A NEW BEGINNING part 2/3

Victoria Memorial, Calcutta (Kolkata) , India

Here's the second part of my story "A New Beginning", first published in the Folkestone 2014 Anthology. If you've missed the first part, read it here.
​Enjoy!

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A NEW BEGINNING
Part 2 of 3

“No, there is no need. I’ll book an appointment with a psychologist today. Waking up every morning like this is unbearable. And I feel that this dream completes the picture given me by the previous ones. I am afraid that I will wake up every morning with this acute sense of loss, if I don’t find out  what my subconscious is trying to tell me.”
“You do not need to see a phychologist. You’ll be fine.”
“Maybe you can help me! Your students tell me all the time what a wonderful meditation teacher you are.”
“Maybe. Now, think of something nice and you’ll be ok. Tomorrow is your big day. You’ll start to teach singing in the poshest college of Calcutta. It’s your first job after your memory loss a year ago! Shop for new clothes. See you at lunchtime,” Bitasok  put in in a raised voice, while doing up his old trainers’ laces and picking up his house keys from the carved wooden bowl by the entrance door of their small flat.
“Oh please! I can’t! The feelings are too powerful. I wish there were an off switch in my mind. I’ve been  unable to meditate for such a long time.” With quick steps, Sahasra reached  her husband before continuing. “Whenever I try, I seem to relive a  past life, somehow connected to this dream. I know I was  Surina in that life, and always lived in Mumbai. But maybe I should call it parallel life, because the experiences I recall involve mobile phones, TV programmes, computers and scientific labs!” She shrugged and stared at him.
“Or is it  my mind that has created this Surina?” Sahasra wondered. “But how? The feelings are so authentic! And her experiences… so different from mine, although we both love singing, and music, and you, or Anurag. They had such a deep relationship, full of passion, intimacy, and understanding…” Her voice trailed off.
Bitasok stood opposite her, as sympathetic as a lamppost.
“Actually… Yes that’s it. I remember now! I began to have this parallel life flashbacks a few months ago, after hearing you calling Surina in your sleep!”
Bitasok raised his eyebrows, his lips slightly apart.
“Well, who is she then? What’s going on?”
Bitasok’s face turned as white as his top.
“That’s it. I’m leaving you.” Sahasra stated in a flat voice, but waving her hands furiously.
“Basta! You don’t care about me anymore! You don’t even want to have sex with me! I repulse you! Don’t deny it! I see it in your eyes every time I try to seduce you!“
“You can’t leave me.”
“Give me one reason to stay. One!”
Bitasok replied deadpan, shaking his head,
“You need me.”
“No, I don’t!”
Wearing a placatory smile, he reached out to her, and brought her small, black-haired head against his chest.
“I know where the off switch is located.” Betasok whispered in her left ear. “Surina was my beloved wife. When she knew she was going to die of a rare disease,  she built you and transferred her best memories to you. After her funeral, I left Mumbai and started a new life here in Calcutta. When I was ready, a year ago, I activated you. Only… You are right, you repulse me. You and your smell of expensive perfum. You and your flawless skin. You and your selfish personality. You and your still completely dark hair!”
His breath was warm on her left ear, his arms strong around her neck and shoulders, his right hand grasping and releasing locks of her hair, faster and faster, as if seeking something on her sculp and time was running out. With her right ear, Sahasra heard Bitasok’s heart beating wildly, but not as fast as hers. Would her heart explode, killing her before her husband would? She had to act fast.
“I don’t understand. You don’t talk any sense. Let me go, my neck is aching.”
Sahasra mumbled  in a thin voice. If he doesn’t release me, I’ll tread on his toes.
He stopped tousling her hair, and his big, steely right hand pushed her head firmly against his chest. Now! Nothing. And her arms were paralysed too. Bitasok lowered his arms slowly.
“I can’t move! I can’t feel my body! Call an ambulance! Now!”

TO BE CONTINUED