A gloomy morning

    "Wake up, doofus! C'mon, get freshed up," the croaky voice of Anna startled him from a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

       "Just a little more..." he said, turning on his side.

       " No time. It's our shift today. And saheb will get pissed off if we don't finish in time. Come to think of it, he is always in a foul mood. That big..." Anna started his usual rant against the saheb, again. Prakash jumped down the bunk and stretched. Purple light filtered through the moth-eaten curtain.

To find oneself.

    
      My palms were sweaty. The paper I was clutching tightly in my hands was now moist. I swallowed and took a deep breath.

      'You can do this. You just can. It's easy. It'll all be over in half a minute,' I thought to myself.

      'One and a half,' my brain auto-corrected me.

      'Yeah, well. Damn you too, brain.'