Me and My Life

If you told me yesterday that my life, which has never been anything more than a common clichéd normal life which billions of humans like me live every day, would turn into fantasy movie and someone like me will be the hero, I would probably have laughed, but never believed. But here I am, standing in front of a portal that opened in my bedroom, leading to a realm never seen or heard before.

My name is Fudoka, which is a Japanese name as many may think if you watch anime, but I am an Indian. My parents gave this name to me being inspired from a Japanese cookie that went famous during those days with the same name, as they thought it sounded interesting. Ironically, that brand disappeared with time and didn’t have any trace anymore.

So, it was, like any other morning except the Sundays, annoying. The alarm rang at 6 sharp and for some reason, I felt really angry as it went on ringing. I tapped it quite, but another annoying sensation struck me from down my bladders, and I knew I couldn’t go back to sleep because when I get up to pee my mom will see it and taunt me if I try to go back to bed.

My head was heavy and eyes were paining, as I didn’t get enough sleep. I felt so frustrated I could have punched a hole in the wall. And the fact that it was my fault because I stayed up late till 3 am watching a shonen only made it worse. But then I gave out a sigh and said “It is what it is” and got up.

I grabbed my phone, I don’t know why. It was not to check messages, I hardly get any, and the ones I do get are always in late nights from my 3 or 4 only friends. I just turned it on and scrolled through the apps up and down again and again, now really trying to do anything. My eyes were half open anyways and my head still hurt.

“Fudo, wake up!” mom called out from the kitchen.

“I’m up!” I called out, realizing my throat was drier than a desert.

“Ok” I thought to myself “Let’s start another day” and forced myself out of the bed.

That’s when I heard a vibration behind me, from my phone. I was confused, but thought probably it was the morning update message or weather forecast or something. My brain was not really in a state to function and I was too lazy to pick it up and check.

The rest went by as it always does, I greeted my dad, who was reading newspaper in the living room, with a good morning, and he greeted back without looking at me. I was used to it, the relationship between me and my dada was limited to a ‘good morning’ every day, and very rarely he would ask generic questions like “how are your studies?” or “when are the exams?” or “How was the result?” like that. We hardly ever saw each other; he would disappear every morning at 7 and would return at night after 9. And whenever I had a chance to see him, he would either be reading his newspaper or be having ‘adults talks’ with mom relate to expenses of the house and such boring shit, or be asleep. As a kid I used to think he didn’t love me, but later I realized not everyone is capable of expressing their emotions always and tend to avoid communication, and I had inherited my own inability of social interaction, or interaction at all, from him. He mostly keeps to himself outdoors, and I find it more relatable than anything.

I’m not a quite person, I’m just talkative with only very selective number of people, which include my 3 or 4 friends and my mom (who also is essentially my friend), as for others I just mind my own business, because I know the more I speak the more I embarrass myself. If you can’t understand why, ask an introvert friend of yours, and he will tell you how hard it is to put 2 words together in front of a stranger.

“Fudo!” mom shouted from another room and I knew it was trouble, “How many times have I told you don’t leave the bucket empty in the bathroom?”

My mom believed looking at empty buckets will bring you bad luck. Yeah, superstitious, but she’s mom. Contrary to her I’m the as atheist a person can be, that’s why I forget her rules and end up in these situations.

She went on saying the regular insults like “This boy never listens, he’s so lazy” the regular shit, and I didn’t say anything because I was still brushing.

“Now go and spend an hour in the toilet” she taunted me in a haughty mood and went into kitchen. Yeah, I spend an hour shitting in the toilet, and no, the reason is not what you think it is (not mostly).

The reason is, when I’ve locked myself in the toilet, I feel a sense of freedom, because I’m alone. No one watching, no one talking, I don’t even have to care about what clothes I’m wearing because I’m not wearing any! I love the ‘me time’.

Plus, when sit there to shit, I get lost in my own imagination. And my imagination, just the opposite of my life, is chaotic as hell! It’s like, if my life is monotonous in black and white, then the world in my head is the brightest and most colorful place there can be in….

Don’t think I’m one of those generic depressed introverts in anime who have no interests in anything, I’m just awkward with people, but among my friends and in my mind, I’m the most talkative childish full-of-life person you will meet! And I’m happy.

Normally from there, I would have taken shit, got ready, eaten my breakfast, put my earphones on while heading towards the school (some like to call 11th college but I call it school because it is), mostly to avoid any kind of interaction on the way, and pretend not to listen when someone called. then Garry would have joined me on the way, and I would have found Hiru, Nagi and Keen in the class (my best friends who have known me for long enough to even read my mind sometimes) and we would have spent the whole day in the backbench, studying, but mostly gossiping, and then would have grabbed a soda on our way home from Wasim uncle, he another person who knows us well, so well that when we go to his shop he already has ready what we want to drink. And then, back to our homes. I would have studied till 9:30, gone out for a walk (with headphones again), enjoyed the breeze at the bridge few distance away from our house, got back, dinner, watched anime or read manga in the name of studying and went to sleep at 2 or 3. Then same cycle again.

This is what would have happened under normally circumstances, but I didn’t know that nothing was normal about that day. That was the day a story that was going to turn me and my life upside down forever. It was the day my life became nothing less than an action fantasy movie, way beyond and bizarre than I’ve ever seen or imagined.

That was the day I was going to live a world way more fantastic than in my head.

That was the day I turned into a protagonist.