The lost land

It was 7 PM, I heard the bicycle bell ring outside my house. It must be Arun, we planned to go out tonight. Our annual exams finished today and I already made huge plans for the long summer vacation this time. I ran out, and yes it was Arun.

“Come on let’s go” he said.

“Wait a minute, I will be back.” I ran inside and took my bicycle key from the key holder. I shouted back to my mom to inform her while I ran outside,  “Amma, I am going out with Arun, I will be back in two hours”. I heard my mom say something from the kitchen, but I didn’t care to listen what she said. I was already excited about the annual leave and the plans I made.

Arun and I raced through the narrow streets of Pondicherry. We raced through all the lanes. We had no idea where we were heading, but we kept racing until we reached the beach. We parked the cycle against the wall on the platform opposite to the beach. The breeze was warm in the evening unlike the hot summer wind during the day time. The beach was not crowded, there were people scattered here and there. We ran across the road and climbed the dike to have a clear view of the sea. It was full moon, and the sea looked beautiful with the moon light on it.

We sat on a rock and enjoyed the view. Arun said, “I have never seen something like this.” He continued, “Do you know what is on the far end of the sea?”

“I don’t know, may be the lost land”, I replied

“What lost land?” puzzled Arun.

“Something, I don’t remember the name. But I heard my cousins talk about them”

“Your cousins? How do they know about it?”

“They read it in a book, it was huge and old with amazing pictures and maps in it.”

“Do people live there?”

“I don’t know, its lost. But the book had beautiful beaches, gardens, castles, mountains…”

“May be we can find it”, Arun said.

“We might also get lost”, I replied.

We both starred at each other for the next few seconds. Arun said, ” Come on, it might not be lost. How can a land get lost. It must be right there across the sea, do you see the sea line at the far end? It must be right behind it.”

I didn’t say anything, I looked at the vast sea with bewilderment.

“May be we can find it”, Arun said.

“How do we go there?”

“Swim”

“Swim?” I exclaimed “Its far, and we are not good in swimming, we started swimming class just 6 months ago”

“But we do swim, right? What is the difference between the pool and the sea?”

I was excited inside, but I was not as adventurous as Arun. At the same time I wanted to find the lost land.

“We have two months holidays and I have 15 rupees in pocket, even if we get lost our parents will find us. We are getting down only on our beach.” Arun said with confidence.

“I have 12 rupees” I said.

Arun stood up and climbed down the rocks towards the sea and I followed him. We heard people shouting from far. We turned around and saw few men running towards us.

“Fast, fast!” said Arun.

We started to climb down fast, Arun was ahead of me. The sea waves hit the rocks and drenched us. Arun jumped inside the sea, I was not sure if he swam or he was taken by the waves. But he moved ahead. I jumped into the sea. I tried to swim, but the current pushed me further before I could swim. The waves hit me hard. I was not able to breath, hear or see. I felt someone catch my hair and pull me outside. I heard faint voices around me. I could feel that I was totally wet and it was cold.

I woke up, I was not wet, I was on a bed. I saw my parents and few other people stood beside me in the room. The room was not familiar to me. My mom should have cried, her eyes were wet.

“Why did you get into the sea?” My dad asked me with a firm voice which was very unfamiliar to me.

“To find the lost land” I replied.

There was a silence in the room.

“Was Arun with you?” I turned towards the direction the voice came from. I recognised the man, he was Arun’s father.

“Yes.” I replied.

I looked around, there was a grimness in everybody’s face. I realised they did not pull Arun out. I felt lost, my friend must be in the sea in search of the lost world. It made me feel terrible. I was about to cry, I tried to control my tears.

I blurted out, “Who pulled me out? You spoiled our plans to find the lost land. Now Arun must be in the sea in search of the lost land, I am going to miss everything.” Tears rolled down on everybody’s cheeks.

Tags: Fiction, Kumari Kandam, Lemuria