"Are you saying something?", Ahaan shouts at last.

  "What do you mean, I have been trying to talk to you for..", I burst out.

  "I am not... I cannot hear your voice. It is at a very low intensity. Like a song playing at close to zero volume." His explanation comes combined with both his voice and hand gestures.

  "Huh, what? How?", the bafflement empties my thoughts.

  "It might be my senses only. I need to broaden them. Sorry.", He continues now in a low voice.

  "How is it possible? You are joking right? He is messing with me. Ave, you just answered me. you can hear me, right?"

  "Yes", Ave says looking at me then in disarray at Ahaan.

  "And he can hear you?", I ask Ave pointing to Ahaan.

  "Yes"

  "Then why is playing with me"

  "I don't understand him either. Today is only the second day I saw him. Yesterday I bumped into him and he gave me a very shocking look".

  "It was because you were awake", Ahaan interrupts Ave.

  "Of course, that's why I was walking"

  "No, I mean that you were awake as in you were conscious and not following your dream"

  "How could you say that with only one look", I ask turning towards Ahaan.

  He looks at me and then Ave.

  "You really cannot hear her", Ave asks with a dismissive tone.

  Ahaan shakes his head, avoiding my gaze. Ave fixes him with an unblinking stare before rolling his eyes.

  "Right, how were you so sure that I was conscious of just looking at me once?", Ave asks the question.

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  Ahaan laughs. "Don't you remember your government's motto, Happiness at every corner. Well as for you, when I bumped into you, you seemed so tensed and it looked as if you were almost in tears. It was clear at an instant that you were not following your dream otherwise you would remain calm and happy. Because that is the whole purpose of those dreams.

  They balance your next day in a way that makes you happy and satisfied with your life. So that you don't have to worry about your future. You stop worrying by believing in your dreams and that's how you become unconscious. You live your life unconsciously.", Ahaan explains, his words are accompanied by gentle movements of his hands.

  "Well, she can hear you. It is you who cannot hear her so you can lose the hand gestures.", Ave says grinning.

  "Oh, right. This does not feel good. I don't know why it is happening.", Ahaan chuckles.

  "Are you not purposely ignoring her? Is it related to what you said about her that she is nobody?", Ave comes close to Ahaan and whispers or so he thinks he did but he was completely audible.

  "Why would I do that? I do not have any purpose to ignore her other than the fact she can be dangerous."

  "She can be but honestly I am also clueless about it." Ave says, leaning in to whisper a few more words.

  "Why did you say that she is nobody?", Ave asks again.

  "Well, it just slipped from my mouth because I did not want to include her in sharing the secret that you are awake."

  "But not we have included her in our secret already"

  "Yes, I know. I forgot she was there as I could not hear her."

  "But why do you think she is dangerous", Ave whispers again but this time he pulls Ahaan to another corner of the room, clearly aware that I’m eavesdropping.

  "I thought she would be dangerous but she is fine living without her dreams for days now and nothing happened to her. Plus, they don't seem to notice her too. She seems to be.."

  "What? You know that she has stopped having dreams", Ave asks stunned, so loud that it deafens the ears.

  "Yes, I figured it out some way", Ahaan says rubbing his ears.

  "How? and when?", Ave asks again.

  "Wait, you know I don't get dreams?", this time I cannot control myself and I ask him directly.

  He tilts his head slightly to one side letting it fall toward his shoulder, as if asking what I just said. A grin creeps onto his face. He looks like he’s deriding me.

  "This is crazy." His stubbornness is driving me mad. Is he acting or just mocking me, I cannot tell but it’s pushing me to the edge.

  I take the marker and write on the whiteboard.

  You are Crazy

  "I can read it", he lets out a chortle, followed by a subdued laugh.

  "I have written You are Crazy and look how happy he is"

  "But how can I read it", he muttered to himself.

  "Because it is written". He is testing my patience now.

  He brings his ears next to my mouth.

  "Please say something". "Hmm. Still no sound", he moves away mummering.

  "I didn't say anything", I howls.

  "This is peculiar", he continues talking to himself.

  “He is crazy”. The words float from my mouth.