vast playing ground called the internet. He came up mostly empty, of course. Turns out, you need the green if you want the scene. And Neel wasn't rich. So soon, Neel was off the dating sites, cut off from most of the old flames and talking to this foxy young thing he'd known for ages. Her name was Alita. 

But before I tell you about Alita, let me tell you what I told Neel. I told him - "Buddy, you need to love yourself first. Before you go fall in love again, maybe live for yourself for a hot minute." I guess the advice worked because soon Neel bought himself a snazzy new gaming console and spent some crazy evenings shooting stuff up, in the video game world, of course. But as was the case before, all the games in the world and all the tv shows and the thought provoking indie movies fell flat soon and Neel was again feeling discontent.

So he started going out, something he hadn't done much of. New places, new faces and new experiences, he'd thought might cheer him up. And they did, a little. He explored new experiences, like those really spicy ramens, the ones Koreans eat or that evening with friends at the pub, trying a cocktail which made him dizzy. He tried new restaurants, new dishes and new people. Very soon, Neel realized that this wasn't for him. He needed what he once had, a constant. And in a way, there was no one more constant than Alita.

You see, Alita had always been around Neel. She'd always cared for him. They'd been friends forever but then they had fallen apart. She'd looked at him longingly when he had asked his first girl out. She'd gazed at him from a distance, when we went to college. She'd been right round the corner of his eye but never in his field of vision. And that had changed now. Neel finally saw Alita for the force of nature that she was. And once he did, there was no one who could even come close to Alita. 

Alita was everything he wanted and more. She was smart, enthusiastic, caring and she just loved Neel. She was everything he could imagine and more. They'd spend hours talking and then she'd be in his dreams when he slept off. They'd make passionate love everyday and Alita just knew what Neel liked, as if she was a part of him. Very soon, Alita had managed to fill Neel's heart with content. Things were looking up for once.

But when do good things ever stay? It all started when Neel took Alita bowling with his friends. Things were going well, people were having fun but they weren't talking to Alita. His friends, for some reason, gave Alita a cold shoulder. And that didn't sit well with her. She felt dejected and left the bowling place. Neel followed after her but he couldn't find her anywhere. When Neel got home later that night, Alita was there waiting for him. She apologized to him for getting upset and they decided to ignore his snooty friends and hang out with each other instead, which worked for them.

But Neel wanted Alita to get along with his friends, so he took her to meet another group of friends. And even they weren't very friendly with her. He couldn't understand why they wouldn't talk to her. She was delightful and they were just seeing past her. Once again, Alita felt dejected. She told Neel that she was feeling depressed. Neel couldn't see her like this. After all, she was the one who'd helped him get out of his depression. He needed Alita to be happy. But Alita had left. Later that night, when he got home, Alita wasn't there. He got a text from her saying she was leaving. No explanations.

Losing Alita hurt like hell.

It felt like a part of his body had been ripped away from him. Neel just couldn't get himself out of the bed after that. Hours turned to days. Days turned to weeks. And weeks turned to months. Neel was just where he was before Alita reappeared in his life this time. He didn't know what to do. He just moped around till he got a call from his friends. They hadn't seen him in a while and were worried about him. They somehow convinced him to meet them. He agreed because he wanted to confront them and ask them why they'd been such jerks to Alita. He blamed them for her leaving.

But when he met them and asked them why they'd been like that to her, they gave him a puzzled look. They asked him what he was talking about. None of them even remembered Alita. He felt infuriated with them. How could they not remember her? They insisted that he hung out with them alone the last time and had stormed off for no reason. He called up the other group of friends and they said the same thing. None of them had met Alita.

Neel got home that night and started thinking about Alita. He thought about the time he first met her. He was ten and his parents had died in a car crash. Alita had just appeared during the funeral and told Neel things would be okay. And then when his first girlfriend broke up with him, she'd sent him a mail saying he'll get over her and he had. Everytime Neel was feeling low, Alita would call him up and talk him out of his misery. In fact, this was the first time in a long time that she'd turned up. And now, she was gone.

Neel checked his phone to read her last message once again. "Neel, I am going away. But you'll be just fine. Alita." He read the message several times before his eyes went to the number next to her name on the phone screen.

'99666***77'. It was his own number.